Acrobrat 6 and RGB

[Robin Springall]

Got a weird one which wasted hours today: client supplied Press PDFs from PageWrecker, looked OK in Acro 6 Pro (high res, no OPI, fonts embedded, crop marks and bleed, thank you very much). Clicked Show Separations in the menu, and we saw CMYK - only CMYK, no spots. Did a matchprint through the RIP and ugh! Looked 'orrible, it did. Scratched head, had a cuppa, rebooted, reprinted, still looked very flat indeed. Recalibrated RIP, shouted at the cat, tried again, still pants.

So, looked at it in Acro 5 where we have the PowerUp PDF plug-in which showed that the images were RGB. Still in 5, double-clicked on an image to open it in Photoshop which confirmed it really was. Jumped up and down and swore a bit (quite a lot, actually), then got my artworker to spend the rest of the day opening each image in Photoshop converting to CMYK and resaving the PDFs.

Can you configure Acro 6 (PC and Mac) to open images in Photoshop like wot you can do in 5, like? Also, can you set Acro 6 to show RGB when you display separations?

FattnRattnSnattnDrattn, grrr... <gg>

[Steve Rindsberg]

Got a weird one which wasted hours today: client supplied Press PDFs from PageWrecker, looked OK in Acro 6 Pro (high res, no OPI, fonts embedded, crop marks and bleed, thank you very much). Clicked Show Separations in the menu, and we saw CMYK - only CMYK, no spots. Did a matchprint through the RIP and ugh! Looked 'orrible, it did. Scratched head, had a cuppa, rebooted, reprinted, still looked very flat indeed. Recalibrated RIP, shouted at the cat, tried again, still pants.

So, looked at it in Acro 5 where we have the PowerUp PDF plug-in which showed that the images were RGB. Still in 5, double-clicked on an image to open it in Photoshop which confirmed it really was. Jumped up and down and swore a bit (quite a lot, actually), then got my artworker to spend the rest of the day opening each image in Photoshop converting to CMYK and resaving the PDFs.

Can you configure Acro 6 (PC and Mac) to open images in Photoshop like wot you can do in 5, like? Also, can you set Acro 6 to show RGB when you display separations?

FattnRattnSnattnDrattn, grrr... <gg>
In Acro6, try Edit, Preferences, TouchUp and pick the apps you want to use for editing images and such. That's the theory and it may work well with Photoshop. It's not one to play nice with Corel apps or anything else I've got handy.

As to the other, have you had a look at Document, Preflight? More stuff in there than I'd begin to know where to start not understanding, but that's my fault, not Acrobat's. <g> You can get it to show you non-4c items and such. Might be just the thing.

[Robin Springall]

Thanks, Steve. Got the image touch-up sorted, but still don't understand why it doesn't show RGB in the separations. The pre-flighting looks desperate!

[Steve Rindsberg]

Thanks, Steve. Got the image touch-up sorted, but still don't understand why it doesn't show RGB in the separations. The pre-flighting looks desperate!
I guess I don't quite understand what you mean by "doesn't show RGB". Here it shows RGB images/vector stuff as it proposes to separate them to RGB (at least that's what I assume it's doing - big mistake? )

[Robin Springall]

If I open a PDF in Acrobat 6, then click Separation Preview from the Advanced menu, I expect to see all how the file will separate: that's how I check that there are no spot colours in PDFs supplied to me by clients.

Trouble is, if I open an RGB PDF (or even an RGB tiff) the separation preview still only shows CMYK, which is daft. It sees Pantones as spot colours, but treats RGB as CMYK.

[Steve Rindsberg]

If I open a PDF in Acrobat 6, then click Separation Preview from the Advanced menu, I expect to see all how the file will separate: that's how I check that there are no spot colours in PDFs supplied to me by clients.

Trouble is, if I open an RGB PDF (or even an RGB tiff) the separation preview still only shows CMYK, which is daft. It sees Pantones as spot colours, but treats RGB as CMYK.
But RGB's going to separate to CMYK, so why shouldn't it do that?

[Robin Springall]

I presume, Steve, that's the view also held by our friends at Adobe <g>. I prefer to know if the file's in RGB so I can warn the client that the colours will almost definitely go to pot.

I've had a bash at the preflight rules. Luckily didn't have to create one from scratch: found one that searches for RGB - phew!

All the best
Robin

[PeterArnel]

Robin I have been reading this thread - WE dont seem to have this problem using Prinergy. WE did have aproblem when the images were rgb but found that the problem was with printing from Quark. It would appear ( I am sure u know this) that quark has three printing types- Convert all to rgb, convert all to CMYK or leave as is ( or something like that ) we solved the problem by leaving as is and allowed my rip to do the convertion rather the Quark - which had caused me a 20,000 copies reprint.
Peter
Are u doing any small runs digital???

[Steve Rindsberg]

I presume, Steve, that's the view also held by our friends at Adobe <g>. I prefer to know if the file's in RGB so I can warn the client that the colours will almost definitely go to pot.

I've had a bash at the preflight rules. Luckily didn't have to create one from scratch: found one that searches for RGB - phew!

All the best
Robin
<g> Well. That's the idea ... the preview is showing you what Acrobat thinks the seps will look like, not what goes into making them look that way. Kind of a ... well, no, actually it IS ... a print preview function. OTOH, you've got what you need with the preflighter. Great!

[Robin Springall]

Hello Peter, I play safe: since there are often such large differences in the way RGB files will print in CMYK, I only pass them if the client gives a written undertaking not to reject the print (your 20,000 reprint must have hurt). I prefer to catch RGB in prepress and either convert in Photoshop and tweak the saturation and colour balance, or give the client the opportunity to submit corrected files. For me, this thing with Acrobat is a pain.

We tried digital last year, but found the quality unsatisfactory. We bought a Canon CLC 1130 laser for very short runs (up to 200 or so) or when the job is needed same day. It has a Fiery RIP that sounds like Concorde on full throttle, but the results are lovely and glossy. Pricey, though: 20p per page with special stock.

[PeterArnel]

I must come and look when i get back from holiday - I bought a Xerox 35/35 for proofing ( its ok)
Peter
I am off to Madera for a week ( those across the ocean will most likely think i am on the wine or cake :-)