color issues 2

[sparkliegirl]

Hi... I'm new here, but I couldn't find information on this, so if i missed something, please excuse me.

I'm printing a brochure in Quark and for some reason, one particular image is giving me trouble. It is printing undersaturated, even though when I print directly from Photoshop, it prints just fine. Even if i oversaturate it, it still seems to be a bit fogged out. Has anyone had a similar issue? Any advice?

Thanks much,
SparklieGirl

 

[blueark]

Is it an RGB image? Try changing it to CMYK in Photoshop.

 

[Rosscage]

Whenever u import a image into QuarkXPress, it creates a RGB preview of the image automatically regardless of whether it is RGB or CMYK image.
Also make sure your Picture option in Print dialog box is not set to LOW RESOLUTION but to NORMAL.
The image prints fine from photoshop as it is a raster based application and also have a software RIP built into them, so output is anyhow good.

 

[blueark]

Let me elaborate: If you print a QuarkXPress document to a PostScript printer or RIP, then any images in the document that are RGB will have to be color managed by the RIP.

Many RIPs, such as those used by commercial printers, expect images to be CMYK and only have limited support for RGB images. The result is often undersaturated images as described in the original post. The preview generated by Quark is ignored in this case.

If, on the other hand, you are printing the document on a non-PostScript printer, such as most consumer-grade inkjet printers, then the actual Photoshop image is ignored and the Quark generated preview is used instead. This can result in low resolution printouts, and unreliable color -- possibly undersaturated, but again, this is usually an indication that the preview is being generated from an RGB source file. The file format you use also has an effect. An EPS file generates it's own preview (which you don't really have any control of from within Quark), but TIFF files have their previews generated by Quark, the quality of which depends on the Application preferences.

So, if the brochure is going to be printed commercially, you should certainly ensure that all images are CMYK. Don't expect proofs on non-PostScript printers to be representative of the final print -- they will be more likely look like the Photoshop printout.

I hope this clears things up a little!

 

[Rosscage]

Whenever u import an image into QuarkXPress, it creates a RGB preview on it's own regardless or whether it is in RGB or CMYK. So try bringing the image in RGB and CMYK.
Applications like Photoshop and Illustrator print fine bcoz the processing of documents into bitmaps is done at the application level but in the case of QuarkXPress the processing of documents is done at the printer level so u need a postscript driver and a postscript printer to have better output.
Note: EPS file imported to QXP printed to postscript printers print at good quality. Try saving the image in EPS and printing......

 

[blueark]

huh?! If you're printing to a postscript printer then:

1. It makes a HUGE difference whether your image is CMYK or RGB. The preview generated by Quark is only used in non-postscript printers, or postscript printers when Quark can't find the original image. It is irrelevant in professional commercial printing.

2. Any image printed from Quark will print well on a postscript printer, regardless of it's file format. Obviously some formats are better for printing than others (EPS and TIFFs are usually best).

Maybe my second post wasn't clear enough, so hopefully this clears up any misunderstanding.

 

[hoofer2]

Did you move the original graphic to a different file? If you did, you will need to relink the graphic by going to Utilities-Usage-Pictures in Quark. If it is unlinked, the printer will print either nothing or the screen preview (which is low resolution).