Printer says black is really grey

[natIL]

Would love your suggestions to the following: I created Publisher newsletter
using 2003. At first, I thought it would be multi color; but then we decided
to do just 2 color. I changed to spot color with Pantone color. I uploaded
the file. They say they can't seperate the black and it's appearing grey.
They think it's b/c the file was orignally set up as multi color. Doesn't
seem right. Also, I just uploaded the file. I couldn't do pack and send to
upload. Apparently, that's just if I save to CD? Would that eliminate some
of these problems. Also, some of the graphics showed positions a bit on
their end. Is it how it was sent? I'm working long distance with the
printer; but could over night stuff? Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[Matt Beals]

Would love your suggestions to the following: I created Publisher newsletter
using 2003. At first, I thought it would be multi color; but then we decided
to do just 2 color. I changed to spot color with Pantone color. I uploaded
the file. They say they can't seperate the black and it's appearing grey.
They think it's b/c the file was orignally set up as multi color. Doesn't
seem right. Also, I just uploaded the file. I couldn't do pack and send to
upload. Apparently, that's just if I save to CD? Would that eliminate some
of these problems. Also, some of the graphics showed positions a bit on
their end. Is it how it was sent? I'm working long distance with the
printer; but could over night stuff? Any suggestions? Thanks.

Gray can be "black" as in device gray or it could be "gray" (a tint of
black). Which gray are we talking about? If it is device gray I wonder what
they are complaining about. It (device gray) is a valid color space. It is
"black" in that it is "black", but it is not "black" as in cmy K black. Are
they interchangeable? Yes. Will it separate correctly? Yes. Will it look
"black"? Yes. Assuming they use "black" ink

Now if the black that they are dealing with is RGB black that was convert to
K (black) of CMYK and it is now appearing as a tint, like 85% then that is a
real problem. A problem with how they are converting colors. There are a
number of different ways that your printer can deal with it. If this is the
situation then they've got some work to do... It is easy enough to deal with
if you do it right. If you don't, well then that's why printers hate
Publisher and call it "Punisher".

Matt Beals
Consultant
Enfocus Certified Trainer
Markzware Recognized Trainer
(206) 201-2320 - Main
(720) 367-3869 - eFax
mailto:[email protected]

Come visit me at:

http://www.automatetheworkflow.com
http://www.mattbeals.com
http://blog.mattbeals.com

Friends don't let friends write HTML email

 

[Matt Beals]

I should note that device gray, black (100k) and separation black are
different. Device gray cannot overprint device CMYK. Black (100k) is device
CMYK. Separation black is a special case because it is really device CMYK
"k" but defined in such a ways as to treat is almost as a spot color. To get
any of these that can over print to overprint (they all can really) you need
device gray to over print a spot color. You need device cmy"K" or separation
black with over print mode 1 in order to over print on top of c,m,y, or k or
any other color (device N, N-channel, etc). Overprint mode 0 will knock out
the underlying CMY in device CMYK.

Clear as mud eh? Regardless of what your printer is not doing it can work if
they use the right color spaces. For a 2-color job, device gray and a
Pantone is just fine.

Matt Beals
Consultant
Enfocus Certified Trainer
Markzware Recognized Trainer
(206) 201-2320 - Main
(720) 367-3869 - eFax
mailto:[email protected]

Come visit me at:

http://www.automatetheworkflow.com
http://www.mattbeals.com
http://blog.mattbeals.com

Friends don't let friends write HTML email