EFI Colorproof XF

Started by DigiCorn, December 21, 2010, 01:02:26 PM

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DigiCorn

December 21, 2010, 01:02:26 PM
Been running EFI Colorproof XF 3.1 on a Windows XP Pro SP3 with 4GB RAM for about 3 years now. It's on a Proactive Technologies box, which are usually pretty rock solid, but we've been having some issues as of late. 6 months ago or so, the board went out (and it's out of warranty of course) and we ordered and replaced it with the same board from Proactive.

About every few weeks, the Client will "lose connection" with the server, despite the Client and EFI server installed on the same box.

Last week, on a proof, it previewed and printed several inches out of register. Today, it errored on a file, that when requeued previewed fine, and imaged fine for about 4 inches, and then just the Cyan went out of register for the remainder.  :wtf:

Anyone else having EFI Colorproof XF issues?

I impose in Preps 5.3.3 and export an .eps. I register the .eps in Rampage and send EFI a positive .ps file. Should I be sending a different kind of file? Is there any speed/color advantage to sending a different kind of file (i.e. 1-bit .tif)?
"There's been a lot of research recently on how hard it is to dislodge an impression once it's been implanted in someone's mind. (This is why political attack ads don't have to be true to be effective. The other side can point out their inaccuracies, but the voter's mind privileges the memory of the original accusation, which was juicier than any counterargument ever could be.)"
― Johnny Carson

"Selling my soul would be a lot easier if I could just find it."
– Nikki Sixx

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."
― Ernest Hemingway

Joe

#1
December 21, 2010, 01:16:23 PM
Sounds more like a printer issue than an EFI or file issue to me. Our Canon W8200 printer used to do that if the mylar encoded digital strip needed replaced.
Mac OS Sonoma 14.2.1 (c) | (retired)

The seven ages of man: spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills and wills.

DigiCorn

#2
December 21, 2010, 02:39:05 PM
Quote from: Joe on December 21, 2010, 01:16:23 PMSounds more like a printer issue than an EFI or file issue to me. Our Canon W8200 printer used to do that if the mylar encoded digital strip needed replaced.
No... it's Colorproof XF. This one looked like it previewed fine, but the previous one previewed out of register. It's like the file comes over in .ps C-M-Y-K and Colorproof XF isn't assembling the composite properly.

Should I be sending a different kind of file? Is there any speed/color advantage to sending a different kind of file (i.e. 1-bit .tif)?
"There's been a lot of research recently on how hard it is to dislodge an impression once it's been implanted in someone's mind. (This is why political attack ads don't have to be true to be effective. The other side can point out their inaccuracies, but the voter's mind privileges the memory of the original accusation, which was juicier than any counterargument ever could be.)"
― Johnny Carson

"Selling my soul would be a lot easier if I could just find it."
– Nikki Sixx

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."
― Ernest Hemingway

Joe

#3
December 21, 2010, 03:31:46 PM
We used one-bit tiffs but you have to have the one-bit tif option for EFI to use that. We also used PDF's for our sheetfed stuff as we got a smoother proof than using the screened one-bit tiffs. I've never seen EFI combine the colors out of register though. Even applying web growth to the separations and EFI would rescale them and make them fit.
Mac OS Sonoma 14.2.1 (c) | (retired)

The seven ages of man: spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills and wills.

DigiCorn

#4
June 14, 2011, 08:16:18 AM
Well, my EFI box is about to bite the big one. I've replaced the motherboard, but it's having some serious issues. I'm just going to build a new box for it. Does anyone know if EFI Colorproof XF 3.1 will run on W7 or do I have to upgrade to 4.5? Or should I just build the box and install XP Pro back on it? No info on these specs on EFIs website.
"There's been a lot of research recently on how hard it is to dislodge an impression once it's been implanted in someone's mind. (This is why political attack ads don't have to be true to be effective. The other side can point out their inaccuracies, but the voter's mind privileges the memory of the original accusation, which was juicier than any counterargument ever could be.)"
― Johnny Carson

"Selling my soul would be a lot easier if I could just find it."
– Nikki Sixx

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."
― Ernest Hemingway

andyfest

#5
June 14, 2011, 10:14:31 AM
We use an older version (EFI Bestcolor Screenproof) in conjunction with 1 bit tiffs. It has worked pretty flawlessly - maybe because the 1 bits are "set in stone" so to speak.
Retired - CS6 on my 2012 gen MacBook Pro

Joe

#6
June 14, 2011, 10:27:54 AM
According to their web site...

Mac OS Sonoma 14.2.1 (c) | (retired)

The seven ages of man: spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills and wills.

t-pat

#7
June 14, 2011, 10:28:52 AM
we run Colorproof XF 3.0 in a XP Virtual Machine. We send it CMYK Tiffs from Prinergy
vdp donkey
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DigiCorn

#8
June 14, 2011, 10:55:47 AM
Thanks, Joe. I found the 4.5 specs, but not 3.1.
"There's been a lot of research recently on how hard it is to dislodge an impression once it's been implanted in someone's mind. (This is why political attack ads don't have to be true to be effective. The other side can point out their inaccuracies, but the voter's mind privileges the memory of the original accusation, which was juicier than any counterargument ever could be.)"
― Johnny Carson

"Selling my soul would be a lot easier if I could just find it."
– Nikki Sixx

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."
― Ernest Hemingway

DCurry

#9
June 14, 2011, 11:50:31 AM
Just from a "file integrity" standpoint, I'm a little nervous about sending PostScript files to your EFI. The reason is that EFI will have to rip the file, and could rip it differently than Rampage will rip it for plate. For that reason you are better off having Rampage generate a TIFF which then gets fed to EFI. This way, all the ripping is done by Rampage and EFI just has to print the TIFF.
Prinect • Signa Station • XMPie

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a night. But set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life!

DigiCorn

#10
June 14, 2011, 02:15:23 PM
Would love to know how to do that; as a 1-man show I haven't had a lot of free time to mess with the settings. This is something I want to be doing, though.
In other news, I called Proactive regarding the box; they said to reseat the processor, fan and add more of that thermal goop in between. It worked!
"There's been a lot of research recently on how hard it is to dislodge an impression once it's been implanted in someone's mind. (This is why political attack ads don't have to be true to be effective. The other side can point out their inaccuracies, but the voter's mind privileges the memory of the original accusation, which was juicier than any counterargument ever could be.)"
― Johnny Carson

"Selling my soul would be a lot easier if I could just find it."
– Nikki Sixx

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."
― Ernest Hemingway

DCurry

#11
June 14, 2011, 05:27:06 PM
Quote from: DigiSig on June 14, 2011, 02:15:23 PMWould love to know how to do that; as a 1-man show I haven't had a lot of free time to mess with the settings. This is something I want to be doing, though.

Shouldn't be too difficult, though I've not worked with Rampage I understand it is very good. Surely someone here can tell you how to do it (it's probably just a matter of finding the output settings and changing the file type). If you have a support contract, just call Rampage and they'll set you straight in no time. They have a reputation for having the absolute best support at very cheap prices, and the folks who answer the phone are the ones who can help you.
Prinect • Signa Station • XMPie

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a night. But set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life!

DigiCorn

#12
June 16, 2011, 10:04:16 AM
Actually, I did it Tuesday night (I took yesterday off to fix some plumbing issues at my house). I remember now why I abandoned using it - the 1-bit tiff converts everything to 4-color, even when spot simulation is selected. The .ps does not, and uses EFI's spot color table and LaB definitions to match. I had previously run tests and was damn near nuts-on with spot when imaging as .ps through EFI; the 1-bit tiff was off on color for Pantones comparitively.
"There's been a lot of research recently on how hard it is to dislodge an impression once it's been implanted in someone's mind. (This is why political attack ads don't have to be true to be effective. The other side can point out their inaccuracies, but the voter's mind privileges the memory of the original accusation, which was juicier than any counterargument ever could be.)"
― Johnny Carson

"Selling my soul would be a lot easier if I could just find it."
– Nikki Sixx

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."
― Ernest Hemingway

gnubler

#13
June 16, 2011, 10:14:26 AM
Quote from: DigiSig on June 16, 2011, 10:04:16 AMI took yesterday off to fix some plumbing issues at my house

What issues? Did you clog your toilet pipe?
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Quote from: pspdfppdfx on December 06, 2012, 05:03:51 PM
So,  :drunk3: i send the job to the rip with live transparecy (v 1.7 or whatever) and it craps out with a memory error.

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Joe

#14
June 16, 2011, 10:18:02 AM
Quote from: DigiSig on June 16, 2011, 10:04:16 AMActually, I did it Tuesday night (I took yesterday off to fix some plumbing issues at my house). I remember now why I abandoned using it - the 1-bit tiff converts everything to 4-color, even when spot simulation is selected. The .ps does not, and uses EFI's spot color table and LaB definitions to match. I had previously run tests and was damn near nuts-on with spot when imaging as .ps through EFI; the 1-bit tiff was off on color for Pantones comparitively.

Then you aren't doing it right. Using one-bit tiffs you should should get a file for each color, including spots, and it does use the spot pantone table in EFI.
Mac OS Sonoma 14.2.1 (c) | (retired)

The seven ages of man: spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills and wills.
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