First of all, the only part of the full-featured ImagePrint Black that is affected by the copy protection is SpoolFace, the spooler that actually interacts with the printer.
If you make money from photography, or if you love printing and want the best tools, it’s likely to make sense.Īs for the dongle, it exists, and it’s not ideal, but it’s barely an annoyance in most circumstances. ImagePrint is almost certainly less expensive than the printer it runs with, or than most of our camera systems, and it is generally less expensive than most annual cable TV bills (depending on ImagePrint features, printer size and cable packages). ImagePrint is a RIP optimized for photography (most of them are optimized for signs or CAD images like blueprints), and it is priced and copy-protected like a RIP, although it is one of the less expensive ones. It wasn’t all that long ago that a $100,000 ArcGIS annual license was possible, although it’s now closer to $10,000-$20,000.Įssentially all RIP software, programs that package images for printing (other than drivers included with the printer, which are technically RIPs with very limited functionality) is relatively expensive and many RIPs use hardware copy protection. If you don’t qualify for one of the (many) personal and non-profit use exemptions, ArcGIS can easily run into many thousands of dollars per user per year, depending on features. Outside of photography, AutoCAD starts at $1700 per user per year and goes up rapidly from there with add-ons. ImagePrint is not especially expensive compared to other professional, limited-market software. Perhaps the most important feature that comes with an ImagePrint Black license is the extensive profile library, including the ability to have ColorByte generate a profile for any paper you use free of charge. All intermediate versions are free, and technical support is free and excellent. The upgrades are notably inexpensive compared to most software – a major version comes out every few years, and upgrade pricing is about 35% of the initial investment. These are one-time prices, not annual subscriptions, although there are paid upgrades. Second, “isn’t that the program with the copy-protection dongle?” Both are true – ImagePrint is almost certainly the most expensive single piece of software the average independent photographer will own (it ranges from $399 for the most basic installation up to $2495 for full-featured ImagePrint Black for a 44-inch printer). Every time a photographer says ImagePrint, there are two immediate criticisms… First, “isn’t that really expensive?”. One of the most valuable changes to my printing workflow in the past few years is that I now run all my printing through ImagePrint (Highly Recommended). The ImagePrint interface in a fairly basic state – making a single fine-art print on Platine with a border.
0 kommentar(er)
