My strange PDF/X Odyssey

[gwpriester]

Adobe's PDF file format is rapidly replacing EPS as the file format printers and service bureaus prefer. (Quark 6 has even added PDF output capability through a 3rd party application).

And now a new standard of PDF has emerged PDF/X which is even more reliable, if not a lot more complex.

Basically, PDF/X needs CMYK color and no embedded color profiles. You can Print your file to PDF/X (you need Acrobat 5 or 6 with the ability to distill a file).

As an experiment, I tried to Print from Xara X to PDF/X the logo I posted some time ago for La Puerta Real Estate Services (see attached).

It failed misserably and reported over 2000 non-complient colors. This was to be expected as the colors are all RGB.

I then tried exporting to EPS and Illustrator *.AI file formats and opening the files in Illustrator 10. The EPS file came in almost OK but for some reason the sky turned black. The AI file imported perfectly.

In Illustrator upon opening the *.AI file, I selected the CMYK color space option and no color profile. The image, which is all vectors, printed to PDF/X with no problems.

I then opened the Xara created EPS file in Photoshop 7, with CMYK color space. When I tried to print to PDF/X an error message was generated

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> [Violation] RGB colorspace was found on the following pages: Page 1, Occurrences: 1 <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I also tried exporting the logo as a RGB TIFF image from Xara, and converting the image to CMYK in Photoshop. But when I tried to print this image to PDF/X I received the same error message!

I went back to Illustrator 10, opened the Xara-created *.AI file and exported the image to CMYK TIFF with no embedded color profile.

I opened the Illustrator created CMYK TIFF file with the Leave as is, do not color manage option and attempted to print this image to PDF/X. It printed without problems.

I tried importing the AI file into CorelDRAW 11 but some of the white fills in the clouds went very flat.

I then imported the EPS into DRAW with the EPS interpreted filter (which brings in the image in editable vector file format). And while I was able to successfully print the file to PDF/X format, the colors shifted and were not acceptable (it's always something, isn't it?). I tried a variety of settings in DRAW's Color Management dialog but all produced more or less the same unacceptable color shift.

So, for the time being, it looks like Illustrator 10 is going to be used to translate files to PDF/X.

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person


<a href="http://www.gwpriester.com">
www.gwpriester.com </a>


<a href="http://www.xaraxone.com">
The Xara Xone </a>

[gwpriester]

Adobe's PDF file format is rapidly replacing EPS as the file format printers and service bureaus prefer. (Quark 6 has even added PDF output capability through a 3rd party application).

And now a new standard of PDF has emerged PDF/X which is even more reliable, if not a lot more complex.

Basically, PDF/X needs CMYK color and no embedded color profiles. You can Print your file to PDF/X (you need Acrobat 5 or 6 with the ability to distill a file).

As an experiment, I tried to Print from Xara X to PDF/X the logo I posted some time ago for La Puerta Real Estate Services (see attached).

It failed misserably and reported over 2000 non-complient colors. This was to be expected as the colors are all RGB.

I then tried exporting to EPS and Illustrator *.AI file formats and opening the files in Illustrator 10. The EPS file came in almost OK but for some reason the sky turned black. The AI file imported perfectly.

In Illustrator upon opening the *.AI file, I selected the CMYK color space option and no color profile. The image, which is all vectors, printed to PDF/X with no problems.

I then opened the Xara created EPS file in Photoshop 7, with CMYK color space. When I tried to print to PDF/X an error message was generated

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> [Violation] RGB colorspace was found on the following pages: Page 1, Occurrences: 1 <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I also tried exporting the logo as a RGB TIFF image from Xara, and converting the image to CMYK in Photoshop. But when I tried to print this image to PDF/X I received the same error message!

I went back to Illustrator 10, opened the Xara-created *.AI file and exported the image to CMYK TIFF with no embedded color profile.

I opened the Illustrator created CMYK TIFF file with the Leave as is, do not color manage option and attempted to print this image to PDF/X. It printed without problems.

I tried importing the AI file into CorelDRAW 11 but some of the white fills in the clouds went very flat.

I then imported the EPS into DRAW with the EPS interpreted filter (which brings in the image in editable vector file format). And while I was able to successfully print the file to PDF/X format, the colors shifted and were not acceptable (it's always something, isn't it?). I tried a variety of settings in DRAW's Color Management dialog but all produced more or less the same unacceptable color shift.

So, for the time being, it looks like Illustrator 10 is going to be used to translate files to PDF/X.

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person


<a href="http://www.gwpriester.com">
www.gwpriester.com </a>


<a href="http://www.xaraxone.com">
The Xara Xone </a>

[gwpriester]

I am a man obsessed.

I have a composite image which is loaded with transparencies, shadows and other weird things.

I printed the file to a Generic PostScript Printer (Print to File) as a PRN file and placed it in InDesign. I also placed it in Quark 6 but Quark could not preview the image so I have no way of knowing what I had.

[Correction] Yes Quark 6 can display the contents of the PRN file in high resolution. I discoved this after I posted this message.

When I placed the PRN file in InDesign 2 I saw the actual image with the option of displaying the image in high resolution. Something Quark 6 can do with bitmaps but apparently not with PRN files.

I then printed to PDF/X and by golly it worked.

So now there is another route to try from Xara to the prepress house.

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person


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www.gwpriester.com </a>


<A HREF="http://www.xaraxone.com" TARGET=_blank>
The Xara Xone </A>

[This message was edited by gwpriester on July 16, 2003 at 16:45.]