4 color process type
jtswinehart (12 pencils) | Mon, 2006-12-11 12:44As an ex-pressman, I know that running 4 color process type is the worst! Now that I am in prepress, I have run into a little problem with just that. If I make an illustration in Illustrator my type shows up as a 4 color mix, instead of the 100% K that I want. I change the color to 100%K, but when I bring the illustartion into InDesign, the type is once again 4 color process. The same goes for lines. Is there a way for me to set up my preferences to keep Black as my default for all lines and type???
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Make sure your 'File: Document Color Mode' is set to 'CMYK'. If it is set to 'RGB' it will convert 'K' to 4-color after you save the file and reopen.
I checked the offending file, and it is selected as CMYK. I checked the line colors in Illustrator and they are 100%K, There is no option to make a color selection that I can find in InDesign, but when I output to plates I still get 4 color process. Really tough to register a 4 color hairline. Thanks for the help.
What output settings are you using within InDesign? Are you outputting 'composite CMYK' and letting the RIP separate the plates or selecting 'separations' from within the print dialog? If you're using separations, which option? [in-rip or straight seps]
Also, which 'printer profile' are you selecting under 'color management'?
For a test, try outputting separations to a PDF file. I pulled in a CMYK file saved as 'Level 2 postscript' from Illustrator CS2 [12.0.1] with 100% K type and lines into InDesign CS2 [4.0.4] and printed 'separations'. The resulting PDF was one 'black' plate.
My InDesign print settings were:
OUTPUT:
- Color: Separations
- Trapping: Off
- Flip: None
- Screening: 175 lpi / 2400 dpi
COLOR MANAGEMENT:
Print
- Document (Profile: U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2)
Options:
- Color Handling: Let InDesign Determine Color
- Printer Profile: Document CMYK - U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2
- Output Colors: Separations [Grayed Out]
This will help you narrow down the cause of the problem... 'Illustrator', 'InDesign' or the 'RIP'. If the above test produces the correct results the issue most likely is on the RIP. [Check to make sure it isn't overriding the postscript] If the test doesn't work it would lead me toward an InDesign or Illustrator setting.
What versions of Illustrator and InDesign are you using? Older versions of Illustrator and InDesign have been known to produce garbage results.
In the InDesign Preferences, make sure you have Appearance of Black set to output as Output All Blacks Accurately, and not Rich Black (4 color black).
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The description of the InDesign 'Appearance of Black' preference is as follows:
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Printing - Exporting:
On RGB and grayscale devices, outputting all blacks as rich black will show bot pure blacks (100k) and rich blacks (blacks with mixed CMYK values) as rich black. THIS WILL NOT CHANGE COLOR VALUES IN THE DOCUMENT, but all blacks will appear as dark as possible on RGB devices.
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Since he isn't using an RGB device the black should remain unaffected. And I did a test with both settings to a PDF and each was identical.
I may be completely off base here, but in your swatches palette of Illustrator, there is a Process Black (spot color) swatch—maybe you need to ensure that that is checked. I would have suggested what Creative_NRG suggested about the color mode being set to CMYK and not RGB, but I guess that's wrong, too.
It seems that what you're doing is clicking on the color palette (which shows the percentages of CMYK, etc.)—maybe you just need to click on the spot color swatch??? Like I said, I could be way off on this one. Just trying to help. :)
Suzanne Maestri-Walters :: Graphic Designer
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"I am not sick. I am broken. But I am happy as long as I can paint." ~ Frida Kahlo
www.onegirlcreative.com
Thanks, I will try the above suggestions and get back to you. I think I've narrowed it down to the Prinergy but I'm not sure, because I did notice on a couple of my diagrams I had selected Registration Black instead of Black, other diagrams that were black separated as 4 color. Just a Printer doing something (pre-press) new.