CS3 print:output:color:separations problem

I have InDesign CS3 running on XP SP1. When trying to print an .indd file, the separations option under file/print/output/color is grayed out. How do I set this so I can print separations?
Thank you.

The AdobePDF virtual printer is a postscript device, so if you have a full version of Acrobat installed you can print seps to PDF, then print the PDF.

Similar Messages

Color Separations Problem in Acrobat 8/9 Pro

We recently discovered a color separation problem in Acrobat 8 Pro and 9 Pro. In version 7 Pro we could select and thus include 'empty' color sep pages. Now when we select seps of the all the available colors, seps are produced only for those colors actually used in the job. This is true of pre-separated and in-rip seps. Can anyone shine some light on this 'change'? Thanks!

We are able to reproduce color saturation problem at our end. We have noted down and will work on this.
Thanks.

Having a color separation problem in CS3

I have lost the ability to print color separations in CS3. I believe that the postscript printer's ppd file has not been placed in the proper location when I downloaded the drivers. What folder should the ppd's be in?...or is there another problem?

I don't have AI 13 (CS3), but here's the procedure for AI 12 (CS2) running under Win XP. I hope it's sufficiently similar.
Go to the output panel in the print dialog. Drop down the PPD field and select 'other.' You should immediately be presented with an Explorer-type file selection window, from which you can navigate and select your PPD. As I stated earlier, it matters not where that PPD resides on your system.
That should enable separation output features.
(Click on either image above, then right-click and download the png to see details more clearly.)
If your PS printer is set up as the Windows default, you should not have to go through this every time.
Normally, when you install a PostScript printer in Windows, a copy of the PPD is placed in the c:\windows\system directory. Some applications do look for PPDs there, so it's not a bad idea to make sure you have a copy of the PPD for your printer in that location. As I explained, however, this is usually taken care of automatically when you install the printer.

Illustrator CS3 - Print - Output - Wont allow me to select Separations

Hi there
I'm silkscreening for the first time. The prepping process should be really simple right? Separate colour layers, using Illustrator, then print each layer onto transparency sheets. Well I'm about to loose my mind.
The image is CMYK, its a single spot colour (I think) which is red and the outlines are black. Printer is a Canon ix6500.
I can't seem to separate the colours in Illustrator CS3?! Why?! When selecting Print > Output > Mode > it won't allow me to select Colour Separations.
I've tried to overcome this by selecting Printer > Adobe Postscript and PPD > Canon ix6500 series. This allows me to select Colour Separations, but then it won't print, it only saves it as a PDF, and prints it as is.
PLEASE HELP!!! Any advice would be appreciated!! I'm going out of my mind here!!

I'm silkscreening for the first time. The prepping process should be really simple right?
It is. But you're misunderstanding the whole principle of color separation.
Separate colour layers...
No. Forget Layers. Layers has nothing to do with color separations. Think of Layers as nothing but an organizational tool for the stack of objects in your file. Color separation is the generation of a separate print for each ink that will be printed.
...then print each layer onto transparency sheets.
No. The image for each ink is printed on its own sheet.
The image is CMYK...
For clarity, don't call it an image. That makes it difficult to figure out what you're talking about. This is Illustrator; an object-based layout program. Your design can contain any number and combination of raster images, vector paths, and text objects. The word "image" in the context of a program like Illustrator always suggests a raster image object. If you're referring to a raster image object contained in the file, call it that: a raster image. If you're talking about your whole artwork, call it the design or the document. Don't call it "the image".
...its a single spot colour (I think)
That's self-contradictory. Nothing can be CMYK and at the same time a single spot color.
Here's a simple key to understanding color separation: Don't think in terms of "colors." Think entirely in terms of inks. In your immediate context, how many inks are going to be used to print with individual silkscreens?
By definition, a CMYK color is built up by overlaying a combination of up to four specific inks: Process Cyan, Process Magenta, Process Yellow, and Process Black. (Note the word "process" here, refering to "four-color process.")
By definition, a spot color is a Swatch (in Illustrator) which represents a single ink.
So "spot color" and "process color" are antithetical. "CMYK" is germane to process color, not spot color. Although process color can be done by silkscreen printing, spot color is more common, and I'm assuming that's what you are targeting.
So it's simple, when you think like this:
Ask yourself: How many inks are going to be allowed to print this design? (Two: a black ink and a red ink.)
Therefore, create that many (2) Swatches in Illustrator. Make sure they are defined as Spot Color Swatches. Use only those two Swatches in your entire design.
You can name those two Spot Color Swatches anyway you want. It doesn't matter. There is a common misconception that Spot Color Swatches must be named like (or even selected from) Swatches in the Pantone Swatch Library. Not so. Regardless of how you name them, each color separation is going to print to its own separation "plate" and the actual image on that "plate" (or film, or vellum) is going to be black. This is true in both process and spot color. In spot color work, each Spot Color Swatch--again, regardless of how you name it-- is going to be printed to its own "plate" and the image on that plate will be black. The name of the Spot Color Swatches, therefore, is nothing more than a convention by which to convey to the printing house what inks you intend to be used for each separation "plate." Obvously, it makes the most sense to name your Spot Color Swatches according to the names of the actual silkscreen inks that will be used (ex: "Nazdar Fire Red"), if you know them. If not, simply naming them "SpotRed" and "SpotBlack" will be fine.
Which brings me to a point of common confusion with which I think you are struggling: Exactly parallel to the matter of merely naming your Spot Color Swatches is the matter of merely coloring your Spot Color Swatches for on-screen display. There is a common misconception that Spot Color Swatches must be selected from some pre-existing Swatch Library (ex: Panone). Again, not so. So long as you define a Swatch as Spot Color, you can use any "color mixer" to specify any color you want for how it is displayed on-screen. You can color your Spot Color Swatch using either the RGB color sliders, or the CMYK sliders. Again, it does not matter one whit. Using the CMYK sliders to color your Spot Color Swatches does not make it "a CMYK color" (i.e.; a process color). So long as the Swatch is designated a Spot Color Swatch it's still defining a spot color (a single ink) and will print to only one separation "plate". Obviously, it makes the most sense to try to color your Spot Color Swatches to approximate how the actual corresponding ink will look in print. But the truth is, it doesn't matter. You could, for example, use CMYK sliders to color your Spot Color Swatch named "Nazdar Fire Red" so that it looks lime green on screen. If you did, the separation plate would still be labeled "Nazdar Fire Red", and it would still have a black image on it, and the color in the final printed result would simply be a matter of what physical ink the printer loaded his silkscreen with.
Again, to summarize that: Using CMYK sliders to color a Spot Color Swatch does not make it "a CMYK color" in terms of color separation. That is, it does not make it a process color. As long as the Swatch is defined as a Spot Color Swatch, it will print to only one color separation plate.
Finally, Layers: Don't worry at all about which Swatch is used on which Layer. You can have a thousand red fills and/or strokes, and a thousand black fills and/or strokes applied to a kazillion different objects, and those objects can be arranged in any stacking order on any number of Layers, or all on one Layer. It doesn't matter. If you've only defined two Spot Color Swatches, and you've only used those two Swatches in your design, then when you print the design to color separations, you will still only get two separations: one for SpotRed, one for SpotBlack (or whatever you named your Spot Color Swatches).
Printer is a Canon ix6500.
The question regarding your desktop printer is always: Is it a PostScript printer? That is, does it contain a (firmware) PostScript interpreter, or does its driver contain a (software) PostScript interpreter? If not, it can't print color separations. If this is your problem, there is a workaround, and a particularly popular one in screen printing, sign making, and other industries: You can "print" to a PDF "virtual printer" (i.e.; software which pretends to be a printer). If you have Acrobat (that's Acrobat, not Reader) installed, and if you are on Windows, you probably have a virtual printer named Adobe PDF installed. If so, you can select that as your "printer" and "print" color separations to it. If you've built your design correctly the resulting PDF will have one page for each ink. (The image on each page will be black.) You can then print those PDF pages to your non-PostScript printer. (This workflow is quite common in small screen printing shops.)
JET

Print driver/color profile problems after 2.0 update

Since I updated to the latest version of aperture 2 I have had problems with printing on my canon 5200R printer. The coloring is way off, as if aperture does not seem to recognize the canon print drivers or color profiles. I have read about printing from another program but was so happy with color quality using aperture 1.5, is there a fix for the current problem?

Bump.

Print Spot Color Separations

OK. I had Pagemaker, CS2 and now have CS4 on an XPP machine. I print to plate. When I want to print separations, the area is grayed out = I can't select any color to print separately. Plus, up above, I can not choose Separations to print, it's also grayed out and not available. Just RGB and gray. I print to a HP LJ5000 PCL & PS printer and need (prefer) to print in non-PS mode (PCL driver). Pagemaker could do this; and I tweeked something in InD CS2 to make it work. Can't make it work here in CS4. HELP! Is it true that ONLY the PS driver will work to print separations??? The PS driver does not work well for me or for plate production. Is there a way around this??? TIA.

Oh, no! So you are remarking that I should print to the PDF driver and then print the PDF. Two (big) step process? Yeah, I guess that's a good work-around. Isn't there another way, tho'? Please! I thought there was some sort of Color Management setting that might allow this for the job. Yes? Can someone also tell me Why separations are only allowed for a Post Script printer driver? (That may be too much to ask.) Thanks.

Printer Output Color Profile Inaccessible

Hello,
I was wondering if there was an option to set the destination color profile in the same manner Photoshop and Illustrator allow me to via the print dialog ("Let Photoshop Decide" vs "Let Printer Decide"). I typically have to bring the PDF into Photoshop or Illustrator to get that functionality which I find very frustrating - especially when someone else is trying to print photo quality using the custom profiles I've made.

Bump.

Color management settings for the best print output

Color Management while Printing has been one of the challenging areas which has been discussed a lot over user forums and has been a painful area in terms of clear understanding while taking print outputs.
Here is an easy-to-understand KB (Knowledge Base) article ‘Color management settings for the best print output’ to help you get the best from your printers using PSE and bridge that knowledge gap.
This article explains color management in Photoshop Elements, how to get better prints, and addresses some of the following issues like horizontal/vertical streaks in print output, too dark or too light print output, ICC profile problems and Color differences between prints from PSE and other applications.
Thanks,
Garry

Thanks Noel.
Yes have shared in PSE forum as well. But I usually drop such posts on PS General forum so community moderators as well as our power users who mostly use both PS or PSE or are aware about can communicate to their students, audiences etc.
The idea is to reach out the message to as many as folks via relevant forums. Most of my otehr posts have found mentioned only on PSE forum.
Thanks for the feedback Nice to hear such a great feedback within 5 mts of publishing
Regards,
Garry

Color Separations in InDesign and Illustrator

I am trying to print spot color separations. In both InDesign and Illustrator the "separations" is gray. I can only print RGB and grayscale.
My colors are set up as spot. I even tried to print from Acrobat and "separations" is gray there also. Do I need to re-install my drivers or the programs.
I am trying to print to postscript printers but neither one lets me select separations.
I am using CS3
Microsoft Windows XP
Professional
Version 2002
Service Pack 2
Intel(R) Core (TM)2CPU
6600 @ 2.40 GHz
2.93 GB RAM
Thanks in advance for your help.
Cindy

I’m not familiar with those models. Are the PostSCript compatible? If so, then you should get the most recent drivers from the manufacturers’ websites. It’s been ages since I needed to worry about printer drivers in Windows, but maybe you need a PostScript printer utility or printer driver from Adobe, too.

While in Indesign CC 2014 i am unable to perform a color separation to Acrobat DC 2014

While in Indesign CC 2014 i am unable to perform a color separation to Acrobat DC 2014. Is there a fix to this?

You can export using one of the PDF/X presets from InDesign and then print separations from Acrobat DC via Print>Advanced>Color>Separations.

Color management problems printing to Epson R2880 from CS3

I recently purchased an Epson R2880 printer. I am having a lot of trouble getting good color when printing from Photoshop CS3. I am running OS 10.4 on a G4 Mac. I have a high-quality monitor and an EyeOne calibrator. I have spent a total of a few hours on the phone with tech support from the store where I bought the monitor and calibrator, and with Epson. To try and keep it simple, I am using all Epson products (ink, paper, their ICC profiles downloaded from their site). I have calibrated my monitor to brightness: 80, white point: 5000 K, Gamma 2.2.
All that tech support has brought me to the point where prints I get on Epson Velvet Fine Art paper and almost where they match what I see on the monitor, though they still could use a touch more red. I've tried making a slight curves adjustment to the red channel but I still don't quite have it. But it's basically acceptable.
So then I tried Epson Premium Presentation Matte paper. After a lengthy session with the Epson tech, we determined that I can get a print that's almost right by printing out of Preview and letting the printer manage colors. If I make a levels adjustment and brighten it a good bit, I get a very good print. But if I try printing on that paper from CS3 I get something that looks like a washed out black-and-white print with a hint of color in it. The Epson tech (a level 2 tech) told me to use the SPR 2880 Matte Paper-HW profile. Didn't help. At that point he said that he'd done all he could do and that for further assistance I needed to contact Adobe about "advanced settings in Photoshop." Of course, I'd prefer to print out of Photoshop because it gives more options in terms of placement and size of the print on the paper.
So here are my questions:
- Is this kind of thing par for the course, and will I eventually figure out a system that gives me good results all the time with any Epson paper I choose with a minimum of tinkering with levels and curves?
- Or should I expect more from a printer that costs almost $1,000 and should I return it for, say, a Canon?
- Is there information online about those "advanced settings" the Epson tech was referring to?
- Or would I be advised to purchase a one-on-one phone consultation from Adobe Photoshop tech support to resolve these problems?
Thanks,
Helen

Mike,
Gee Ramón, I am guessing Mike did a search for Epson R2880/CS3 and noticed that a Mac user was having the same problem he was. If together, maybe Windows users and Mac users can come together and solve the problems of the Epson R2880, maybe we can set a good example for the Republicans and Democrats in Congress :-).
Anyway, since I posted this problem, I have been working on it getting input from a variety of people. The person who finally helped me was Jim, a tech at ColorHQ.com. If you are in the US or Canada and have to buy a monitor and/or calibrator, definitely consider buying it from them, because they offer free tech support to their customers!
So regarding yellowness, one thing that you definitely should look at is how you're calibrating your monitor. Despite some of the replies above that recommend calibrating to 6500K, ColorHQ, which specializes in solutions for the printing industry, told me that calibrating to 5000K is the print industry standard. (While 6500K is the standard for working on images for the web or for editing video.) 5000K will make the monitor look yellower, so see whether that's a better match to what you're printing. I have an Eizo monitor and am running their Color Navigator software. The nice thing about that is something called Color Navigator Agent that allows me to switch between calibration profiles on the fly if I'm doing some web work and then want to work on images for printing.
Calibrating to 5000K was helpful, but not the solution in my case. The ultimate solution to my problem was more of a Mac issue, so I don't know if this will help you, but I'll post it in case anyone refers to this discussion in the future: there evidently IS an issue with ColorSync Utility in the Mac interfering with Photoshop managing colors in OS 10.4. In my case, ColorSync was causing the printer to preserve RGB values rather than use the ICC profile. The afore-mentioned Jim suggested that I go to Edit: Convert to Paper Profile, then pick the profile from the list. When printing, in the first Photoshop dialog box choose Color Handling: No color management. All the other settings in the next dialog box are the same as when you don't want the Epson to manage colors. So what you're doing is making it so the profile is built into the file, and neither Photoshop nor Epson are managing colors.
The result to this was MUCH better. The soft proof is a little redder than the print, but I can adjust that by creating a curves adjustment layer and pulling down the red curve in the middle a little bit if I want to see what the print will look like. I can live with that.
Also Jim pointed out that those papers that you mentioned are in fact a little warm in tone -- put Velvet Fine Art next to a piece of ordinary copy paper from say, Staples, and you'll see the difference. He suggested that if it's the matte look I want (it is) that Hahnemuhle makes a couple of papers that are brighter: Photo Rag Baryta and Bright White He also likes Ilford Gold Fiber silk, but that's a luster satin finish. You can download the Hahnemuhle profiles from Hahnemuhle's web site and compare them in "Soft Proof" mode in Photoshop with the Epson papers you mentioned and get an idea of the difference with your images. I haven't actually printed on them yet, but I see what he means.
Good luck, and I'd be interested to know how it goes for you.
--Helen

What shows in color separations is not what prints

I have a document originally created in InDesign CS3 with text in a 100%K black, not rich black. When printed directly from InDesign, text prints with only black ink.
When I export to PDF, with black settings to output accurately (not rich black), the Acrobat 8 Professional color separations only show this text on the black separation, as is to be expected. However, when printed, the text is rich black with all CMYK ink tones present.
I am printing to a Konica 7830dxn PostScript printer, but since the document prints fine to this printer directly from InDesign, I don't see it as causing the problem.
What is going on? Other users have also had issues with this coming from InDesign, but I'm pretty sure it's an Acrobat problem, not an InDesign problem. I'm quite open to being proven wrong, of course.

Well, I've tried just about all the options available. The printer driver gives me five options for color management - I've tried "Konica Color Matching," "PostScript Color Matching," and "No Color Matching," to no avail.
"Print in Grayscale" wouldn't work for the color images in my document, and it won't let me pick "Use ICC Profile."
I don't understand why it changes when it goes to Acrobat. Printing from InDesign with the default "Konica Color Matching" works fine. I'm stuck.

InDesign / Color Separations / BW Laser printer

In the past, I have always used an old HP Laserjet 4MV/PS for our spot color separations from Pagemaker. Most InDesign (CS2 & CS3 / PC) files are too big for it to handle, so we create pdfs and output that way. The 4MV has now died and we want something that outputs a better quality dot pattern and separations to paper for grayscales/shading. I don't need high volume, but do need at least 11 X 17 and only need it to output black. What printer will handle large graphic files and provide a good dot pattern?

The printer in question, the Brother HL-4570CDW, is a fairly inexpensive SOHO laser printer typically used to print “office” documents. As such, it doesn't offer direct options either on the front panel or via the driver to match typical commercial print conditions such as SWOP. Most content sent to such a device is sent as RGB from printer drivers.
(For your convenience, I have attached a copy of both the specification sheet and the manual for this device!)
Some ideas:
(1) Don't expect reasonable CMYK colors if you are using what Brother describes as the “Windows(r) printer driver (the most suitable printer driver for this product)” and what is apparently installed by default (see page 26 of manual). It invokes an emulation of HP PCL5C, pure RGB, which is a real problem from InDesign. Install their “BR-Script printer driver” and turn off the option for RGB vivid color and try that instead. BR-Script is Brother's emulation of PostScript 3 - definitely not Adobe PostScript 3, but it possibly will give you better results than their emulation of PCL5C!
(2) Assuming you are printing BR-Script and the colors are still very problematic, try recalibrating the printer via the printer's front panel. See page 82 of their manual!
(3) Export PDF as PDF/X-4 and try printing the PDF/X-4 file from Acrobat Pro or Adobe Reader, again using the BR-Script driver. This might improve things.
If you still can't get decent color and the printer is still “new,” I'd try to return the unit as defective. You can get much better printers for comparable prices from Xerox that have Adobe PostScript 3 and have reasonably good color. Otherwise, if still under warranty, I'd contact Brother and see if they have solutions other than blaming Adobe somehow!
- Dov
PS: This isn't the first report I've heard of serious problems with Brother CloneScript devices.

Separation problems on CS3 using Snow Leopard

I am running InDesign CS3 5.0.4 version. Computer is a Mac Pro Dual-Core Intel Xeon 2GHz. running on Snow Leopard 10.6.1. I am working on a 228 page catalog and when I try to turn on color separations the program crashes. Since I only print this catalog once a year I had not tried to turn on separations (for this catalog) since last year when the catalog was 100 pages smaller. Suddenly every time I try to turn separations on in any document it will crash.Help!! Just so there is no confusion I go to windows, output, and then turn separations on. It will show the little eyeball, then immediately crash.

What version of the OS did you have before? Was is one of the 10.6.x's? If you had a 10.6.x before you aren't going to notice much change with 10.6.8. I'm not sure what that "system events" thing is you are talking about. Maybe some else who installed 10.6.8 can chime in (I use 10.6.5).
I thought 10.6.8 only came as a combo updater. That's still a single disk. So I assume that's what you purchased (purchased? it should have been in your system updates).
Maybe you are confused by the upcoming Lion OSX which has not been released yet where the descriptions talk of new features.

How do I save color separations to a larger size than my printer will allow?

I have an Illustrator file from which I'm trying to produce color separations. What I want is a PDF with each separation on its own page, but it looks like you can't export separations to PDF directly, so I'll probably export to PostScript and use Distiller to produce my PDF. I only have an 8.5"x11" printer, but I want the separations to export at 15"x16" to be printed elsewhere. But Illustrator won't let me unless I have a PPD installed for a printer that can print to that size. That seems dumb... I have no idea what printer will be used to print them, and I have no idea what model printer can print that large. So what should I do? Can someone point me to a PPD that will allow me to export to 15"x16"? Or is there another way?

I just tried a quick test using save as pdf and according to the print dialog box in acrobat that spot colors are there. Perhaps you are using one of the presets that converts colors.
In the save as pdf options dialog box look at the output section for color conversion and see if it is set to no conversion. some of the standards change this setting.

CS3 print:output:color:separations problem

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for