A lot of the popularity of RIP software started with the Epson 7600 and 9600. With those models a RIP could vastly improve color and black and white printing. In fact, it was pretty much impossible to get a good black and white picture without a RIP due to the ink loading, lack of linearity, and the metameric quality of many the pigmented inks. RIPs fixed these problems and added valuable workflow tools that photographers came to depend on. The drawback was that RIP software was expensive, really expensive. RIP's generally started at about $1,000 and went up from there. Well out of reach of most photographers. So, most just did without.

But things have changed now! Epson, HP, and Canon have all made tremendous strides in the quality of color that their print drivers produce. They went back to the drawing table, came up with new inksets, better profiles, and better paper formulations. With newer model printers Software RIPs do not produce better color than the free manufacturers driver and in many cases, RIP's do not equal the color from the free driver or the screening technology that printer manufacturers have developed.

So, are RIP's still relevant? Well, It depends on the RIP. Now that color is no longer an issue that photographers need a RIP to resolve the marketing is beginning to see a new breed of Software RIPs. Newer RIP's have all the workflow features that you would find in a $3000 RIP but are sold at 1/10 of the cost. A great stride indeed! The cost reduction is mostly due to the fact that manufacturers drivers are now producing great color and RIP companies do not need to create their own custom drivers. This cuts development time down significantly since the newer breed of RIP's can support any printer without having to write a driver. In a sense, RIP's are becoming more of an imaging workflow application rather than a device driver. This will be good for everyone. Low cost workflow tools, high quality color, and universal printer support.