Versaworks Dual Rip Speed

[Copierguy]

I was curious if anyone else has been frustrated with Versaworks Dual rip times. And how they reduced them.

I work with a lot of large files, 52" x 5'-25' at a time. When I rip a job on my Intel Core2 Duo 4GB RAM RIP, it takes about 40 minutes to RIP a large file. If we make a mistake, or realize the file was saved in a low res format, we have to re-rip. In a fast paced environment this time adds up.

I installed Versaworks Dual on an i7 with 16GB RAM and a SSD Hard Drive, and it still takes about 30 minutes.

Files are created in illustrator, and frequently are anywhere from 100-800mb including all "linked" files in illustrator. Todays 40 minute RIP sample was only 42mb, plus a 100mb linked file. Files are stored on a server, and accessed over a Gigabit network.

I typically uncheck "preserve editing ability" to flatten the files.

I guess my first question is, is this what everyone else experiences too on PDF files that were generated in AI, with mostly text, except one background smart object that originates from a roughly 100mb PDF. And what if anything have you found to reduce RIP times as much as possible.

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

We don't have any machines that support Dual yet, but the only thing that sticks out with your process is having the files stored on the network. This renders your SSD essentially useless during the RIP process.
If at all possible, I would temporarily relocate the files so they are local. Gigabit speed network is ~10x slower than most SSDs are capable of.

 

[Behrmon]

Are these print only files? Can you export out 150 or 96 dpi tiffs for your workflow? Versaworks for us chews thru tiffs pretty quickly.

 

[DJr]

We are running Windows 7 professional with 16 gigs of ram and are sending directly out of Flexi to VersaWorks Dual and are also having considerable slow downs in the rip process. I am going to reach out to Roland and find out what is going on the old rip was much faster. I too am losing valuable time and am not happy with the change. Give me back my XC 540 Pro III machine with the old rip please. If I get an answer I will be sure to share in this feed later.
[HASHTAG]#weneedanswersroland[/HASHTAG]?

 

[WrapYourCar]

Why are your files so big? What are you guys printing?

 

[WrapYourCar]

High res. Jpegs should print quicker

 

[oksigns]

I was curious if anyone else has been frustrated with Versaworks Dual rip times. And how they reduced them.

I work with a lot of large files, 52" x 5'-25' at a time. When I rip a job on my Intel Core2 Duo 4GB RAM RIP, it takes about 40 minutes to RIP a large file. If we make a mistake, or realize the file was saved in a low res format, we have to re-rip. In a fast paced environment this time adds up.

I installed Versaworks Dual on an i7 with 16GB RAM and a SSD Hard Drive, and it still takes about 30 minutes.

Files are created in illustrator, and frequently are anywhere from 100-800mb including all "linked" files in illustrator. Todays 40 minute RIP sample was only 42mb, plus a 100mb linked file. Files are stored on a server, and accessed over a Gigabit network.

I typically uncheck "preserve editing ability" to flatten the files.

I guess my first question is, is this what everyone else experiences too on PDF files that were generated in AI, with mostly text, except one background smart object that originates from a roughly 100mb PDF. And what if anything have you found to reduce RIP times as much as possible.

It's slow because your hardware is low spec for bigger jobs.

Your Core 2 Duo only has so many threads to process the file - bottleneck 1

Bottleneck 2 is your ram. Is it single channel or dual? You are most likely approached the the limit determined by your OS environment and using a hefty pagefile which means extra disk access

bottleneck 3 is your hard drive itself. Is it a Sata-3 drive?

There are work arounds for sure. Flattening artwork when you can on complex files may help, but if large files are common, you'd do yourself a favor and upgrade your RIP machine and enjoy a 10 minute RIP

 

[Patentagosse]

High res. Jpegs should print quicker

Exactly my thoughts... PDF are great for handling vector elements & texts but when it comes to transfer background images... Oh Lord...

 

[Solventinkjet]

Most RIPs these days have a RIP While Printing option. I know Flexi, Wasatch and Rasterlink have it and it is a time saver. It RIPS the first ~10% and then starts printing and keeps on RIPing as it goes. No waiting on RIP!

 

[Vinyldog]

A customer brought me artwork she had created on Power-Point today so I opened it in PP and re-saved it as a PDF. I didn't put a stopwatch on it but the RIP time using Flexi-basic was painfully slow. Probably fifteen minutes. Always happens when customers are watching. I wondered if it would have been better if I had saved it as a JPEG or even a TIFF.
It printed beautifully btw. Very sharp text and bright accurate colors.

 

[oksigns]

A customer brought me artwork she had created on Power-Point today so I opened it in PP and re-saved it as a PDF. I didn't put a stopwatch on it but the RIP time using Flexi-basic was painfully slow. Probably fifteen minutes. Always happens when customers are watching. I wondered if it would have been better if I had saved it as a JPEG or even a TIFF.
It printed beautifully btw. Very sharp text and bright accurate colors.

The larger the dimensions and complexity, the longer the times, so flattening everything can potentially speed things up; however, the success of flattening a PP PDF hinges upon how it is flattened and if you have any say in final resolution.

 

[1leonchen]

[ dpiE="WrapYourCar, post: 1331257, member: 37370"]High res. Jpegs should print quicker[/QUOTE]

jpegs rip much quicker or save a pdf ( high quality print and save 150 dpi unless its a indoor poster, road side banner 96 dpi, vechicle wraps 300dpi)

 

[peavey123]

You should see an improvement in speed if you print EPS's instead of PDFs. or export the PDF as a TIFF. Also, my printer tech said to change the Halftone setting under quality to "dither" instead of "error diffusion".

When we first got versaworks dual it ripped slowly, but then after the first update it started ripping fast so make sure it's the most recent version.

 

[mac_man_luke]

Just got around to setting up a new PC to run Versaworks Dual for our XR640
Was really hoping for some decent ripping speed increases but barely faster than the old machine

Old Machine:
Core2Quad Q8200
4GB Ram
SATA HDD
Win XP Pro

New machine:
i5 7600 (Quad core)
8GB of ram (was going 16GB but VWD is 32bit thus limited to 4GB anyway)
NVMe SDD
Win 10

Its nice that its ripping transparency correctly without workarounds that was a massive pain previously
but its barely any faster on an 6 odd year younger PC thats about 10x as powerful.
Seems VWD is very inefficient - only seems to use 1 CPU core (might as well have gone with the i3 dual core!)

Worst rip software for any of our machines.
Needs some serious modernisation - proper multithread capability and 64bit so it can utilise more ram etc

 

[CanuckSigns]

Just got around to setting up a new PC to run Versaworks Dual for our XR640
Was really hoping for some decent ripping speed increases but barely faster than the old machine

Old Machine:
Core2Quad Q8200
4GB Ram
SATA HDD
Win XP Pro

New machine:
i5 7600 (Quad core)
8GB of ram (was going 16GB but VWD is 32bit thus limited to 4GB anyway)
NVMe SDD
Win 10

Its nice that its ripping transparency correctly without workarounds that was a massive pain previously
but its barely any faster on an 6 odd year younger PC thats about 10x as powerful.
Seems VWD is very inefficient - only seems to use 1 CPU core (might as well have gone with the i3 dual core!)

Worst rip software for any of our machines.
Needs some serious modernisation - proper multithread capability and 64bit so it can utilise more ram etc

I guess the old saying rings true, you get what you pay for!

 

[rjssigns]

Gotta be the linked files and network slowing things down. Either that or something is running in the background sapping resources. Our nearly 10 year old XP based system, which we still use from time to time takes only minutes to chew through a 100+ meg file.

 

[DJr]

Make sure in your quality setting you are using dither and not error diffusion. We had the same problem and this fixed it. Will rip like the old Versa Works!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DJr]

I found the answer to this question. In the quality settings in Versa Works you have to choose dither instead of error defusion. This will rip the files same speed as the old Versa Works. Do know why or how but does the trick.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[CL Visual]

I've had a ton of issues lately with versaworks and just updated to Dual. I haven't printed much with it but I haven't noticed any better rip speeds as promised by Roland Tech support. BTW, I have a i7 processor with 16gb of ram. The last straw was on Monday when I missed seeing my daughter before bedtime yet again. I was printing a vehicle wrap from flattened photoshop tiffs. Total file size for all files combined was about 6mb. It took an hour to start printing (even though I had rip while printing checked) and then I noticed a particular color was a bit off so I had to do it all over again.

I have just downloaded a trial of Onyx Production House 12. From what I can tell it actually rips the file on import instead of on job print. So when you hit print, it just starts as soon as the machine is warmed up. I have been told that Onyx also uses the power of the computer to its full extent which increases speeds dramatically if you have a well equipped computer. My rip time on the same files that took an hour in versaworks was about 2 minutes in Onyx.

My chief complaint on versaworks is that even when the "rip while printing" box is checked, it still sometimes rips completely before start of print. I have spent hours on the phone with Roland Tech Support (all great helpful guys) but the program just isn't built for serious production. Especially for the large wraps I print with it.

Time will tell with Onyx. Downside is cost but I suspect it will save me a ton of money, time and sanity if it works as promised. I will check back in a week or two with my findings.