Convert Indexed image to Spot color?

[reetzorion]

I have a client supplied PDF that was originally created in Cardiff Teleform. I need this file to print as spot color red and black. Teleform does not allow color separation and/or spot color assignment and sets up any color as RGB. I am able to convert this RGB to a spot color using Pitstop but the images placed on the file are not converting. Using Pitstop's Inspector, I see that the images (which are red and black) are indexed. When I use the "Separation Preview" in Acrobat I see that the black and red are made up of CMYK values.
Within the images, I need the variations of CMYK black to be all K and I need the variations of CMYK Red to be the same spot red that I chose when I globally converted the rest of the document. Is there a way to do this?

 

[Joe]

I have a client supplied PDF that was originally created in Cardiff Teleform. I need this file to print as spot color red and black. Teleform does not allow color separation and/or spot color assignment and sets up any color as RGB. I am able to convert this RGB to a spot color using Pitstop but the images placed on the file are not converting. Using Pitstop's Inspector, I see that the images (which are red and black) are indexed. When I use the "Separation Preview" in Acrobat I see that the black and red are made up of CMYK values.
Within the images, I need the variations of CMYK black to be all K and I need the variations of CMYK Red to be the same spot red that I chose when I globally converted the rest of the document. Is there a way to do this?

When I'm faced with this I convert to gray with Pitstop and then open the image with the TouchUp Object tool into Phostoshop. Once in Photoshop I convert it to a duotone of black and spot red. Make sure the name of the spot matches the name in the PDF exactly. Adjust to your preferences for contrast etc...save back into PDF. Should be good to go.

 

[reetzorion]

Hey Joe,

Thanks for responding. I wasn't able to successfully create a duotone that would work on my particular file but instead created a spot channel. The key thing I was missing was naming the new color exactly the same name as the spot color used in the PDF. Thank you for bringing that to my attention, it worked and was a huge help.
My only problem now, is that after I save the image in Photoshop, it appears in a new location on the PDF file. I'm having a hard time understanding why this is happening because whenever I make PDF edits in Illustrator it always saves my changes back to their original location. Any suggestions on why this is happening? There are 10 images on 28 different files that I have to do this for so I would rather not have to replace every image back to it's original location.
Has anyone experienced this?

 

[toronar]

My only problem now, is that after I save the image in Photoshop, it appears in a new location on the PDF file. I'm having a hard time understanding why this is happening because whenever I make PDF edits in Illustrator it always saves my changes back to their original location. Any suggestions on why this is happening? There are 10 images on 28 different files that I have to do this for so I would rather not have to replace every image back to it's original location.
Has anyone experienced this?

There are some combinations of Photoshop and Acrobat that have this behaviour:
Edit image from Acrobat -> Photoshop, save in Photoshop and image gets placed in the lower left corner of the page in Acrobat.

Try updating to the latest version of each. If I remember correctly it was Photoshop CS2 and Acrobat 7 ... but that was some time ago, so I wouldn't wonder if the version is wrong

 

[Joe]

As the previous poster mentioned....I believe the original Photoshop CS had this problem and was fixed in an update to it. Any Photoshop CS (upgraded to latest update) or later should not have this problem.

 

[reetzorion]

I was afraid that might be part of the problem. I am using Photoshop CS with Acrobat 6 so now I know not to waste any more time trying to find a work around until my boss upgrades to the latest and greatest.

Thank you so much for the help.

 

[Joe]

I was afraid that might be part of the problem. I am using Photoshop CS with Acrobat 6 so now I know not to waste any more time trying to find a work around until my boss upgrades to the latest and greatest.

Thank you so much for the help.

Actually all you have to do is upgrade your version of Photoshop to the latest update for Photoshop CS which I think was 9.02 that fixed this problem. Under the Help menu just select Updates and let it download and install all Photoshop updates and you should be good to go....although a newer version of Creative Suite is not a bad idea.

 

[reetzorion]

Thanks for the tip!

 

[leonardr]

I have a client supplied PDF that was originally created in Cardiff Teleform. I need this file to print as spot color red and black. Teleform does not allow color separation and/or spot color assignment and sets up any color as RGB. I am able to convert this RGB to a spot color using Pitstop but the images placed on the file are not converting. Using Pitstop's Inspector, I see that the images (which are red and black) are indexed. When I use the "Separation Preview" in Acrobat I see that the black and red are made up of CMYK values.

The Convert Colors feature in Acrobat will happily convert colors inside of an indexed image.

Leonard

 

[reetzorion]

The Convert Colors feature in Acrobat will happily convert colors inside of an indexed image.

Leonard

I'm not seeing this feature in Acrobat 6. Can you tell me where I should be looking?

 

[toronar]

I'm not seeing this feature in Acrobat 6. Can you tell me where I should be looking?

Leonard talks about Acrobat 9, where this feature had it's premiere.