Converting from RBG to CMYK - urgent!

This is urgent, since the documents are at the printer.
I converted all the colors in the color list to CMYK before I sent the files, but I didn't realized that all the colors I'd picked with the eyedropper were still RGB. I need a way to globally convert all the colors in the documents to CMYK - even the colors that are not in the list. I've searched the documentation and the forums and can't see how to do this except one by one and that's crazy - there are dozens of colors and four documents.
Please help!

Hi, I hope this could help you
1- Let's first get all the colors in the document listed in the swatches pallette. Go to "Xtras" menu, click in "colors", this will display the submenu of options, choose "Name all colors". The non listed colors from imported objects or created within Freehand but not named will appear now in the pallette.
2- Now with all colors listed... to convert all to cmyk process select the first color name from the swatches list and pressing shift select the last one in the list. (if you need to select non consecutive colors press control (PC) or command (Mac)
3- having the colors selected, click in the assets option icon (small triangle), this will display the options available for those colors, in this case you will select "Make CMYK", you will notice the colors name are now in italics, that means the swatch is in cmyk.
I have a 20 years of Prepress experience and this is a common mistake from designers, lucky you this is easy to fix in freehand, I can't say the same from other graphic programs.
Good luck

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Is it necessary to convert photos from RBG to CMYK if you are just printing at home?

I am new to the creative suite, and I am using InDesign for a class presentation. I was told I should convert any photoshop images that I use from RGB to CMYK for printing, but I am just printing it at home on my little deskjet.
Second question: If it IS necessary, why do I get a alert in photoshop saying "You are about to convert to CMYK using 'U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2' profile. This may not ve what you intend." What does this mean and should I just ignore it?
Thanks in advance for any advice you may have!

The advice you got was specifically for sending a project to a CMYK printing press. Converting to CMYK has been the traditional requirement for those jobs, from the era when most images were printed and most printed images went to a CMYK press.
But it's been many years since that was true. Some InDesign workflows can use RGB images if you set up InDesign to do the conversion to CMYK at output, or if the digital press will be doing the conversion. A lot of digital home printers and newer digital printing presses are set up to work with RGB images. For example, you don't send CMYK images to the lab to have printed enlargements and photo books made, you send RGB. As far as your home inkjet goes, it uses different ink colors than U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) CMYK (some printers use six inks or more), so converting to CMYK wouldn't even match up properly with the inks being used.
That's the reason you see the alert message. It's no longer a world where you convert all images to CMYK to print, so Photoshop is making sure it's something you actually need to do. Because if you convert to CMYK when you don't need to, your images will look worse because CMYK doesn't provide as many colors as RGB.

How do I change my pictures from RBG to CMYK?

Can somebody tell me how to change my pictures fromm RBG to CMYK? I am using quarkexpress9 to write my second book but the program is locking up on me because it want's my pictures in CMYK instead of RBG so I bought first lighthouse5 and now photoshop elements in an effort to change them from one to the other but can't figure it out. I found some directions online on how to do this in photoshop but it doesn't make sense, it says go to EDIT, COLOR SETTINGS, and then from the drop down menue select blah blah blah. There is no drop down menu, just a list which allows me to choose, No Color Management, Always Optimize for computers, Always optimize for printing, or Allow me to choose. So... what gives?

Work with RGB. I don't know Quark in the latest version, but modern print software does not need CMYK images.
Re: Re: Converting Images to CMYK for Print Publication

Convert from RGB to CMYK

I've been trying to find solutions to convert images/pdf's from RGB to CMYK. I've noticed that it's definitely possible to convert from CMYK to RGB, but haven't been able to do the reverse.
Does anyone know of a method or a reference that might help me along?
Thanks!

Ugh, I'm a newb and did a better search and found other previous posters asking the same question.
Feel free to close this thread (if you do such things here).

Converting from RGB to CMYK makes the image dull. How do I fix?

I have an image that has a really bright vibrant blue in it. When I convert it from RGB to CMYK, it gets pretty dull. Is there a "trick" or something to do to a file after converting to CMYK to bring back some of it's vibrancy?

Sharingene wrote:
Question on workflow... so do I convert my sRGB to CMYK, work to fix different color issues using some of the methods above, then what? Where does the printer's profile come into play during all of this? UPrint told me for offset printing they use US Web-coated SWOP v.2. Just not sure what to do with this information
Whenever you convert, you're always converting from the source color space to the destination color space.
In this case, your source color space is sRGB, because that's the color space your file is in.
Your printer told you that the CMYK profile they use is USWebCoatedSWOPv2, so that's the destination color space you want to convert to. You can consider that the printer's profile.
So, how to convert?
There are two ways.
First, you could go to Image > Mode > CMYK. Easy, but maybe not right.
That method will convert to whatever defaults are set in Photoshop's Color Settings (Edit > Color Settings). Check out your Color Settings. If they are set to any of the North America presets, you're in good shape, because the CMYK default is USWebCoatedSWOPv2. However, let's say that the printer told you to use Web Coated SWOP 2006 Grade 3. Then you need to take a different approach...
Second way: go to Edit > Convert to Profile...
In the dialog that appears, click on the Destination pop-up and scroll to find the appropriate profile.
Click OK. Conversion done.
This is a more deliberate method that also gives you control over Rendering Intent. (That's another discussion. For now, use Relative.)
-I guess it's used in soft proofing but sure how all this works. If I soft proof and it's still not looking right, am I able to edit with their profile turned on some how?
A soft proof is an on-screen simulation of what your color will look like once you do the conversion. In your case, you would turn on soft-proof (command-Y) while still in sRGB to simulate the look of the CMYK color space.
To select the color space to simulate, go to View > Proof Setup.
Click on Custom...
Click on the Device to Simulate popup.
Scroll to find the destination color space.
Then when you hit command-Y, you'll see a soft proof of that color space.
Best practices suggest that you do the bulk of your color correction while still in RGB, but with soft proof on.
Also, should I get a profile for the paper I'm using as well?
That's what the printer's profile is.
Although I've read somewhere it's hard to have your monitor replicate paper because monitors are so bright....
Not exactly. The challenge in getting a visual match between monitor and proof/print is based on the fact that a monitor is emissive (i.e., it's a light source) and a print is reflective (i.e., it only reflects light that's hitting it.) However, in a proper, well controlled editing environment, it's possible to get a shockingly close match between monitor and proof/print. All the variables are controllable.
The bottom line with all of this is to be able to get accurate, predictable color on press (or out of your inkjet) based on what you see on screen. It can be done; I do it every day. It just takes some study and rigorous process control.
I humbly suggest that you check out my book.
Good luck!
HTH,
Rick
Rick McCleary
author, CMYK 2.0: A Cooperative Workflow for Photographers, Designers, and Printers
Peachpit Press

Converting from RGB to CMYK alters shadows

When working with our product photos, I keep them in RGB and add drop shadows to them by drawing rectangular marquees on a separate layer, fill them with black and then apply gaussian and motin blur to them. Works quite well. Plus with the shadow on it's own layer, I can turn it off in InDesign if need be. The problem is when I convert the photo to CMYK for offset printing. It's asks if I want merge the layers to which I say no since I want to be able to turn the shadows off if need be, but when I say no, then the shadows get bigger and do not look as good as they did in RGB. If I say yes to merge, then the shadows look the same as they did in RGB but I lose the ability to turn them off in InDesign.
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gator soup wrote:
... i would think any conversion would be subject to the same anomaly that Photoshop is showing
but i don't know... maybe convert to the destination cmyk before setting any layer effects or adjustment layers
Effects, like gradients, drop shadows, etc are not converted by the color management pixel by pixel because Photoshop doesn't see them as pixels but as a procedure (formula) with key colors for generating the effect in the destination color space. So, for drop shadow, only the shadow color is converted to its closest match in the destination color space but all other parameters affecting the color like the blending mode, opacity, etc are applied in the destination color space which gives different appearance - first, because color space characteristics like gamma curve is different and second in case of a different model (CMYK), the blending of colors is based on entirely different algorithms.
So, basically effects is best to be recreated in the destination color space or flattened before conversion.

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The color will show if I set the layer to multiply, but it doesn't look the same way as it does when its in RGB mode.
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If I do this, it turns it into an image and it loses its clipping path?

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I attached the file I sent to 4over incase that helps anyone answer my question.
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http://www.pantone.com/pages/products/product.aspx?pid=283&ca=1&s=4

Automatically convert from RGB to CMYK color mode

I have over 900 barcodes provided in EPS format. When I open them in illustrator, they are coming in as an RGB color space file. I need them gray scale solid black in CMYK color mode. I can batch using actions to convert the artwork using "Edit Colors > Convert to Grayscale". However, the document color mode remains RGB. It appears, even after using "Convert to Grayscale", that the RGB color mode goofs up the placed .ai file in InDesign, treating it as RGB and seeing it as a mix of CMYK rather than the 100% black only it needs to be for proper sharp printing.
The actions pallet doesn't record converting the document color mode. Is there a way to automate that file conversion so they are all saved as CMYK rather than RGB, or am I stuck opening each of the 900+ files manually?

While recording the action, from the popup menu in the Actions Panel choose Insert Menu Item, then from the main menu choose File > Document Color Mode > CMYK color.

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Colin.

Plugins for converting Grayscale to neutral CMYK?

I've some B&W images that were processed as RGB, turned to Grayscale, and eventually need to be CMYK. They're being printed in a magazine, and it's important that they don't have a weird color cast. I feel a straight convertion from Grayscale to CMYK will put color information back into the B&W image.
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A »dirty« method would be to use a Custom CMYK-conversion (Edit > Convert to Profile) with Maximum GCR and then just use Edit > Assign Profile to attach the proper CMYK-profile.
Maybe use an Action or Script to automate this.
Edit: The Dot Gain should be the same as the Grayscale’s.

CS2 Convert RGB Images to CMYK Within Illustrator

Hey everyone. I desparately need some help here. I designed a file in Illustator CS2 and my file had images within it. I took it to a professional printer and he said my images needed to be converted from RGB to CMYK to print properly. The printer had CS4 and he said to change the colours you click on Edit -> then Colours, which in turn allowed him to change the pictures format from RGB to CMYK. I only have CS2 and when he told me to select Edit and then Colours, well CS2 does not have that. It's something completely different.
If someone out there knows how to change the picture files from RGB to CMYK "within" Illustrator CS2 could you please tell me how as Adobe's phone support only deals with the most current version.
Any help you can provide me with, would be greatly appreciated!
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Julie

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If the images are linked, I would suggest you convert them to CMYK in Photoshop. I'm sorry, but I do not know of a way to do the same thing within Illustrator (v12 aka CS2).

Photohop CC crashes when changing RBG to CMYK

(Sorry for my english) This problem did not happen before, but nowdays, my Photoshop CC crashes every time i change a picture from RBG to CMYK. I need to restart de propgram, but it happes again. I tried giving all the RAM to the program, but it doesnt work. Anyone is going through the same problem?

Update your graphics driver and check your color management settings, including and especially monitor profiles.
Mylenium

How can I convert Pdf from RGB to CMYK, keeping font color 100% K while working in Illustrator?

How can I convert Pdf from RGB to CMYK, keeping font color 100% K while working in Illustrator?
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I have tried that way, but the downside is that the fonts are set in gray not in a 100%K, also I have to deal with other fonts that are composites and meant to stay Full Color. I could select text by text and convert to gray but, its a 64 page document and I wouldn't want to make a expensive mistake.

Converting from RBG to CMYK - urgent!

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