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CMYK numbers change

Forum Index > Printing & Prepress > CMYK numbers change
2009-10-07 10:53:24
chadfield
Registered: Oct 7 2009
Posts: 2

So maybe I'm missing something but here's my situation.
We, in Prepress, use Acrobat 9 to preview separations and Total Ink/Total Area Coverage, during preflight. What I'm finding is that if I change the Simulation Profile, the CMYK numbers actually change when I take a reading. I could understand the on screen visual representation changing as the profile changes. But how am I to check for over ink limits if it's all dependent on which profile I use. Maybe this tool just wasn't meant to do what I'm asking?

Thanks in advance.

My Product Information:
Acrobat Pro 9.1.3, Macintosh
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2009-10-12 00:02:53
#1
PeterKleinheider
Registered: May 18 2007
Posts: 10
Hi chadfield,

this leads to the assumption, that you are using other color definitions than DeviceCMYK and/or DeviceN. If you have, as an example, icc based RGB then the CMYK numbers change depending on the simulation profile. Same is true for all calibrated color spaces.

Have you preflighted your file? What do you see when you limit the visible items in Output Preview to only show calibrated colors?

Regards,
Peter Kleinheider
callas software GmbH

Regards,

Peter Kleinheider
callas software GmbH
Co-Chair specifications subcommittee at GWG

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2009-10-18 08:23:51
#2
Lukas Engqvist
Acrobat 9
Registered: Sep 30 2009
Posts: 1
As peter says, the numbers change because you are viewing tagged colour. What is your workflow. If you have a colour workflow that does not enable colour management then I would normally use the colour converter to convert to an output intent (normally preserving black and pure colours)

If you already have a PDFx then you will normally find your output intent at the top of the list of your separations panel. Changing to a different output intent will change the numbers, but you will have a consistent viewing of your file. Remember CMYK values are device/process dependant. Acrobat is assuming that you want a consistent appearance of the file and therefore putts appearance over numbers. (If you need an analogy, think of it as the price of a product may be the same but the value in euro would not be the same as the value in dollars. same price different numbers)
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