Versant 2100 printing colour when file is black only

wonderings

Well-known member
Printing some 60lb book, just some sheets for a therapist. I setup the job, it is all black, or tints of black (100% black, 65% black and 25% black). When I printed my first sheet I took a look at the Versant 2100's display and noticed it said "colour" when printing, which is not right as it should say "black". This means I am getting a colour click charge. At first I thought maybe my crop marks were still registration colour, but they are not. I printed a test on our old Doc 260 and it printed black only. I have restarted both the Versant and the Fiery and have the same results. I dropped in a black only file I printed on Saturday and that printed only black, so I am thinking it is my file, or something wonky with the versant. For the life of me I cannot figure this out. Separations in Acrobat show black only, same in Indesign. Preflight in indesign said OK for black only. I dropped my imposed pdf file (12x18) into indesign and checked the preflight as well, ok for black only.

I am at a loss here, is there something the versant does not like about my file? It is very basic, black text, a few black lines and a logo.
 
I am pretty anal about having my files set right from the getgo. I would do that if I was not able to figure it out. I did just find my problem, a white line on a grey background was Lab white rather then CMYK white. Not sure how that happened, but when I switched it to CMYK, updated my imposed file and dropped the new file and printed it came out perfect and black only as it should.
 
Can you use Output Preview in Acrobat Pro to take a look? RGB black? Try Distilling it in Acrobat Distiller?
 
Fair play to ya, I had a similar problem earlier in the year on our V80 but was in a more "just get it the feck off my machine" sort of mood. Will have to remember that for future.
 
Just so you know before you send it to the printer you can check if you're sending black only with ImageViewer after you process. Great for checking those 4/1 jobs.
 
Last edited:
Just so you know before you send it to the printer you can check if you're sending black only with ImageViewer after you process. Great for checking those 4/1 jobs.

What is ImageViewer?

Seperations all looked fine visually because the problem was it was white. Had it been an actual colour I would have seen it right away when going through my separations.
 
What is ImageViewer?

Seperations all looked fine visually because the problem was it was white. Had it been an actual colour I would have seen it right away when going through my separations.

Right click on your processed file in the Hold queue. ImageViewer is listed there. It shows the actually CMYK device values that are sent to the printer. It would be great if there was a way to edit those values for a specific color like we can in some wide format RIPs. I guess I should bring that up in the Fiery forums.
 
Right click on your processed file in the Hold queue. ImageViewer is listed there. It shows the actually CMYK device values that are sent to the printer. It would be great if there was a way to edit those values for a specific color like we can in some wide format RIPs. I guess I should bring that up in the Fiery forums.

This is of course only available in the premium edition of the graphic arts package.
 
It was a white line that was a Lab colour rather then CMYK, it is solved now, thanks!

Which should be possible to pickup in preflight – whether built into InDesign, or built into Acrobat Pro or with a third party PDF tool such as Enfocus PitStop Pro or Server.


Stephen Marsh
 
Which should be possible to pickup in preflight – whether built into InDesign, or built into Acrobat Pro or with a third party PDF tool such as Enfocus PitStop Pro or Server.


Stephen Marsh

I did adjust the settings for my "black only" preflight in Indesign to exclude Lab as well. In the future it will catch this. I am still not sure how a Lab colour got in, I never work in Lab, not even sure what it is for.
 

PressWise

A 30-day Fix for Managed Chaos

As any print professional knows, printing can be managed chaos. Software that solves multiple problems and provides measurable and monetizable value has a direct impact on the bottom-line.

“We reduced order entry costs by about 40%.” Significant savings in a shop that turns about 500 jobs a month.


Learn how…….

   
Back
Top