CYMK to RGB

I "inherited" a large file to work with from another garphic designer.
The file l looks great on the screen, but when I went to print it out the colors were dull.
The mode was CYMK. Since it is a regular printing job (not 4 color) I converted the file to RGB.
Unfortuinately the colors still look murky when printing on a regular printer (but looks good on the screen.)
Is there a way to convert it back to RGB and have the colors print that show on the screen? ...
or Is there something I am doing wrong when opening the file?
I am not sure whether the issue is on my end or whether the original artist changed the color mode for some
unknown reason before handing it off to me. (maybe to mess me up?)
Thanks very much for any sight....

All:
Thank you for taking the time to reply while educating me. I really appreciate it.
This was a very large & costly print and had to be done correctly and on deadline.
I spoke with the local Production House who offered to do a small test print for a relatively
good price. I PDF-ed and emailed it. The results were that the test print looked almost 90% perfect.
From the test print, I improveed the product by desauturating the colors slightly. I removed a glitch in the gradient.
I went with the production house instead of printing "In House" because thier printer had some extra features (2 extra colors)
and they had a bit more experience than I did.
Anyway, the results were great.
We are going to experiment in house now that we are not on deadline.
Again, thank you!

Similar Messages

Actions - Convert CYMK to RGB

Hi all,
I was hoping someone could help me out with trying to convert the "Document Color Mode" from CYMK to RGB as part of an action. The reason for this is because i have hundreds of eps files that need to be converted to RGB mode, but recording actions does not seem to "record" the changing of the "Document Color Mode".
Thanks in advance,
Patrick

You need to use the "Insert Menu Item..." command found in the Actions panel fly-out menu.

Converting from duotone to CYMK or RGB destroys image

Hello
I am trying to create an example of how colours are made up so I am splitting channels, colorising and then printing the individual colour layers RGB and CYMK on to transparency and then layering them on a light box.
I am able to convert to duo tone by doing the following things:
converting the image to 8 bit
splitting channels of the image, i have one rgb image and one cymk image.
converting to duotone and colorising.
if I save the cymk duotone images they just revert to a flat image of the target colour, all of the detail is lost see below
If I try to change the image back to rgb or cymk, the image goes blocky, see below
I need to import these images into inDesign to print them as I have a template that allows me to line each of the images up properly.
why is it doing this?
I am using creative cloud. latest version of photoshop on windows 7 64 bit.
I am close to self harm just now as it makes no sense to me.
any help at all would really be appreciated.
Thanks

Quite frankly I don’t understand the procedure you explain.
Could you post screenshots to illustrate the steps?
If I try to change the image back to rgb or cymk, the image goes blocky, see below
That looks like a problem of its own.
Does turning off »Use Graphics Processor« in the Performance Preferences and restarting Photoshop have any bearing on the issue?
Otherwise you might want to run some general trouble-shooting routines:
http://blogs.adobe.com/crawlspace/2012/07/photoshop-basic-troubleshooting-steps-to-fix-mos t-issues.html
Though if it’s bad RAM …

CYMK TO RGB importing and color changing

I don't know if this is something really basic but I finished a piece of artwork. I copied an image that I drew in illustrator and pasted it into an empy photoshop document. I was working on CYMK in illustrator but RGB in photoshop. I thought that might have been why the colors were off. Like the blacks in CYMK are not fully black unlike RGB. So I made a new RGB document in illustrator pasted the image from the previous CMYK document and tried to convert the colors.(through swatch and even edit colors). This new image I posted again into photoshop again the colors were off. Last try I made another new RGB document. I painted another image this time using RGB black from the beginning and it was not a copied image from the previous document but rather a new image that I just drew. Still when I imported into Photoshop the black was not fully black. I zoomed in and notice it wasn't black even in the 2 illustrator documents in RGB. I don't know what I'm doing wrong and why the color isn't fully black would anyone be able to help direct me or teach me what is wrong here? Is it something I'm doing wrong in photoshop or in illustrator or both?

what is wrong here?
On the most elementary level: Your color management settings do not match and there is a profile conversion happening. Make sure to use the same color profiles (plain sRGB) in both apps, calibrate your monitor, use the correct monitor profile for proofing.... Other things that could be relevant:
- you are still mixing your colors in CMYK in AI, even when working in RGB, resulting in crooked values and possibly different gamut
- you settings for rich black are set in such a way, that all blacks are converted to rich black
- you are using AI transparencies and blending modes, which simply work differently in PS
- OpenGL usage in PS may affect display of your artwork
In any case, this is nothing a short forum post can answer. You really need to read up on color management and how it works in different programs to resolve these issues.
Mylenium

Illustrations for print with texture-cymk or rgb

Hi all
I wonder if any one has any thoughts on the best way to workflow this sort of thing.
Print Illustration,
Starting with a vector illustration in cymk (Illustrator).
We then want to grunge it up with photographic textures (taking into Photoshop) but obviously still want to control colours.
I have tried keeping it all CYMK in photoshop.. gets bulky though and not as spontaneous.
I have also just converted to RGB and tweaked from there.
A good scientific discussion would be great
anyone? thx

Thanks John. That job has gone but will definitely try this technique next time.
They are all things I have not done before. Thanks muchly
p
Actually I just tried it. To save as a 'embedded CYMK' the only way I get this option is to save as a photoshop PDF. Is this the go?
It seems to work fine. Great in-fact..I don't usually send Pdfs. I could convert it to something else (jpeg) from here but it will be sent to the printers as a pdf I suppose so why should I, right?

PDF negative displays

I use many PDF files in forScore for music. After uodating the iOS4 the PDFs generated from my printer scanner display as negatives (White on Black) TRied a file on iBooks and it does the same thing. PDF created from CutePDF Writer work file as do Exports from my word processor. Unfortunately over 200 of my scores are impossible to use. Their response follows, NOTE: I have not been a Beta tester.
" This does appear to be a known issue with iOS 4.3 and PDF files using a CYMK color profile rather than RGB. This might sound like a crazy question, but did you ever use any of the beta versions of iOS 4.3? The confirmed cases of this bug that we've seen in the developer forums all relate to having installed one of the betas, even if those people later upgraded to the release version. In those cases, a fresh install was the only way to fix it. Otherwise, we'll see if there's any quick way to convert CYMK files over to RGB so that you can have a potential workaround until Apple figures this out. Sorry we don't have better news!
Sincerely,
MGS Development

I am having the same issue with my pdf scanned music files. I use pdf sheet music reader to read music pages that I scanned in black and white not CYMK or RGB. They were fine until I updated to iOS 4.3. I also tried opening them in good reader and ibooks. No luck. I also never used beta versions either. Any luck finding out an answer to your problem?

PDF Converted to JPEG Shows Up As Green Box in FCP...

I have a PDF file from a client that I converted into a jpeg to use in FCP. I can import and it shows up fine in the browser, but when I put it into the timeline it turns into a solid green box.
Why is this happening? I need it as a jpeg to have the solid white background, as the PDF has no background layer.

Sometimes those pdfs have an alpha channel as well.
Delete/change in PS.
To switch from CYMK to RGB in PS, open the file in PS:
Go to Image Menu, choose Mode drop down, and switch to RGB.
Save and then import to FCP

Very Slow Scrolling with Images

I'm running Framemaker 11 on a Windows 7, 64-bit machine with an i7 processor at 2+ ghz and 8.0 MB RAM.
My Frame files, with imported/referenced images, are scrolling extremely slowly. When I say slow, I mean as the page scrolls into view it freezes for 10 - 20 seconds before "catching up" and displaying the page.
I have a "background" image on my master pages that contains simple graphics for the top header and some borders to delineate areas of the page. Those backgrounds are imported. Thjese imported files are about 1.1 MB.
My remaining images are imported by reference on the various body pages. They are .ai files and are 2.5 - 5 (ish) MB in size.
I've been searching for an answer. My deadline is going to pass my by while I wait for pages to load. Please help!

> ... I have read that JPGs aren't the way to go in FM ...
We convert them to EPS as well. EPS does raster. It does, however, always come in at "100%" in FM, and you cannot learn the dpi from FM. You can choose CYMK or RGB, depending on your color management needs.
> any advice on a better file type for screenshots and photos?
Screenshots are a different matter. Because they tend to contain long repeats of single pixel colors, we use TIF for that, as they compress well with any of the repeat-count compressions. You could also use EPS, but the FM preview is apt to be illegible.
A challenge with screen shots is avoiding having them re-sampled during render to PDF. I would recommend importing them at native res (typically 72 or 90 dpi), and keeping that below the threshold for whatever resampling is done in PDF print, Distill or Acrobat Optimize. If you need to scale screenshots, use integer multiples or fractions, and "nearest neighbor".
> ... although my graphics designer is throwing an absolute fit because the images look horrible when viewing them in FM.
You can improve EPS (and PDF import) preview by using the scaling trick (up to 500%) or so. Rescale the source image up (elect rescale stroke and effects) before saving to EPS. Rescale down after import to FM. The final file size won't change materially for vector art, and won't be much different for contone raster if your rendering workflow is set to resample down to what they were to begin with. The preview will be 4x sharper, but still indexed color.
Naturally. there is a small performance penalty for using the scaling trick. Also, the previews are metadata that will survive into, and inflate the size of the PDF, unless redacted downstream (Examine Document in Acrobat Pro; later versions of PDF printing and Distill may have an option for that too).
Another preview performance killer is rotation. Anything other than importing at 0 degrees can send FM off into la-la land.
Bad network fs performance can bog you down too.

Watermark, color space, and transparency problem

I'm having a problem with inserting a watermark image into my pdfs.
I created the watermark image in Photoshop. It is 8-bit gray with a transparent background. I saved it as a pdf (pdf 1.4 to allow transparency).
The main pdfs (to be watermarked) are created through a seperate process (they are scans of old book pages). The pdfs are produced from 8-bit gray tiff images, but I cannot determine what color space the these pdfs are.
To the problem: in Acrobat 9, when I insert the watermark above, all of the blacks on the page shift to grey, as if the opacity was shifted lower. The opacity is set to 100%, so this should not be a problem! The watermark does have a transparent background, though.
Since this seems to be a color space conflict, if I save the watermark PDF in CYMK or RGB, it does not cause the tonal shift (blacks remain true), but the watermark now has an opaque background. I need it to be transparent, as the background of the files to be watermarked are not tonally consistent (old discolored paper).
I guess these are my questions:
(1) Is there any way to determine the color space of a PDF? File->Properties does not list color space.
(2) Why does the watermark PDF, saved in CYMK or RGB, not allow a transparent background? Is this an Acrobat issue or color space?
(3) Does anyone have an idea on how to solve this? :)
Thanks a bunch.

First, I have 2 questions: 1) How do the color and watermark background look when you have Advanced > Print Production > Output Preview open? 2) What version of Acrobat are you working in?
The most common reason that people see an almost "washed out" appearance (or looking as though additional opacity is applied) is due to a bug in Acrobat 8. This was fixed in the 8.1 dot release. One way to determine if this is what you are running into is to view the file with the Output Preview dialog open. If it views correctly then, make sure you have the update installed.
I don't work with watermarks, but understanding the general concept of watermarks it seems like a reasonable guess that they would use overprinting. I'm wonder if this is what is affecting the display of them (non-transparent background) since Acrobat needs Overprint Preview ON to accurately display objects with overprint flags . As with above, turning on Output Preview will help you deduce if that's what is happening since Output Preview automatically enables Overprint Preview (which is off by default).
BTW, Preflight will let you know what color spaces are in PDF file. Run any Profile. In the results panel, drop down the "Overview" section. There you will find a color spaces section listing the color spaces of the document.

Troubleshooting my 3D Tools

Hello everyone, I am experiencing a problem with the 3D tools on CS6 Extended.
I've sought an answer on these discussion boards and in other places but can't quite seem to find one.
I have checked and my vRAM is 512mb which seemed to be the biggest source of this problem for other people, but my 3D tools are still greyed out.
What can I do?
Thank you,
Gabe
Update: I have converted the working file from CYMK to RGB and the 3D tools have become available.

We cannot know. Your description does not contain any hard technical facts and you're losing yourself in speculation and hearsay. As a start, refer to this:
Why don’t I have 3D options in my menu?
Some functions, features and effects are greyed out and I can’t use them.
Beyond that we need a whole lot more info on what you are actually doing and system information.
Mylenium

Colour picker

on windows $.colorPicker() is not the same as the colour picker that appears for choosing colours when clicking either the fill or stroke colour (ie, looks like it belongs on windows 95).
is there no way to call the actual colour picker, or am i limited to choosing colours with RGB, which, when it's for print, is a bit of an issue. (Converting isn't an issue, but when I have an exact CMYK colour I need to use...)
Or... has someone already made a CYMK and RGB colour picker? It seems like a fairly trivial thing to do - few sliders et voila! (he said naïvely!)

Take a look at Marc Autret's implementation: http://www.indiscripts.com/post/2009/06/web-color-picker
It might give you ideas on how to adjust it for CMYK.

Importing layered photoshop file

I am having trouble importing the Photo Shop layered menu file into studio pro. also, when I try to import the asset, many times studio pro crashes...?
any advice?
Thank you
charlie P

Is it CYMK or RGB?
Created of a Mac or PC?
Have layer effects and type been rasterized?

Why does my color swatches disappear randomly?

I have a MAC and use CS4.
Sometimes when I use illustrator my color swatches are there and easy to access, change colors or values....blahlblahblah
Other times I have no color swatches in my color window, and no slider bars in the color slider window (No values can be adjusteded/ no bars to adjust)
Only if I use the drop bar on the color box(top right) and change to CYMK or RGB, can I change the color.
This is a bit annoying seeing that I cant figure it out why this happens.
I would show you guys a screen shot, but like i said it only happens randomly.......

This is great - but then how do you get the swatches back? I had a photo in the page and am now creating regular vector boxes but can't find a way to display the swatches! I've tried the pull down, tried show color swatches, show all swatches - but nothing happens no matter what i do.
Many thanks for your help!

Document Conversion Problem

We're trying to convert a FrameMaker 10 book to a PDF file and only in one section of the document graphics are randomly being left out. Adobe leaves a space where the graphic should be. And in one instance, it even left the arrows pointing to the different items but the rest of the graphic was missing. We've tried just converting that one section to later be able to add it back in by Adobe Pro thinking the file size might be the issue - no joy. We've tried copying the file into FrameMaker vice having it as a link to the document - no joy. We've tried changing the printer (and therefore the printer drivers) we use during the conversion process thinking it was a printer driver/memory problem - no joy. Finally, we tried putting the file on the hard drive vice the server - no joy. Graphics are still being left out from just that one section of the document. It wasn't even the same graphics each time (some changed, most stayed the same). The graphics are CGM files. Not sure if that has anything to do with it. But, we don't see anything else in common with the graphics other than they're just coming from one section of the document. Other sections of the document have even larger graphics (file size) in it. Would anyone have any suggestions? I tried putting my work email address in here and it said that someone was already using it (unlikely) but never-the-less, I had to resort to using my personal email to obtain an account. Unfortunately, I am unable to get messages back from my personal account at work. If you have a suggestion, please email me at [email protected] Thank you.

> Not sure what a CMYK is, but I don't believe so.
Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Key, the color model used for color printing (and which is problematic in FM10, and on Windows generally).
Even if the artwork is monochrome, the file could easily be tagged with a color model (CYMK or RGB).
If the line art is vector, I'd suggest opening a CGM in Adobe Illustrator, check/convert the color model (to Gray or RGB), and re-save as EPS.
If the line art is raster, find out what resolution, and do the same with PhotoShop.
Is this a new document, or did these CGMs work in some prior version of Frame, or on another platform (like Unix or Mac)?

Why is FrameMaker using different CYMK/RGB values for Pantone library colours compared with Illustrator?

Evening all -
this is by no means the first time I'm banged my head against the colour management brick wall, and I doubt it will be the last
I am running Frame 12 and Illustrator CC on Windows 7.
Both these Adobe products ship bundled with Pantone libraries. (Correct me with I'm wrong, but these "libraries" are basically a bunch of look-up tables, mapping named Pantone colours to various CYMK, RGB, etc equivalents?)
Can anyone tell me why these two different Adobe applications appear to give different definitions for the same Pantone colours?
For example, if I choose the Pantone Coated library > 'Warm Red'
In Illustrator CC (left screenshot), it offers this as C0% M87.4% Y79.9% K0%
in FrameMaker 12 (right screenshot), I get C0% M79% Y91% K0%
Why are they different?
Are the library definitions shipped with the products simply different?
Frame's dialog ominously mentions "© Pantone, Inc., 1986, 1988"
And if I go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\AdobeFrameMaker12\fminit\color and open the corresponding .bcf file in an editor, the header says:
"BCF 2.0PANTONE¨ Coated 1.1 ©Pantone, Inc., 1986, 1988.PANTONE¨* Computer Video simulations displayed may not match PANTONE-identified solid color standards. Use current PANTONE Color Reference Manuals for accurate color. To order publications from Pantone, Inc., in the U.S. please call the toll-free number (800) 222-1149 [within NJ, call (201) 935-5500]. In other countries contact your local Pantone representative. *Pantone, Inc.'s check-standard trademark for color.[1]"
whereas if I go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator CC\Presets\en_US\Swatches\Color Books and open the corresponding .acb swatch file in there, in amoungst the hex gibberish I note it says:
"�=$$$/colorbook/PantonePlusCoated/title=PANTONE+^R Solid Coated/$$$/colorbook/PantonePlusCoated/prefix=PANTONE *$$$/colorbook/PantonePlusCoated/postfix= CK"$$$/colorbook/PantonePlusCoated/description=Copyright^C Pantone LLC, 2010"
Have Pantone perhaps changed their colour definitions between 1988 and 2010?
(I'm thinking it would be sensible to establish this one way or the other before we get into any convoluted discussions about the Windows GDI etc etc)

David,
What options did you use for defining the colours internally and what options for output in AI? I suspect that if you examine the EPS file you created from AI for the Panotne 355C, the only values in there are the CMYK ones - no LAB nor RGB. So FM has to use the algorithm mentioned in the other thread and creates the lime green based upon the algorithm. If you have set the AI drawing to an RGB color mode and set the EPS export option for "Include CMYK Postscript in RGB files" to OFF, then you would get the desired RGB values in the EPS file.
If you're so intent on using Pantone Spot colours to get RGB, then you can create your own ACF library file with the exact RGB definitions that you want (you can then use whatever values you get in Photoshop, Illustrator or whatever source that you're trying to match). The structure of the file is as follows:
ACF 1.0
My Color Library             <---- name of library
LibraryVersion: 1.0
Copyright: © 2014 <your name here>. All rights reserved.
AboutMessage: User defined Spot colours for RGB
Names: Partial
Rows: 4
Columns: 4
Entries: 1           <---- number of colours in file
Prefix:         <---- used for display in FM, e.g. "Panotne"
Suffix:           <----- used together with prefix, e.g. "CVC, CVU, etc."
Type: Process <---- Spot, Process, Tint, Mixed (need to add specifier to Data lines)
Models: CMYK RGB
PreferredModel: RGB     <---- whatever you want
Data:
0.98 0.11 1.00 0.02              <---- CMYK values (0-1)
0 38143 19967     <---- RGB values as 16-bit, i.e. 16-bit = ( [RGB value (1-255)]*256) + 255; zero is still zero
Spruce Green                   <---- name of colour
The acf file needs to be installed in the fminit\color folder.
Also, a note of caution, If you screw something up in the acf file (like the incorrect number of entries in the file or you're missing a component value, this will hang FM if you use the View > Color > Definitions... option. You'll need to kill FM, fix or remove the ACF file and re-start. Also, FM only reads the libraries at the start, so if you need to make any changes to the ACF definitions, you have to r-start FM for those changes to take place.
[I know, FM doesn't make it easy, but it can be done...]

CYMK to RGB

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