Framemaker color definitions--New

Question

Okay. I am bewildered. I haven't done much with Frame and color, so when my company asked me to set up a 4C template, I figured I would give it a try. Here's the problem.
I need an orange color defined as M80, Y100, as defined in InDesign. When I use these values in Frame's color definition dialog box, the color is not correct (way too bright) on the display, nor does it print to PDF correctly. When I examine the color with Acrobat's Print Production preview, I get M92, Y100.
Okay, I know Frame is really an RGB-based program, so I went into Photoshop to get the equivalent RGB definition, which is R241, G90, B34. Well, Frame doesn't allow RGB numbers greater than 100%, so there's no way to enter these values.
I am stumped. I get the same results with Frame 7.1, Frame 8, Acrobat 7, and Acrobat 9. I print to a .ps file and then use Distiller to create the PDF, leaving colors unchanged. The same color outputs correctly from Photoshop.
Years ago I did some color work in Frame and don't recall having these problems.
Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Sue,
You also need to make an adjustment in a maker.ini setting that
affects how FM renders colours on output.
Find the entry for GetLibraryColorRGBFromCMYK in the [Preferences]
section.
Set it to: GetLibraryColorRGBFromCMYK=None
For more detailed info about this see:
http://www.techknowledgecorp.com/help/color.html at Tim Murray's site.
This info was originally posted by Mike Hardy a couple of years ago on
this site, but it's scrolled off now. Here's the original posting
content:
+++++++++++++++++++++
This post gives all the information I know about using colors in
FrameMaker
under Windows. It does not cover the use of separations. It instead
describes display, and direct output to color devices such as printers
including creating PDFs.
Color models
=====================================
FrameMaker supports three different color models:
- CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key)
- RGB (Red, Green, Blue)
- HLS (Hue, Light, Saturation).
FrameMaker uses an algorithm to convert between each of these color
models.
For example:
RGB to CMYK:
C = max(R, G, B) - R
M = max(R, G, B) - G
Y = max(R, G, B) - B
K = 100 - max(R, G, B)
CMYK to RGB:
R = min(100 - K - C, 0)
G = min(100 - K - M, 0)
B = min(100 - K - Y, 0)
Color output
=====================================
Like most Windows applications, FrameMaker uses the Windows graphics
device
interface (GDI) for its output. The GDI handles both display and
printer
output.
Unfortunately, the GDI only supports the RGB color model. Any colors
that
are defined in other color models are therefore converted to RGB for
output
(see below).
The only exception to this is Encapsulated PostScript (EPS). When you
print
to a PostScript printer, or distill a PDF, the EPS is inserted
unchanged
into the PostScript. So any CMYK colors in the EPS get printed
unchanged.
This is the only way to output a CMYK color from FrameMaker under
Windows.
(Note that if you instead print to a non-PostScript printer, any EPS
files
are output using their preview bitmap, in RGB.)
Types of color in FrameMaker
=====================================
There are two types of color in FrameMaker:
- those defined by component values that you type in
- those defined by choosing a named ink from a color library.
FrameMaker handles these differently.
If you type in the component values
FrameMaker stores the color in the document as CMYK. If the color was
not
defined as CMYK, FrameMaker uses its own conversion algorithm. So the
CMYK
values that are stored are the same values that you see in the CMYK
view of
the Color Definitions dialog.
FrameMaker outputs the color as RGB. If the color was not defined as
RGB,
FrameMaker uses its own conversion algorithm. So the RGB values that
are
output are the same values that you see in the RGB view of the Color
Definitions dialog.
If you choose the color from a library
FrameMaker also supports color libraries that contain named inks.
Almost all
libraries specify both CMYK and RGB values for each ink. The important
thing
is that the mapping between the CMYK and RGB values can be very
different to
the algorithm that FrameMaker uses.
FrameMaker stores the color in the document as the color library and
ink
name. It also stores CMYK values for the color, for backup. When
FrameMaker
opens the document, it looks for the color library and ink name, first
in a
cache, then on disk:
- if it finds the color library and ink, it reads the CMYK and RGB
values
for the ink from the color library
- if it doesn't find the color library or ink, it instead uses the
CMYK
values that are stored in the document, exactly as if you'd typed them
in
(see "If you type in the component values" above).
FrameMaker outputs the ink as RGB. It can use:
- the RGB values for the ink that are stored in the library
- the CMYK values for the ink that are stored in the library,
converted to
RGB using its own algorithm.
This depends on the output device that FrameMaker is using, and the
GetLibraryColorRGBFromCMYK setting in the maker.ini file:
- If GetLibraryColorRGBFromCMYK is set to "Screen", FrameMaker does
screen
output by converting the CMYK values for the ink to RGB. For printer
output,
it instead uses the RGB values for the ink.
- If GetLibraryColorRGBFromCMYK is set to "Printing", FrameMaker does
printer and PDF output by converting the CMYK values for the ink to
RGB. For
screen output, it instead uses the RGB values for the ink.
- If GetLibraryColorRGBFromCMYK is set to "Printing&Screen",
FrameMaker does
all output by converting the CMYK values for the ink to RGB. It never
uses
the RGB values for the ink.
- If GetLibraryColorRGBFromCMYK is set to "None", FrameMaker never
uses the
CMYK values for the ink. It does all output using the RGB values for
the ink.
For the most WYSIWYG results with the predefined libraries, I'd
suggest
setting GetLibraryColorRGBFromCMYK to "None". This means that the RGB
values
in the color library get used for the screen - and they're probably
the most
faithful colors for this. The same RGB color will be printed, giving
you the
same color mismatches that you get for most other Windows
applications. And
you will often find that the RGB to CMYK conversion of your output
device
will give more faithful results than FrameMaker's own conversion.
Defining your own libraries
=====================================
Finally, note that you can define your own libraries. From the online
"Customizing FrameMaker" manual:
"ColorLib [in maker.ini] specifies the folder that contains color
library
files. These files are read in at startup and appear in the Color
Libraries
pop-up menu in the Color Definitions dialog box. You can add any
library
file formatted in the ASCII Color Format (.acf), version 2.1 or
earlier, or
in the Binary Color Format (.bcf), version 2.0. You can't use a
FrameMaker
product to save a .bcf library file."
A web search might reveal details of these file formats, but if not,
the
ASCII one is pretty obvious. Here's a file I put together:
ACF 1.0
My Color Library
LibraryVersion: 1.0
Copyright: © 2005 Mike Hardy. All rights reserved.
AboutMessage: Colors for my company
Names: Partial
Rows: 4
Columns: 4
Entries: 2
Prefix:
Suffix:
Type: Process
Models: CMYK RGB
PreferredModel: RGB
Data:
0 0.25 0.5 0.25
65535 32768 0
Burnt Orange
0.5 0.25 0 0.25
0 32768 65535
French Blue
You can then control exactly what RGB values FrameMaker uses for
display and
printing:
- determine the RGB values that you want to use for display, and note
down
the RGB values
- determine the RGB values that you want to use for printing, perhaps
by
trial and error in another application
- set the FrameMaker Color Definitions dialog to your RGB values for
printing, then change to the CMYK color model, and note down the
"equivalent" CMYK values
- define your own color library
- in your color library, define an ink with the RGB values you noted
for
display, and the CMYK values you noted for printing
- set GetLibraryColorRGBFromCMYK to "Printing"
This doesn't get you CMYK output, but it's the best you can do under
Windows. Note, however, that setting GetLibraryColorRGBFromCMYK to
"Printing" might not give such good results with the predefined color
libraries (see above).