Nowadays it is not necessary to convert RGB to CMYK. The profile for that printer takes care of all conversions. So your design will remain same. Also RGB printers are also developed. There are many advantages in RGB printers. One of the most important advantage is the 4th channel is used for transperancy which is not supported in CMYK.
I can acknowledge that this is an option… but CMYK printers are the most common by a large margin. The RGB printers you’re referring to aren’t actually printing in RGB because there's no light. They are still CMYK printers, but have additional color channels. I only promote proper process on this channel and what I mentioned in the video is industry standard. If designers follow the process I went over, this will provide them with the most consistent results.
I agree that printers most commonly use CMYK, but I think nowadays a more used industry standard is to leave the pictures RGB or whatever in InDesign and only export with the the right color profile (in Germany we use different fogra or iso-standards for coated and uncoated materials). You save time converting those images and optimize for used paper.
Video display resolution of an image is measured in pixels per inch (PPI) not (DPI). Dots per inch (DPI) is a measurement of the number of ink dots in a printed line per inch. As a general rule to determine the required resolution, one would take the dot per inch (DPI) of the printed piece, double it, and that should be the minimum resolution of the image you provide for the best quality print. So, if something is printing at a 150 dot per inch (DPI), the target image resolution should be at least 300 pixels per inch (PPI).
I think that limitation alone is why you shouldn’t be using illustrator. But I as I mentioned in the video, you can’t preflight images unless you do it manually, which can be time consuming. Maybe I ask, is there a reason why the greater majority of the print industry uses InDesign but you prefer illustrator?
This is so helpful! I just started learning how to implement this in one of my graphic design courses and I love how you broke all of this information down! ❤
Let me try to work on this. I’m not “fully” versed in production, but i have a lot of production friends to put something together! Thanks so much for watching 🙏❤️🙏
It's dangerous to suggest that one should create a 4-color black to use in your mechanical without explaining that it should not be used for text. Text should be 100K to avoid potential registration problems that would make your printed piece difficult to read.
Yes you are correct! I didn’t mean to leave this note out of the video. Presumably most people will use the default black since it’s already there. In the example I showed, I was only suggesting a 4 color black for elements, like the black bubble, when you need more ink so it prints a true black.
I’m not familiar with Affinity Publisher, but you would need to be able to check bleeds resolution and color space in order to preflight. if you’re able to do that, then that should totally work!
I have two questions- 1. Is it a good idea to design a book or something in Photoshop and then transfer it to InDesign to set bleeds and trims. 2. Why don't you use the ''High Quality Print '' option while exporting the file?
1. Unfortunately this doesn’t work for print because photoshop rasterizes the images to whatever your document is set to, but it’s not true to their original resolution. Also, you want your type to be vector so it’s clear, photoshop turns it into in image, which can pixelate. Basically, you can’t preflight for a printer and it’s significantly more work to redo everything properly in InDesign. 2. High Quality Print is a high-res PDF, but it doesn’t have the correct settings for a printer. You can certainly send it that way, but again, it’s not proper. How I went through the steps in the video is the only true way to send files. You won’t have any issues, you’ll get the results you want, and will save you more time in the end.
Thank you for such a wonderful video! When dealing with photography in a magazine that will be printed in a offset printer do you bump up the saturation of your photos or do any prepping before converting to CMYK? Sometimes when i convert it, the photo then looks a touch dull.
I usually send out all of the images for post-production and the imaging team makes sure the conversion to CMYK is close or exact to the RGB. I haven’t found a solution myself on a fix for this since you lose the brightness from RGB
If you’re doing color work in RGB on an image that will be (or even might be) converted to CMYK, be sure to have gamut warning and cmyk preview in photoshop turned on. This will show you how much the color will be dumbed down when the file is converted to cmyk. Also, if you are using adobe programs you want to have your color management set up correctly. Incorrect setup can cause a significant shift in the color when converting to cmyk. Hope this helps.
@@tirsogamboa you can open up the mid tones once you convert the pictures to CMYK. Make sure you use curves in photoshop and you can then add colour back in to specific colours such as blues reds etc to make them brighter. you can use the saturation tool to do this, select red for example then drag all of the cyan out of and increase the yellow and red until you’re happy with the contrast. This should open up the picture and increase brightness when printed. Good video. Covered the basics well.
hi! i have facing pages for a paperback, but when I export it as an pdf in the middle i have a line with the extra image from the other page (have bleed) is this normal? amazon didnt found some error but when i lunch preview just show odd with that line from prev page
Hi Cathy, yes, in order to do this you would have to separate the pages, not by changing it single, but instead there’s an option in the drop down of the pages panel where it says, “allow document pages / spreads to shuffle”. Click that off and it will allow you to separate the pages and maintain the left and right. The bleed will not show the page on the right or vice versa.
This was a helpful video, but I have so many questions about the printing process -- I never know where to start. I'm creating self published comic books and I can never seem to find the info I'm looking for. I worry about the colors looking muddy when printed as well as marrying the colored art (psd) and lettering (eps), that the letters won't be black enough. I think I have heard of the 60/60/40/100 before. They use words like "trapping" (where colors meet beneath the line art, before flattening layers) and "overprinting" when referring to the blackness of the letters. Hear of anything like this? Should I even worry about it? Any direction someone can point me in is more than appreciated.
For the colors looking muddy, unfortunately the colors will dull because CMYK is a subtractive process vs. RGB on screen with us additive since it adds light. The only way to come close to that same richness is to print with a Pantone, but it can get pricey. Trapping deals with alignment, I’ve never had any issues with this, but it mostly applies to illustration. For overprint, that’s what I was mentioning with the 4-color black. Use that for any elements that overlap other colors elements and you should be ok!