Preparing file for Service Bureau

[JMK]

I'm a long-time fan of Corel Draw and am currently using Corel Draw 12. In the past, I've always printed straight to an in-house printer. I will now be having to outsource my work to a service bureau. My first attempt had two problems.

#1 - On my color proof my drop-shadows were light as opposed to dark.

#2 - The colors were way off on the photographs. I know the conversion from my RGB monitor to CMYK has something to do with it. Since then I have changed my Color Management option to "Optimized for Professional Output". Although there is no noticeable difference on my monitor, will that affect my output?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[sallybode]

I do most of my work in CorelDRAW for a local print shop, there are print jobs that we outsource so I use CorelDRAW to create .pdfs and have very good results on most things.

There is a flaw in the Color Management and I haven't always been able to nail it down as to why the fluke kicks up, even after resetting to defaults with F8 on boot and a new install.

But the creation of .pdf allows me to see through a different program how my work will look. On screen color management by Adobe is generally used at service burears anyway. So it is a great way to compare your work.

If colors are getting dull, you might get yourself an CMYK conversion chart to spot color from Pantone. This way you know how the spot colors will print if printed in CMYK. Then you have a more sure bet when it goes to press how your item will look when printed.

I have kept a record of when I am off on the colors I expect and generally know from my computer that CorelDRAW generally is too high on magenta on all blues, making them look violet instead of blue. So I often go up to 20% light on my magentas. I also saturate my black shadows.

To saturate a shadow you are not only printing black but also CMY as well, and depending on what you are casting the shadow over, you adjust the amounts of the CMY to get a more natural looking shadow.

Some of the tutorials at Unleash.com that you can buy are really worth investing in if you make a living with using this software.