RGB/CMYK/Lab values like Photoshop «Info» palette

Hello.
How can we do that when moving the cursor over an image in a some window/place showing the current values RGB/CMYK/Lab as «Info» palette in PhotoShop?
Thanks.

>And the RGB readouts are based on the LR working space.
That's not true. The RGB readouts are based on the tone curved histogram space. The percentages you see there are certainly not in the linear lightroom space. Just try it out and you'll see. Clearly, the readouts correspond to the position in the histogram of the same area.
>And the sRGB tone curve is NOT an exact 2.2 gamma, it's got a tweaked toe that makes it different. It's subtle but it's different.
You're absolutely right of course. There is indeed a toe in the black areas. In almost the entire range, the tone curve is just gamma 2.2 though.

Similar Messages

Why different values in Illustrator/InDesign/PS when converting Pantone to RGB & CMYK?

I'm starting off with a pantone color in InDesign and trying to determine a close and consistent approximation of RGB, CMYK, and Hex. When I do this conversion in InDesign, I get different results than if I do it in Photoshop or Illustrator. I have all the apps working at the same color management setting (Adobe RGB (1998) and US Web Coated (SWOP) v2). I'm working old school in CS1.
Here are my results for Pantone 187C:
InDesign
Photoshop
Illustrator
RGB
171 x 0 x 34
153 x 33 x 55
167 x 37 x 53
CMYK
0 x 100 x 79 x 20
21 x 100 x 81 x 12
16 x 100 x 86 x 6
HEX
992137
A72535
I realize that any conversion from Pantone is an approximation, but why do the different applications yeild different results? I'm fairly new to color management and print (I come from the video world), so any efforts to dumb down explanations are appreciated.

Photoshop's default is to use Lab values when converting from spot colors. So you need to set InDesign and Illustrator to use the same values.
In Illustrator, from the Swatches panel menu, choose Spot Color Options. Choose Use Lab Values specified by the book manufacturer.
In InDesign, from the Swatches panel menu, choose Ink Manager. At the bottom, check Use Standard Lab Values for Spots

InDesign seeing spot channel color from Photoshop as a lab value

Does anyone know why Indesign sees a spot color that is created in Photoshop as a lab value rather then a cmyk value? FYI - I'm using CS4 6.0.5 and not planning on switching to 5 for a while and also on a Mac - using Leapord 10.5.8, and about to switch to SnowLeapord.
Anyways, If I place a Photoshop tiff into Indesign the spot color shows in the swatches as a lab value, and in Illustrator it is a CMYK value?
I can get it to see the color as CMYK in Indesign if I use a color library swatch from Photoshop, but no other way.
I'm using the color swatch for a RIP that uses that channel to print White ink, and sometimes it's useful to create the channel in Photoshop, the RIP sees the channel by a certain spot color designation. The spot color needs to be named in a particular way in order for proper work flow, so it's not desirable to have the swatch named a Pantone color.
Any ideas?
Thanks

You can take a custom spot colour and rename it to whatever you like in photoshop, when I import the graphic into InDesign CS4 I see the swatch as Lab spot (all Pantone Solid spots are defined as Lab, cmyk values are only determined by an app' that is asked to convert)
and when placed into Illustrator CS4 I see the same and if I double click on the spot swatch (still with the custom name I gave it in photoshop), I have a choice of Lab, cmyk etc at that time.
Indesign will correctly see the swatch as Lab until you request the app' to convert to cmyk at output or double click on the swatch and change it to cmyk.
You don't want the swatch to be cmyk, if you do that it will output as cmyk... if you want it to separate at the rip it needs to be a spot, which is seen by default as Lab in any application or can be converted to cmyk on request. You can't have it as a cmyk spot, that does not make sense unless you are outputting as only cmyk.

Consistent RGB Color Values with Photoshop CS4: An Impossibility??

What I want is very simple: I want the Photoshop files I am working on and the rendered PNGs in my browser to have the same color values. I don't care if my web images look the same color on other screens or anything like that. All I want is for the screenshots of PNGs my web browser to match the color values I have used in Photoshop. I've had it up to here with color shiftsthis did not used to be an issue in CS3.
Moreover, if I save a file on my Mac, and a color value is, say, #cf4640, I want someone who opens the file on a Windows box to get the same color value for that pixel. Ditto for the images I have saved for the webI want the RGB values to be consistent. This does not seem like too much to ask, does it?
Right now, I have turned all color management policies set to Off, working spaces are all set to Generics, and documents are set to "Don't Color Manage"my Windows colleagues also have these same settings. This used to work as expected in CS3we all got the same color values on the same files, and colors didn't shift when viewed in a browser.
Once again, I don't care if the colors *look* the same from platform to platform or screen to screen. I just want consistent RGB values.
Color management has never caused me anything but headachesleave my colors alone, Photoshop! I really really wish there was a "Work Like Photoshop 4" setting for color management.
Does anyone have any ideas how I might solve my problems?
Thanks very much.
Oh, and, incidentally, I was originally thinking of calling Adobe about this; how foolish of me. I looked into it, and can I just say how fantastic it is that you have to pay extra money for actual first-party tech support on a $700 piece of software?

The sounds/language analogy isn't really relevant to this problem, because it suggests transforming between two entirely different media. One medium: the medium of sound information, to another entirely different medium: the medium of thoughts and meanings. That's something that simply can't be done without an intermediate translation. That's not the case with color transforms in the RGB space, where it's just a matter of taking RGB values and pushing them through a matrix to produce other RGB values. That's the process that messes everyone up and creates all the confusing color output, and frankly it's an unnecessary process. Your assertion that the values in a source image have no meaning without an associated profile isn't entirely true. What if those source values were simply pushed directly though to the display? After all, a display simply renders 8 bits of R, 8 bits of G, and 8 bits of B for each pixel.
I think the original poster has some very valid concerns. Sometimes we just want to set some color values, and know that everybody's display, on every platform, will render those color values the same way. As he said, they may not look identical to the eye, but the values going through that DVI cable will be setting that pixel to the same 24-bit value no matter what. That's how things would be if there were no such thing as color management. That's how things used to be long ago, and in many ways the world of color was far more predictable and less confusing back then.
Here's my vision for a perfect world: color management doesn't exist in the RGB space. None. No such thing. Source RGB values in images get pushed right through to the display. The onus is on the display manufacturers to produce hardware that renders those values as consistently as possible. In the world of print, sure- color management is incredibly useful. But if only we could go back in time and keep color profiles out of our RGB, I believe we'd be much better off today.

Photoshop CS6 Info Palette & Adjustment Layers

I have searched but can't find an answer to my question so I thought this may be the best place to ask.
When I am using adjustment layers in PS 13.0.3 (mountain lion), I notice that the info palette is not giving me a before and after readout of the adjustment.
e.g. I add a curves adjustment layer and remove some cyan from the highlight end, I can see on screen that cyan is removed but the info palette gives me 2 readings, both the same. This can make it difficult if I want to remove an exact amount of colour. I have the info palette is set up the same as every previous version of photoshop I have used, 1st reading actual colour, 2nd reading cmyk. I know this is a bit difficult to explain so I have included an image showing the palette, CS6 on the left and CS5 on the right, same image, same coordinates. CS5 is showing that 4% cyan has been removed, was 18% now 14%, CS6 is showing what it is now.
I work in prepress and do a lot of colour correction for books and magazines so I need to know the before & after readings. Is this a bug/feature??

I'm having this same problem as well.
Two of our macs have this problem and two do not.
The two macs with this problem are:
Mac Pro
2 x 2.93 Ghz 6-Core intel Xeon
96 GB 1333 HZ DDR3 ECC
ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024 MB
OSX Lion 10.7.5
The two macs that work correctly are:
Mac Pro
2 x 3.06 Ghz 6-Core Intel Xeon
96 GB 1333 HZ DDR3 ECC
ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024 MB
OSX Lion 10.7.5
Does anyone know what might cause this problem?

CS4 Info Palette

I just upgraded to Photoshop CS4 from CS3 at work.We print solely to a Lightjet 430 in RGB. We are constantly sent flattened images that contain a clients logo that must match a specific PMS color. My method is to marque the logo, set a color sample point, choose a correct color from a color chart that is printed on the correct media, sample correct color from color chart file, use a curve to alter the original values to the correct values for printing, then use blend if sliders to exclude all other colors and viola perfect PMS matching in RGB.
Yesterday, we upgraded to CS4 because we keep receiving CS4 files from our client. To my amazement my technique will not work anymore. I don't know if this is a bug or something Adobe has changed on purpose. I checked and I do have the eyedropper set to sample all layers. What I've noticed is that in CS3, the info palette sample shows the current value of the sampled point. If you open the blending options, the info palette shows you the original value on the left and as you adjust the sliders, it shows the current value on the right. In CS4, from the get go, the info palette shows the original value on the left and the current value on the right. When you open the blend options, the numbers flip flop and any adjustments to the sliders have no effect on either value. Surely this is a bug. What reason could there be for removing this bit of functionality? Or is there just some setting I need to change? This color matching trick is something I use on a daily basis and if Adobe has changed this then CS4 is totally useless to me. Has anyone else noticed this? Does anyone know a workaround?
Thanks in advance.
Wade

This is an interesting workflow, I don't know if I fully understand this part:
Wade Hulsey wrote:
then use blend if sliders to exclude all other colors and viola perfect PMS matching in RGB.
By this do you mean, the original color values correspond with underlying, and the new color values on top?
You may be able to use Replace Color (although that is not available as an adjustment layer).

RGB CMYK PDF EXPORT.(colour conversion) Keeping your colours vibrant and your blacks black.

Ive been tearing my hair out for the best part of 14 hours trying to figure out how to keep the closest possible conversion for working with images(rgb in photoshop) right the way through a work flow until exporting to print (having used the image in Indesign). Here is the process I have been trying to get right.
1) working with RGB photo images in photoshop and converting them to CMYK (whilst holding on to as much colour as poss)
2) Importing them to Indesign and retaining the correct colours while working with them)
3) Exporting to high quality print and having all your colours stay 100% the same as you saw them within indesign.
I believe I have the solution so I posted my settings below to see if its the best way of doing things and to help others who might be having the same problems.
The problem
The problem is that there are many different colour models/profiles (both in RGB and CMYK) and each program can effect how the next one handles and stores colour. It can become frustrating knowing where to go in order to set the settings correctly as the combination of things to consider can make it confusing.
I understand many other people have similar problems and finding RGB blacks come out as grey. CMYK spaces get converted from one type to another either from one program to the next or even as things move around one program (causing all sorts of wonderful,colour errors) Plus you have imported colour profiles, working colour profiles and export profiles. All of which can interact and effect each other) So getting it all consistent is key other wise colours change and get washed out.   Especially vibrant colours like greens and blues. they fade etc.
Through sheer trial and error and perciverance I found a combination of settings that worked well for me.
Since I am not an expert I wanted to post up my settings to:
1) see if this is the best way of doing things.
2) Other people may find them useful if they had the same problems I had,
The Solution
In photoshop
Save the photoshop image in CMYK by selecting:
Edit > Convert to prfile.
(in destination space)
select: Euroscale Coated v2   (I think this holds the colours the truest of all CMYK colour formats.)
(in conversion options)
- Engine: Adobe ACE
- Intent: Perceptual.
- Check Use black point Compensation.
(leave all else unchecked)
Save the image ready to place in indesign (place rather than copy and paste.).
In Indesign
edit > colour settings   (make sure you click on the advanced tick box to open more options)
- Working space: =
- RGB: sRGB IEC....
- CMYK Euroscale coated v2
- RGB & CMYK convert to working space.
- Engine Adobe ACE
- Perceptual
- Use black point compensation
edit > Assign profiles
- RGB profile. > Assign current workspace: sRGB IE
- CMYK > Assign current work space Euroscale Coated V2
- Solid colour intent : preceptual
- Default image intent
- After blending intent: Perceptual.
edit > convert to profile. (use similar as above).
edit > Preferences > Apprearance of black
- on screen / export : Display all blacks as enriched black
- Priniting and export : Display all blacks as enriched black
Overprint: (not checked)
------ when exporting to PDF ----------
File > Export
in GENERAL TAB
- Adobe PDF preset: High quality print.
- Standard (drop down menu): PDF/X-42008
- Compatability: Acrobat 5 PDF1:4
in OUTPUT
- COlour conversion: Convert to destination
- Destination: Working CMYK Euroscale Coated v2
in PDF/X
- Output intent profile name: Working CMYK - Euroscale Coated v2
also:
If you are having problems with fill blacks not coming out as proper black then use registration instead of black from the swatch panel.
The above may seem either obvious to most of you or possibly not the best way of doing things but since the results worked for me and I found them tough to arrive at, it may be of use to others hence my post.
I would like your feedback on this process, have I done something wrong / could do better? If so please let me know. I am keen to improve.

I would copy and paste into InDesign forum. Text should stay 100% black. Any other black (like solid boxes or thick lines), I usually use a rich black swatch I created at 40/40/40/100. Looks 10 times better than just 100% black.

How to do a magic wand tool like photoshop with java?

in a JPanel,a bufferedImage with a great many colors show in it.
now,i want to select a region with same color use a magic wand tool ,just like photoshop,how to do it?
Thanks.

maybe it is not a feasible way!
i have loading a image size of 150*50,
when i use getPixelColor() method as follow,it used almost 40 seconds to end it.it get correct info of every pixels,but too slow. say nothing of analysis the pixels and catch a selection.
//*******the getPixelColor() method**********//
public String getPixelColor(BufferedImage bimg){
String info=new String();
for(int i=0;i<bimg.getWidth();i++)
for(int j=0;j<bimg.getHeight();j++){
int rgb=bimg.getRGB(i,j);
int red=(rgb>>24)&0xff;
int green=(rgb>>16)&0xff;
int blue=(rgb>>8)&0xff;
info=info+"R:"+red+" G:"+green+" B:"+blue+" X:"+i+" Y:"+j+"\n";
return info;
//****end *****//
then invoke method:
System.out.println(getPixelColor(myimg));

RGB/CMYK to Grayscale by script or right click?

Is there a way to convert RGB/CMYK to Grayscale by script?
I need to convert 475 images to grayscale. But I can´t use Color2Gray plugin into Indesign for erros message - I don´t know why.
I know there is another method in Indesign to make it (menu Effect...) but cause troubles in out.
Maybe there is a script like right click into Windows Explorer but I don't know anyone.

Here is my first attempt :
#target indesign
var doc = app.activeDocument,
links = doc.links,
i, link, image;
UpdateAllOutdatedLinks();
for (i = links.length-1; i >= 0; i--) {
     link = links[i];
     if (link.status == LinkStatus.NORMAL) {
          image = link.parent;
          if (image.space == "RGB" || image.space == "CMYK") {
               CreateBridgeTalkMessage(link.filePath);
UpdateAllOutdatedLinks();
//===================== FUNCTIONS ===============================
function CreateBridgeTalkMessage(imagePath) {
     var bt = new BridgeTalk();
     bt.target = "photoshop";
     bt.body = ResaveInPS.toSource()+"("+imagePath.toSource()+");";
     bt.onError = function(errObj) {
          $.writeln("Error: " + errObj.body);
     bt.onResult = function(resObj) {}
     bt.send(30);
function ResaveInPS(imagePath) {
     var psDoc;
     app.displayDialogs = DialogModes.NO;
     psDoc = app.open(new File(imagePath));
     psDoc.changeMode(ChangeMode.GRAYSCALE);
     psDoc.close(SaveOptions.SAVECHANGES);
     app.displayDialogs = DialogModes.ALL;
function UpdateAllOutdatedLinks() {
     var link, c;
     for (var c = doc.links.length-1; c >= 0; c--) {
          link = doc.links[c];
          if (link.status == LinkStatus.LINK_OUT_OF_DATE) link.update();
Written in CS3, Windows.

CS6 Info Palette and Group Adjustment Layer Bug

The Photoshop CS6 Info Palette is not showing before and after in Grouped Adjustment Layers.
It only shows the after values on both sides of the Palette.
Has anyone seen this issue and found a way to correct it?
Interestingly, here at work we have two macs with the problem and two without the problem.
The two macs with this problem are:
Mac Pro
2 x 2.93 Ghz 6-Core intel Xeon
96 GB 1333 HZ DDR3 ECC
ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024 MB
OSX Lion 10.7.5
The two macs that work correctly are:
Mac Pro
2 x 3.06 Ghz 6-Core Intel Xeon
96 GB 1333 HZ DDR3 ECC
ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024 MB
OSX Lion 10.7.5
Does anyone know what might cause this problem?
A little frustrated by this.

I am also having this issue. It works on my MacBook, but not my iMac. The only difference I see is that my MacBook is running 13.0 Extended, but the problem iMac is running 13.0.4 Standard. On the problem computer I have tried logging in as a new user (clean prefs) and the issue still exists. I've tried changing profiles, preview and proof settings with no difference. I've also tried different eyedropper settings (current layer, all layers, etc) with no difference. If I drag the correction layer out of the group, the readings show correctly. If I move them back INTO the group, they only show the corrected values. Very odd.
Problem computer specs:
Photoshop CS6 Standard (13.0.4 x64)
iMac 21.5" 2.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i5
16 GB 1600MHz DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M 512M
OSX Mountain Lion 10.8.3
Working computer specs:
Photoshop CS6 Extended (13.0 x64)
MacBook Pro 17-inch, Mid 2010 2.53 GHz Intel Core i5
8 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M 512 MB
OSX Mountain Lion 10.8.2

ACR 5.5 vs ACR 6.3 LAB values differ!

Hi,
My work requires me to run sampling of LAB values on images. I used to work on CS4 ACR 5.5 and now CS5.1 ACR 6.3.
However, i realize the same RAW image with the exact same setting .XMP was appearing different in both platform!
ie. the LAB values of Yellow in my image in CS4 ACR 5.5 is slightly different from CS5.1 ACR 6.3...
i am hoping to resolve the difference and hope the results can be aligned by understanding such discrepancies! Thank you so much!
regards,
ryan

Hi,
I took an image in RAW and open the same file in 2 different computer. One is window base, CS4, ACR5.5 and another one is MacBook CS5.1, ACR6.3. Then i open the file under As Shot setting, presumably both will be the same. However, the RGB, LAB values all appear different in both side.
I'm actually not sure where the difference is in, Photoshop or ACR...
I have ensured that the "EDIT", "Color Settings" is the same for both computers. Basically i aligned both computers under "North America General Purpose 2", just to testing sake, and yet both still appears different.
Then i ensured that under "Preference", "Camera RAW" is the same also. But yet still its different.
Is there any other settings that i missed out?
The way i can tell the difference is that after i open the RAW image, i will take a sampling of the LAB on the same spot on both computer.
regards.

Color Range Selection using Lab values

Is there a way to select pixels in Photoshop based on given Lab values? I am using Select --> Color Range with a specified "fuzziness" threshold, but I'd rather make the selection based on specific Lab values instead of random pixels that I choose with my eye dropper. Is there a way to do this in Photoshop, or does anyone know of a plug-in that might do this?
Also, if I end up having to use the basic Color Range tool, I'd like to know what "fuzziness" means. I understand what it does (selects more or less colors based on the threshold around the point you choose with your eyedropper), but what is that based on? A color difference (delta E) value around that point maybe?
I am using Photoshop CS3 v10.0 on a Windows XP machine.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Ellen

It may be helpful to compare the Color Range command with the Magic Wand Tool. A Magic Wand "selection" is 100% opaque and all pixels outside its tolerannce have zero opacity. So the selected pixels are either totally selected or totally unselected. There is no partial selection.
Not so with the Color Range command. The pixel clicked establishes the "base" color. Whereever that exact color occurs in the image, it is totally selected (100% opaque). The degree to which other pixels are selected (their opacity) depends on the Fuzziness setting.
At zero Fuzziness, all pixels other than those with the base color are totally unselected (zero opacity). As the Fuzziness setting increases, pixels with values other than the base value begin to be selected, but not 100%. There is a bell-shaped (Gaussian) curve of opacity centered on the base value and dinminishing on either side of it.
The breadth of the Gaussian curve (let's define that as the color value difference between 50% opacity on the left and 50% opacity on the right is directly proportional (not equal to) the Fuzziness. Double the Fuzziness and you double the breadth. Marching ants appear at the 50% opacity point. But be careful interpreting this because with the Magic Wand, for example, the 50% opacity point occurs at the same point as zero and 100%, there being no gradation of opacity at the edge of a Magic Wand selection.
You need to be aware also that the Color Range command operates in each color channel and the deviation from base value is determined by the most restrictive of the three channels. If a pixel is within Fuzziness limits for one channel but not another, it doesn't pass muster. And, yes, CR uses Lab colors, but you need not be in Lab mode.

CS6 cursor misregistration with Info palette coordinates

The cursor's registration is off by about 1/2 pixel up and to the left according to the Info palette. Previous versions have been totally accurate with regard to screen registration. Here's a demo at full zoom:
I've trashed my preferences, restarted, etc. Running version 13.0.5, OS 10.6.8, iMac, 4 GB memory.

I am also having this issue. It works on my MacBook, but not my iMac. The only difference I see is that my MacBook is running 13.0 Extended, but the problem iMac is running 13.0.4 Standard. On the problem computer I have tried logging in as a new user (clean prefs) and the issue still exists. I've tried changing profiles, preview and proof settings with no difference. I've also tried different eyedropper settings (current layer, all layers, etc) with no difference. If I drag the correction layer out of the group, the readings show correctly. If I move them back INTO the group, they only show the corrected values. Very odd.
Problem computer specs:
Photoshop CS6 Standard (13.0.4 x64)
iMac 21.5" 2.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i5
16 GB 1600MHz DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M 512M
OSX Mountain Lion 10.8.3
Working computer specs:
Photoshop CS6 Extended (13.0 x64)
MacBook Pro 17-inch, Mid 2010 2.53 GHz Intel Core i5
8 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M 512 MB
OSX Mountain Lion 10.8.2

Color densitometer or info palette when editing colors?!?

I am new to Premiere Pro, so forgive me if I have overlooked the obvious, but I can't find any sort of info palette that displays color info when using color correction tools within Premiere Pro. I have searched this forum and the Adobe Help info, but haven't found any info.
Considering that Premiere Pro has such powerful color capabilities, I would expect there is a way to measure changes being made. Coming from a Photoshop background, I rely on the densitometer and info palette for accuracy and repeatability. Although Premiere Pro's video scopes display a lot of info (I wish Photoshop had these!), they are not very precise tools. Having a way to measure actual color values would seem critical when matching color between two different pieces of footage.
One option I found is to use the "Leave Color" color correction tool's eye dropper to select a color, and then view the color values by clicking on the sampled color swatch. This opens up the familiar color dialog box with all sorts of handy color info. If Adobe could include that, why didn't they include a simple densitometer (eye dropper tool) and an info palette that displays color reading?
If such features exist, I hope someone will point them out to me. If they exist in a third party color editing plug-in for Premiere Pro, that would be a very compelling reason to buy it. Any suggestions on this would be most appreciated.
cheers,
Dave

David - Thanks for your reply. For my work flow in Photoshop, the densitometer and info palette are "must have" tools for repeatability and accuracy of colors, as well as many, many other uses. I calibrate my monitor and control my environment lighting, but recognize that my eyes and color perception will never be as consistent as a densitometer.
I am certain that Premiere Pro users would benefit greatly from these tools, and find it surprising that Premiere Pro doesn't have them. One obvious example would be matching the look of multiple film sources. Sure, you can make rounds of tweaks and preview them as they transition from one to the next. However, a method to read and compare color values would dramatically speed up that process.
I have started working with Premiere Pro's video scopes, and think these would be wonderful tools to work with in Photoshop. BTW, Jeff Sengstack has a good tutorial on the lynda.com web site. However, watching his videos, its quite apparent that he resorts to a lot of trial and error that would often be minimized with the ability to read color values.

Problems with CMYK/LAB colors

I'm independent and I send many print jobs to different print shops. I recently discovered to my horror that some color critical jobs have gone to press (to the same shop) with mismatched PMS colors. At first I blamed the print shop but they complained the CMYK values did not match. When I opened the two brochures in question, one had (for example) Pantone 288 C, color type spot, Color mode CMYK, 100/67/0/23 (dimmed because the colors came from an imported illustrator eps logo). The second (bad) brochure had the same color and color type, but in the mix it had Color Mode: Lab, L 8.039, a 8, b -50 - greyed out because again, the color came from the SAME eps file.
My next step was to remove the logo file from the bad Indesign doc. Then I doublechecked the color - success, the color now says color mode: Pantone solid coated, 288 C (which is from the built-in indesign swatch book). Then I brought BACK IN the logo file from the brochure that printed correctly. The color reverts back to LAB again!
When I import this same logo into a blank document, the colors are fine (CMYK with proper values).
I'd seen in other forums suggestions to check or uncheck "Use Standard Lab Values for Spots" in the Ink Manager, however both documents have this unchecked. (Adobe seems to encourage checking LAB but I've never done this, I'm afraid to start now as it will probably give my print shops fits.) And both have "convert spots to process" checked, which I always thought was the cure-all: shouldn't PMS 288 (CMYK) always be PMS 288 (CMYK), as long as both are converted to process? Why would one being a LAB and the other NOT being a LAB make them different? 288 should be 288....? (but I guess not....)
The good news is, the Zevrix extension "InPreFlight" will warn me if run on each document, so I don't have to drive myself crazy opening old files and doubleclicking every color. But I'm wondering what the heck is happening.
CLUE: I believe this all stemmed from a "brilliant" idea I had to shorten the list of color types to choose from by going into Indesign>Presets>Swatch Libraries and removing libraries I'd thought I wasn't using - I left all my Pantones, but I must have deleted an important one, because it was after I'd done this that I had noticed the Lab colors rearing their ugly heads. However it didn't occur to me that LAB (CMYK) would be different from regular CMYK since they have the same name. When I replaced this folder with one from another mac, viola, the problems stopped. However it doesn't stop the old, previously created files from continuing to open wrong and be printed wrong, if I don't catch them.
Any insight anyone could provide would prove most helpful. It would be nice to get a night's sleep for a change.....thanks!
FYI I'm using Indesign CS3 5.0.4 (recently updated) with Color Settings CMYK: U.S. Sheetfed Coated v2 and color management policies-preserve numbers (ignore linked profiles).

>one had (for example) Pantone 288 C, color type spot,
Mike, you are implying in your post that your jobs are being output as CMYK, but your colors are set as spots. If that's the case your printer is converting the spot colors to process CMYK, which would cause the problem you are describingPantone Solid colors are converted to CMYK via color management when Use Lab is checked. The resulting output values would depend on the document's destination CMYK profile.
If your job is indeed CMYK you should stop using the Pantone Solid library and use the Solid to Process library instead, which always output as Pantones CMYK builds.
Use Lab is useful when a job is to be output as Spot color because you will likely get a more accurate preview of the color and a better proof to a composite printer. Many Pantone colors are out of the CMYK gamut. Lab can also be useful if you are sending a job to CMYK and you want to color manage the conversion of a solid color to CMYK, rather than using Pantones built formulas which are device dependent.

RGB/CMYK/Lab values like Photoshop «Info» palette

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for