Colour Profile and Photoshop Export troubles

Guest · 26 July 2011, 01:34 PM

Hi All,
I have a couple of questions which came up today with a file with two
tiffs loaded and aranged in a Xara document, no effect whatsoever applied:

1) Did anyone manage to get Xara Designer 7 Documents to PS CS5 as psd's?
I get "something" over but it is looks way off, definedly broken...
Was Xara 7 actually tested against Photoshop CS5?

2) Is there any other way to send stuff over to PS in any way that Layers are retained?
.psd Export creates Layers but is broken - is there another Format you were lucky with?
I tried pdf with advanced options but it still moved everything on one Layer

3) (most important) How can one make sure that embedded ICC Profile of images are kept when loading into Xara?
I considered using Xara to make Compositions of Images which already have ICC profiles attached. However after exporting to any format I tried
the finished Composition leaves Xara untagged! I could hardly believe this...
When choosing pdf which seems to have the most options one seems only to be able to embed CMYK-Profiles but not RGB-Profiles for Digital-Photo-Printing.
When I choose "Custom" inside the pdf-Dialog and browse for the desired (and actually already assigned profile) I get a Popup that this is no valid CMYK--Profile...)

Thanks for any input!

Guest · 27 July 2011, 06:55 AM

Nobody with similar problems?
But say - how would you go about if you carefully edited Fotos inside a Bitmap-Editor, then composed them in Xara and intend to give them to a Foto-Printing-Service.

How do you make sure that they in printed state will show the colours they had when they left Photoshop (or your favorite Colour-Profile aware Bitmap-Editor)?

With discarded ICC-Profiles it's no more possible, simple as that.

**pichunter** · 27 July 2011, 06:53 PM

Its simple, Xara DONT USE CMYK (32 bit) color space in bitmap, only 24 bit (RGB).
When you import bitmap in Xara, bitmap automatically converted into an internal RGB format, even then it can export in CMYK, but the picture will not be a one.
And its the biggest problem why you can not use Xara in prepress.

**mwenz** · 27 July 2011, 07:47 PM

@pichunter:

The export of an XDP image as a 32-bit CMYK TIFF is spot on for color.
The export of a drawing in the Xara EPS format retains CMYK accuracy (drops any .X via rounding up/down to whole values).

Most of anything I do with exacting color gets placed in a layout application, so I use either of those two formats primarily.

Take care, Mike

Guest · 27 July 2011, 07:57 PM

I was only talking about RGB-Photoprinting here...neither CMYK as input nor desired as output.
Actually I knew that Xara isn't a good choice for professional Printing in CMYK Colour but this here
is simple Fotos. Useful also for Grand-Daddy who comps some Snapshots of his Grandchildren.
Colour-Control for output? Nonexistant.
Ability to embed Colour-Profiles as offered for download even by our Supermarkets Photo-Printing Service? Not possible.
Option to at least keep embedded Profiles (I acknowledge the fact that Xara is no Bitmap-Editor)? Also not possible.

That's quite surprising.

**pichunter** · 28 July 2011, 03:04 PM

to mwenz
Yes, we all know that Xara can EXPORT to a CMYK (tiff, pdf...etc).
The problem is that XARA can not IMPORT CMYK BITMAP (xara convert automatically in RGB), and other embed Colour-Profiles, that meant polyxo.

p/s
I work in a Xara for about 15 years, I like this programm from first version, and hope that each version will full support cmyk, and each time was disappointed.
http://imglink.ru/pictures/28-07-11/...eaa82957ba.jpg

**letsgofishing** · 20 April 2016, 07:14 AM

Originally Posted by Guest

Hi All,
I have a couple of questions which came up today with a file with two
tiffs loaded and aranged in a Xara document, no effect whatsoever applied:

1) Did anyone manage to get Xara Designer 7 Documents to PS CS5 as psd's?
I get "something" over but it is looks way off, definedly broken...
Was Xara 7 actually tested against Photoshop CS5?

2) Is there any other way to send stuff over to PS in any way that Layers are retained?
.psd Export creates Layers but is broken - is there another Format you were lucky with?
I tried pdf with advanced options but it still moved everything on one Layer

3) (most important) How can one make sure that embedded ICC Profile of images are kept when loading into Xara?
I considered using Xara to make Compositions of Images which already have ICC profiles attached. However after exporting to any format I tried
the finished Composition leaves Xara untagged! I could hardly believe this...
When choosing pdf which seems to have the most options one seems only to be able to embed CMYK-Profiles but not RGB-Profiles for Digital-Photo-Printing.
When I choose "Custom" inside the pdf-Dialog and browse for the desired (and actually already assigned profile) I get a Popup that this is no valid CMYK--Profile...)

Thanks for any input!

This is exactly the problem I'm faced with now.
I need to get a high end digital book printed - classic and exotic cars - so all the images are RGB and this is what the printer wants. They also sent me an ICC profile, but when I try to select it using custom in the pdf export dialogue, I get an error message saying please select a valid ICC profile. What is also interesting, the clour drivers folder P&LD defaults to shows ICM profiles not ICC profiles - if you select all file types and select an ICC profile, you get the error message!
Can someone please help?

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**Albacore** · 20 April 2016, 08:49 AM

The export filter will only tag CMYK with a profile not RGB( #letsgofishing). If you want your images to retain RGB profile under the advance options and on the General Tab select Acrobat 8 (PDF 1.7) in PDF Compatibility and in Colour Model pick Native or RGB. Your images will retain their RGB profile. Maybe profile is the wrong word here it should read "colour model".

If I was printing a high end book with HD images I would tend not to use either Xara or Illustrator, although they could do it, I would use InDesign or if really pushed Serif's PagePlus. For about £30 you could get ID for the month or buy outright Page Plus X8. Sorry that's just my opinion, as you can't expect vector packages to produce DTP file PDF's for printing.

**Albacore** · 20 April 2016, 09:02 AM

It has been my experience over the last 5 - 6 years that the printers I use don't want profiles as their RIP software strips the profile out and uses its own. I don't know the exact reason this is happening just the reports from the printers. I only can surmise that the software can render both RGB and CMYK colour models from the same file. In the early noughties I used to spend loads of time in PS getting rid of "out of gamut colours" in PS before I placed files in Illy for magazines. Never been asked to do this for ages although I still did it for a calendar that I did for 2016.

**letsgofishing** · 20 April 2016, 09:59 AM

Thanks Albacore - It works great using pdf1.7 and rgb. I was using X1-A....

Still puzzled by not being able to pick an .icc profile from the list, only ICM....