CMYK problems

[Daniel Osborn]

Hi,

 

I have some questions about creating pdf files for a printer. To try and
get it right, I'm currently doing the following:

1. Only use cmyk .eps images.

2. Set GetLibraryColorRGBFromCMYK to 'Printing'

3. Save as pdf rather than print to pdf.

4. Convert the resulting pdf to cmyk using Quite a box of tricks.

 

I use save as pdf because I found that the images lost a lot of quality
when the pdf was converted to cmyk, although I think this may have been
before I started using .eps images. 

 

The files I generated have been printed with very good results. Many
thanks to everyone on the list who helped me get to this stage when I
first had to produce a file for a printer.

 

I'm now delivering to a different printer and they don't like the
colours in the pdf. The images are not a problem, it's the colours used
for text, thumb tabs and shading in tables. 

In FM, the colours are defined like this:

Black   K 100%

Red     M 90%  Y 86%

Grey    K 30%

And I have some text in an .eps image which is defined as K 100%.

 

In the pdf the colours have these values:

Black   C 75%  M 68%  Y 67%  B 90%

Red     C 3%    M 100%  Y 100%

Grey    C 21%  M 16%  Y 16%

And the black text in the .eps image is C 75%  M 69%  Y 62%  B 75%

 

The printer is saying that the 'black' text will come out as a muddy
brown with misregistration issues (not sure what that means) and he is
also not happy with the other colours. 

 

I used the Output preview tool in Acrobat Pro 7 to get these figures
(and so did the printer).

 

I've tried printing to pdf with the same result and also changing
GetLibraryColorRGBFromCMYK to None, with the same result. Can anyone
help me with this? I can understand that some colours will change
slightly but I don't understand why black comes out like this and also
why the black in an .eps image has changed so much.

 

I'm also a little confused that the last printer didn't have any
problems with the files, at least none that he told me about.

 

I'm using Framemaker 7.2p158. The printer suggested I use FM 6 on the
Mac instead...

 

Thanks,

Daniel

 

Daniel Osborn | Technical Writer | TomTom | daniel.osborn at tomtom.com |
+31 (0) 20 8500 934 office

 



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