PDF/X for Digital (RGB) Printing

I'm working (in Design) for a digital print house (from Desktop/inkjet printers up to LFP, as well as Laser).
It's been decided that we want/need ISO certification. Part of this means that we have to use PDF/X files.
(Colour Management is a big part of the work here - down to every Printer/Paper being profiled in house).
Now, the question; does PDF/X lend itself to digital RGB printing. 80% of what we print is on RGB printers (small desktop/inkjet printers). Only the Laser and some of the LFP being CMYK. Up until now we've been creating RGB PDFs for this work. Looking through the PDF/X preflight, Digital Printing seems to be just CMYK. I know I can create my own preflight/fixes: if I set it to make sure everything is RGB is it still PDF/X compliant?
I know with PDF/X-3 I can have Lab and RGB objects in a CMYK PDF, but would not a complete RGB file be acceptable?
Any tips, ideas, info would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Angus
(Win XP, Adobe CS3 collection, Acrobat 8 )

PDF/X-3 supports a pure RGB workflow - no problem.
Leonard

Similar Messages

Default pdf viewer for Digital Booklet

I have Adobe Reader 8.0 on my computer as my default viewer for Acrobat documents. I also have Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Professional installed, which I use to create pdfs. When I click on a digital booklet in iTunes, it opens with 6.0 with an error message. When I click on it in windows explorer, it opens in 8.0. Is there any way to change the iTunes configuration so it will open booklets with Reader 8.0?
thanks

Depends on where you are getting the PDF from. If it's sent as an attachment in an email then Mail will open it; if it's on a website then Safari will open it. You can also download Apple's iBooks app for free which will open PDFs

Image prep for iphoto calendars/prints/cards

Hello folks,
Is there a preferred edit procedure, size, resolution, sharpening, etc for images used in a calendar/card/book?
thanks for your help
Diana

Diana:
iPhoto uses frames and picture areas in a 4:3 size ratio for books, calendars, etc. So make sure the photos are in the 4:3 ratio. Most digital cameras produce images in that ratio but scanned images usually are in a different size. Use the largest pixel dimension that the camera offers because the more pixels available the sharper the picture when printed, at least up to 300 dpi maximum which is what iPhoto converts books and calendars to when converting the item to a pdf file for uploading and printing.
Also when you scan a photo don't scan as black and white (if they photos are B/W) as the image produced won't be compatible with iPhoto. Just scan everything as color.
The rest is what looks good to you.

RGB or CMYK colour formatting for iPhoto Albums printing.

Hi.
I'm putting my first iPhoto Album together. Info given from Apple about what colour format to use for your photos, says to use RGB. While this is corrcet for digital monitors and screens. Mass printing uses CMYK. Any images supplied to a printers in RGB will colour shift when printed in CMYK. No matter what a printer tells you, these colour shifts can be very noticable. I'm an Advertsing Art Director and I've seen the shift that happens.
I will be checking/colour correting all photos submitted to the iPhoto Album with Adobe Photoshop. And many will very probably undergo some corrections. Be it through levels, curves, hue/saturation, etc. Nothing to anything near an excessive level, but enough to make obvious improvements.
So I will then be faced with the choice of whether to save the images out in RGB or CMYK.
Can someone with some technique knowledge, from the iPhoto team, tell me/reasure me why RGB has been specified? And if CMYK wouldn't actually be a preferable colour format to supply in, considering you'll be printing them in CMYK.
Many Thanks, Jim.

You're absolutely correct. I was referring to notes make a number of years ago in regards to iPhoto 5 and that RGB was recommended for both books and prints.
I was confusing CMYK with Grayscale with Dot Gain 20% profile when stating iPhoto didn't support it which it didn't fully support until iPhoto 9.
In fact I just ran a test with iPhoto 6, 7 and 8 with a CMYK AND GrayScale files with the following results:
iPhoto 6 (06): wouldn't import CMYK but did GrayScale. The grayscale file would only display as a black thumbnail and negative full image. If the DotGain 20% profile was stipped from it the iamge would dispaly normally.
iPhoto 7 (08): wouldn't import CMYK but did GrayScale. The grayscale file would only display as a black thumbnail and negative full image. If the DotGain 20% profile was stipped from it the iamge would dispaly normally.
iPhoto 8 (09): neither file would import which is surprising:
iPhoto 9.2.3 (11): both imported and viewed normally.
iPhoto 9.4 (11): both imported and viewed normally.
In Oct, 2007 I got an email from Apple support with the following:
Also as iphoto makes a pdf of the book and then uploads it to keep the size down, it doesn't matter if the pics are RGB or CMYK as a pdf is a closed file. But since it is going through prinergy it has an RGB checker so this most be switched off. It is how the software in prinergy handle's it that causes the washed out affect as it takes the Red Green Blue colours and tries to convert to Cyan Magenta Yellow Black. Now the colour spectrum in printing between rgb and cmyk is quite different looking at a colour wheel will show you. The best way i can describe it is if you have a pantone book which has spot on one side and process on the other you can see a colour difference. Or if you use quark open up the colours and again switch between process and spot.
BUT ONLY CONVERT PICS TO CMYK IF YOU ONLY INTEND TO ORDER BOOKS. IF YOU INTEND TO ORDER PRINTS IT WILL NEED TO BE RGB.
Here's how i see it:
1. Apple doesn't want 2 different versions of the pics floating about as running CMYK through a photomachine (as prints you would order in the high street) will not print correctly.
2. RGb's going through a CMYK press using prinergy will attempt to convert and produce the washed out effect, or yellowing effect BUT will still print.
So it will use the 2nd option as it will still produce prints normally and books with a slightly washed out effect. Now to most people in the high street, who will notice a difference?
I have just received my latest book saved as CMYK pics in tiff format and no washed out effect. What i will say is The quality if still not as good as a print. Now we use a docucolour 5252 at work and the colour quality is better. I wonder how often the machine is calibrated and what colour curve it is set to?
However, I am unable to import a CMYK file in any iPhoto version until iPhoto 9. Go figure.
Thanks for the feedback. Hadn't addressed this particular subject in quite a long time.

Packaging .AI file to PDF ready for printer - MAC Tiger user

Hallo, I need some help please about sending artwork to printer who is using a FUJI colour Laser printer. (like most printers who are using laser here they reply to me to simply send them PDF, when I ask about embedded profiles or not to embed they tend to look at me blankly and say just send them a proof for me to compare colours)?!?!?!?
So, Please could someone confirm wether or not I have applied the best setting in my PDF conversions: I am running CS3 creative suite and acrobat version 8.0. thanks.
When you get the PDF options window on the " save Adobe pdf", On the first GENERAL page I set this to PDF/x-1a, (but why is there also the standard tab where I can do the same thing? so I set this also to PDF/x-1a. The compatibility goes to acrobat 4.0.
I now go to OUTPUT. here I set the following:
Colour conversion -- convert to destination preserve numbers
Destination (since this is laser I set it to -- Generic cmyk profile
Profile inclusion policy is grayed out.
In PDF/X box under output intent profile name is set to Generic cmyk, and that is all.
Before i did all this my global colour settings management policy is set to FOGRA27 (iso 12647-2:2004) and adobe RGB 1998 for the photos from photoshop cs3 of course. I then convert the document to the generic cmyk profile before packaging it into PDF and assigning these settings.
I have searched everywhere for detailed tutorials about precisely how to pakage your work for an outside printer, but the web is silent when it comes to laser printing. I would love to know if there are any resources which cover all the issues of preparing your artwork for print since this side of the job is a minefield of complicated presets and flattening and font changing techniques.
I am a memeber of Lynda.com and while they are excellent teachings and professional, I have unfortunately not been able to learn the gritty detailsof printing from them, only the basics.
I appreciate the person who takes the time to reply to this.
I thank you.
Kind regards
Chris Watts

Your settings should do the job adequately, but there is a much simpler and more reliable method. Get Acrobat Professional. Generate your artwork in AI and save it as an .eps file. Then use Acrobat Distiller to generate the .pdf file. The advantages are that AD produces MUCH smaller file sizes, much better .pdf files and has a number of presets from which to choose, depending on the intended purpose of the file.
Another hint as far as quality control is concerned - you should be working in the CMYK color space in Photoshop, if you are going to produce CMYK images in the .pdf file. CMYK is a narrower color space than RGB, so there is often a color shift upon conversion. You may have the image exactly the way you want it, as an RGB, but be disappointed in the printed version because of the shift in color during conversion. If you work in CMYK, you can adjust it to get the results you want.

Joint pdf signed for printing

i want to joint pdf signed for printing or to have a mutiple printing, is-ti possible?
Thanks
Acrobat 10

The question is, have I set up the PDF correctly?
If you want all color converted to AdobeRGB.
Composite printer's often expect RGB, but they usually provide RGB output profiles like this Epson output profile for glossy paper.

PDF settings for unknown printing conditions

I create material such as flyers, that are sent out to various recipients as PDF. They print these PDFs on whatever printer they have access to, mostly good quality office lasers, but also inkjets; none of these PDFs are headed for offset press.
Now I want to ensure reasonably good colour fidelity under these uncertain conditions. I let ID output RGB composite in the sRGB colour space, the document is created in RGB, too. By using sRGB and leaving the CMYK conversion to the printer, I'm hoping to get the least surprises and testing in my office and with printers in the neighbourhood seems to confirm that.
Does that sound like a good strategy?

Actually, forcing all content to sRGB on PDF export is an exceptionally bad idea. Our strongest recommendation at Adobe is to use the PDF/X-4 PDF export settings such that all content is appropriately color managed, RGB content isn't prematurely converted to CMYK, and transparency is maintained as “live.” When you print from Adobe Reader / Adobe Acrobat versions 9 or greater, output from these PDF/X-4 files will be optimal compared to the mess you would have from a file in which all objects are forced to sRGB.
Converting all content to sRGB on PDF export kills the available gamut for RGB imagery that is natively Adobe RGB or any other wide gamut RGB space. It also leads to your black and gray text and vector objects being converted to an RGB gray (R=G=B) which often will print out as rich black, i.e., something other than CMYK=(0,0,0,k). Pure CMYK cyan, magenta, and yellow will print polluted. And you also find transparency flattening artifacts that occur due to use of an RGB transparency blending space.
By the way, in terms of “desktop printers,” except for photo printers which often have a few extra colorants, all printers are basically CMYK. For PostScript printers, printing PDF files from Adobe Reader / Adobe Acrobat yields CMYK only to those printers when default settings are used; RGB, LAB, and spot color content is appropriately converted to the target CMYK color space using Adobe's ICC-based color managment with profiles found in the PDF file. For non-PostScript devices that have drivers that only understand RGB, content is converted to RGB by Reader/Acrobat likewise using the profiles provided.
Bottom line is that you shouldn't prematurely convert any color spaces whether to RGB or CMYK!
- Dov

Rights management for digital artwork to PDF sent to online printers

I posted last year about this and learnt about LC management which is helpful,
its just the cost.
I`m a designer/illustrator and looking to print my digital artworks with online giclee printers to canvas who are in the U.S and U.K but I am in Australia.
I wanted to use livecycle rights management to give them access to printing my artwork yet keep it limited in being able to pass the file around to other printers..
However the cost for a single person is prohibitive,
I`m hoping adobe can set up something for digital artists to create confidence in sending out artwork as PDF to printers, like an online subscription plan for livecycle rights management, or pay per use or annual fee, something like this where adobe manage the servers..
I am using the creative suite lease version online for monthly rental of $130 and really enjoy the system of the 12 month contract available in Australia. I`m hoping to access something like this for live cycle management that is affordable for someone looking at getting high quality printers to print their designs.
$1000 to $2000 per year as a usage fee would be something I could entertain.
Communication with the print industry would be needed prior as they may have issues with having to access online files for high end printing.

I received a response to this from acrobatusers.com
http://www.acrobatusers.com/forums/aucbb/viewtopic.php?pid=71772#p71772
A subscription service is being developed (see http://dc.adobe.com ) but it can't be used to secure PDFs sent for service digital printing, as the print shop will need the ability to alter the document (for example to impose pages into the media sizes they print to, add crop marks, color-match plates, etc). Digital printers therefore invariably demand that the PDFs they are sent have no security applied at all.
They also tend to use different software (Illustrator, etc) or old versions of Acrobat, which won't support DRM. If your PDF is completely ready to print without changes, most printers send the file to a standalone RIP - and they don't open secured files at all.
Trusting the printer with your files is part of the deal when you print using a service bureau. If you don't, don't. There's no way round it.

While generating reports in Oracle BI Publisher in pdf format, the generated pdf reports have hindi इ matra displaced by one character. For example, रिपोर्ट is printed as रपेिोरट. Word file generated of the same report have correct hindi इ matra positi

While generating reports in Oracle BI Publisher in pdf format, the generated pdf reports have hindi इ matra displaced by one character. For example, रिपोर्ट is printed as रपेिोरट. Word file generated of the same report have correct hindi इ matra position and also pdf generated from this word file also contains the same.

I am using Numbers app for the ipad and it has been working absolutely fine but now, when I want to email a spreadsheet as a PDF via the 'share and print' option, the file now doesn't appear as an attachment to the recipient. Any ideas please?

I am using Numbers app for the ipad and it has been working absolutely fine but now, when I want to email a spreadsheet as a PDF via the 'share and print' option, the file now doesn't appear as an attachment to the recipient. Any ideas please?

Hi mafiose15,
Thanks for visiting Apple Support Communities.
Restoring your iPod to factory settings is the best way to try and get it back to working order. You can use the instructions below to restore it:
How to restore iPod
Verify that you have an active Internet connection, because you may need to download new versions of the iTunes and iPod Software.
Download and install the latest version of iTunes if necessary.
Open iTunes. Connect your iPod to your computer using the USB or FireWire cable that came with your iPod.
After a few moments, your iPod will appear in the Source panel in iTunes.
Select your iPod in the Source panel. You will see information about your iPod appear in the Summary tab of the main iTunes window.
Click Restore.
If you are using a Mac, you will be asked to enter an administrator’s name and password.
A progress bar will appear on the computer screen, indicating that stage one of the restore process has begun. When this stage is done, iTunes will present one of two messages with instructions specific to the iPod model you are restoring.
Disconnect iPod and connect it to iPod Power Adapter (typically applies to older iPod models).
Leave iPod connected to computer to complete restore (typically applies newer iPod models).
During stage two of the restore process, the iPod displays an Apple logo as well as a progress bar at the bottom of the display. It is critical that the iPod remain connected to the computer or iPod power adapter during this stage.
Note: The progress bar may be difficult to see, because the backlight on the iPod display may be off.
After stage two of the restore process is complete, the iTunes Setup Assistant window will appear. It will ask you to name your iPod and choose your syncing preferences, as it did when you connected your iPod for the first time.
You can find the instructions in this article:
Restoring iPod to factory settings
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1339
All the best,
Jeremy

How to make a PDF form call Web service and return a static pdf for user to print?

Hi all,
Can anyone help me regarding the feasibility of using PDF forms for my following case?
I would like to create a Dynamic pdf form. User only have the Acrobat reader. they can enter some information. Then have a submit button. when user click the submit button, it can call the web service with data. then Web service returns a Static PDF document based on data and the user can print it out. (and maybe save as separate pdf file)
1. Is that possible to implement? Because I know PDF can call web service, but dont know how it handle when the webservice returns another static PDF document. could it able to handle the responds and open up in another acrobat reader?
2. As I understand I need to have Live Cycle Designer to create a pdf and make it Reader Enabled. So user can user reader to call webservice? am I correct?
3. What minimum reader that user need to have? PDF reader 7 or above?
4. I have a webservice serve the same purpose for web. But if I want the same web services can serve both web and PDF form. So, whatever client (PDF or Web)make the web service call, server returns the PDF document to client. Is that possible ? Do I need to make any changes on web service?
5. Do I need to get any other Adobe server product? (other than Live Cycle Designer )
Thanks a lot

We have done a similar approach in the past and yes, it can be doable.
1. Is that possible to implement? Because I know PDF can call web service, but dont know how it handle when the webservice returns another static PDF document. could it able to handle the responds and open up in another acrobat reader?
Srini: We have developed a Servlet to talk to Webservice. Based on the Webservice response, the Servlet, prepares the Byte stream and sends it to Webbrowser to display as a PDF. The PDF data was submitted to Servlet in XML format.
But if you do not want to use the above approach, then you have to use the Workbench Process.
Submit the PDF data to a Workbench process and the inside process, execute Webservice Service with the data. Once the response is received, prepare the data XML and render a PDF with it.
To do this, you need LiveCycle Server and Reader Extensions server component.
2. As I understand I need to have Live Cycle Designer to create a pdf and make it Reader Enabled. So user can user reader to call webservice? am I correct?
Srini: If you want to use the Servlet, you can Reader extend the PDF with Acrobat.. But if you want to submit the data directly to Webservice, then you need Reader Extensions server component.
3. What minimum reader that user need to have? PDF reader 7 or above?
Srini: Not sure but Reader 8 and above should work.
4. I have a webservice serve the same purpose for web. But if I want the same web services can serve both web and PDF form. So, whatever client (PDF or Web)make the web service call, server returns the PDF document to client. Is that possible ? Do I need to make any changes on web service?
Srini: If you use the Servlet approach, then you can re-use the same webservice. But if you want to submit directly to the same webservice, you may need to change it to suit your data XML.
5. Do I need to get any other Adobe server product? (other than Live Cycle Designer )
Srini: If you use the Servlet approach, you do not need any server component but other approach, you need Livecycle Server and Reader Extensions server component.
Thanks
Srini

When i send a PDF file to out side print, some of the things I aded dose not print. Is there a way I can "close" the PDF when i finish the work- so' every thing will be printed for sure

when i send a PDF file to out side print, some of the things I aded dose not print.
Is there a way I can "close" the PDF when i finish the work- so' every thing will be printed for sure

Send Apple feedback. They won't answer, but at least will know there is a problem. If enough people send feedback, it may get the problem solved sooner.
Feedback
Or you can use your Apple ID to register with this site and go the Apple BugReporter. Supposedly you will get an answer if you submit feedback.
Feedback via Apple Developer

Adobe PDF iFilter 9 for 64-bit platforms does not index my PDF files with Digital Sign

Adobe PDF iFilter 9 for 64-bit platforms does not index my PDF files with Digital Sign, why?

hi Phillip
i am not sure what you mean
I downloaded the ifilter and installed it
then configured everything as shown in the pdf file
I tried indexing from scratch exactly as i did successfully in the other computer
and got some errors in the log file
i checked the sql server log and the event viewer logs and got :
Error '0x80004005' occurred during full-text index population for table or indexed view '[Pirsumim_ext_ck].[dbo].[T_PUBLICATIONS]' (table or indexed view ID '2073058421', database ID '14'), full-text key value 0x0000027A. Attempt will be made to reindex it.
The component 'PDFFilter.dll' reported error while indexing. Component path 'C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe PDF iFilter 9 for 64-bit platforms\bin\PDFFilter.dll'.
Informational: Full-text retry pass of Full population completed for table or indexed view '[Pirsumim_ext_ck].[dbo].[T_PUBLICATIONS]' (table or indexed view ID '2073058421', database ID '14'). Number of retry documents processed: 1. Number of documents failed: 1.
Changing the status to MERGE for full-text catalog "Pirsumim_ext_catalog_ck" (5) in database "Pirsumim_ext_ck" (14). This is an informational message only. No user action is required.
Informational: Full-text Auto population initialized for table or indexed view '[Pirsumim_ext_ck].[dbo].[T_PUBLICATIONS]' (table or indexed view ID '2073058421', database ID '14'). Population sub-tasks: 1
the same dll worked fine in another computer...
how can i see more details what is wrong with this dll ?
meidad

Is there a way to reduce the size of a final PDF created for print when saving a file?

Is there a way to reduce the size of a final PDF created for print when saving in any software (especially illustrator)? I don't want any quality to decrease at the same time. Thanks!

Personally I would avoid optimizing the PDF's via Adobe Acrobat Pro unless you understand what you are removing from the PDF; having said that, it is the most effective way to reduce the file-size in the right hands.
If I am sending out layouts for commercial print I change my default Print / Export setting from Standard to PDF/A-1b:2005 (CMYK). This will resolve a lot of common print problems for print-ready documents and it should embed your fonts and flatten transparencies etc.
If your document is still too large you run an Audit Space Usage using Adobe Acrobat Pro. In the left pane enable 'Content' and then hit the button in the top left corner of the Content Pane and choose Audit Space Usage.

How do I save a PDF ready for print. I have a problem with the fonts. The fonts are blurry after pri

How do I save a PDF ready for print. I have a problem with the fonts. The fonts are blurry after printing. There is a trick in saving PDF.

Hi el_giclee,
Important to note from the beginning is that when you create your Photoshop document make sure you chose 300 Pixels/inch as your resolution.
I'm interested in seeing your Save Adobe PDF dialog box after you choose to save the PDF.
Could you post a screenshot of this dialog box with the Compression menu selected on the left side?
It's a good idea to select High Quality Print or Press Quality in the Adobe PDF Preset menu at the top of this box. It will automatically select the best default settings for a printed piece.
Michael

PDF/X for Digital (RGB) Printing

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for