I’m getting an unexpected result from printing a PiezoDn negative for linearizing a new printer. I’m getting a positive on the film when printing a target with the 2nd iteration .quad.
I first printed a 129 step target negative last week with a .quad that was linearized for my old printer. The negative came out as expected (as a negative). I printed the negative in the lab and read the resulting positive with my i1. I put the measurements into the Pro tool and saw (in the Home tab) that the target had printed a bit dark.
So I opened the .quad that I used to make the negtive in Sublime text, copied the info and entered it into the Starting Curve tab
The measurements of the target were in the measurements tab
I copied out the information in the New Curve tab, saved it as a .quad file in the printer folder and installed it for my printer (3880-PiezoDN-Pro)
I set up the same target and selected the new curve in Print Tool and proceeded to print a new negative. It comes out as a positive?!?
To check my setup, I then went back to Print Tool and changed to the original curve to see if it too would print as a positive - it did not. It printed as expected - as a negative.
I’ve redone the whole process and still get a positive. Placing the two curve files side by side in Sublime text, the K channel numbers in both start off high and go down as I read down the file. The numbers are different since one was run through the Pro tool, but they look very similar. The other channels are also similar.
Can anyone help spot my error
TIA,
Mark
Dear Mark, most likely what is happening is you have a permissions error. This will result in a positive (aka, no curve being able to print default).
Set the permissions on the curve to read-write for all and re-install. This should work
best
-Walker
A follow up on this thread. Since I had this problem with PiezoDN printing positives on film, I’ve made it a practice to always run the terminal command <sudo chmod -R 777 /Library/Printers/QTR/quadtone> each time after I install a new curve. Up until now (as recently at 11/15), it has always worked: new curves produced a negative on film as expected.
I tried to install a new curve yesterday (11/20) and despite running the command, the new curve would print a positive image on the film. I checked to see how the permissions were set on the curve in the /Library/Printers/QTR/quadtone folder, and they were all set to “Read And Write” and still it printed a positive.
In looking back on this thread I see that Walker advised me to set the permissions on the curve in the Piezography/Curves folder so I checked there, and indeed, the permissions for “Everyone” on the new curve were set to “No Access” I set the permissions in the Piezography folder for everyone to “Read And Write” and reinstalled - as Walker advised a year ago and everything now works as expected!
Why the terminal command does no longer fixes this problem I do not know, but for me at least, it no longer seems to work to fix this situation. I’m running a Mac mini M1 system 15.1 if that helps at all. I hope this keeps someone else from pulling their hair out as I have done over the last 12 hours.
Best,
Mark
Sequoia is a definite impediment to any non-standard or non-blessed printing.
A mac mini with Monterey or earlier is about $50 - $75 on eBay and opens up the world of QTR and saved settings to make an easier printing solution. If QTR becomes Apple blessed things will change - but I do not believe RH has any intention of doing so.
Ponderosa Pine or Red Oak or whatever Apple will call v16 and 17 will just make it worse.
If anyone needs an instructions for setting up an older OS X mac mini email me and I will instruct you how to print from Sequoia to the server and restore your sanity. The investment is less than the aggravation post Monterey… Cone Editions Press is all run on Sierra, Mountain Lion and Monterey. All of our printing and CM is stabilized.
On the other hand, iCal is fantastic on the new OS X and how it integrates with MacMail to automatically create events and suggestions for events! But, that is not worth the aggravation of losing so much of the printing and color management freedoms we all enjoyed years ago. Gosh that sounds freaky familiar. 
best,
Jon Cone
The confusing part is that this machine and system worked last Friday, and didn’t work yesterday - and nothing was changed!
I guess that is the aggravation to which you refer!
Thanks Jon,
Mark