Breaking the 108" Barrier
Jun. 16th, 2008 01:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tugrikOne of the little quirky surprises I found while learning this new bit of hardware: someone used a signed integer inside of the driver's code where they really shouldn't have. This means that one part of an equation in the driver is limited to a maximum of +32767 where it really shouldn't be. Through various conversions to actual pixel-raster and color patterning, this imposes a limit of 108". Go over it and the driver has a seizure, aborting the print before it even starts. This is good for not wasting paper on errors, but bad for getting the bigger banner-style prints done.
There are various things you can do about it by playing with the raster engine. Some fiddling tonight finally brought success. This is a 2004 Burning Man panorama (7 shots from a Canon 20D stitched together) and printed out. Final size: 24" x 129.5".
The kittycat was non-plussed, as we shoo'd him away before he could exercise his primary feline right to lounge upon it. The print will go up as a wall-banner in the shop, just because.
So far I've had great success with the rapid-dry photo papers, velvet fine art, outdoor vinyl and my traditional cut-sheet fine art stock. On the flipside, my biggest problems have been with my favorite Innova semi-matte perl on roll-stock and the canvas. The Innova has too much curl from the roll and undoubtedly requires some form of mounting or matting. If you don't it just makes a big half-pipe when you set the print down. Due to the surfacing, attempts to mechanically de-curl can cause image cracking. Unless the buyer is going to properly mount the piece I think I'll stick to the (unfortunately more expensive) cutsheet for the semimatte work. The canvas is just that I got a bad roll. The supplier cut a 50" into two 25"s and his saw did a poor job. The ragged right edge plays havoc with the skew sensor and it'll only load one time out of ten. I'm going to take it back to the supplier to get a left-cut (or non-cut) roll instead. That way I can try out proper mounting/stretching on the frame bars I bought from University Art this weekend (you can see them leaning against the table in the shot above).
I think what impresses me the most about this printer is its raw speed. That 128+" print took under 15 minutes. The monster AC dance posters, using the highest modes I could get the printer to do on that stock of paper, were all of 17 minutes. "Little" 13x19s drop out of it faster than I can get a glass of iced tea from the fridge enroute to the printer to pick them up.
There are various things you can do about it by playing with the raster engine. Some fiddling tonight finally brought success. This is a 2004 Burning Man panorama (7 shots from a Canon 20D stitched together) and printed out. Final size: 24" x 129.5".
The kittycat was non-plussed, as we shoo'd him away before he could exercise his primary feline right to lounge upon it. The print will go up as a wall-banner in the shop, just because.
So far I've had great success with the rapid-dry photo papers, velvet fine art, outdoor vinyl and my traditional cut-sheet fine art stock. On the flipside, my biggest problems have been with my favorite Innova semi-matte perl on roll-stock and the canvas. The Innova has too much curl from the roll and undoubtedly requires some form of mounting or matting. If you don't it just makes a big half-pipe when you set the print down. Due to the surfacing, attempts to mechanically de-curl can cause image cracking. Unless the buyer is going to properly mount the piece I think I'll stick to the (unfortunately more expensive) cutsheet for the semimatte work. The canvas is just that I got a bad roll. The supplier cut a 50" into two 25"s and his saw did a poor job. The ragged right edge plays havoc with the skew sensor and it'll only load one time out of ten. I'm going to take it back to the supplier to get a left-cut (or non-cut) roll instead. That way I can try out proper mounting/stretching on the frame bars I bought from University Art this weekend (you can see them leaning against the table in the shot above).
I think what impresses me the most about this printer is its raw speed. That 128+" print took under 15 minutes. The monster AC dance posters, using the highest modes I could get the printer to do on that stock of paper, were all of 17 minutes. "Little" 13x19s drop out of it faster than I can get a glass of iced tea from the fridge enroute to the printer to pick them up.
