The hardware used by the painters includes two Quadra 800s and two Quadra 950s, as well as two new Quadra 840-AV machines. Except for the AV's, each unit has at least 72 MB RAM and 1 gigabyte hard drive, with speed and memory maximized by SuperMac Thunderstorm Pro cards and Daystar cache cards.
The SuperMac Thunderstorm Pro cards targets the most time-consuming, compute-intensive operations that are so critical for creating effects in graphic images. Many Photoshop tasks, such as image size, rotate, gaussian blur, unsharp mask, sharpen edges, feather, despeckle, and others, can take as little as 30 seconds instead of 5 minutes. The card provides up to 750% acceleration for Photoshop 2.5 filters on a Quadra 950.
The FastCache Quadra from DayStar is a 128K static RAM cache card that operates automatically and plugs into the PDS connector. It's totally compatible with all hardware and software, boosting the 33 MHz Quadra 950 to the highest levels possible with speed gains up to 40 percent.
Static RAM is much faster than the standard Dynamic RAM (SIMMs) used by the Mac's motherboard. The cache remembers the most recent data and application code used by the processor. When the processor asks for this data, the cache supplies it to the processor much faster than the motherboard. In actual applications, over 80 percent of the data that the processor needs will be instantly available in the cache's memory.
There are also two Dash 30-fx computers, made by Sixty-Eight Thousand and released before the Quadras, each with 128 MB RAM & 2 gigabyte hard drive. Each machine is connected to either a 44 or 88 MB Syquest removable drive, and all are connected through an Ethernet LAN with twisted pair cables.
While most of the color is added in Photoshop, painters often turn to other software on special situations. For example, if a more painterly effect is required, such as more specialized brushes, or textures, they go to Fractal Painter. Other software used includes Studio 32, Zeus, Color-it, Illustrator, Freehand and QuarkXPress. "The type of effects desired dictates what software will be used," says Kindzierski.
It takes roughly about 2-1/2 hours for a painter to color one page. After all the pages are colored, the proofs are printed, then once Freeman stamps his seal of approval, they're sent to Lou Stathis, the editor at DC Comics, for final approval.
The final proofs are printed on a Tektronix Phaser III Pxi, a solid ink printer that produces what appears to be smaller, less clearly defined dots. The result is output that approaches the photo-realistic look of dye sublimation printers, while still offering sharp edges for graphics and text.
Freeman will sometimes mark up the color proofs before they go to the editor at VERTIGO. "I don't always need to make changes at that point," he says, "but I do mark my proofs, saying 'this grad is breaking too early, or breaking too late' or 'this special effect is not done.' The only problem they've encountered so far has been making sure that Black Orchid's word balloon is always colored the same way, which is a matter of consistency and hasn't affected the quality of the book.
According to Freeman, some editors don't have color preferences as much as color regrets, and they may not want a specific color used. "One doesn't want a particular pink used, another one doesn't want a particular dark blue." The proofs give them one last look at the book before it's printed.
The EPS files are assembled in QuarkXPress, spooled to an Apple Server 95 running Color Central software, and output on a Linotronic L330 with a RIP 50. For final proofing, either color keys or press matches are made. Negatives for a 32-page comic book are generally output in strips of four pages - half of a printer's flat, a full flat being about 11-in by 28-1/4.
"We normally ship it straight to the printer," says Chuckry, "and they just put them head to head and make their eight-up flats. There are usually eight ads that come from the publisher, so those we usually leave blank."
NOTE: Black Orchid was canceled after issue #22.
Digital Chameleon Colors Vertigo Universe - Part One | About Digital Chameleon - A SIDEBAR
Articles
Archive by JAS