There are so many printers out there, it would be impossible for us to drive them all with the AVA Digital Print Rip. Instead, we provide a seamless workflow to Third Party rips such as Wasatch, EFI and InEdit.
Instead of using the AVA Digital Print Rip, you need either the AVA TIFF Printer driver or the AVA Postscript Printer driver, depending on which file type your rip accepts.
Note: If your rip accepts both, we would simply do test prints from both drivers to see which one gives you the best results.
The workflow
An uncomplicated 3 step process ensures AVA’s Colour Management is carried right through to your printer.
- Create a connection between your AVA workstation and your rip station (sometimes referred to as the printer server).
- Install either the AVA TIFF Printer Driver or the AVA Postscript Printer driver.
- Set the profiles in the AVA CMS Controller.
Connecting your AVA computer to the Windows computer through the network
Every computer has an IP address. To find out the IP address of a Mac® computer, go to the Menu > Settings , and click on the Sharing icon.
Make sure File Sharing is switched on. Once activated, it will tell you how other computers can find you on the network:
Locating the IP address of a PC
In the Start Menu (or Start Screen in Windows 8) type cmd.exe and press Enter. This will launch a Command Prompt. Make sure you click on this new window and then type ipconfig and press Enter.
You will see some information about your computer’s network adapters. In the screenshot below (taken from Windows 8) you can see the IPv4 address is 192.168.3.40. This is the computer’s IP address. The Default Gateway is the router to which the computer is connected, and its address is 192.168.3.1.
Entering the IP address of the Rip station into your Mac®
Once you have obtained the IP address of your server station, you need to use this to connect to the rip. To do this, go to the Finder on your Mac® and from the Go Menu, select Connect to Server… Alternatively, you can use the shortcut ⌘ K.
Enter the IP address for the Windows computer into the Server Address dialog box. If you want the Finder to remember this address, click the + button at the bottom of this window. Click Connect, and a connection to the Windows computer should now be established.
Note: If you have trouble networking a Windows computer to your Mac®, please ask your local IT team to assist you.
Installing the AVA TIFF Printer / AVA Postscript Printer
For help installing and setting up the AVA TIFF Printer Driver, click here.
For help installing and setting up the AVA Postscript Printer Driver, click here.
Setting the printer profile
When your printer was installed and commissioned, a profile will have been created using your third Party Rip software. Locate this profile, and set it as the printer profile in the AVA CMS Controller.
Creating a print queue on the Rip station
Because you have set the profile from the third party rip in your AVA CMS Controller, you can send your prints from AVA directly to the print queue you already use for this profile on the rip.
If you are using a third party profile in the AVA CMS Controller, you should not profile in AVA. Simply print a design and test your screen to print match.
Printing from AVA
- In AVA, go to File Menu > Printer Type and ensure you have AVA TIFF Printer or AVA Postscript Driver selected.
- Then, go to File Menu > Page Setup and set your page dimensions and properties. More information can be found in the AVA TIFF Printer / AVA Postscript Driver articles.
- Go to File Menu > Print.
If it is your first print of the day, select Save, and navigate to the Print Queue you created on your Rip station.
Subsequent prints can be sent over using the Save As… command.
Note: Mechanical problems on the printer such as damaged, blocked or misaligned heads, and technical issues with substrates such as uneven coating can cause colours to appear incorrect. In cases like this, you should contact your suppliers.