Hexachrome Conversion

[lynnz]

Hello Everyone!
Can anyone tell me if there is any easy way to convert Illustrator & photoshop files from Hexachrome to CMYK? http://printplanet.com/forums/images/smilies/confused.gif
Thanks much!
lynn

 

[gordo]

Can anyone tell me if there is any easy way to convert Illustrator & photoshop files from Hexachrome to CMYK?

You need the CIEL*a*b* values of the target Hexachrome colors. Since Hexachrome is not based on CIEL*a*b* values but on screen tint recipes, I do not believe that you'll find any published values anywhere. You, you'll have to get a Hexachrome swatch book, measure the specific color patch with a Spectrophotometer and then run that through a profile of your current presswork in order to get a CMYK recipe, which more than likely won't work because so many of Hex's colors are out of CMYK gamut.

Or, you could also print out a CMYK color atlas like the ones here: Quality In Print: The Color Atlas - helping designers to specify color
Then hold your Hex swatch patch beside the CMYK patch you see as being closest and then using that recipe.

best, gordon p

 

[lynnz]

Thanks so much Gordon!
Sounds like it's not going to be an easy task but I will see what I can do.
lynn

 

[meddington]

Ideally you'd want a hexachrome ICC profile with device to Lab (B2A) tables. There are a number of profile's available from Pantone here: Support - Hexachrome® ICC Profiles, , but unfortunately you'd need some sort of plugin to utilize as Adobe apps do not allow for converting from n-color profiles (though CS4 does allow converting TO n-color). I'm not sure that any plugin will actually support this anyway, as the primary concern is converting toward n-color, not the other way around. There would be limited benefit anyway,because as Gordo stated, you'd be losing significant gamut converting back to CMYK, so educated guessing or Gordo's suggestions are likely to work as well as can be expected.

 

[Luc St-Pierre]

Since you will not recover Hexachrome-specific colors, Hexachrome-to-Lab-to-CMYK seems to be a godd route for me, correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[meddington]

Since you will not recover Hexachrome-specific colors, Hexachrome-to-Lab-to-CMYK seems to be a godd route for me, correct me if I'm wrong.

Absolutely...but its getting from Hex to Lab with off the shelf software that's the problem.