The Ink Estimation tool helps calculate the true cost of any print job by estimating the amount of ink a job will use, and how much that ink will cost. This tool can also help prevent running out of ink in the middle of a job.
Note that this capability is dependent on your printer. If this feature is grayed out after following the steps below, it is incompatible with your printer. HP printers are incompatible.
To estimate the amount and cost of ink:
- Add the job to Production Manager to "Hold In List."
- RIP the job.
- Click the Estimate button on the Production Manager toolbar.
- Click the Estimate button to see a diagram of ink usage:
- Click the Config button to set options for dot size and ink cost:
| Printer | This is automatically selected for whatever device was used to RIP the job. | |
| Bpp | Bits Per Pixel (variable versus fixed dot size) is automatically selected depending on the print mode. | |
| Dot Size | The size of each drop of ink. | |
| Set | Set will become available for printers that have more than one dot set per resolution. For example, they will have VSD1 and VSD3 for the same resolution. Both are variable and have 3 different dots, but one of them will use a set of larger dots than the other. | |
| Small, Medium & Large | Enter custom values for dot size. | |
| Custom Values | If ink drop sizes have not been included for your printer, check the Custom Values radio button and enter values for the drop sizes. | |
| Default Values | Click to use the drop size values that are already stored in the software. | |
| Price Configuration | These settings will calculate the approximate cost to print the selected job. | |
| Cartridge content | How large the ink cartridge is. | |
| Price / cartridge | The price you paid for each ink cartridge. | |
- Click the Preferences button to set options for measurement values and cleaning cycles:
| Volume Metric | Choose your preferred volume measurement. | |
| ml | milliliters | |
| pl | picoliters | |
| Clean Factor | Enter a percentage of ink to take into account for cleaning cycles. This can vary depending on how often you perform cleaning cycles on your printer. | |