So what is
ImagePrint?
What it isn't is a substitute for
Photoshop or any other image/graphic editing application;
Photoshop, Illustrator, Corel Draw, et al are all
safe. ImagePrint is a high performance print engine or RIP
(Raster Image Processor) that has been designed to optimally
convert image data into a format that can be easily interpreted by the
printer. RIPS's are intended to process large quantities of image data
very quickly and in this context a 100MB plus multi-layer image will
typically begin to print after only a few 10's of seconds. In effect it
replaces the conventional print driver with which we are all familiar.
Furthermore, and unlike the majority of currently available RIP's
ImagePrint was written to address the needs of the professional
photographer rather than simply adhering to convention and dealing with
the purely illustrative graphics market. The application was developed
for, and is compatible with, a large range of wide bodied (Epson 7600,
9600, 10600, Fuji Roland, HP, IRIS, etc) printers. A LITE version
or ImagePrint is available exclusively for the desktop printers
listed below:
The LITE version of ImagePrint does not include the
colour correction, package printing, auto-print or page tiling features
described in the ColorByte product literature. Nevertheless, for
those requiring them the full feature set is available at additional
cost. A demo version is available from ColorByte Software
although at time of writing this review it was only available upon
request. In order for ImagePrint to be fully functional it will
need a spare USB port on your computer to accommodate the software
protection dongle. Without this dongle ImagePrint will operate in
demonstration mode; i.e. watermarking all images with the word
"Demo".
Depending on the printer make and model
ImagePrint supports various print speed (quality) and media sizes
including all the standard options from the Epson driver. For example,
with the Epson 2100/2200 this includes 720dpi, 1440dpi normal and
high speed printing plus 2880dpi printing. Multi-pass printing is also
available for printers such as the Epson
7600/9600.
The main ImagePrint application is
also the control centre for laying out images and sending them to an
output device such as an inkjet printer. ImagePrint provides a
large assortment of high-end layout and colour correction tools although
as noted above some of these have been omitted from the LITE version.
ImagePrint is designed to be extremely easy to use with visual
feedback provided for virtually every feature. This means that you can
achieve true WYSIWYP (What You See Is What You Print) output without
sacrificing the power of a high-end printing application.
ImagePrint is a fully cross-platform inkjet printing solution
that should be equally competent in any Windows, Macintosh or mixed
network environment. However, for optimum printer performance on mixed
networks ColorByte recommend a multi-tasking operating system
such as Windows 2000, XP or OS X.
The screen shot shown below shows the main tool palette
and control panel (all of which can be hidden if required). Unlike
applications such as Photoshop the image displayed in the
Layout Area is a Softproof which means it is previewed
using the active media profile rather than the more conventional working
space profile. This can be a bit disconcerting at first especially if a
matte paper has been selected, but you soon get used to it.
ImagePrint Interface and
Tools
ImagePrint is suitable for printing both Bitmap and
Vector based images; a Postscript option is also available. You'll only
need the PostScript version if you print PDF or EPS files, or would like
to print directly from within any Windows application such as
Adobe Illustrator, InDesign or Photoshop.
As befits any application claiming to be
a RIP ImagePrint facilitates automatic page layout. It allows the
user to simply drop images onto ImagePrint and these are then
automatically positioned on the page. If you want to move an image just
drag it into position using the fully WYSIWYG enabled page composition
controls. User defined page sizes can be saved and called back for use
at any time using a dedicated dialog. To configure a new page size it's
simply a matter of specifying the actual page dimensions and
ImagePrint will take care of the rest. The following screen shot
shows an example for A3 paper.
ImagePrint also supports roll paper and so those
wishing to print panorama images can do so without resorting to
stitching prints together. I haven't established the actual maximum
print length but am advised that it exceeds any roll media supplied by
Epson.
 20 April 2003
With the introduction of ImagePrint 5.5 ColorByte
have delivered some new and very welcome enhancements. After
overcoming a few hurdles (the beta version I was testing wouldn't
recognise my Epson 2100) I finally got down to putting version 5.5
through its paces. Image Centring and True Borderless
Printing are now possible. The image centring feature places the
image centrally relative to the actual page size rather than the more
normal printable area, which is a welcome improvement on Epson's
definition of centre. The absence of Borderless Printing wasn't
something that I spilled many tears over but it's now available and
appears to function as advertised. The following screen shot shows the
dialog where the user activates these features. Media Type and
Feed Adjustment are only available on the Epson 7600/9600/10600
printers.
Centre Margin and Borderless Printing
The package print feature gives the professional
photographer a fair degree of flexibility. A different template can be
applied to every image on the page and Templates can be designed to any
size with as many frames as your page size can accommodate. Set-up the
frame orientation in either landscape or portrait to maximize page use
and let the Auto-Rotate feature take care of the rest. Images will be
rotated automatically to fit the frame size.
ImagePrint support for
Templates
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