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One inkset can produce 4 different looks. We have worked with Paul Roark to develop the Variable Tone inkset for the 4 and 6 color printers. Paul has written a set of simple workflows for using these inks that will produce a variable tint (warm, medium warm, neutral cool, or cool) print by using the proper Photoshop curve.

In addition to the VM inks, we have developed the VM Sepia Tone inks. These inks use the same workflow as the VM inks. The toner shade in these Sepia inks is not blue-gray, it is a sepia tone. So when applying the curves the amount of toner introduced is just backwards from the VM Inks. Warm = Neutral, Med Warm = Med Warm, Neutral = Warm, Cool= Full Sepia.

There is an excellent forum called Digital B&W, The Print. The forum discusses all digital technologies related to making monochrome prints from digital sources, including the MIS ink sets and workflows. If you are using MIS inks or plan on using them, this is a great place to find additional information and to contact current users.

FS and FS Neutral for the R9 Driver (Image Export BW by R9)-
The MIS FS inks will work with the R9 driver. No special workflow is required when used with this driver. It is a lower cost apporach and the print results are reportedly equal or better. These FS inks are fully pigmented, with pure carbon pigment and they are archival. The performace in cartridges and in contiuous flow systems is identical. These inks do not cause clogging problems, and they do not evaporate when the printer is not being used.

Workflow for 4 Color Printers - Epson Driver
John Woolf has donated a very important workflow for making beautiful Quadtone prints using an Epson 1160, 3000 or 980, the Epson driver and the new MIS Full Spectrum Quadtone Inkset. The unique part of it is, that it will work for any inkset and paper combination. In essence, it is a generic workflow that any one with Photoshop can accomplish. Epson Archival Matte is the paper used to create these workflows. Click here to get the Woolf workflows.

The 4 shade FS and FS Neutral inks are becoming popular with the customers that have the R9 software for making black and white prints. However, many of them are discovering that the Epson driver does and even better job, if the workflow is right. Here is a partitioned workflow supplied by Paul Roark for the Epson 3000 that uses the FS Inks. It is an alternative to the John Woolf workflow for the 3000.

Here is a partitioned workflow from Jeff Randall for an 1160 attached to a PC using the MIS FS Quadtone inks. Jeff was kind enough to send this in and share it with us. Any comments or questions you have, please direct them back to Jeff. Click here for Jeff's written procedure. Click here to download a zip file containing his curves. This is version E.

Workflow for 6 Color Printers - Epson Driver
Unfortunatley the FS and FS Neutral inks only have 4 shades in there standard configuration. Using just 4 shades in a 6 color printer, with the Epson driver does not work. The Epson driver requires 6 distinct shades to work properly. So, the standard Hextone FS and FS Neutral inks are limited for use with the R9 driver in 6 color printers.

John Woolf liked the FS inks so much, that he asked us to make a 5th and 6th shade so he could use them in a 6 color printer. We have made these inks and John is in love with them. So, we asked him to share his curves and workflow.

To use his method on a 6 color printer, you must have the FS-HEX-SET-E inks. Part number for ink must have the E on the end. They are not in cartridges yet. They can be used in MIS Continuous Flow Systems, or you can load your own.

Carl has set up a very flexible method in Photoshop 6.0 for making beautiful black and white prints using Crane's Museo, Somerset Photo Enhanced, or Concord Rag paper and MIS Original Quadtone (Hextone) inks on an Epson 7000 printer. We have tried it on the Epson 1200 and it seems to work well. Click here to view his workflow.

Jerry Nevins, professor of Visual and Performing Arts at Albertus Magnus College in New Haven CT, has written a procedure for developing a Quadtone Transfer function. This tutorial can be found on his website.. www.jnevins.com on the tutorial page. On the same site he also explains the procedure to Create a Stepwedge in Photoshop.

On the eGroups list, Jerry says..

"Take a look at my tutorial for developing a transfer function curve in Photoshop The process is universal to all ink/printer/platform/paper combinations. Once you learn to control your output to create a seamless, stepless, continuous grayscale ramp, the quality of your work will improve dramatically."

These are the curves and procedures for the 4 color printers and the original MIS Quadtone inks. To download these curves and the procedure click here.   It is a zip file (93 kb).   The documentation is a MS Word 97 document.   It is all contained here in.   To expand the file you will need PKZip for PC's or Stuffit for Mac's. The curves are for Epson Heavyweight Matt, Epson Archival Matte, Epson Glossy, Epson Premium Glossy, Epson Premium Luster, Somerset Velvet, Somerset Photo Enhanced, Epson SO41141 Photo Glossy, and Concord Rag.

Chris has updated his 6 color curves and improved the process. To download the new curves and the procedure click here.   It is a zip file (97 kb).   The documentation is a MS Word 97 document.   It is all contained here in.   To expand the file you will need PKZip for PC's or Stuffit for Mac's. The curves are for Epson Heavyweight Matt, Epson Watercolor, Epson Glossy, Epson Premium Glossy, Epson Premium Luster, Somerset Velvet, Somerset Photo Enhanced, Epson SO41141 Photo Glossy, and Concord Rag.

To download the version 6 addendum click here. It is a zip file (108 kb).   The documentation is a MS Word 97 document. This just tells you how to adjust the color settings in Photoshop 6, the above procedures still apply after the defaults are set in version 6. The zip file can be extracted with Stuffit or PKZip.

• Printer = Epson Stylus 980
• Paper = Somerset Enhanced
• Paper Setting = Photo Quality
• Ink Setting = Color
• Print Quality Setting = 2880 dpi
• High Speed = Off
• Color Management = No Color Adjustment
• Space = Grayscale