Info Palette and Grayscale Images

Posted By
May 26, 2004
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820
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8
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I have the second section of the info palette set to show total ink; however, when the image is grayscale Photoshop is still reporting numbers of 0 to 255, as opposed to 0 to 100 as it should be.

Am I missing something, or is this a bug?
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grayscale image info palette

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DM
Don_McCahill
May 26, 2004
Grayscale format is measured in units of 0-255. I don’t know why you say it should be in percent.
L
LenHewitt
May 26, 2004
Brian,

The Total ink readout should go from 0 to the total ink value set in the CMYK working space profile, which is likely to be greater than 255 – probably at least 300 – and will be the total ink if you converted the greyscale to CMYK.

The K readout will be what you will get when printing greyscale
GH
Gernot_Hoffmann
May 26, 2004
Values are indicated: RGB 0..255, CMYK 0..100.

Choose first indicated values RGB and second CMYK.

A Grayscale CAN be converted to K-only by
choosing a custom CMYK profile with black generation max.

A Grayscale CAN be packed into a PDF as spot black (one
channel), but this doesn´t work always as expected.

A very useful tool for the investigation of what really happened in the PDF is the free trial version of Quite a Box of Tricks by <http://www.quite.com>

Best regards –Gernot Hoffmann
May 26, 2004
wrote:

Grayscale format is measured in units of 0-255. I don’t know why you say it should be in percent.

Because I’m asking for total ink (which is always measured as a percent). If the image mode is CMYK then I get a percent, why should greyscale be any different?

If I’m being stupid or dense here please let me know, but to my way of thinking total ink MUST be 0 to 100% for each ink, and since there’s only one ink being used for a greyscale image there’s no validity in measuring any other way.

Brian
May 26, 2004
Values are indicated: RGB 0..255, CMYK 0..100.

Choose first indicated values RGB and second CMYK.

This image *is* greyscale mode, not RGB or CMYK.

A Grayscale CAN be converted to K-only by
choosing a custom CMYK profile with black generation max.

That’s not what I have. I have a greyscale image, one channel only. Not CMYK with blank C, M and Y channels.
May 26, 2004
The Total ink readout should go from 0 to the total ink value set in the CMYK working space profile, which is likely to be greater than 255 – probably at least 300 – and will be the total ink if you converted the greyscale to CMYK.

Interesting, so it’s not reporting the actual ink that would be used to print this greyscale image?

I guess I’m misreading how this is supposed to work, because to me intuitively if I set the palette to show total ink that’s what it should show, not the total ink that would be used *if* I was to convert to CMYK. Why is Photoshop making the assumption that I’m going to convert this greyscale image to CMYK?
L
LenHewitt
May 27, 2004
Brian,

Why is Photoshop making the assumption that I’m going to convert
this greyscale image to CMYK?<<

It’s not really making any assumptions – it is merely providing you with ADDITIONAL information SHOULD you convert to CMYK, since the ink coverage in greyscale is already indicated by the K value.
May 27, 2004
It’s not really making any assumptions – it is merely providing you with ADDITIONAL information SHOULD you convert to CMYK, since the ink coverage in greyscale is already indicated by the K value.

Understood. It just seems very counter-intuitive to me, since I’m asking for total ink, not total ink if I convert to CMYK.

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