Imagesetters
Having some problems getting plates made ( again ). I think its time to bite the bullet and go in house. ( I have heard all the arguments against this, I get it. ) It has been a long time since I worked with an image setter, most of the obsolete ones were new then. I know I need a rip. But with computers today, do I still need a dedicated computer, can I “rip” on my mac? I can not imagine that a computer that would now fit in my iphone still needs its own dedicated desktop.
You may get a lot of response from the yahoo group PP Letterpress run by Gerald Lange.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PPLetterpress/
have had experience of Photoprint dx6(which is a bit old there are updated versions now from S A International) and Wasatch which only run on pc’s, allowing one to use screens, and alter/change outputs for various densities, incl colour separation etc, these are quite expensive but you can buy second user ones eg I have seen them from maschinensucher.de so you should be able to find some in the U.S.A. I would have thought, not everyone needs the latest software .Some years ago we also used microspot x rip on the mac to send large format prints to an Epson 7000 but I think one would be reliant on illustrator settings to make negatives, which is ok for the average student letterpress plate……..you can have a chat with www.digiprint-supplies.com. probably with othersuppliers too, but apologies can’t give current advice for a RIP on a mac as I am a bit out of date with this info although our large format printing technician does not use a RIP to print from Macs at the moment.Other RIP’s are Filmgate, Starproof.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1245348 small discussion here. Hope you get what you want, try digital transfer film I have previously posted, and more normal coated CAD films.
http://www.positivityltd.co.uk/RIP-software.htm
this company is advertising free RIP software for A3/4 printers, so presumably other companies may be doing so…?
Might be worth checking as they are advertising image setters etc too