B
Before moving on to the printing of templates via USB or network interface, this chapter will focus on the copy mode, because the risograph cannot only be controlled digitally, but can also be used like a commercial copier. The scanning mode starts after the scanner cover has been opened, the original inserted and the scanner cover closed again. Various settings can now be handled via the touch screen of the device. The type of content should be chosen first. These are the choices:
Text
The text setting is suitable for content where very high contrast is important, meaning the risograph will try to avoid halftones as much as possible.
Photo
If the original merely consists of images, the Photo setting can be selected. If the Photo option is selected, the screen can be specified in the Dot Process menu.
Duo
If the Duo option is selected, the risograph prioritises high contrast when scanning the original in order to depict image and text equally well.
Pencil
The pencil mode should be selected in case of weakly saturated contents, e.g. pencil drawings.
If the Photo or Duo mode has been selected, the Dot Process menu option allows you to specify a type of dot screening. You can select from four screen widths or disable the option completely, in which case the image comes out grainy.
If the screen width option is disabled, the settings are similar to a frequency-modulated raster in which the RIP of the risograph attempts to print dots of the same size at random intervals (frequencies) in random stochastic distribution ( 5 H: Printing grained colour separations, p. 124). This mode is particularly useful when scanning originals that have already been printed, such as rasterised images or fonts. In the Contrast setting, a scan contrast can be chosen from a range of 5 levels, with [1] signifying the weakest setting and [5] the strongest setting. Other options include enlarging or scaling down originals by determining a scale to be scanned, cutting out image areas using the editor mode or printing multiple originals on one sheet. If the Photo mode is selected, the following image edits can be made in the risograph’s menu under Features to affect the print:
Contrast Adjust
The Contrast Adjust mode helps rasterise masters brighter or darker. You can choose between brighter, darker or turning the function off.
Tone Curve
Adjust in the Tone Curve Adjust menu, a simple tone curve adjustment can be applied to the scanned original. You have the option of making highlights and shadows of the original brighter or darker independently of each other in print. Finely adjusting the setting via a custom curve in a program like Adobe Photoshop is not possible.
If the green start button is pressed, a scan is made, which is instantly transferred to the master foil. It should be mentioned that, in terms of image quality capabilities, the scan mode is nowhere near the quality achieved by transmitting files to the risograph. In order to at least rudimentarily review a scanned result, the scan should be made via the Editor function. This way, the result of the scan is shown in subpar quality on the display of the risograph. The result of the scan can then be edited; parts of the image can be selected and cut out, for example. Most importantly though, scanned pages can be saved at this point to retrieve them later.
If the subject to be copied had a high contrast or used to be a vector graphic, the Line mode should be selected. In this case, the scanning
contrast is crucially important. If the subject to be copied is a photo or has already been rasterised, the Photo mode should be selected. The tonal value can now be adjusted by choosing from the four options available under Functions.
If the size for the halftone is not set, the tonal values are printed using either dithering or the grain filter. The Pencil mode works very well for very bright images or pencil-drawn originals.
