Action in Pitstop pro to convert to greyscale

[RobertK]

We have Pitstop pro 8. I know there is an option like this, i use it alot. But i want to do it different.

When i get a PDF file from a customer which is for a book and if this contains color pages, we ask for a list which pages they are. Some do not want all pages color but do not have the knowledge to change this.

Is there an option with an action to convert to greyscale except for pages specified as color?

Something like 'Keep pages color, convert other pages to greyscale and keep text black'

Thanks

Robert

 

[photoplan]

You Can do this action inside Acrobat Pro

You Can do this action inside Acrobat Pro

Hello RobertK,

I don't have a great experience on PitStop Pro but here is a tips whith Acrobat Pro

If you use Acrobat Pro also you have this option under Printing > Convert Color.

You can choose a range of pages you want to convert in greyscale.

Regards

Photoplan

 

[RobertK]

Hello RobertK,

I don't have a great experience on PitStop Pro but here is a tips whith Acrobat Pro

If you use Acrobat Pro also you have this option under Printing > Convert Color.

You can choose a range of pages you want to convert in greyscale.

Regards

Photoplan

I just checked this. You can indeed convert, but not specified batch of pages. You can say page 13-40. But not a list of pages like 1,4,6,24,56.

And i would really like to be able to do this within my Pitstop workflow

 

[rich apollo]

PitStop version 10 does what you're asking for. See the screen grab.

 

[RobertK]

PitStop version 10 does what you're asking for. See the screen grab.

I hope you have the answer, but i cant read the screenshot! ;-)

 

[rich apollo]

Wow, that's weird. Try this one.

 

[RobertK]

Wow, that's weird. Try this one.

THANKS! But if you read my post you see i know and work with this option.

But i want and option that does: 'Keep pages color, convert other pages to greyscale and keep text black'

So the list i enter it keeps color and makes the rest greyscale. So basically the opposite pages you enter.

 

[RobertK]

Anyone have an idea if this is possible??

 

[Alith7]

Just a quick question, is this for a Digital Job or a print job?
in some of the copier RIP's (if this is for digital) you can specify better that way.

 

[RobertK]

This is a digital job. We have a Fiery RIP, but without any bells and whistles.

I do the color bmanagement with Pitstop, so really want to be able to do it here.

 

[Alith7]

I can understand that, however, to my knowledge, what you are looking to do is not possible, short of going one page at a time, selecting it, and converting.

I do however know of a VERY easy way to do it in Fiery.
I have a tutorial on how in this thread:
http://printplanet.com/forums/digit...lta-c6501-black-text-prints-cmyk-any-solution

I believe the tut about printing B&W sections is on the last page. There is a MAJOR drawback to converting with Pitstop, and that is that it tends to convert photos and graphics poorly, this method gives you better tonal quality in your graphics.

 

[rich apollo]

THANKS! But if you read my post you see i know and work with this option.

But i want and option that does: 'Keep pages color, convert other pages to greyscale and keep text black'

Look at the bottom of the screen grab. You can specify the pages you want to convert and they don't have to be contiguous.

 

[RobertK]

Look at the bottom of the screen grab. You can specify the pages you want to convert and they don't have to be contiguous.

Yes your can specify pages you want to convert to greyscale. But my customers provide me the pages that are color. Thats is the problem..

I could ask them which pages they want greyscale, but thats really not an option ;-)

 

[RobertK]

I can understand that, however, to my knowledge, what you are looking to do is not possible, short of going one page at a time, selecting it, and converting.

I do however know of a VERY easy way to do it in Fiery.
I have a tutorial on how in this thread:
http://printplanet.com/forums/digit...lta-c6501-black-text-prints-cmyk-any-solution

I believe the tut about printing B&W sections is on the last page. There is a MAJOR drawback to converting with Pitstop, and that is that it tends to convert photos and graphics poorly, this method gives you better tonal quality in your graphics.

I really dont want to be changing jobs within my RIP. I do my stuff within our wokflow, the printer is just for...printing ;-) And besides that, it would be alot of work, and human errors can occur very easily.

 

[Alith7]

Yes your can specify pages you want to convert to greyscale. But my customers provide me the pages that are color. Thats is the problem..

I could ask them which pages they want greyscale, but thats really not an option ;-)

If your customer tells you which pages should be color, it should be pretty easy for either method.

if you know page 3, 8, 11 and 15 should be color, just put in the pages excluding those.

so for the Pitstop method, you would put in 1-2, 4-7, 9-10, 12-14, 16-20. and convert.

I think no matter what you do, you will run the risk of "human error" as this is just something that you have to pay attention to. If you have number dyslexia and transpose two numbers, it's going to be wrong whether you're putting in the specific pages to be color, or the page ranges to be B&W.

Just my extra 2 cents though...if you are disregarding the tools in your digital machine, you're adding a lot of work for yourself that's not necessary. Anyways, we gave you two solutions, I hope one of them works for you.