Newbie: RGB to CMYK, help….!

"Litron" wrote in message

I’ve been doing artwork for a few years and was asked to create a logo for

a

friends business – I designed it in RGB and had some nifty gradient fades and shadow effects (My buddy was quite happy with the previews)… of

course

when I converted it to CMYK (as I understand I need to do for the print shop) the logo lost a lot of depth and vibrancy – it also appears a few shades darker when I print it on my Lexmark X1140 printer.
I understand that I probably need to calibrate my monitor to better match

my

printer output, but how can I be certain that my colors will remain true

to

the original when it’s finally taken to the printer? Also, what file

format

would be best to save the logo in for the printer(I’ve avoided the lossy formats such as JPG and GIF, but how about TIF or a flattened PSD file)?
Anyone know of some good resources on the web, something along the lines

of

CMYK for Dummies? I would eventually like to print some of my original artwork as well, but now I fear there might be a whole crap load of worms

in

that can as everything was created in RGB..

Anyways, any help would be appreciated, Pantones etc are all new to me so

I

could use a push in the right direction.

Thanx

Litron

http://www.graphic-design.com/DTG/Graphics/IlColors.html

Litron wrote:

I’ve been doing artwork for a few years and was asked to create a logo for a friends business – I designed it in RGB and had some nifty gradient fades and shadow effects (My buddy was quite happy with the previews)… of course when I converted it to CMYK (as I understand I need to do for the print shop) the logo lost a lot of depth and vibrancy – it also appears a few shades darker when I print it on my Lexmark X1140 printer.

This is typical. CMYK does a poor job on pure reds and blues.

Spot colors may solve your problem. The printer uses custom inks to give you any of a a set of very pure colors. This is SOP for logos.

I understand that I probably need to calibrate my monitor to better match my printer output, but how can I be certain that my colors will remain true to the original when it’s finally taken to the printer? Also, what file format would be best to save the logo in for the printer(I’ve avoided the lossy formats such as JPG and GIF, but how about TIF or a flattened PSD file)?

If your eventual destination is print, work in CMYK. Best to check, but PDF, and also Tiff and DCS are common formats to pass on the the printer.

Anyone know of some good resources on the web, something along the lines of CMYK for Dummies? I would eventually like to print some of my original artwork as well, but now I fear there might be a whole crap load of worms in that can as everything was created in RGB..

It’s not a big deal, but there are things you can do to get an extra edge. Any book by Dan Margulis is worth its weight in metallic gold ink.

Anyways, any help would be appreciated, Pantones etc are all new to me so I could use a push in the right direction.

You got it – Pantone swatches define the spot colors. These are relatively intense colors that are normally difficult to achieve with just CMYK. End result: the logo with the mojo.

Click on the Custom button in the Color Picker, and you can select from several different lists of spot colors. Ask the printer which set you can use for this particular job, or when in doubt use the Pantone Coated list. A Pantone swatch set is desirable to see the exact color, but is fairly expensive.

BTW – check out the Pocket Pal. Great little book for $12.50, with everything you can think of related to printing. Read it through a couple of times and you’ll feel much more confident about printer terminology and technology. It’s alphabetical, so when you run into an unfamiliar term, you can look it up easily.
http://americanprinter.com/mag/printing_new_pocket_pal/
—

Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
www.geigy.2y.net

in article 5G9Fc.41055$ wrote on
7/2/04 2:12 AM:

I’ve been doing artwork for a few years and was asked to create a logo for a friends business – I designed it in RGB and had some nifty gradient fades and shadow effects (My buddy was quite happy with the previews)… of course when I converted it to CMYK (as I understand I need to do for the print shop) the logo lost a lot of depth and vibrancy – it also appears a few shades darker when I print it on my Lexmark X1140 printer.
I understand that I probably need to calibrate my monitor to better match my printer output, but how can I be certain that my colors will remain true to the original when it’s finally taken to the printer? Also, what file format would be best to save the logo in for the printer(I’ve avoided the lossy formats such as JPG and GIF, but how about TIF or a flattened PSD file)?
Anyone know of some good resources on the web, something along the lines of CMYK for Dummies? I would eventually like to print some of my original artwork as well, but now I fear there might be a whole crap load of worms in that can as everything was created in RGB..

–
True, you will have no 100% black
all your black will be a build of CMYK (bad idea)
–

Anyways, any help would be appreciated, Pantones etc are all new to me so I could use a push in the right direction.

–
You will have some reading up to do,
as you will be jumping some hoops
getting spot color files to output as spot colors,
instead of converting, to process output from photoshop. –
MSD

"Litron" wrote in news:5G9Fc.41055$:

I’ve been doing artwork for a few years and was asked to create a logo for a friends business – I designed it in RGB and had some nifty gradient fades and shadow effects (My buddy was quite happy with the previews)… of course when I converted it to CMYK (as I understand I need to do for the print shop) the logo lost a lot of depth and vibrancy – it also appears a few shades darker when I print it on my Lexmark X1140 printer.

I understand that I probably need to calibrate my monitor to better match my printer output, but how can I be certain that my colors will remain true to the original when it’s finally taken to the printer? Also, what file format would be best to save the logo in for the printer(I’ve avoided the lossy formats such as JPG and GIF, but how about TIF or a flattened PSD file)?

Anyone know of some good resources on the web, something along the lines of CMYK for Dummies? I would eventually like to print some of my original artwork as well, but now I fear there might be a whole crap load of worms in that can as everything was created in RGB..
Anyways, any help would be appreciated, Pantones etc are all new to me so I could use a push in the right direction.

Thanx

Litron

Phone the printer, most are quite happy with rgb 100% jpg images!

—
Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use.

On Fri, 02 Jul 2004 09:12:33 GMT, "Litron" wrote:

I’ve been doing artwork for a few years and was asked to create a logo for a friends business – I designed it in RGB and had some nifty gradient fades and shadow effects (My buddy was quite happy with the previews)… of course when I converted it to CMYK (as I understand I need to do for the print shop) the logo lost a lot of depth and vibrancy – it also appears a few shades darker when I print it on my Lexmark X1140 printer.

Well, for starters, if that’s an inkjet, it’s expecting an RGB image, not CMYK, so it’ll clip your colours even further.

—

Hecate

veni, vidi, reliqui

In article <5G9Fc.41055$ says…

I’ve been doing artwork for a few years and was asked to create a logo for a friends business – I designed it in RGB and had some nifty gradient fades and shadow effects (My buddy was quite happy with the previews)… of course when I converted it to CMYK (as I understand I need to do for the print shop) the logo lost a lot of depth and vibrancy – it also appears a few shades darker when I print it on my Lexmark X1140 printer.
I understand that I probably need to calibrate my monitor to better match my printer output, but how can I be certain that my colors will remain true to the original when it’s finally taken to the printer? Also, what file format would be best to save the logo in for the printer(I’ve avoided the lossy formats such as JPG and GIF, but how about TIF or a flattened PSD file)?
Anyone know of some good resources on the web, something along the lines of CMYK for Dummies? I would eventually like to print some of my original artwork as well, but now I fear there might be a whole crap load of worms in that can as everything was created in RGB..

Anyways, any help would be appreciated, Pantones etc are all new to me so I could use a push in the right direction.

Thanx

Litron

Ben Willemore covers a lot of your problems in Photoshop CS Studio Techniques by Adobe Press, and may also have much of it on his Web site: www. digitalmastery.com. I’ll lay odds that others will have sites for you too.

Hunt

Thanx for the link, definitely helps!

Litron

"V1nc3nt" wrote in message

"Litron" wrote in message

I’ve been doing artwork for a few years and was asked to create a logo

for

a

friends business – I designed it in RGB and had some nifty gradient

fades

and shadow effects (My buddy was quite happy with the previews)… of

course

when I converted it to CMYK (as I understand I need to do for the print shop) the logo lost a lot of depth and vibrancy – it also appears a few shades darker when I print it on my Lexmark X1140 printer.
I understand that I probably need to calibrate my monitor to better

match

my

printer output, but how can I be certain that my colors will remain true

to

the original when it’s finally taken to the printer? Also, what file

format

would be best to save the logo in for the printer(I’ve avoided the lossy formats such as JPG and GIF, but how about TIF or a flattened PSD file)?
Anyone know of some good resources on the web, something along the lines

of

CMYK for Dummies? I would eventually like to print some of my original artwork as well, but now I fear there might be a whole crap load of

worms

in

that can as everything was created in RGB..

Anyways, any help would be appreciated, Pantones etc are all new to me

so

I

could use a push in the right direction.

Thanx

Litron

http://www.graphic-design.com/DTG/Graphics/IlColors.html

Thanx Mike, exactly the info I was looking for… especially the Pantone Coated hint as I won’t be in contact with the printer.

Litron

"Mike Russell" wrote in message

Litron wrote:

I’ve been doing artwork for a few years and was asked to create a logo for a friends business – I designed it in RGB and had some nifty gradient fades and shadow effects (My buddy was quite happy with the previews)… of course when I converted it to CMYK (as I understand I need to do for the print shop) the logo lost a lot of depth and vibrancy – it also appears a few shades darker when I print it on my Lexmark X1140 printer.

This is typical. CMYK does a poor job on pure reds and blues.
Spot colors may solve your problem. The printer uses custom inks to give you any of a a set of very pure colors. This is SOP for logos.

I understand that I probably need to calibrate my monitor to better match my printer output, but how can I be certain that my colors will remain true to the original when it’s finally taken to the printer? Also, what file format would be best to save the logo in for the printer(I’ve avoided the lossy formats such as JPG and GIF, but how about TIF or a flattened PSD file)?

If your eventual destination is print, work in CMYK. Best to check, but PDF, and also Tiff and DCS are common formats to pass on the the printer.

Anyone know of some good resources on the web, something along the lines of CMYK for Dummies? I would eventually like to print some of my original artwork as well, but now I fear there might be a whole crap load of worms in that can as everything was created in RGB..

It’s not a big deal, but there are things you can do to get an extra edge. Any book by Dan Margulis is worth its weight in metallic gold ink.

Anyways, any help would be appreciated, Pantones etc are all new to me so I could use a push in the right direction.

You got it – Pantone swatches define the spot colors. These are

relatively

intense colors that are normally difficult to achieve with just CMYK. End result: the logo with the mojo.

Click on the Custom button in the Color Picker, and you can select from several different lists of spot colors. Ask the printer which set you can use for this particular job, or when in doubt use the Pantone Coated list. A Pantone swatch set is desirable to see the exact color, but is fairly expensive.

BTW – check out the Pocket Pal. Great little book for $12.50, with everything you can think of related to printing. Read it through a couple of times and you’ll feel much more confident about printer terminology and technology. It’s alphabetical, so when you run into an unfamiliar term,

you

can look it up easily.
http://americanprinter.com/mag/printing_new_pocket_pal/
—

Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
www.geigy.2y.net

Thanx for the input, and yes – I definitely have some reading to do.

Litron

"WharfRat" wrote in message

in article 5G9Fc.41055$ wrote on
7/2/04 2:12 AM:

I’ve been doing artwork for a few years and was asked to create a logo

for a

friends business – I designed it in RGB and had some nifty gradient

fades

and shadow effects (My buddy was quite happy with the previews)… of

course

when I converted it to CMYK (as I understand I need to do for the print shop) the logo lost a lot of depth and vibrancy – it also appears a few shades darker when I print it on my Lexmark X1140 printer.
I understand that I probably need to calibrate my monitor to better

match my

printer output, but how can I be certain that my colors will remain true

to

the original when it’s finally taken to the printer? Also, what file

format

would be best to save the logo in for the printer(I’ve avoided the lossy formats such as JPG and GIF, but how about TIF or a flattened PSD file)?
Anyone know of some good resources on the web, something along the lines

of

CMYK for Dummies? I would eventually like to print some of my original artwork as well, but now I fear there might be a whole crap load of

worms in

that can as everything was created in RGB..

–
True, you will have no 100% black
all your black will be a build of CMYK (bad idea)
–

Anyways, any help would be appreciated, Pantones etc are all new to me

so I

could use a push in the right direction.

–
You will have some reading up to do,
as you will be jumping some hoops
getting spot color files to output as spot colors,
instead of converting, to process output from photoshop. –
MSD

Thanx, I’ll look into it – it would be nice if I didn’t have to make changes.

Litron

"Kingdom" wrote in message

"Litron" wrote in news:5G9Fc.41055$:

I’ve been doing artwork for a few years and was asked to create a logo for a friends business – I designed it in RGB and had some nifty gradient fades and shadow effects (My buddy was quite happy with the previews)… of course when I converted it to CMYK (as I understand I need to do for the print shop) the logo lost a lot of depth and vibrancy – it also appears a few shades darker when I print it on my Lexmark X1140 printer.

I understand that I probably need to calibrate my monitor to better match my printer output, but how can I be certain that my colors will remain true to the original when it’s finally taken to the printer? Also, what file format would be best to save the logo in for the printer(I’ve avoided the lossy formats such as JPG and GIF, but how about TIF or a flattened PSD file)?

Anyone know of some good resources on the web, something along the lines of CMYK for Dummies? I would eventually like to print some of my original artwork as well, but now I fear there might be a whole crap load of worms in that can as everything was created in RGB..
Anyways, any help would be appreciated, Pantones etc are all new to me so I could use a push in the right direction.

Thanx

Litron

Phone the printer, most are quite happy with rgb 100% jpg images!
—
Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use.

Thanx Hecate, knowledge is power!

Litron

"Hecate" wrote in message

On Fri, 02 Jul 2004 09:12:33 GMT, "Litron" wrote:

I’ve been doing artwork for a few years and was asked to create a logo

for a

friends business – I designed it in RGB and had some nifty gradient fades and shadow effects (My buddy was quite happy with the previews)… of

course

when I converted it to CMYK (as I understand I need to do for the print shop) the logo lost a lot of depth and vibrancy – it also appears a few shades darker when I print it on my Lexmark X1140 printer.

Well, for starters, if that’s an inkjet, it’s expecting an RGB image, not CMYK, so it’ll clip your colours even further.

—

Hecate

veni, vidi, reliqui

Thanx Hunt, I neglected to mention that I’m using PS7 – but will still check it out.

Catch ya later

Litron
"Hunt" wrote in message

In article <5G9Fc.41055$ says…

I’ve been doing artwork for a few years and was asked to create a logo

for a

friends business – I designed it in RGB and had some nifty gradient fades and shadow effects (My buddy was quite happy with the previews)… of

course

when I converted it to CMYK (as I understand I need to do for the print shop) the logo lost a lot of depth and vibrancy – it also appears a few shades darker when I print it on my Lexmark X1140 printer.
I understand that I probably need to calibrate my monitor to better match

my

printer output, but how can I be certain that my colors will remain true

to

the original when it’s finally taken to the printer? Also, what file

format

would be best to save the logo in for the printer(I’ve avoided the lossy formats such as JPG and GIF, but how about TIF or a flattened PSD file)?
Anyone know of some good resources on the web, something along the lines

of

CMYK for Dummies? I would eventually like to print some of my original artwork as well, but now I fear there might be a whole crap load of worms

in

that can as everything was created in RGB..

Anyways, any help would be appreciated, Pantones etc are all new to me so

I

could use a push in the right direction.

Thanx

Litron

Ben Willemore covers a lot of your problems in Photoshop CS Studio

Techniques

by Adobe Press, and may also have much of it on his Web site: www. digitalmastery.com. I’ll lay odds that others will have sites for you too.
Hunt

In article <GsIFc.47870$ says…

Thanx Hunt, I neglected to mention that I’m using PS7 – but will still check it out.

Catch ya later

[SNIP]

Willmore also has a PS7 ver of his book, that is probably greatly discounted by now. The RGB-CMYK Gamut section is very similar, as it is not PS ver specific. As I recall, the PS CS book does go a tad deeper. I’ve got both, plus his v5 book. Each one gets better, and though there are some overlaps, he has done a good job of expanding the necessary chapters on how it all works, for each book. The CS book will apply to about 85% (rough guess on MY part), of what you will encounter in v7. Unfortunately, some of his comments that are specific to CS will get you wanting it! Be warned…

With the possible discount on the v7 book, I’d snap it up, then get the CS, when you do upgrade.

Hunt