I’m curious what other printers are doing to bring curves that are “above the line” downward toward the linear ideal. The curves look good otherwise; however, this result seems to be common after linearizing several curves for my print workflow, and does introduce some unwanted, non-linear contrast changes.
What method in PPE would be best to modify the final iteration of a new curve toward a more linear slope print curve? Obviously, the final print can always be adjusted as needed with a Photoshop curve, but having a screen-print match is after all our goal.
@mscarbrough have you done a couple of iterations of the calibration? I’ve found that PPE 2 does an excellent job of snapping the calibration into place without any other modifications.
No, but I get your point. This is my first go round, and was thinking that with a smooth curve with inkjet (not alt-process), that this one was as good as it gets. Guess I need to do another round or two and see where it lands. Part of my own learning “curve”!
My question really comes down to expectations to achieve a linear response using basic linearization corrections as described in the manual and video before going to other controls, inside or outside of PPE. Waiting for overnight dry downs does prolong the initial testing requirement, and if I know when other methods are more appropriate, that will help me shorten the process.
I’ve attached screen shots from PPE for the three curves - cool, neutral, warm. This is the second iteration on this paper with a 256-step target printing with PiezoPro K5 inks.
Is this likely to be improved with additional iterations, and is that typically required for individual curve creation?
That final one is getting darn close! Since this is a new paper, I would try another iteration and see what happens. If there is a considerable improvement, going forward what ever number of iterations got you to that result would be my SOP for a new paper.
Regarding dry down. In my experience, the majority happens in the first hour but it does continue to change over 24 hours. Beyond 24 hours, my measured changes were miniscule. For my calibrations, SOP is a 24 hour dry down.
Thanks for taking a look. The last curve is from the same set as the others, printed same time. The first was the cool, second was neutral, and the good looking one is warm. Strange they would be that different. Cool is the outlier. Guess I need more. Will give that a go.
Good! When learning, it’s good to have feedback if the curves need more attention.
They are all second iterations, and the cool curve is furthest out from linear, neutral next, and warm very close. I’m wanting to get all three closer to a match for #3, so since posting these, I’ve repeated more and gotten better results for the others, but they still sit have a wave above the line below mid-gray.
