Make sure that the printer you wish to use is connected to the station you intend to use as the server and that the correct printer driver is installed as per the manufacturers instructions.
Note: If the latest driver was not supplied with your printer, you may need to download the latest driver from the internet. Search for the name of the printer in question and several websites supplying the latest drivers will probably be found.
Creating a print queue
AVA Digital Print RIP requires a print queue (or ‘Hot’ folder) to be set up so that it can automatically spool files through it to the printer.
- Create a new folder in Home user > Public > DropBox to use as a print queue for your AVA print files.
- Name this folder the same as the page size you wish to use, for example ‘A3 Epson 4900’ to make it easier to identify the correct queue (as you will probably need several queues once you get going).
You can create additional folders for other page sizes you may wish to print to. For each different page size you wish to use you must set up a separate print queue folder. It is possible to set up each folder to have different driver settings if you wish (such as different paper types or different output qualities).
Tip: We would recommend that all print queue folders are located in the Public folder on the server station to make access as easy as possible, from other computers on the network.
Sharing the print queue
To ensure that the server station is accessible by other computers you need to activate the following options:
Choose Apple®> System Settings … > Sharing and activate File Sharing and Printer Sharing.
Highlight the Print Queue folder and choose File > Get Info > Sharing & Permissions. Set the privileges to Read and Write access for all connected users.
Print queues can be shared, moved or restored easily, as all the settings within them are saved within the print queue.
Settings saved include print resolution, number of passes and the ink setting.
The colour separation section of each print queue, has an Ink Setting pop up menu. In the menu, users will note that the list of original ink settings located in Home user > Library > Application Support > AVA Digital Print RIP folder in the system is still present so that previously made print queues still function. At the top of the Ink Setting menu is a new option Choose Other…’ which allows the user to select an ink setting from anywhere on the system or network. That ink setting is then saved within the print queue.
In previous versions of the rip, as ink settings were only stored in one place at one folder point, the list could become quite extensive for multiple printers, substrates and/or resolution combinations. Choosing an ink setting from anywhere and the fact that chosen ink settings are integrated into the print queue, now means that such exhaustive lists can be broken down and stored in a more logical folder structure.
Adding a new printer
- Choose File > New Printer…
- From the pop-up menu choose Mac®OSX Printer, and enter an appropriate name for the printer then click OK. The following window will appear:
- Tick Printer Active.
- Choose File > Open Print Queue… locate your print queue folder in the window that opens and click Open. A Print Queue window will appear.
- Control click on the toolbar to customize it. Drag the icon Start Queue, or Stop Queue (depending on the current status of the queue) to the tool bar. This will allow you to see if the queue is active or not. You can drag in other options also if you wish.
Note: If the print queue says Start Queue, it is not currently active and nothing will print until you click on Start Queue or Print. If it says Stop Queue, this means that the queue is active and ready to receive and print files.
Print queue settings
The settings for each queue are saved within the print queue in a separate folder called Settings. If the printer or queue window is accidentally closed you can simply open a new one by choosing the same Print Queue folder as before. The same settings will be applied as previously.
Setting the print queue priority
Not only does the AVA Digital Print RIP application enable the use of multiple print queues, each with different printer driver settings, but it also allows each queue to be assigned a different print priority, helping users to prioritise projects by printing to the appropriate queue.
To set the Queue priority, choose Queue > Queue Settings…
In the Queue Priority menu select either Normal, Low or High priority.
When the Queue Priority is set to Normal, print files will be printed in the order that they are‚ spooled to the server.
When the Queue Priority is set to High, a print file spooled to this folder will be printed before‚ any of the other print files waiting in the Normal or Low priority print queues.
Prints sent to the Low priority queue will only be printed once all other files within the Normal‚ and High queues have been completed.
Starting and stopping the print queue
To stop an active print queue click on the Stop Queue button in the tool bar. To restart a print queue click on the Start Queue button. Alternatively you can choose the Start and Stop items in the Queue menu.
Note: If you wish to quickly stop all print queues for a particular printer, simply uncheck the Printer Active check box for that printer.
Setting up the printer settings
To set the page and printer options for the queue, click the Printer Settings icon in the tool bar, or alternatively, go to Queue > Printer Settings.
Select your desired printer, and enter your desired page size with the normal AVA recommended printer options and colour management settings.
When the AVA Digital Print RIP setting is selected (in the middle of the Print window), ensure AVA Manages Colour is checked.
This setting will automatically turn the printer drivers colour management to off, ensuring colour management comes from the AVA software only.
In addition to the colour matching, each printer model will have slightly different driver options to control the quality of output.
When printing to Epson printers, select Printer Settings from the drop down menu. For other printer models, this option may be called Color Options or Color/Quality, and contain slightly different options.
The Media Type should match the type of paper loaded in the printer.
Output Resolution should be set to Fine – 720. Other printer models may vary, so please refer‚ to the printer handbook for details.
You will notice the Colour Mode option is greyed out in this window. The option will say Off (No Colour Management.) This is correct, and confirms the drivers colour management is switched off.
Click Print to save the settings.
Note: If you are using different types of paper eg. Photo Quality Gloss and Photo Quality Matte, you will need to create different Print Queues for each of these substrates – even if the paper is the same size. Make sure you select the correct media type in the driver settings. This is important because it affects the amount of ink that is put down on the paper and so ultimately has an affect on the resulting colour match.