Printing Help
indasolutions (11 pencils) | Mon, 2008-01-21 09:562008-01-21 09:16:55 - Unfortunately, your printfiles can not be used for your order! Your front side / reverse side has the following colour code: C: 100%, M: 100%, Y: 100%, K: 100%. If there is too much colour, the paper cannot dry properly. For a rich black colour management, it is sufficient to save your files as: 100% black (K) and 50 % cyan (C). Please amend your printfiles.
ok so i created the image for my business cards, i didnt create it in RGB i started off in CMYK the way i always do my artwork, Basically its a black card with a few coloured arrows very simple. The printer got back to me this morning with the above in brackets, i have been using the same printer for a few years now and i have never came across this problem when uploading any of my artwork which i do on a very regular basis. i was wondering if there is anyone out there who can help with this, im using Adobe Photoshop cs2 v9.0.2
be gratefull to anyone who can help
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Your printer is saying that the TAC is 400% and it needs it to be lower.
TAC or (Total Area Coverage) is also referred to as Total Ink Density and it speaks to the ability of the press/paper to handle a certain amount of ink coverage. Web Offset is typically TAC300% and Sheetfed presses on coated stock can handle TAC320% or above.
Your printer recommends a 100K, 50C, which is an old prepress trick that gives you a pretty nice density and reduces the chances for misregistration since the M, Y plates are not used.
If you'd like to experiment with TAC for different presses, create a RGB file with 0,0,0. Completely black. Then transform into CMYK of USWEBSWOP. If you see the CMYK breakdown and add up the values, they will equal TAC300%. Do the same thing with other CMYK profiles. USSHEETFED, etc. You'll see different TAC values for different press conditions.
Good luck. Have fun.
Without my sense of direction, I don't know where I'd be.
Your jpg samples won't load because they contain errors which should tell you something...
Hopefully you didn't design the entire card, text and all, in photoshop? If so, your text is not going to print as sharply as it could as if it were a font or outlined font. Has to do with rasterizing text softening its edges, depending on the res of the file.
Normally you'd do any non text items in photoshop/raster and then place that image/images into a layout program like InDesign where you'd then type your text. Then it's easy to rip a good file (make sure you use a flattened CMYK tif for the background, if any, so you don't have to depend on ID to convert your rgb colors for you, and you can monitor if you're using a rich black or not. If it's a solid color, just do that in InDesign too. Makes for a smaller file and no need for a raster background!
Why are you using a rich black? Is it necessary? Don't use rich black for text; it's maddening for a printer to have to line up four plates just for black text. :)
Export pdf/x-1a files. I've never met a printer who didn't like these.
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Powerpoint is not a design application
My latest web design work
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Dirt and Rust
Very simple solution to your problem. If you have your PSD file simply go to the layer of your background "black color" and change the color. Stay in CMYK mode no need to be in RGB unless your using filters that can only be rendered in RGB.
Many printers have a CMYK formula to produce a "rich black" and seems as if their "rich black" formula is C:50 M:0 Y:0 K:100 The printer i use for example has a "rich black" formula of C:60 M:40 Y:20 K:100. Make sure though that only large areas of black are given those values. If you want to type some black text make sure that it is only at 100% Black. No CMY.
So simply enter those "rich black" values in your color picker and go to your layer and click edit fill. There is many other ways to change the colors also (i.e selective color, levels, hue/saturation etc.)
Once you make the changes and you want to double check to make sure the colors are correct simply take your eyedropper tool and place it over the area you want to measure. Look at your Info tab and you will see the breakdown of the CMYK values.
Good Luck
I'd just go into my channels pallette and update from there.
p.s. why oh why are you designing this in photoshop?