Pitstop Pro 8 — RGB to 2 plates (C and K)

[ericm]

Hi, all-

I have a client who is looking for a way to convert their RGB job to 2 plates only, C and K. The intent is to have the printer replace the cyan plate with a spot to be determined later.

Problem is, the art (line art, these are mathematical diagrams) was created in some equation editor software that exports images in RGB. Additionally, the source documents are generated in Word (horrors!), so I have little control over the composition process, and the PDFs I have to work with are in the RGB colorspace.

I'm looking for a way to use PitStop to solve this problem. I don't have much experience in writing action lists or profiles, so I am appealing to the fine members of this forum for help. Here's what I need to accomplish:

Globally, I need to convert the whole document to CMYK first, but if I use the standard Pitstop action list, my black text gets split amongst multiple plates, which I want to avoid.

Assuming this can be resolved, I need to fix the imported art. I'd like to merge the image color values that are on the magenta and yellow plates into the same value on the black plate. I concede that there still may be registration issues in the line art (some line art data will remain on the cyan plate), but I do not have the time or budget to break every image out into Photoshop and do the surgery there. Essentially, I need to merge the M, Y and K plates for art items. Don't even ask if the art is at 300dpi (it isn't).

Last, for the text, line and other objects, I need to merge the C, M and Y plates at this point in order to retain the color accents for heads and problem numbers, etc. This can only happen if I can get the black text to convert properly in step 1 above.

This is one of those head-smackers, and any advice that this forum could provide (aside from, 'don't take the job, ha-ha') would be met with humble gratitude.

Thanks everybody-
Eric

[the_brain]

Hi, all-

I have a client who is looking for a way to convert their RGB job to 2 plates only, C and K. The intent is to have the printer replace the cyan plate with a spot to be determined later.

Problem is, the art (line art, these are mathematical diagrams) was created in some equation editor software that exports images in RGB. Additionally, the source documents are generated in Word (horrors!), so I have little control over the composition process, and the PDFs I have to work with are in the RGB colorspace.

I'm looking for a way to use PitStop to solve this problem. I don't have much experience in writing action lists or profiles, so I am appealing to the fine members of this forum for help. Here's what I need to accomplish:

Globally, I need to convert the whole document to CMYK first, but if I use the standard Pitstop action list, my black text gets split amongst multiple plates, which I want to avoid.

Assuming this can be resolved, I need to fix the imported art. I'd like to merge the image color values that are on the magenta and yellow plates into the same value on the black plate. I concede that there still may be registration issues in the line art (some line art data will remain on the cyan plate), but I do not have the time or budget to break every image out into Photoshop and do the surgery there. Essentially, I need to merge the M, Y and K plates for art items. Don't even ask if the art is at 300dpi (it isn't).

Last, for the text, line and other objects, I need to merge the C, M and Y plates at this point in order to retain the color accents for heads and problem numbers, etc. This can only happen if I can get the black text to convert properly in step 1 above.

This is one of those head-smackers, and any advice that this forum could provide (aside from, 'don't take the job, ha-ha') would be met with humble gratitude.

Thanks everybody-
Eric

Hi Eric,

The first part, text or line-art being converted to CMYK instead of K, can be solved beforehand by changing the color to 100 K.
Action List for that is:
Select color (original color) -> you can also use "select color range" if it's not just one tint.
Select text
Select line-art
OR
AND
Change color (100 K fill)

Unfortunately, part 2 and 3 are more complex and might be flirting with not possible. I would need a sample file. Did you ever send this to Enfocus support (support@enfocus.com)?

cheers,
bert

[ericm]

Thanks, Bert-

Over the past few days, I have come to realize that without some serious surgery, the task at hand cannot be done. Thank you very much for looking at my problem and responding. I really appreciate it.

Best,
Eric

[Vicki-MV]

Hi, folks!

I just stumbled onto this post looking for something else, so even if it doesn't help that particular job almost a year later, I hope it will help someone else. It's been a lifesaver for us!

Using Acrobat 9 Pro and PitStop 9:

Advanced (pull-down menu) - Preflight… - Convert to CMYK Only

After you've changed everything to CMYK:
Plug-ins - Enfocus PitStop Pro - Run Global Change…
Select something that is the color you want to change.
Double-click on Change Specific Color (in the Run Global Change… dialog box).
Remap: Click hand icon - Grab fill
To: Click eyedropper - Pick a color - O.K.
SAVE AND RUN (button)

For images that look black but are still CMYK you MAY be able to select and Convert to Gray (fly-out menu on Enfocus Inspector panel), OR (depending on how they turn out) you may have to save images as grayscale TIFFs in Photoshop and re-import to Quark or InDesign, then keep as black or recolor as necessary.

If you have no other choice, you can adjust curves in Acrobat:

Using the TouchUp Object tool, double-click, then right-click on the photo and select Edit Image…

Adjust the curves and Save, and you should see the result in your PDF.

[Lukas Engqvist]

I know there will be protests but could you not export pages to PDF and then have Illustrator do a conversion with the colourise function? That way you can map to any spot colour and even get shades depending the hue

[Vicki-MV]

I would think that would work unless you have font problems.

[mattbeals]

Yup, it'll screw up the fonts unless you outline them. But that's a whole different discussion. Everything can be done with Acrobat Pro, Photoshop and PitStop Pro. You just need to learn how to do it.

The action list to make it a two color job gets you over half way there depending on the actual color break requirements. It's almost never as easy as the action list. Sometimes it is, and then it's a beautiful action list to have. But more often than not you end up spending a lot of time working on graphics in Photoshop.