colour matching - xara >

[mags]

I'll be the first to put my hands up and admit that I know nothing about the ins-and-outs of rgb/cmyk and probably because of my lack of understanding of this, am having problems.

I have exported a logo that I made in xara to pagemaker but can't (having spent the last three hours +) get a colour match in pagemaker (the logo is two colour and these two colours have to be used in the documents).

Have tried exported in all different formats and have also exported the logo to photoshop, used the colour picker, noted the % and used these in pagemaker but still not a perfect match.

Is there a correct way of doing this or a book (or something!) that will help me to sort this problem out.

Mags

[mags]

I'll be the first to put my hands up and admit that I know nothing about the ins-and-outs of rgb/cmyk and probably because of my lack of understanding of this, am having problems.

I have exported a logo that I made in xara to pagemaker but can't (having spent the last three hours +) get a colour match in pagemaker (the logo is two colour and these two colours have to be used in the documents).

Have tried exported in all different formats and have also exported the logo to photoshop, used the colour picker, noted the % and used these in pagemaker but still not a perfect match.

Is there a correct way of doing this or a book (or something!) that will help me to sort this problem out.

Mags

[gwpriester]

Mags

Xara by default displays color in RGB color space. The colors are bright and virbrat. PageMaker, and other page layout applications display color in CMYK color space in which the same colors are more muted and less intense.

The differece is because RGB color space has a greater range of colors that can be displayed (called Gamut) than CMYK.

You can enable "Show Printer Color" (Window menu) and this will give a slightly more accurate idea of how the colors are going to look when printed.

If you are dealing with two colors there are two ways which you can ensure the colors print the way you would like them to.

If you are using Pantone spot colors, select your colors from a Pantone Matching System color swatch book or fan book. Pantone spot colors are specially mixed inks that all printers can reproduce using the formula supplied by Pantone.
If you are mixing your two colors using CMYK inks, then use the Pantone Process Color Guide to specify your colors.

Xara has several Pantone color libraries that correspond to the swatch book colors which you can find in the bottom of the colors in the Color Gallery.

Pantone color guides are not cheap but if you are working with a printer, your printer may loan you their swatch book for reference.

Pantone swatch and fan books are available at Pantone.com.

WebXealot 26 covers printing and imagesetting and may help you get a grip on CMYK printing.

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

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www.gwpriester.com </a>


XaraXone

[mags]

Gary

Thanks very much for your reply. I now understand why the colours on the screen show differently between xara and pagemaker. Thanks also for webxealot 26.

I should have said that I am printing from my own printer (epson 1290,no postscript), god help me if I had been sending the stuff to a printer!

What I just can't get my head round is the two colours that are used in xara, if i note the the cmyk values and then use these values in pagemaker why are the colours coming out different to that of the imported graphics? I'm thinking while I type, is it because Xara exports them as rgb values, hence they are showing as stronger on paper than the 'matching equivalents' from pagemaker? Is there any solution to this?

Thanks very much for your time.

Mags

[gwpriester]

What are you using this printed output for?

Part of the problem is the desktop printer. When you print from Xara and then when you print from PageMaker, which prints closer to how you want the colors to print?

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

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www.gwpriester.com </a>


XaraXone

[mags]

The graphic shown on screen both in xara and pagemaker look the same and print the same (don't know why but in xara the screen colour matches the printer colour better when "show printer colour is unchecked").

Perhaps I should explain a bit better to give a clearer picture - the graphic is a logo. Have imported it into pagemaker to prepare various stationery and a very small brochure (all to be printed with my own printer not being set to the printer). The stationery is to use the same colours as the logo. This is where I am running into problems. Cannot get the colours from the logo made in xara matched with those in pagemaker. Here I am finding colours I am making to try and match those of the logo are looking not too bad but printing out a bit differently to those shown on screen (although not the logo).

Am not sure if I should be creating named colours in pagemaker (to try to match the logo) in rgb/cmky and if they should be spot or process.

And I am being stupid but I thought if I used the rgb/cmky %/numbers as shown in xara colour picker they would match in pagemaker but so far I am having no joy.

The more I am playing about with this and the printer settings (I just got my new epson) yesterday the clearer it is becoming that this is a pagemaker problem and I'm sorry for taking space up here with it but I really am stuck.

Have just discovered that if I use the custom setting in my printer there is an 'sRGB' setting - my guess is, if that I use this setting and use xara's rgb values for the two colours on the logo I am going to get as close as I can??

I do appreciate your help very much.

Mags

[Sean Sedwards]

CMYK are real ink colours and unless your logo is defined in that colour space (to match existing documents etc.) you should avoid it. CMYK is an output format designed to control the actual quantities of those inks in a professional printing process. Desktop printers expect RGB colours and their driver software converts them into the CMYK values necessary to get the best reproduction from their own mechanisms. Unless you design in CMYK, it's better to stick with RGB, bearing in mind the gamut limitations that Gary mentioned.

I'm not familiar with PageMaker, but I'd be looking for an option to allow me to work in RGB colour space. If it's anything like PhotoShop, converting from RGB to CMYK then back again will not give you the colour you started with, hence it's unwise to import an RGB logo into a CMYK document and then print it on an RGB printer.

Regards - Sean

PS When you convert from RGB to CMYK you must compensate for the difference between ideal and real CMYK (real CMYK inks are darker). The printer driver does this automatically. Xara's "Show Printer Colours" shows you what it would look like if you didn't compensate, hence your experience.

[This message was edited by Sean Sedwards on February 17, 2002 at 08:01.]