CMYK Export

[FAx]

Ok. You can set it or can set anythnig else.
Your settings not transfered to EPS output or printing. One way to make overprint live - print separated. 8-)

understand me?

So!, FAx
www.artin.ru | fax@goody.ru | icq 39779414
www.livejournal.com/users/faxenoff

[Albacore]

I have hesitated about joining in this discussion because most of it is above my head about the complexity of CMYK colours but as it affects my small business I thought I should get my 2 pence in.

Like Sheffield I jink in and out programmes to get the output I need for printing and at the moment I have two programmes which I use for the job, XaraX and Acrobat, with small help from CorelDraw and Photoshop. If anything was to happen with the first two I would be lost, I would need to relearn again.

What Charles was saying in his second reply was very heartning to hear "supporting PSD files with layers, better Illustrator compatibility, SVG export" I would be a very happy person as it would reduce at least one step in getting output to the printers.

Maybe I am not being hyper critical with the stuff I send to the printers but it comes back just about the way I want. Because that I have been very happy using XX and Acrobat I voted to get the bugs out of the version we have at the moment but I would be more than happy to pay for an upgrade that has PDF PSD support.

[FAx]

Finally, after many tests, am found one excellent solution for non problem printing for prepress.

Print your drawing with cmyk and overprint to Adobe PDF with separation(uncheck all cropmarks if you want clear image). Open result in AdobeAcrobat and run Creo Seps2Comp Plugin.(http://www.creo.com/global/products/...mp/default.htm). Plugin make composite image from separates with trapping and other...

Im think, this plugin cost very big ($399) for personal use, may be your print bureau have it? Or they RIP can make composite too? Contact they for information about making composite image.

ps. If you want measure colors in PDF - get PitStop Plugin for AdobeAcrobat 6. He can do it.

So!, FAx
www.artin.ru | fax@goody.ru | icq 39779414
www.livejournal.com/users/faxenoff

[maak]

Ok, here comes my two cents to the whole story:

- I agree with Jens that one does NOT need all that magic options for creating _professional_ output, if you just create _simple_ CMYK-output. The easiest to do so is by exporting a plain RGB bitmap and giving it to the print bureau. There they have professionals who know their machines well enough to do a reasonable separation to CMYK plates. No need to bother for me with all that kinky printing stuff. On the other hand, there are so many print bureaus, that just click a button for _standard separation_ and don't do a professional job... sigh!

- I agree with Klaus and Fedor that there are situations, when you need more control over the process. But what I've missed in the discussion was some practical examples. How about working with _more_ spot colours and trying to make a gradient fill from a spot colour to white (to make it easy here)? Xara can print more than just four spot colours, but how about the separations, when it comes to gradient fills?

Sorry, I did NOT test all that things out, I'm just trying to bring in new arguments. We know, Xara X "has to" convert to RGB, when it computes gradient fills and/or transparencies. And that is what makes it almost useless, when trying to build _real professional_ artworks, say, a flyer with a spot colour in neon-red and another spot colour which represents a transparent lacquer.

Ok, maybe at least I don't know exactly how to do such a document, but I'm sure you get the point, don't you :-)

Oh, yeah: What I would like to see in X2 is an onscreen-separation, like there was in Artworks, the predecessor of Xara Studio!

xara.lover.anyway:maak.

[FAx]

All test and strange prepress mumbo-jumbo coming not from good life. I hope, next XaraX version can do it easy. Im help solve problems today for unproblemly brightly tomorrow. 8-)

On your question: Spot colors, transparency, CMYK bitmap, all what you want (exclude RGB bitmaps and shadow) print to separate correctly.

As im think, make drawing for prepress not for newbies. If not understand - learn or (death!!LOL!) go away! If use pops soapboxes - don`t ask about result garbage.

Correct EPS not super-puper feature. It can be normal.

So!, FAx
www.artin.ru | fax@goody.ru | icq 39779414
www.livejournal.com/users/faxenoff

[roman]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Fedor "FAx" Axenoff:
Ok. You can set it or can set anythnig else.
Your settings not transfered to EPS output or printing. One way to make overprint live - print separated. 8-)

understand me?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

When you set it like this it goes into separations. It goes into export. I don't understand what do you mean.

[stratocast]

'ang on a minute....

This thread, (now on page 4!) has had me spellbound. I am in awe of the depth of knowledge and the passion displayed here. I am in no way qualified to enter into this discussion on a technical level, however, the following....

Back in the middle ages, when men were men and sheep were scared, life was simple and we used to do paste-ups or mechanicals. These were, for the youngsters among you, layouts produced solely in black and white. The process involved large chunks of artboard, reams of pre-set type, sheets of Rubylith, gallons of Spray Mount, acres of tracing paper, scalpels, scissors, magic tape, Letraset, process black paint..etc..etc. and, of course, a process camera the size of a Volkswagen. There where no computers and none of the artists in my studio had acne.

When it came time to print, we'd wipe the glue off our fingers, hitch up our flares and take the paste-ups to the printer (or more often, the printer would come to us, as we were his client - strange notion, I know). Now here comes the good bit, we would say "Print 5,000 of these, pal" and he'd say "OK, no probs, man". Then a week or so later he'd deliver the print run and, get this, if it wasn't perfect we'd refuse to pay him. Ah! happy days.

I knew a lot about the lithographic print process as it applied to me, but the printer was the expert, and that was enough. In fact, I had perfectly good studio artists and paste-up slaves who didn't know CMYK from YMCA.

Is it just me or have computers, despite their amazing power, made life more complicated in certain areas?

-- stratocast
http://www.aphroditesun.com

"It's a small world, but I wouldn't like to paint it"

[Klaus Nordby]

stratocast, I am one of those medieval men, who used gallons of Spray Mount, acres of rubly lith and spent half my youth in the red-lighted darkroom with my beloved Eskofot 5060 stat camera.

Those were the days!

Yes, the computer has made my life more demanding in many ways. BUT: it also allows me to easily do things I couldn't even dream of back then - and I sure could dream a lot!

In the end, would I want my darkroom and my Eskofot back? No. But I am damn glad I have had all that medieval experience - unlike all these young turks, who only know Photoshop and wouldn't recognize a can of Spray Mount if their lives depended on it.

K
www.klausnordby.com/xara (big how-to article)
www.xaraxone.com/FeaturedArt/kn/ (I was the first-ever featured artist in the Xone)
www.graphics.com (columnist, "The I of The Perceiver")

[stratocast]

Klaus, of course you are right. Back to the darkroom? No way, Jose! The computer allows me to do so much more creatively, with greater efficiency and accuracy.

Anyway, I wouldn't want to be paying for all that Spray Mount. That stuff was bloody expensive! How did they get away with charging that much for a can of glue?

-- stratocast
http://www.aphroditesun.com

"It's a small world, but I wouldn't like to paint it"

[Sheff]

who still uses spray mount?

Sheffield Abella
www.sheff.com