RE: Screen capture, display properties, CMYK printing

[Dov Isaacs <isaacs@xxxxxxxxx>]

First of all, FrameMaker does NOT have a "direct export" to PDF.
The "save as" function, even when it will be properly working in
the next major release of FrameMaker, generates PostScript via
the driver for subsequent distillation. Thus, in terms of the
quality of the PostScript itself, it will really be no different
than that generated via the "print" function to the Acrobat Distiller
printer instance. This is obviously not true with InDesign, Illustrator,
and Photoshop that internally support the full Adobe imaging model
encompassing PostScript 3 and PDF 1.4.

With regards to what is "print ready" or not, conceivably, except
for spot color, you should be able to go to press with RGB PostScript
or RGB PDF. The PostScript language REQUIRES that RIPs provide full
support for automatic conversion of RGB to CMYK for devices requiring
CMYK or vice versa if necessary (yes, there are some RGB devices).
The REAL problem generally is that such automatic conversions may or
may not provide the exact colors that you want or need. And spot
colors are also problematic. To further complicate matters, there are
some prepress "added-value" programs that pre-process PostScript 
and many prepress professionals that just don't understand anything
other than G-d-given CMYK and spot colors.

I have very successfully produced offset-printed four-color output 
from GDI programs including FrameMaker. 

If one insists on CMYK PDF, there are a number of tools including
pre-Distiller PostScript preprocessors and even more convenient,
Acrobat plugins from Quite and EnFocus that do admirable jobs in
converting RGB to device-CMYK. (One PostScript preprocessor also
claims to be able to reconstruct spot colors successfully.)

        - Dov



At 2/14/2002 03:14 PM, Alan Litchfield wrote:
>OK, so what happens when you produce the "print ready" PDF files
>promoted by Adobe when:
>
>(a) It is printed to PS and processed by Distiller (I suspect the file
>will not be print ready and will require more preprocessing before the
>file can be output to film or plates, further increasing the potential for
>data loss or courruption)?
>
>(b) The file is output by direct export to PDF?
>
>Historically though, is this a hang over from the Unix days when all
>graphics required postscript formatting for correct output, for example
>comparing FM to TeX?
>
>Is it likely that Adobe will ever do what the other applications now do?
>
>Alan
>
>On Thu, 14 Feb 2002, Dov Isaacs wrote:
>
>> Sorry that this isn't the answer you wanted, although I suspect that
>> you really meant to say "that's not the answer I wanted to hear!"
>>
>> In the case of FrameMaker, if you request separations, you actually
>> get each of C, M, Y, K, and spot colors as pseudo-monochrome output
>> in guess what .... RGB!!!!! More specifically, it is R=G=B PostScript
>> which still could cause problems with some prepress workflows.
>>
>> Some applications, by the way, finesse this whole problem by generating
>> all their own PostScript. Acrobat, Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign
>> (as well as Quark XPress, Freehand, and CorelDRAW) all generate their
>> own PostScript using CMYK, RGB, or grayscale as appropriate, passing
>> through directly to the driver by "escaping" GDI.
>>
>>         - Dov
>>
>> PS: I know, you didn't want this answer either!?!? (8^)>
>>
>>


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