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1996-01-08
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Studio V2.10b Update
This disk will update all Studio versions to version 2.10b. The
installation program on this disk will update your installed
Studio software. It will not change your original Studio disks.
However, you do need your original Studio disks for this update.
The update avoids changing your settings without permission. So
you can update and continue as usual. The software will be
updated in place. It is recommended to make a backup of your
system and Studio software before running this update. If you do
have problems with the new software, you can always use your
backup and don't forget to report the problems to Wolf Faust with
all details.
The installation program will check your installed Studio software
automaticly and will update all installed software as far as
available by this update. Not all changes done will be prompted
to you. For instance, if you used the CanonBJC800 output module
so far, it will be update quietly.
While all printers will benefit from this update, most changes of
this disk are mainly targeted at Deskjet 6xx and 8xx (xx means any
number like 00, 50, 55, ...) and Canon BJC 610 users. This update
comes with the latest software for these printers.
Please note that not all parts of Studio V2.00 - V2.06 are
updated. However, all major parts are updated. If you still
think you are missing something, contact your distributor and ask
for a complete set of V2.10b disks for a minor handling fee.
So here is a list of the included new software:
- Improved printing program and CMS tools.
- New Workbench DeskDriver, DeskDriver4C and CanonBJ-EC software.
- New output modules for the printing program:
o Canon BJC 610
o Deskjet 6xx, 8xx, 1600
- New Deskjet 6xx, 8xx and Canon BJC 610 printer profiles for the
printing program
- Minor fixes to the output modules:
o Fargo Primera (Greyscale printing fixed)
o Canon BJC 800 (DIN A3/US Ledger printing fixed)
o PCL_5C (some old PCL 5C printers had problems)
------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is the list of the latest Studio distributors:
Germany: Australia & New Zealand
Deutschland: GSoft Australia Pty Ltd.
arXon GmbH PO Box 59
Assenheimer Str. 17 Elizabeth SA
D-60489 Frankfurt Australia 5114
Germany Tel: 08-284-1266
Tel: 069-978410-26 Fax: 08-284-0922
Fax: 069-978410-30 (English Version)
(German Version)
The Netherlands: North America:
MacroSystem NL Safe Harbor Computers
Tromplaan 1 W226 N900 Eastmound Drive
3951 CL-Maarn Waukesha
Tel: 03432-2969 WI 53186
023-296166 Tel: 414-548-8120
Fax: 03432-3103 Fax: 414-548-8130
(English Version) (English Version)
United Kingdom: Belgium:
HiSoft Click! b.v.b.a.
The Old School, Greenfield Boomsesteenweg 468
Bedford MK45 5DE 2610 Wilrijk
Tel: 0525-718181 Tel: 038281815
Fax: 0525-713716 Fax: 038286736
(English Version) (English Version)
France: Spain:
Phoenix-DP Almathera TU Amiga Ordinadors
BP 801 C/Progreso No 6 Local3
64008 Pau Cedex 08120 La Liagosta
Tel/Fax: 059829500 Barcelona
Tel: (93) 560 3604
Fax: (93) 560 3607
------------------------------------------------------------------
DESKJET NOTES
Dear Deskjet 6xx/8xx (xx = 00, 60, 50, ...) user. WARNING: The
current drivers are able to print 600*600dpi in greyscale mode.
Please note that the printer is unable to print 600*600dpi in
color mode. Don't try to print color in 600dpi mode (Density 2 or
6 with the 600x600 option set in DeskPref/DeskPref4c) or you might
mess-up your printers output. The driver will automaticly print
in SuperGrey mode when trying to print 600x600dpi.
In order to print 600x600dpi, set the 600x600dpi gadget in
DeskPref/DeskPref4C. This will double the print resolution from
Density 1, 2 and 6. Use Density 2 or 6 for 600 dpi b/w printing.
Deskjet 8xx users should NEVER use density 5 (600*300) dpi for
printing. This mode is not supported by the Deskjet 8xx family
and can currently only be used with the Deskjet 6xx family.
Deskjet 6xx and Deskjet 8xx should always enable the 600x600
gadget in the DeskPref 4C preference program. This will enlarge
the printable area for graphics. Please note that the printers do
have an unprintable margin of roughly 1.5 cm (1.2 cm plus 3 mm
tolerance because of mechanical reason). It also avoids printing
offsets between different graphic pages.
DeskPref4C offers two presets in the menu for Deskjet 6xx and 8xx
users. "Set I" adjusts the driver for 300dpi greyscale printing
and 300 dpi color using an Ordered dither method. "Set II" adjust
the driver for 600 dpi greyscale printing (Ordered dither) and 300
dpi color using the slower Blue Noise dither. Simply try out wich
one fits your needs (and paper!) best. Or make your own settings
starting with one of these two presets.
It is rarely known that the Deskjet 8xx printers offer an enhanced
mode for printing color images. This mode is a major improvement
to other Deskjet's currently available - including the Deskjet 6xx
and 1600 series. The new Deskjet 8xx output module for the Studio
printing program supports this new mode. It allows you to use the
printers enhanced 64 color mode. In this mode, you can print up
to 64 colors at 300dpi. Normal drivers only offer you 8 colors
per addressable printer dot. The Deskjet 8xx output module offers
you to select the number of printable colors beside the print
density. If you select "300:300/64" as "Density" in Studio, you
get 300*300dpi with 64 colors per dot. Note that this improved
color mode requires more computing time and thus is often somehow
slower. Using this mode does not improve text or simple line art
graphics with primary colors. The main improvement comes with
color images.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Canon BJC
Different to the manual (V2.09 an ealier), Custom ResX and ResY
defines the page size for the CanonBJ5-230 and CanonBJ-EC in
1/360inch. The page size does include the unprintable margins.
The driver will automaticly subtract the margins for you. The
margins depend on the printer and emulation (Extended Emulation
offers a larger printable page size).
Canon BJC 610 users: please note that printing 720 dpi using the
Studio Workbench driver requires major color adjustments. Use the
menu presets for adjusting the driver for 720dpi support. Note
that the Canon bJC 610 will only print 720 graphics in BJC mode
(extended emulation). Whenever possible, use the printing
program's CMS for printing 720dpi. BJC 610 should use the BJC 600
profiles with the printing program. So when installing the
profiles, select the BJC 600 and BJC 610 profiles as recommended
by the installation program. More Canon BJC 610 720dpi and
720*360dpi profiles for various dither methods and paper types are
under development (see CompuServe's AmigaUser forum library for
the latest profiles updates).
If you experience strong stripes/banding of 1mm height in your BJC
610 output: make sure you run the print head alignment test as
described in the BJC manual. Also make sure the print head is ok.
Perform a printer nozzles test as described in the manual and
clean the print head several times. In some cases it can help to
print 20-30 fully colored pages if the print head was new. The
stripes are not caused by the printer driver. However, your print
mode, dither method and paper used are important. Don't try to
print high resolution on bad paper. You rather get worse results
compared to 360 dpi dumps. If you do experience 1mm height
stripes, try switching the dither method. The BJC often prints
less horizontal stripes when using an error diffusion (Floyd,
Stucki,...) or Blue Noise dither method.
------------------------------------------------------------------
STUDIO PRINTING PROGRAM
After three years work Studio's V2.10 CMS printing system is
finaly done. With release V2.10 we finaly have CMYK support
built-in and various precise profiles. The system now basicly
allows you to control any color aspect of your printer. We can now
concentrate on the rather "simple" things.
So what's the very near future (3 months)? Most important, we
will start releasing color profiles with measured values. These
profiles will finaly show the power of Studio's CMS. We will
start with new profiles for the Stylus Color family. If you think
the color in the output is not perfect now, than wait for these
new profiles ;-) Also you can expect further speed increases and
more functions combined with improvements to the user interface in
the very near future.
----
Studio (V2.08) now supports the PNG image format (PNG is
pronounced "ping"). The PNG format is intended to provide a
portable, legally unencumbered, well-compressed, well-specified
standard for lossless bitmapped image files. We hope PNG will
soon replace the well known GIF format. Beside offering more
features than GIF, PNG also offers a very good lossless
compression. We are sure PNG will soon become a well known
standard beside JPEG/JFIF format used for lossy compression
----
Studio (V2.09) now supports the PCX image format. This format is
very popular on MS DOS PC's. Studio supports 1,2,4,8 and 24 bit
PCX files. Studio is also able to print the first image of DCX
images. DCX images are mainly generated by fax software.
----
Studio (V2.10) now offers a saturation slider in the "Color..."
window. An additional separation window allows you to control the
separation used by Studio when printing color images without CMS.
----
The new separation functions offered are used for converting RGB
screen colors to CMYK printer colors. Please note that the
separation settings are used only if you print a color image
without using the CMS. CMS profiles provide their own separation
settings as the profiles are made for a specific separation
process. Changing the separation process would result in faulty
colors in the output. However, you can change the separation
function used by the CMS by changing the profile settings using
CMSEdit.
Studio currently offers five different separation functions:
Internal UCR/GCR: Uses the default internal separation. The
method is simple: Studio will print a black dot if a cyan,
magenta and yellow dot would otherwise be printed at the same
place.
Custom UCR/GCR: Uses the standard linear UCR and GCR
percentage settings defined by the UCR and GCR integer gadgets.
The meaning of this setting is very similar to that used by
various DTP and image processing programs on the Amiga.
Under color removal (UCR) describes the practice of removing
quantities (here defined in percentages) of yellow, magenta and
cyan from where the black is printing -- literally removing color
from under the black.
Greyscale component replacement (GCR) removes yellow, magenta and
cyan ink from where all three inks print together, and replaces
them with black. The black plate carries most of the tone in the
reproduction, therefore neutrals (greys) are easier to print.
Again, you define the percentage of how much color should be
replaced.
Custom UCR / Weak GCR: This setting uses the standard linear
UCR setting as described above, but with a preset "weak" non
linear grey component replacement function (Weak means less black
is used). The non linear function results in composite grey being
used for bright shades and black is only used for dark shades.
This gives you fewer distrurbing black dots in lighter areas of
your output. The output will look less grainy.
Instead of offering a GCR setting, this method offers a setting
for defining the maximum percentage of black being used by the
replacement function. Usually a value between 80 and 100 percent
gives good results.
"Custom UCR / Medium GCR": This setting is similar to Custom UCR
/ Weak GCR. However, the GCR function will use black for brighter
shades.
"Custom UCR /Strong GCR": This setting is similar to Custom UCR /
Medium GCR. However, the GCR function will use black for bright
shades and the increase of black is nearly linear to the amount of
composite grey of the processed color.
So, when do you need the separation functions?
Mainly when not using the CMS or when generating a profile using
the tools (CMSScan) described later in an extra chapter. There is
no general rule for which type of separation is best. The
"Internal UCR/GCR" function is very fast and offers decent
quality. The "Custom UCR/GCR" function is mainly offered for
compatibility with other programs. The last three non-linear
separation functions offer good quality. If your printer offers
good ink coverage without bleeding and similar problems, Custom
UCR / Weak GCR gives best results. For instance, if you own a
normal inkjet printer, Custom UCR / Weak GCR often gives the best
results when using coated paper. Plain paper often results in
rather worse output as too much color ink is being printed. In
those cases Custom UCR / Strong GCR might be better. Simply give
it a try and see what you think is best for your printer, paper
and dither method.
Again note: when generating a CMS profile make sure you select
the correct separation function for your set-up. Otherwise all
printed calibration pages might be useless because they would have
been made with a bad separation function.
----
Studio (V2.10) now includes several output modules for PCL
compatible printers (mainly DeskJets and LaserJets). All output
modules use Hewlett-Packard's "Printer Command Language" (PCL)
in various forms. The installation program will install the
proper output module for your printer. However, if you can't find
an output module listed for your specific model of printer, choose
an output module that matches your printer's emulation. We get
many letters asking for output modules for specific printers, even
if a generic module is available. In most cases these letters
have been unnecessary. For instance, there is not one single
drawback if you use a generic PCL 5C output module instead of a
specific DeskJet 1200C module. (PS: You can use this module in
b/w mode on Laserjet PCL 5 printers too!!!) The PCL 5C module was
designed to work with several printers, including the PaintJet
300XL.
The differences between the various DeskJet and PCL output modules
are minor. Often the output module will offer you settings in the
Config window which are already known by the preferences program
for the Workbench driver. So if you don't find a specific setting
described here, use the index of the Studio manual to learn about
the meaning of the setting.
First some general notes. Most modern DeskJet printers are able
to print 600 dpi maximum in greyscale mode, while the color mode
supports only 300 dpi maximum. If you own Studio V2.10 or higher,
the program will automatically switch from color to greyscale
printing if you choose a density of 600 dpi.
When it comes to color printing, the DeskJet 8xx output module is
a little different. Please note that a printer like the DeskJet
850C offers 300 dpi color printing similar to the cheaper DeskJet
660C printer. But the DeskJet 850C printer also offers 64 color
shades per addressable printer dot, compared to the normal 8
colors. This results in a much better output quality when
printing images. So once the DeskJet 8xx output module is
selected, the "Density" gadget in Studio will also show you the
printable color shades per addressable printer dot.
----
Following additions have been made to the ARexx interface of
Studio V2.10:
VERSION
Returns the version of the Studio ARexx interface. Up to version
2.09 Studio returns 1 in PRTSTUDIO_RESULT. Version 2.10 and
higher returns 2.
COLOR
GREYSCALE
Selects the default output print mode. The previous setting is
returned in PRTSTUDIO_RESULT. No error is reported. Note that it
is valid to select COLOR even if the image selected is a greyscale
one or the printer driver selected doesn't support color. The
setting mainly reflects the default preset. Studio will
automatically switch to greyscale printing if required.
The commands require Studio V2.10 or higher. Use the Version
command for detecting the Studio version.
SEPARATION
SEPARATION 0-4
Sets the type of separation used when printing a color image
without using the CMS. The previous setting is returned in
PRTSTUDIO_RESULT. If there was an error, RC is set to 10 and
PRTSTUDIO_RESULT to "Illegal value". The following values are
supported:
0: Use the default internal separation.
1: Use the standard linear UCR and/or GCR settings defined by the
UCR and GCR commands.
2: Use the standard linear UCR setting with a preset weak (Weak
means less black is used for replacing composite grey.) non linear
grey component replacement function. The GCR command can be
used for defining the maximum percentage of black ink being used
by the replacement function.
3: Use the standard linear UCR setting with a preset medium non
linear grey component replacement function. The GCR command can
be used for defining the maximum percentage of black ink being
used by the replacement function.
4: Use the standard linear UCR setting with a preset strong non
linear grey component replacement function. The GCR command can
be used for defining the maximum percentage of black ink being
used by the replacement function.
The Separation command requires Studio V2.10 or higher. Use the
Version command for detecting the Studio version.
UCR
UCR 0-9999
Sets or reads the amount of under color removal (UCR) in percent.
The setting is used depending on the type of Separation selected.
The previous setting is returned in PRTSTUDIO_RESULT. If there
was an error, RC is set to 10 and PRTSTUDIO_RESULT to "Illegal
value".
The UCR command requires Studio V2.10 or higher. Use the Version
command for detecting the Studio version.
GCR
GCR 0-9999
Sets or reads the type of grey component replacement (GCR) used by
the separation function. The meaning of the GCR value mainly
depends on the separation function being used. The value either
defines the percentage for black generated from a color by the GCR
function, or it defines the maximum amount of black ink to be
used.
The previous setting is returned in PRTSTUDIO_RESULT. If there
was an error, RC is set to 10 and PRTSTUDIO_RESULT to "Illegal
value".
The GCR command requires Studio V2.10 or higher. Use the
"Version" command for detecting the Studio version.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Studio Prof. History:
E = removed bug
C = changed
I = improvement
10.07.95 V2.08 I - Support for the new PNG image format added.
E - Problem with reading compressed Targa images fixed
E - Version 2.07 didn't install the SetupPJL program
for Laserjet 4L users. Users had to select PCL 5e
during installation for getting SetupPJL.
21.07.95 V2.09 I - PCX file format support added
I - DCX file format support added
27.11.95 V2.10 I - Switched to SAS/C V6.56 compiler. Optimizer now
seems to work fine and thus was fully enabled.
I - This is the major improvement in V2.10:
Scaling,
Dithering,
Border handling,
Effects,
CMS,
and much more...
rewritten for complete CMYK(!!!) processing.
Slightly faster too.
I - And this is the second major step:
CMS now accepts CMYK profiles and profiles with
various precission.
I - Saturation control added to the color window.
I - Update to PNG compression library
E - BNoise b/w dither method was not reentrant
since V2.07. Now reentrant again.
I - Separation functions/settings added.
Binary CMY->CMYK and CMYK->CMY functions
added beside the standard UCR/GCR functions.
I - SEPARATION [0-4], UCR [0-9999], GCR [0-9999],
GREYSCALE, COLOR and SATURATION [-50 - 50]
Arexx commands added. Arexx Version command
will now report "2" to reflect the changes.
E - A problem reported by a user when printing from ARexx
hopefully got fixed - even though I couldn't repeat
the problem on my machine. The problem seems to cause
dark/black images being printed when not using the
the PANEL command prior to PRINT or PRINT WAIT.
I - Blue Noise non binary dither method (previously
only used by Fargo output module) now much faster.
Also fixed: BNoise 30% was printed as 50%.
I - Studio Version is now supplied to the output module.
I - Studio will now switch to greyscale printing
for a specified print density if output module
doesn't support color printing for a specific
resolution. For instance, a Deskjet 660C can
only print greyscale at 600dpi.
I - Added additional functions to Studio server
for upcoming PageStream V3 server printer driver.
These functions offer an easy way to a
future setup window of the PageStream driver.
E - Canon BJC800 output module didn't allowed
paper width greater 8.5 inch. Because of this,
users had to use the slower Workbench driver
for printing A3. Similar problems with right
margin do exist with other Canon modules
when printing 180 dpi. Fixed.
I - A bug in the BSC/Alpha Data Multiface III
pit.device can cause a lockup of any print
program with a priority below 0. All output
modules will now open pit.device with
a changed priority of zero unless priority
was set to high by user (in this case
pit.device is always accessed with
priority 0 anyway).
I - Canon BJC 610, Deskjet 8xx, 6xx, 1600 and
PCL 5C output module with CRet and TES (REt)
support added. Also drivers and profiles
added for these new printers.
E - CanonBJ-EC right margin problems when using
a different density than 360dpi fixed.
I - 1200 dpi PJL and Max Res setting added to
LaserDriver for Lexmark Optra 1200dpi laser
printers. (not included with this update disk)
23.12.95 V2.10b C - Recompiled without SAS/C Peephole Optimizer
(just to make sure... as it seems the Optimizer
still didn't worked right).
E - DeskDriver4C might print 3-4 unwanted characters
on a page with some programs. Fixed.
E - Fargo Primera greyscale printing problems fixed.
I - PCL_5C output module now works with some
none 100% compatible PCL 5 printers. Faster too.
COPYRIGHT/DISCLAIMER
====================
Copyright ©1991-96 Wolf Faust. All rights reserved. The Studio
V2.10b update disk has been provided to you strictly 'as is',
without warranty of any kind. In no event shall Wolf Faust be
held liable for any loss or damages arising out of any action,
from whatever source, concerning the use or inability to use the
software. You may not use, copy, or transfer the product, or any
copy or portion, without prior consent in writing from Wolf Faust.
The disk can be distributed via electronic media like CompuServe
or InterNet as long as no payment for the software is asked. Any
other distribution is strictly forbidden.
Installer project icon (c) Copyright 1991-93 Commodore-Amiga, Inc.
All Rights Reserved. Reproduced and distributed under license
from Commodore.
(Continue by pressing 'Q')