My Spectrophotometer does not appear in the dropdown list when using a Blackmagic, Megarip or Veripress application.
Firstly, check the instrument you wish to use is supported by the product. If using a non-current release of the software, your version may not support new Spectrophotometer drivers.
The list of currently supported Spectrophotometers can be viewed here.
Note that some instruments, by design, are only usable by particular operating systems or for particular application functions.
Additionally, several Spectrophotometers will only appear for use when using Lab measurement mode. The list (see link above) details each instrument’s compatible functions.
Although most Serendipity drivers are available in 64 bit, not all vendors have updated their SDKs for 64 bit use.
As a result, some instruments and printers are not available to the software when run in 64 bit mode. To use these drivers, continue to use the 32 bit version. Notable examples include:
64 bit Epson HTMs are only available for the Stylus Pro 4900 and 7890 under Mac OS X. Previously released HTMs are Windows 32 bit compatible only.
EyeOne and iSis drivers are not available in 64 bit versions.
The Epson HTM drivers and/or Canon (Printer’s Screening) drivers do not appear in my list of available Output drivers.
Check your version of the software supports the use of the HTM drivers. Epson HTM support has been added in stages since v4.0. Canon (Printer’s Screening) support was added in v5.1.02.
For information on specific HTM support, check our support drivers list or contact your Dealer.
If you have the current version installed or your version supports HTM but the driver still doesn’t appear in the Output driver list, this generally means your upgrade or installation was done via software downloaded from the Serendipity Software website. The HTM and Printer’s Screening drivers are proprietary software products and are very large files. They are not available for download from the Serendipity Software website. The drivers are only available on the Serendipity Software installation DVD and are installed automatically when using the DVD installer, or can be copied from the DVD into your existing install.
Ask your Dealer or email Serendipity Support for instructions on copying HTMs.
Where is Serendipity Blackmagic installed on Mac OS X?
The default location for a Mac OS X installation is in the Applications/Serendipity/Serendipity Blackmagic folder.
Launch the Blackmagic Server first then the Client when starting the software. It is recommended you select the Keep In Dock option for both icons when they appear for easy launching.
Where is Serendipity Blackmagic installed on Windows?
The default location for a Windows installation is in the C:/Serendipity/Serendipity Blackmagic directory. The Blackmagic installer will place Server and Client icons on the Desktop.
Current Windows file permission and security policies for programs installed in the Program Files directory mean that Blackmagic will not function correctly if installed there. If changing the installation directory when using the Blackmagic Installer, be sure to install to the root directory of the drive, for e.g., C: or D: etc.
Where is Serendipity Megarip installed on Mac OS X?
The default location for a Mac OS X installation is in the Applications/Serendipity/Serendipity Megarip folder.
Launch the Megarip Server first then the Client when starting the software. It is recommended you select the Keep In Dock option for both icons when they appear for easy launching.
Where is Serendipity Megarip installed on Windows?
The default location for a Windows installation is in the C:/Serendipity/Serendipity Megarip directory. The Megarip installer will place Server and Client icons on the Desktop.
Current Windows file permission and security policies for programs installed in the Program Files directory mean that Megarip will not function correctly if installed there. If changing the installation directory when using the Megarip Installer, be sure to install to the root directory of the drive, for e.g., C: or D: etc.
I have Blackmagic installed on my C drive but want to move the spool directories to the D drive. Can I do it?
Yes you can. You need to create the directories that you want to move on the D drive first. The ones to watch are spool, tmp and raster. If you move raster (this is where the processed jobs are held – the ones you see in the printer queues) then all the jobs that you have in the QueueManager at present will not be able to be printed.
Next, edit the file Blackmagic/etc/ss.conf – Look for the appropriate sections for these directories and change the paths. Make sure you read the warning at the top regarding line feed and carriage returns with the editor you use. If you make a mistake, delete the file and restart BM and it will be recreated with the default locations.
If you wanted to move the whole BM dir, then do that, delete the ss.conf file and start BM and it will be created for D drive. Same goes for the current jobs as mentioned above however.
Another place to look out for if you process PS files, is the system temp dir. This is located under system in the windows control panel.
Choose “Advanced” and select “Environment variables”.
Look for where you have the temp and tmp dir configured. This is probably something like %systemroot%/tmp etc (they vary depending on the system) .
Just change it to read. D:TEMP and D:TMP (or they can point to the same dir if you like). Make sure that you have the directories created.
Can I poll a Celebra RIP with more multiple Genstores?
Yes – There are some conditions though. It is assumed that there is only one Celebra RIP and therefore one database. Also, each genstore must be visible to the same machine, ie the one being polled.
To configure 2 genstores of the following paths:
E:Ffeigenstorecpsirip
F:Ffeigenstorecpsirip
Set the path to: /Ffei/genstore/cpsirip
and set 2 stripe paths as follows
E:/
F:/
If you have more directories then add the extra stripe paths.
I cannot poll a RIPs network drives using the agent.
This is quite important, especially when polling a Celebra with multiple Genstores like in a multirip configuration.
When the agent is running on the RIP, it does not have permission to poll network drives. To fix this you must configure the agent to run as valid user of the RIP.
To do this go to the control panels and select “services” (this can be under the Administrative Tools).
Find the “Serendipity Remote Agent” and select properties.
Choose “Log on” and select the option “This account”. Choose the same account as the RIP runs under, i.e. the log that you use when you start the computer and click OK.
You will need to restart the service so that it runs as the new user. It should now be able to poll the network drives.
What does the message mean “maximum number of retries exceeded when resubmitting a job”?
We try three times to get the file from the RIP. This is when we poll or spool after submitting. If we cannot get the file, we give up and give the above message.
There is probably a problem with the file. E.g. you submitted the job from the RIP monitor and the file has since been removed or it is locked.
My Jobs get so far imaging and then fail with an error “failed to process – Check log”
One of the reasons for this could be because the system drive fills up. This is only if processing PS/PDF files or rotating an image.
A common install is to install the Blackmagic Software on the boot drive which may only be 2GB. If this is the case, you should configure the TEMP and TMP folders to be located on the larger partition. This differs slightly between OS, but here is how you do it on a Windows 2000 machine:
- Create a folder the large partition for TMP and TEMP
- Go to the control Panel and select “System”
- Go to the “Advanced” tab and select “Environment Variables”
- Scroll down the “System Variables” until you see TEMP and TMP. Select one and choose edit. Change the variable value to point to the new folder location. For example, if the disk is partitioned as C: System and D: large for spool files etc. your variable may read:
%system%TEMP
Change this to read: D:TEMP - Click OK
- Repeat the same for the other variable i.e: D:TMP
Then save and exit out of the System configuration and restart the system.
Can I drive a Fiery RIP?
Yes – We have tested 2 Fiery’s, the X12 and XP12 connected to a Xerox machine and both work. You need to select the Postscript driver from the printers tab. Then in the pagesetup, customise area, choose the paper size that relates to the job and output device and choose RLE compression.
It works equally well without compression but obviously is bigger.
What is the best method to poll a Scitex Brisque RIP on Mac OS X?
The best method is to export the Volumes on the Brisque where the Jobs are held and mount them on the Mac using NFS. There is a help document that details the method to mount an NFS volume on Mac OSX here: Download
There is also an example of the NFS file on the Mac located here: Download
This can be used in conjunction with the pdf document.
One of the plates from my proof from Celebra comes out rotated and low resolution.
The reason for this is because Blackmagic has picked up one plate as the low res preview file and included it in with the other plates for proofing. There are two possible reasons for this. Firstly, the Celebra database may have become corrupted and is pointing at the wrong files. There is a utility to re-build the database. The other is that the polling of the Celebra files is set too low in the directory tree and is picking up the preview file incorrectly.
The correct place to poll on a Celebra is Ffei/genstore/cpsirip. Some installs only poll to the Genstore point which will work but can cause problems. You will also find that polling is faster as there are less directories and files to look at.
I poll my 1-bit Tiff files but they appear as 4 separate jobs in the RIP Monitor – Why?
The reason for this is because the naming of the files is not recognised as part of the same job. There are two things you can do:
- If it is a one off test, the best thing to do is to stitch them together in VirtualPress. Select the first job/plate and press the VirtualPress button. If it has not found the correct colour, move it to the correct colour with the mouse. Select the other jobs/plates, either separately or all together by holding the shift key and selecting the first and 3rd plate, and drag them into the VirtualPress. This should also assign the correct colours. Now submit the job.
- If this is a repeated action, you can select the Tiff Based RIP (User Configurable) and configure a Job Genie to automatically collate the plates into one job. See the release notes on the Job Genie Editor for more information.