FM9 Upgrade

[Howard Rauch]

I am currently using FM 7.0 and Windows XP Pro operating system.

I am having a problem with setting up documents for offset printing for one of my clients. My responsibility is to set up the document in Frame and prepare PDF files with separations (using Distiller) for printing. I then turn these over to a graphics house local to the client who coordinates the printing. The documents are grayscale with one spot color.

Over the past several years, we have done 5 or 6 major documents and have had a problem with RGB color in each one. A printing house sees us coming and tries to go into a hiding because the original was a FM document. The graphics house wants me to use InDesign, but the client and I have agreed that that software is not suitable for the pages upon pages of tables that make up each document.

We are currently finishing up another catalog (document) and have sent sample pages to the graphics house. The response is that the FM sample pages have "RGB channels" and are not suitable for offset printing. The graphics house has now recommended that we use PhotoShop to set up a gray-scale channel for the spot color and import the gray-scale document into FM. The client does not want this, but wants a gray-scale document with the spot color inserted so he can send out individual pages to customers. He dislikes the prospect of having two documents: one with gray-scale text and gray-scale art and one with gray-scale text and spot color art. Therein lies my dilemna.

My questions are these:
- Is there a workaround, plug-in, or something that will enable me to get rid of the "RGB channels" and still allow me to use the spot color in Frame?
- Would FM9 or the new FM Graphics Suite solve the RGB/spot color problem?

I am really confused about this issue, but I must resolve it. It is particularly frustrating because I don't have the problem with any other client.

Howard Rauch

Technology Transfer, Inc.
"Linking Creators and Users of Technology"
933 North 18th Street
Manitowoc WI 54220
Office: 920-682-1528
Cell: 920-629-0080