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When evaluating wide-format RIP software, printer compatibility is only the starting point. The right RIP can influence everything from color accuracy and media usage to production speed, automation and overall shop efficiency.
That’s why two RIPs that both support the same printer can still provide very different production experiences.
Whether you’re purchasing your first RIP, replacing an existing solution or looking to optimize an established workflow, these 10 considerations can help you make a more informed decision.1. Printer & Device Support
Printer compatibility is an obvious place to start when evaluating RIP software. But “Does it support my printer?” is only the first question.
A production RIP needs to do more than recognize your device. It should give you meaningful control over how jobs are processed and sent to that device, including print modes, media settings, color profiles, resolution and other device-specific options. It’s also worth thinking about your future workflow.
Will you eventually add another printer? Do you use different media on the same device? Do you have multiple print modes or ink configurations? Do you need to send jobs to both printers and cutters?
The more equipment you have, the more important centralized output management becomes.
For example, Flexi Production Manager can manage printer and cutter setups, process jobs from Flexi or other design applications, and manage output across multiple devices.
The takeaway: Don’t evaluate a RIP solely by the list of printers it supports. Evaluate how well it manages the equipment and workflows you actually use.
2. Color Management Control
Color management is one of the biggest differences between simply sending a file to a printer and running a professional production workflow. A good RIP should give you tools to manage the relationship between your artwork, ink, media and printer. That can include ICC profiles, color correction, ink limits, linearization and spot-color management.
But there’s an important distinction here: good color management isn’t just about having a library of profiles. It’s about having control when the profile doesn’t quite produce the color you need.
Consider a brand color that needs to be reproduced consistently across a long-running campaign. Or a customer who comes back six months later and expects a reprint to match the original.
A professional RIP should give you ways to fine-tune those results instead of forcing you to accept whatever the default settings produce. Flexi, for example, includes custom spot-color mapping that allows an individual spot color to be adjusted without changing the output of other colors. Those mappings can be saved for repeat production.
Recent Flexi updates have also added improvements around printer ICC profiles, including ICC Profile Validation for supported printers and improvements to profiles downloaded through the machine manufacturers.
The takeaway: When comparing RIPs, don’t just ask how many profiles they include. Ask what happens when you need to adjust, validate or fine-tune those profiles.
3. Media Savings & Nesting
Every inch of unused media costs money. That’s why nesting deserves more attention than it sometimes gets when people compare RIP software.
Nesting rearranges multiple jobs on the available media to minimize wasted space. A good nesting workflow can automatically optimize the arrangement while still giving an operator control when a particular job requires it.
For a busy print shop, this can become a meaningful production advantage. A small reduction in wasted media on individual jobs can add up across hundreds or thousands of jobs. And nesting isn’t limited to placing finished jobs side by side. Consider how the RIP handles copies, rotated jobs, multi-page files and tiled work.
Tiling is especially important when an application exceeds the printable area of a device. The details of how tiles overlap can affect the time and effort required to assemble the finished piece.
Flexi’s Production Manager includes more granular tile-overlap controls, including the ability to apply overlap to one side or both sides of a tile.
The takeaway: Don’t just ask whether a RIP can nest. Look at how much control it gives you over nesting, tiling and media utilization.
4. Production Speed & Print While RIP
RIP speed matters, but it’s not the only measure of production speed.
Imagine sending a large, complicated job to a printer. If the printer has to wait until the entire file has finished processing before it can begin printing, the printer may be sitting idle while the RIP works. That’s where Print While RIP can make a difference.
Flexi’s Print While RIP functionality allows printing to begin before the entire job has finished ripping. It can be particularly useful for large, nested and tiled jobs.
This changes how production speed should be evaluated when comparing RIP software.Instead of only asking:
“How fast does it RIP?”
also ask:
“How does it keep my printer productive while it is RIPing?”
The difference can matter much more in a real production environment than a benchmark that only measures processing time.
The takeaway: Evaluate the entire path from file submission to printed output, not just the speed of the RIP itself.
5. Output Preview & Quality Control
A production RIP has an important job before the printer ever starts moving: helping you catch mistakes.
This becomes particularly important when you’re working with specialty channels such as white ink, varnish or other colors beyond basic CMYK.
A conventional artwork preview doesn’t necessarily tell you what each output channel will actually do.
Flexi’s Output Channel Preview allows operators to view individual output channels before the job is sent to the printer. This can help identify problems with separations, specialty channels or color output before committing the job to expensive media and ink.
That can help answer questions such as:
- Is the white layer where I expect it to be?
- Is a spot channel actually present?
- Is the varnish layer being generated correctly?
- Are there unexpected areas receiving a specialty ink?
- How much of a particular channel is contributing to the final color?
The earlier you catch an output problem, the less expensive it is to fix.
The takeaway: A good RIP should help you inspect the output, not just generate it.
6. Workflow Automation
Production time isn’t only lost while a printer is running. Operators can also spend a surprising amount of time repeating the same setup steps: choosing media, selecting color settings, adjusting copies, applying print modes and configuring other job properties.
That’s where presets, queues and hot folders become valuable. Instead of configuring every job from scratch, a shop can establish workflows around the types of work it produces regularly.
For example, you might have different production settings for adhesive vinyl, banner material and specialty media. A properly configured queue can help make sure the appropriate settings are already in place when a job arrives.
Hot folders can take automation a step further. Jobs placed into a designated folder can automatically enter a production queue, where the workflow can be configured to hold, process, print or schedule those jobs.
These features may not sound as exciting as a new printer driver, but they can have a real effect on how much operator time is required to get routine jobs out the door.
The takeaway: Look for a RIP that can turn repeatable jobs into repeatable workflows.
7. Specialty Ink Workflows
Wide-format printing isn’t limited to four-color CMYK output. Depending on your equipment and applications, you may be working with white ink, varnish or other specialty channels. That means your RIP needs to understand more than a basic CMYK workflow.
This is especially important for applications where specialty channels are part of the finished product rather than an occasional exception. A capable RIP should give you control over how those channels are generated, processed and previewed. It should also make it clear how layered jobs will be handled before they reach the printer.
Flexi supports layered printing, allowing separate files or layers to be combined into a single job for applications such as white and varnish.
Flexi has continued to expand specialty workflows. For example, Production Manager automatically generates white layers around registration marks and barcodes for supported Graphtec workflows.
If you’re comparing RIP software for a specialty printer, ask specifically:
- How does it handle white ink?
- Can it work with multiple spot channels?
- Can I preview those channels before printing?
- How are layered jobs created and managed?
- Does the workflow support the specific printer and ink configuration I use?
The takeaway: If your printer has specialty channels, evaluate the RIP based on those workflows rather than its basic CMYK capabilities.
8. Repeatability & Consistency
Getting a job to look right once is one thing. Getting it to look right again next week, next month or when a customer orders another 500 pieces is much more important. That’s where saved presets, color settings, job properties and production workflows become valuable.
A good RIP should make it possible to establish a workflow once and reuse it rather than relying on an operator to remember every setting.
This becomes even more important when multiple people operate the same equipment. A repeatable workflow reduces reliance on individual operator knowledge and helps ensure consistent results across teams.
Flexi’s Production Manager includes tools for saving printer-specific settings and managing default job properties, while multiple queues can be configured for different materials or production requirements. Flexi also continues to add production-oriented features such as the Repeat Job Counter in Production Manager.
The broader point is that a RIP should help your shop turn successful one-off jobs into predictable processes.
The takeaway: The best RIP isn’t necessarily the one that gives an experienced operator the most control. It’s the one that can help your shop produce consistent results regardless of who is running the job.
9. Production Management
Once a job reaches the RIP, production management becomes just as important as file processing.
Can you see what’s waiting to print? Can you preview jobs? Can you organize jobs? Can you adjust a job without sending it back to the design application? Can you manage multiple jobs and devices from one place?
These workflow management capabilities rarely make the marketing headlines, but they often have the greatest impact on daily productivity.
This is one reason the term “RIP software” can be somewhat misleading today. Modern RIP applications increasingly encompass the workflow around the RIP itself, including job queues, device management, nesting, color management and production settings.
Production Manager is designed to function as the output-management side of Flexi, and it can also accept files from other design applications.
That means a shop doesn’t necessarily have to change its entire design workflow to take advantage of a dedicated production environment. If your designers already work primarily in applications such as Adobe Illustrator or CorelDRAW, that’s an important consideration.
The takeaway: Evaluate the RIP as part of your production floor, not just as software installed on a designer’s workstation.
10. Scalability & Future Growth
Finally, choose a RIP based on the workflow you expect to have, not only the workflow you have today.
Maybe you’re currently running one printer but expect to add another. Maybe you’re printing mostly banners today but are moving into specialty applications. Maybe your shop is growing enough that automation and repeatability are becoming more important.
The right RIP should give you room to grow.
That doesn’t necessarily mean choosing the software with the longest feature list. It means choosing software that can support the types of jobs, devices and production processes you expect to rely on.
So, what makes a good RIP?
The best RIP isn’t simply the one with the most supported printers or the longest feature list. It’s the one that helps your shop produce consistently, efficiently and profitably.
When evaluating a RIP, focus on five key areas:
- Device compatibility and scalability
- Color accuracy and control
- Media and production efficiency
- Workflow automation and repeatability
- Advanced application support
The software that performs well across all five areas will deliver far more value than one that excels in only a single category.
Where Flexi fits
Ultimately, every shop’s requirements are different. The most important question isn’t which RIP has the longest feature list. It’s which RIP helps your business produce more consistently, reduce waste, save operator time and support future growth.
That’s the standard worth applying when evaluating any RIP software.
But the important point isn’t simply that Flexi has a long list of features. The value of a production RIP is how those features work together.
Color management affects consistency. Nesting affects media usage. Print While RIP affects equipment utilization. Presets and queues affect operator time. Output previews can help catch mistakes. Specialty-ink tools make advanced applications possible. And production management brings those pieces together into a workflow.
That’s the standard worth applying when you evaluate any RIP software.
Don’t just choose a RIP that can print your files. Choose one that can help you run and improve your production.
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