Color usage in InDesign cs2 1

[DavidRutten]

Hello all,

I'd better come clean about this, I know next to nothing about the printing process and the colour palette behaviour of InDesign is driving me nuts. I'm writing a book which is mainly aimed at PDF web-viewing, so I don't want *any* print colour simulation. However, it would appear that InDesign is screwing up all my illustrations (almost all of them adobe illustrator vector files). The colours look really vibrant in Illustrator but they're all very desaturated and flat in InDesign (and worse, the exported PDF). How do I disable this feature?

Many thanks,
David

--
David Rutten
Robert McNeel & Associates
Seattle, WA

 

[jmgalvin]

If things are meant for screen and not print, make sure that everything is in rgb color, not cmyk.

The default swatches in ID are cmyk. Double click and change to rgb. When making a new swatch, make sure it's rgb.

Since this is destined for screen, you're usually best off disabling any color management. That would also mean disabling color management in the apps used to create images like Illustrator.

In the View menu, make sure that high quality is selected under display performance so you see images more accurately. Also make sure that nothing else under View is set for cmyk and turn off overprint preview.

Rather than redoing stuff try exporting the pdf using the prebuilt Screen, which will make everything rgb. You can also try Print and select RGB in the advanced pane.

Using OSX 10.3.9 on a G4

 

[DavidRutten]

I must be very confused. All my images are linked *.ai files, are they using ID swatches? Most of my swatches are in fact RGB, I've converted as many CMYK ones as I could, but I don't see any difference.

How does one disable colour management? I just want my images in Indesign to look the same as they do in Illustrator...

Thanks,
David

 

[jmgalvin]

Indesign: Edit menu/color settings. Uncheck "enable color management"

Illustrator: Edit menu/color settings - Settings: Color management off

Using OSX 10.3.9 on a G4

 

[apepp]

...ai files use the colors specified in the ai swatches, if spot colors are used in ai then they will appear in indesign swatches palette, rgb colors in ai aren't spot colors unless you specify so in the color options (double click one)...

...in indesign ensure your transparency blend space is RGB (edit > transparency blend space > document rgb)...

...ensure under the view menu you have proof colours turned off (view > proof colours), this is controlled by the proof setup (view > proof setup). If this is set to a proof cmyk profile then that will effect how colours display (not print), you could have this set to an sRGB profile to get some idea of how it may look on another monitor for example, but in any case monitors display RGB differently, it is difficult to really know how an RGB colour will display on another monitor...

...ensure your color settings throughout the adobe apps are synchronized, this is done via the bridge application, in the bridge center. In there you will find a color management off option with 'show expanded list of color settings files' turned on, color management is at the foot of the bridge center...

..when you create a doc in ai, choose RGB as the color mode in the new document dialog...

...in indesign ensure overprint preview is turned off too (view > overprint preview) as this will effect display...

Andrew

 

[apepp]

...you won't see any difference when changing a cmyk swatch in indesign to rgb, because what you are seeing is rgb interpretion of a cmyk color...

...it is only when you change an rgb colour that is out of cmyk range that you see a difference, the color will become flatter because cmyk is a much smaller color space than rgb...

Andrew

 

[apepp]

..when you export to pdf, ensure you have either 'no color conversion' in the output options or convert to destination (preserve numbers), working rgb with include destination profile...

Andrew

 

[apepp]

...to add, the transparency blend space (RGB or CMYK) only really kicks in when you export to pdf 1.3 (acrobat 4) as this format needs to flatten transparency, all higher versions (1.4 to 1.7) preserve transparency, no flattening will occur, things like drop shadows, opacity modes, glows, transparent psd layered files, transparent tif layered files, all of these from either ai or natively placed in indesign...

Andrew

 

[apepp]

...yes, and also preserved transparent placed pdf files too...

Andrew

 

[DavidRutten]

Hi jm & Andrew,

That particular checkbox does not appear on my Colour Settings dialog, but I'm assuming that the "Emulate Adobe InDesign 2.0 CMS Off" does the same thing. It at least disables all those intimidating menu options to do with proofing and overprinting.

Unfortunately, disabling this feature leaves my images looking very desaturated. I found that switching to "Monitor Color" gives me the best result, even though it is not 100% yet.

Ive uploaded some screenshots to our Wiki.

First, here is Illustrator. I've disabled the color emulation (called "Emulate Adobe® Illustrator® 6.0"), and I don't think I'm using any swatches.

http://en.wiki.mcneel.com/content/upload/images/AD_IL_SS.png

Second, the resulting image in InDesign. Also with Colour settings disabled.

http://en.wiki.mcneel.com/content/upload/images/AD_ID_SS.png

I'm exporting to PDF 1.5 (Acrobat 6) so transparancies shouldn't cause any extra problems (I think).

OH WAIT! if I export pdf with Convert to Destination (Document RGB) the result is ok. Praise the Lord!

Thank you Andrew, you're my saviour! The fact that the colours are still screwed up in InDesign is really just a minor inconvenience, all that matters is what we give to our clients.

Thanks!
David