Piezography Driver
The Piezography Driver is a new driver for the Piezography Ink system that is in beta. This driver will print both traditional Piezography inkjet prints as well as PiezoDN (Piezography Digital Negatives).
Code License:
This driver is built with the Gutenprint LUTs branch (source code and license at link) and is GNUv2 open source. Attached to this driver is a set of other indapendant tools for linearizing ink curves that are not open source. The individual curves packaged with this driver are not yet distributed as they are simply sample curves and are not meant to be collaboratively edited. This project may exist as part of Gutenprint or as a down-stream fork of Gutenprint (hosted on GitHub) in the future.
The Beta discussion is located at our community forums here: https://community.inkjetmall.com/c/beta-tester
If you do not have access to the beta discussion you will need to register at community.inkjetmall.com and request access to the BetaTesters group here: https://community.inkjetmall.com/groups
We do not offer ANY private email support. We try to keep everything beta-related on a cross-polinating discussion forum.
The driver significantly increases resolution, dot placement, dither and microweave quality, all while simplifying the customer experience. After purchasing a Piezography ink set, the only other thing one will have to do is install the Piezography driver. For now, calibration is done with a new Excel tool. This will be the case until we release a full linearization app for the driver.
If you are a beta tester, you can log in and download the beta below. Please note: this is an early stage beta software. The underlying lookup tables (known previously as “curves”) may change from beta version to beta version. Support and documentation is also not yet written nor is the upcoming Piezography Pro Blending tool which allows for Pro ink printing (and toning) on the driver.
For now, I ask that all beta testers use the driver with digital negative printing. This driver is specifically to be tested for PiezoDN on the SureColor printers and 1430 and small format printers. This is where the biggest changes live between QuadtoneRIP and the new driver.
All the best,
Walker Blackwell, R&D Vermont Photo Inkjet
Beta Testing Requirements: OS X 10.7 or newer. A spectrophotometer. Excel 2015 or newer. Piezography ink (preferrably pro ink because that is why we are building this driver: for pro ink and PiezoDN printing).
If you are already a PiezoDN or Piezography Professional Edition customer and are interested in becoming a Beta Tester for this driver, you can apply below. Be sure to include the email address associated with your account at piezography.com so we can give you access to this beta download.
Change Log:
Aug 29, 2018, v.38 Beta ~
Initial support for XP-15000 + PP tool update to 1.17 Gold Master.
May 1st, 2018, v.36 Beta ~
No major update. Minor density fixes.
May 1st, 2018, v.35 Beta ~
No major update. (coming soon I hope). Only change is I updated the Piezography Professional Tool to allow for proper curve re-mapping and re-naming. The 256 false corrections have been fixed a bit as well + some under-the-hood things.
When adding a printer the driver is now called “Piezography Beta” so you know that it’s actually the Piezography Beta driver.
April 2, 2018, v.34 Beta ~
1. I fixed head offset issues with 3800, 3880, and P800 printers. This should fix some issue with noise and edging. (same type of refinement is coming for printers like the 1430 when I can get to it).
2. There are zero density changes right now. This will come in the big update when I even the densities across all printers. I will also include a secondary installer that will allow for anyone who wants to to revert back to the original densities.
3. There are no new curves, etc.
4. Added v 1.09 of the P Professional tool.
Jan 10, 2018, v.33 Beta ~
1. Fixed white-point rendering of Piezography-ICC-Profiler
2. Update ICNS printer app icon.
Jan 9, 2018, v.32 Beta ~
1. Created first of its kind “Piezography-ICC-Profiler” based on top of the open-source ArgyllCMS code available at http://argyllcms.com. This is an alternative colorimetric calibration workflow that can work in conjunction with ink linearization or in replace of it. It creates screen-to-print matched (non linear) contrast. That means that print will match your screen contrast without requiring softproofing.
2. The Piezography Professional Tool now builds correct ICC measurement data for the Piezography ICC Profiler.
3. ICC’s built by this profiler are industry standard meaning they will work to print from any ICC-compliant application such as Photoshop, Lightroom, etc.
Jan 8, 2017, v.31 Beta ~
1. Updated the Piezography Professional Tool to allow for Argylle “.ti3” data format for creating RGB ICC profiles from the original monochromatic measurement data.
2. Squashed a bug in v.30 that was keeping small format expert mode drivers from working. All drivers are now in expert mode. Delete and re-add your printer to get the new functionality!!!
Jan 5, 2017, v.30 Beta ~
- Driver now lives in an official .bundle inside of /Library/Printers/.
- Piezography Professional Tool is now at v1.06. Took out sheet protection on the ones that need to be edited (DO NOT DELETE COLUMNS ONLY CONTENT!)
- i1Profiler ICC CGATS data now works to build an actuall RGB ICC with (validated).
- Fixed a few internal under-the-hood things.
- Added “Piezo” logo to the printer display.
Dec 14, 2017, v.28 Beta ~
Fixed 24″ wide printing.
Dec 14, 2017, v.27 Beta ~
Updated Professional Tool to fix some bs. Added dMax tester LUTs for 1430 R&D. Fixed some permissions issues. There may be a bug when adding 7880, 7800, and 7890 printers. Fixing in v.28 (sorry). Validated that platen gap, feed speed, vacuum pressure, and thickness settings WORK FROM THE DRIVER! (on pro-series printers). YAY!
Dec 13, 2017, v.26 Beta ~
1. Updated Piezograpy Professional Tool with measurement error correction (only really needed for top and bottom measurements with negatives)
2. Increased density of x900 printers. If you have already linearized, you will need to again. sorry.
3. Small formats work in “Expert mode” now.
4. Lots of under-the-hood work. Driver now lives inside of a codesigned “printerDriver” bundle inside of /Library/Printers/ . . . for security and organization and to minimize cross conflict.
This driver may or may not conflict with the PaperCut system of print auditing tools.
Dec 12, 2017, v.25 Beta ~
1. P600 PiezoDN is working.
2. 1430/1400 PiezoDN is working.
3. Added RGB-ICC-Data tab to the Piezography Professional tool. After pasting your measurements, you can now simply go to the RGB-ICC-Data tool and save this data as a text file, import into i1Profiler, and build an ICC. No need to do anything with any other tab (or even to have a curve in there at all.) This is an alternative workflow to linearization and for many people it’s their current standard operating procedure (building RGB ICC profiles) when dealing with any printer. This also works for PiezoDN. Note: Printing with ICCs is more contrasty than Linear printing because ICCs attempt to simulate monitors and workflows that do not rely on soft-proofing.
4. Added L* and Density columns to the HOME sheet so you can see what your measurements are and dMax.
5. Added 512 i1io v2 target on request.
Dec 11, 2017 ~ Published initial dot releae beta .24 for first testing. Master curves for 1430 (PiezoDN K6), P400 (Pro), P800 (Pro), all x8xx printers (user 3880 master curves), all x900 printers. Inks not entirely balanced yet. Gloss inkjet printing not set. This is for Pro ink and PiezoDN digital negatives!!
Over coming days will release beta .25 with P600 support.
Also first initial release of the Piezography Professional Tool (v 1.03) for calibraiton of QTR and Driver curves. Beta testers only.
-Walker