cmyk colours

[hmck]

Hi

Again, a problem, that I wonder if anyone who reads this might have the answer to?

I want to export my .xar drawings as TIFF files. Problem is that while I can work with the .xar drawing in cmyk format when I export this it converts to rgb. Since for commercial printing I have to use cmyk this is a big problem. I can easily convert the TIFF file from rgb to cmyk either within XaraX or using Photoshop. But that means slight but very significant colour changes. Most of my originally light browns come out as light greens. And so on.

Is there any way around this? I realise you can export to formats other than TIFF but EPS, for example, is greyed out in my QuarkXpress programme where all the images are assembled and text added. I could of course add the text in XaraX but it is so easy in Quark, or maybe I am so used to doing it, that I am reluctant to go down that road. Anyway, not being able to see what I am importing in Quark is a total drawback. Hence the need for TIFF.

One solution I had thought of was to import all the Pantone colours to a .xar file in cmyk format, export to a TIFF file (so converting to rgb) then reconverting to cmyk. I imagine the colours I finally get will be close to reality and all I might have to do is to select from the final swatch chart. Trouble is this is easier said than done. Would anyone have a clue as to how you might get all the pantone colours into a .xar document for example?

XaraX is just light years ahead of anything else that I have seen so there is absolutely no possibility of not using it. But, hopefully, someone might just be able to point me in the right direction regarding this cmyk problem.

Hugh McKerrell

[hmck]

Hi

Again, a problem, that I wonder if anyone who reads this might have the answer to?

I want to export my .xar drawings as TIFF files. Problem is that while I can work with the .xar drawing in cmyk format when I export this it converts to rgb. Since for commercial printing I have to use cmyk this is a big problem. I can easily convert the TIFF file from rgb to cmyk either within XaraX or using Photoshop. But that means slight but very significant colour changes. Most of my originally light browns come out as light greens. And so on.

Is there any way around this? I realise you can export to formats other than TIFF but EPS, for example, is greyed out in my QuarkXpress programme where all the images are assembled and text added. I could of course add the text in XaraX but it is so easy in Quark, or maybe I am so used to doing it, that I am reluctant to go down that road. Anyway, not being able to see what I am importing in Quark is a total drawback. Hence the need for TIFF.

One solution I had thought of was to import all the Pantone colours to a .xar file in cmyk format, export to a TIFF file (so converting to rgb) then reconverting to cmyk. I imagine the colours I finally get will be close to reality and all I might have to do is to select from the final swatch chart. Trouble is this is easier said than done. Would anyone have a clue as to how you might get all the pantone colours into a .xar document for example?

XaraX is just light years ahead of anything else that I have seen so there is absolutely no possibility of not using it. But, hopefully, someone might just be able to point me in the right direction regarding this cmyk problem.

Hugh McKerrell

[bjwe]

Hugh,
In the past I've used Sean Sedwards excellent cmyk xport filter. There is a download reference to it in this thread.

Brian

[hmck]

Brian

If memory serves me correctly Sean Sedward's xport routine works not on a .xar file but on an exported, from XaraX, bitmap. The export itself changes any cmyk colour in the .xar file to rgb colour and the xport process reverses this. So you have two potential colour changes. Hence the problem if you are setting your cmyk colours in XaraX and wanting to use exactly these same colours in your printing process. I wonder though if you use rgb in XaraX, export that to an rgb TIFF file, then convert to cmyk using xport, whether the colour changes will be more acceptable. Worth a try.

Best wishes

Hugh

[Klaus Nordby]

CMYK and XaraX - always a damn nuisance. But you might try exporting from XX as EPS and rasterizing the EPS into CMYK in Photoshop and save as TIF. I can't recall if I've ever tried that, actually, but as soon as I log off I shall!

K
www.xaraxone.com/FeaturedArt/kn/
www.klausnordby.com/xara

[gwpriester]

Huse

Xara EPS files open fine in Photoshop where you can change the mode to CMYK and do whatever tweaking necessary. I usually increase the Contrast by 10%.

Sean's filter will also convert a Xara TIFF file to CMYK. You can download a free copy in the
XaraXone Shareware Page.

My recommended method would be to Export your image from Xara as a TIFF file and at the desired resolution, then open the file in Photoshop and change the mode to CMYK and save it out of Photoshop.

Gary

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

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


XaraXone

[behzad]

I have two projects on the go and have tried many different ways to export cmyk colors to photoshop, yet they are far off from the actual inteded color.
I would appreciate if anyone out there has a solution.

[gwpriester]

Welcome to the Xara X Conference.

What version of Photoshop are you using?

The problem with Windows computers, vs. the Macintosh platform, is there is no one set of color standards. So an RGB imge created in Xara may look very different in different application's native color space.

I have Photopshop 5.5 which when it opens a TIFF file created in Xara asks what RGB color profile I want to use. I use the one for my Dell monitor and select Saturation for my Intent choice. Then press Convert. Photoshop converts the image to this color space which looks fine in Photoshop.

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

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


XaraXone

[hmck]

I should have done so sooner but I read the extensive literature on this subject just last night. And it is very extensive. There seem to be two basic situations. 1..where you want to end up with an eps file that photoshop/illustrator can read and 2.. where you want a cmyk tiff file with the basic .xar cmyk colours preserved for insertion in a dtp programme and subsequent printing. I want the latter.

Anyway, as pointed out by a number of members of the forum, you can export the .xar file as a Xara.eps file which can then be read by Photoshop and I assume Ghostview and maybe others. The cmyk colours are almost perfectly preserved in Photoshop. You can then readily 'save as' a cmyk tif file from within Photoshop. Problems that seem to arise concern, amongst other aspects, transparency. But life would be so dull if there were no problems.

Anyway, thanks to all those who replied and to the many more who have contributed so much over the past year. Much of it I fear going above my head.

Hugh McKerrell

[bjwe]

Hugh,

Since you raised this problem I have spent some time of my own reading the literature, which as you say is extensive. I recall that when I had the problem, even creating a suitable CMYK file was a bit hit and miss as far as the printers were concerned and I ended up producing my own laserjet proof copy so that I could say "I want it like this please".

Anyway, in the process of investigating this further, I have tried your suggestion of a Look Up table which does actually work quite well provided the image was created from Process colour definitions - it doesn't work so well if the image is based on RGB definitions and you are looking for a suitable CMYK conversion. The look up table in question has all 2995 of the Pantone RGB/CMYK colours from the Xara palette file defined. I have also added a couple of other conversion options for comparison - one is a simple grey component replacement and the other a GCR with Gamma adjustment weighted by the amount of the Key component.

If you would like to try the program and see if it helps with your conversion you can download it fromhere.

Brian