How to make file ready for printing office (they need CMYK)? 1

[gupy]

Hi, Ive got few pages, black&white including some b&w pictures (logos) and one red picture (logo).

How do I prepare this file for export to printing office. They said they need CMYK colors.(And Pdf file - but thats not a problem). How to convert to CMYK? The brouchure is going to be black, white and red.

Thx in advance!

Gupy

 

[PixelMasher]

Your printer sounds like they can only work in separtions,
I would set your job as a black and red PMS job. They should be able to handle that. When they say CMYK, they probally meant PMS colors as well.

If they can only work in Process colors, covert your Red Spot color to 100% Magenta.

PrepressSolution@aol.com

 

[gupy]

Thx, Bodes

I belive they can only work in Process colors. How can I convert my red spot to Magneta? What about black and white?

Gupy

 

[blueark]

If your red is only in Quark, go to Edit > Colors..., select your red, make sure the model is set to CMYK, and change all the sliders to 0 except for magenta, which you make 100%. If the red exists in an imported image, you may need to edit that seperately. But....

I'm not sure why you would want to do this. If your budget only stretches to 2 colors, then fine, but you make no mention of this, nor do you mention that your printer needs to make separations (it could be a digital press, for example).

If you are making a PDF anyway, then play around with the job options in distiller to force your document into a CMYK color space. Otherwise, just go to Edit > Colors... in Quark, show spot colors, then open each one and deselect spot color.

 

[tjensen0128]

You can edit your colors in quark to cmyk which is what you will want to do if you are using process color. However the suggestion to convert your red to 100% magenta is sound. If you convert red to cmyk that will be 100% magenta and 100% yellow. That's two plates, plus the black for a total of 3 plates/3 inks. You'd save money in the printing process by converting your red to magenta, then the printer can do the separations into two plates..black and magenta. Tell him to use pms red ink (or whatever color you want) for the magenta plate and you'll get what you need. I do this all the time, save a bunch of money and my work comes out looking terrific.

 

[blueark]

Yes, it is a common technique. The only reason I've ever had to use it, though, is when imported DCS files with spot colors were causing trouble with a magazine's pre-press guy (I think he was new to the job!). I changed all files to standard CMYK, and by carefully using individual process channels to represent spot channels, he found it much easier (eventually!).

But the point I'm making is this: If your printer can output separations, and assuming they can do their job right, there should be no need to convert your files in this way. It's as easy to specify black + 1 spot as it is to specify black + magenta.

However, if they can only work with process colors, as the original post says, it suggests they only have CMYK inks available to them. This isn't as strange as it sounds. Most digital printing workflows operate like this, and many prefer spot colors to be converted to process before printing.

In this case, converting your red to magenta might save you a small amount of money (2 clicks instead of 3 on an Indigo press for example), but it means you'll probably be stuck with a color you don't want. Most digital presses don't make it easy to substitute a spot color, and most companies I've dealt with don't pass on the savings to the end customer. This is quite a different situation from more traditional printing methods...

 

[gupy]

Hmm... I see... thx for explanation!
And what are more traditional printing methods?

Gupy

 

[blueark]

Screen printing, lithographic printing, pretty much anything that requires physical separations (such as screens or plates). Your file is used to create film which is then used to create these separations. Some processes bypass the film stage and create the plates directly from your file. These plates/screens are then added to a traditional printing press and ink is added at this stage. As mentioned previously, different color inks can be substituted at this point. The physical plates don't really care what color is used with them, they only dictate how it's placed on the paper.

Digital printing differs in that it bypasses this stage and the data from your file has a more direct link to the final print. It's a bit like printing to a normal deskjet (although the actual printer itself is probably more complex). Many presses do contain a plate(s) of sorts, but it is usually electrically charged rather than physically altered.

Each has advantages and disadvantages. Traditional methods are usually more economical on larger runs, and usually have better quality, whereas digital prints are more versatile, often offering variable data and economic shorter runs.