#5420 SuperMatch ProofPositive Printers Q&A

Q: The colors on my printouts are not coming out the way I think they should. Is there anything I can do to correct this problem?

A: There are two possible solutions:

First, the ProofPositive lets you improve the color matching and compensate for variations in print media and engines by adjusting the Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and blacK (CMYK) color curves. By adjusting the color curves individually, you can fine-tune the hue, saturation and the lightness of your printed output. This feature can also help you achieve better color matching results with the ProofPositive Printer.

Creating a Color Map file -

To create a custom color curve map file, you need to have Photoshop 2.5 or greater installed.
To create a color map, launch Photoshop and open a CMYK file. This image will help you judge the effects the custom color curves will have on the printed output.
Type Command-M, or select "Adjust" from the Image menu, and drag to the right to select Curves. The Curves window will appear:
Drag the pointer to the square Input/Output graph. As you move the crosshairs in the graph, the input and output values are displayed below. The values are displayed in either levels (0-255) or in percentages (0-100%).
If the Input/Output values are displayed in levels, click the gradient bar, The gradient bar reverses and the Input/Output values will be displayed in percentages. (Clicking the gradient bar toggles the values between levels and percentages.)
The values must be displayed in percentages for the screen image to approximate the effects of your color adjustments. The Input (horizontal) value corresponds to the color level in your image file; the Output (vertical) value corresponds to the color saturation in your ProofPositive print.
Click the Curve tool or the Pencil tool, either can be used to adjust the color curves.
Select the color channel (CMYK) you want to adjust from the Channel pop-up menu. Adjustments you make to the CMYK "master" channel curve apply to all four color channels. (If you are using a gray-scale ribbon, select the CMYK channel.)
Check the Preview box to display the approximate effects your color adjustments will have on your ProofPositive output. The speed of the preview process is affected by the size of the image; smaller images preview faster than larger ones.
To make curve adjustments, drag points of the existing curve (with the Curve tool) or draw your own curve (with the Pencil tool). Repeat this step for each color channel you want to adjust.
Click the Pencil tool. You must have the Pencil tool selected to save the file in the correct format for ProofPositive.
Click Save, then name and save the file. You can save the file to any location on your hard disk.
The file contains the word "Map." (If you did not click the Pencil tool before you saved the file the icon contains the word "Curves" and can not be seen by the ProofPositive.)

Selecting the Color Map -

To use the custom color curve when printing, you must select the Map file using the EfiColor dialog box. To open the EfiColor dialog box:
From the Export Module: Launch Photoshop, select the Export from the File menu, then select ProofPositive Export SCSI from the sub menu. The ProofPositive window appears. Click Color.
From the ProofPositive CPSI SC application: Launch the application and select Preferences from the Server menu and Color Matching from the sub-menu.
Note: For networked ProofPositive Printers: Color Maps are configured at the Host Macintosh only. Client computers that print to the ProofPositive over the network cannot control color curve options.
Chose "Select" from either the CMY Ribbon or the CMYK Ribbon menu. Use the menu that corresponds to your chosen print mode. If you print in both CMY and CMYK modes, You can select a different color map file for each mode. Click OK. The default setting is "None."
If you open the EfiColor dialog box using Photoshop, the color map is used whenever you print by choosing the Export module from the File menu.
If you open the EfiColor dialog box using the ProofPositive CPSI application the color map is used when ever you select print from the File menu.
Once you select a Map file, ProofPositive uses this file for all printing in that mode until you select another Map file (or select None) in the EfiColor dialog box.

The second option is one that should be available Q1 of 1995. It involves new ribbon, software, and ROMs. The current ribbon dye set has a Magenta that leans towards Rhodamine (more purple) and the Cyan has too much yellow in it. The new ribbons will very closely approximate US pre-press colors. The ROMs will provide the lookup tables to make the fine tuning adjustments to the color output and the software provides a proprietary color matching system that integrates the preceding two.

Q: My printer ribbon keeps winding. What do I do now?

A: Immediately hit the cover release button. This will open the cover and stop the winding process.

There are two possible explanations for this problem:

There could be a problem with mixed ribbon designations. The type of ribbon that you are currently using in your printer needs to be set in two places.

First is on the printer itself. This is done by taking the printer off-line, then depressing the Mode button once and the Menu button once. At this point the LCD should read "Ribbon:" and the following three options are available: 4 color, 3 color or 1 color. Select the color number that corresponds to the number of colors on your ribbon.

Second, the Ribbon type needs to be set within the software. Under Server go to the Preferences sub menu and from that sub menu select Printer. When the dialogue box opens it will give you three options: Gray Scale, CMY and CMYK. Select the Ribbon type that corresponds to the ribbon you have installed in your printer.

NOTE: The printer optically reads the indicator bands that exist between each of the plates on the ribbon. If the Ribbon type is set incorrectly, the printer will be looking for a band that does not exist on that particular ribbon and thus continue winding.

Second, if a job was sent to print and the error occurred after loading the paper. The ribbon will have advanced sufficiently to move the indicator band beyond the optical readers, thus causing the ribbon to wind to the next Yellow plate. By popping the cover immediately, it is a simple matter to hand roll the ribbon back to the correct starting point, which would be between the Yellow and Black plates if you have a CMYK ribbon and between the Yellow and Cyan plates if you have a CMY ribbon. If in doubt as to where to place the indicator band, place it half way between the platen and the supply roller.

Q: My printer is out of registration. How do I fix it ?

A: There are two steps involved in determining if the registration is really off or if a simple cleaning problem exists.

Step # 1 - Thoroughly clean the printer. The recommended cleaning materials are: Isopropyl or Anhydrous alcohol and a lint-free cloth. The following surfaces will need to be cleaned: all metal rollers (there are three, one of which is a bi-level roller), the rubber platen, the thermal head (which is located in the cover of the printer), and the underside of the peeling plate which is the beveled metal surface located immediately above the thermal head.

Step # 2 - If cleaning does not bring the printer into registration, a test print will need to be sent to Tech Support to verify mis-registration. The file in question can be found on the Installer disk in a folder titled Calibration Files. In this folder there are two folders titled Full Page Calibration and Two Page Calibration. In each of these folders are two files: ProofPositive CPSI Spool 1 or 2 and Full or Two Page Test.sea. The .sea file needs to be copied to the desktop and then extracted. Print using the Photoshop Export Module WITHOUT any color matching on. The print then needs to be sent to Radius Technical Support at the following address:

Radius, Inc.
460 E. Middlefield Rd.
Mountain View, CA 94043
Attention: Mary Lou Schar

Upon receipt of the file in question it will be measured against the specifications of the printer to determine if it is, in fact, out of registration. If it is out of registration then the customer will be contacted and given error code and a part number, at which point, a Radius Service Fulfillment representative must be contacted at 650-404-6400, to arrange an RMA (Return Material Authorization).

Q: My image is getting cropped. How do I correct this problem?

A: There are several reasons why and might be image cropped:

First, if you have a Two-Page printer and have not changed the default under Server > Preferences > Printer from Full-Page to Two-Page then you will get image cropping. This can also occur if you have thrown away the Preferences files for any reason. When this is done the newly created Preferences revert to the default which in this case is the Full-Page setting.

A second cause of cropping is the result of using the wrong Chooser Driver. For all applications except PageMaker 5.0, the ProofPositive Chooser Driver is the correct driver to select. In addition to choosing this driver, you need to make certain that you set up the paper specifications correctly. For Example: if you are using the full-bleed paper on the Full-Page printer you need to make sure the paper size is correctly set to Full Page: Full Bleed A*A4. The following options are available:

 Full Page: Letter A
 Full Page: Letter A4
 Full Page: Full Bleed A*A4
 Two Page: Letter A
 Two Page: Letter A4
 Two Page: Full Bleed A*A4
 Two Page: Tabloid A3
 Two Page: Tabloid B
 Two Page: Full Bleed BA3

The correct paper size to select for the example above is the Full Page: Full Bleed A*A4.

Additionally, when using the ProofPositive Driver in some applications like Quark you need to select the printer type as well, which should always be the ProofPositive (with nothing appended after the name).

Third, cropping might occur because of mixed software versions. If you have installed a newer version of the software it would be advisable to check that all your versions are correct and that none of the old versions remain. There are several locations that should be checked and are as follows:

 (PageMaker 5.0 +) Aldus Folder -> PPD Folder -> ProofPositive.PPD
 (PageMaker 4.2x) Aldus Folder -> PPD Folder -> ProofPositive.PDX
 (PageMaker 4.0) Aldus Folder -> APD Folder -> ProofPositive.APD
 (Quark Xpress ) application folder -> ProofPositive.PDF

Q: The serial number on the disk is not being accepted. Why is this happening?

A: For any new 2.0 installation there are two serial numbers that should be included with the software.

The first is the serial number for your CPSI (Configurable PostScript Interpreter) software. This number is found on the front of the yellow PostScript Software Installer disk and starts with SMTxxxxxxxxx-xxx (where the x's represent unique numbers). This serial number is not case sensitive.

The second serial number is for the 2.0 version of the EfiColor Matching System and can be found on the front of the red Photoshop Export Module Installer disk and reads as follows: XMxxxxxxxXAA (where the x's represent unique numbers). This serial number is case sensitive.

If these numbers are missing for any reason from the disks, you may contact Technical Support at 650-404-6400, and we will provide you with the appropriate serial number. Please be advised that it is your responsibility to keep track of this number and that we advise you to note it in your manuals or any other appropriate place you have for tracking important numbers.

Q: I can't find the ProofPositive Chooser Driver. I've tried using the installer but it doesn't seem to install. What's wrong?

A: In version 2.0 of this software, the ProofPositive Chooser Driver does not automatically install. The driver can be drag copied from the yellow disk titled "PostScript Printer Fonts". There are 19 items on the disk and the file in question "ProofPositive CPSI" needs to be placed in the extensions folder.

Q: I have a buffer drive attached to my SCSI interface and am getting a dialog box that says there is no buffer drive attached. What's wrong?

A: In order for any drive to work as a buffer drive it needs to be able to provide termination power to the SCSI bus and have the SCSI ID set to 0 (zero). Normally the Mac provides termination power for a SCSI chain, but since this drive is on a separate SCSI chain it must provide it own source of termination power. When we talk about termination power we mean that the image buffer drive needs to supply a positive 5 volts on Pin 38 of the 50 pin external SCSI connector or pin 26 on the drive controller card. You can check if a drive supplies termination power by using a volt meter. Many drives support this, but need to have jumpers set on their controller cards in order to work properly.

Suggested Drives:

Quantum claims that their empire drives (500 MB and larger) will support termination power to the bus, but need to have their jumpers configured properly. The Quantum 540 will work if its jumpers are set correctly. (To date, it appears that most small Quantum drives will not work.)

Most newer and current Maxstor drives do support termination power to the SCSI bus. The Maxstor 290 and 540 are known good drives.

Seagate

Drives appear to support termination power to the SCSI bus, but need their jumpers set correctly. The Seagate ST12550N and ST3283N both support termination power if the jumpers are set correctly.

Mass Microsystems Diamond drives use Maxstor mechanisms; these should work provided the jumpers are set correctly.

Radius is currently using Club Mac 340's, these seem to work fine.

In general, older drives usually do not work because most do not support termination power. In particular, smaller drives taken out of Macs tend to be Quantum drives and do not work.

There do not appear to be any major drive manufacturers currently producing 130 or 170 MB drives. Some have inventory, but the smallest drives tend to be in the 300 to 500 MB range.

Additional drives are being tested and a list compiled of specific drive types that work. If you as an end user will supply the names of drive types that work and don't work this would be very helpful in providing a more extensive listing.

Drives that don't work:

Micronet 2I-173

Quantum 240S

In addition, all known APS Technologies drives do not work. APS uses active termination and does not supply termination power to the SCSI chain.

Q: My ribbon is torn. Is there some way to fix it?

A: Torn ribbon can be fixed with Transparent tape. Apply a single piece of tape smoothly and carefully over the tear or over the two torn pieces to join them together. Then when you close the cover and put the printer back on-line, the ribbon will wind to the next starting point.

Comments to support@radius.com