Ink Coverage in Illustrator

[Jiggy]

For a client I make illustrations in Adobe Illustrator. They switched to a new printer and I've been asked to take a maximum ink converage into acount of cmyk each color max 90% and all together max 230%. As far as I know, there isn't an option in Illustrator to do that? I can't select a colour and that Illustrator automatically downgrades it to below 230% ink coverages, can't I? And I can't save it to eps with max. ink coverage for e.g.

How is this normally done? Isn't it so that this is done through importing in Indesign and saving it as a certified pdf with the printers job options? That any colours above a maximum percentage are automatically converted to allowed values through this cpdf job option file?

 

[phantasm]

Re: Ink Coverage in Illustrator

> {quote:title=Jiggy wrote:}{quote}
> For a client I make illustrations in Adobe Illustrator. They switched to a new printer and I've been asked to take a maximum ink converage into acount of cmyk each color max 90% and all together max 230%. As far as I know, there isn't an option in Illustrator to do that? I can't select a colour and that Illustrator automatically downgrades it to below 230% ink coverages, can't I? And I can't save it to eps with max. ink coverage for e.g.
>
> How is this normally done? Isn't it so that this is done through importing in Indesign and saving it as a certified pdf with the printers job options? That any colours above a maximum percentage are automatically converted to allowed values through this cpdf job option file?

Hi Jiggy,

Illustrator will allow your to apply any level of ink for any vector object, so it is largely a manual task. However there are tools to help.

Firstly, the color profile assigned to the document (Edit -> Assign Profile...) determines the maximum coverage when automatically converting from an RGB/CIE to CMYK color space. For example, a "Newsprint" or "Uncoated" profile will ensure a much lower maximum ink level for an image embedded in the document than, say, a "Coated" one. A quick way to find out the maximum coverage allowed would be to assign a profile then open the standard Adobe color picker and pick the bottom-right corner of the color square (maximum black); the CMYK values displayed can be totalled up to reveal the maximum level for that profile. For example, "Japan Color 2002 Newspaper" allows a maximum of 240% whilst "Europe ISO Coated FOGRA27" allows up to 350%.

By using this system, so long as you pick colors in the color picker rather than using the CMYK sliders, you will always be certain of working within the profile's set limits.

Issues you have to note are the use of transparencies (out-of-the-box, there's no way to discover the resultant ink coverage in Ai), overprinting (which can add ink levels to one or more channels, bumping up the total) and linked artwork (whose ink levels are controlled outside Ai).

The next part is where I get really biased - so please don't read on if you don't think there's any place for self-promotion on forums, even if directly relevant... ;-)

You could make do with our Illustrator plug-in, [Phantasm CS Studio|http://www.phantasmcs.com/]. This software provides you with not only an Ink Coverage preview tool (to user-defined levels), but also every color adjustment tool gives a "Safe CMYK" option which ensures that all colors do not exceed the limits dictated in the assigned document color profile. The caveats with this, however, remains:

A) Transparencies and overprinted objects which would first need flattening before such an operation could be "automatic".
B) Linked/placed artwork/images can only be controlled outside Ai, so it would be advisable to embed these first if you wish to control them directly within Ai and based on a single color profile.

You can always re-check any changes with the Ink Coverage tool.

Finally, you can view the separations with the quick and full artwork separation tools provided in the plugin.

I hope that this has helped a little.

Best wishes,

Nick

 

[Lukas Engqvist]

Re: Ink Coverage in Illustrator

I agree with the above post (and have struggled myself with this) PhanasmCS has the tools you would expect to be in Illustrator… before I had seen phantasm I had posted on the feature request list those features (ans still think they should be integrated in AI)
In coverage is actually even a problem in Photoshop, if you are working in CMYK… which also is strange considering how long Adobe have been in the game. (I really hope this is and are that will be attended to in CS4.)

To limit ink you almost have to force to go to RGB/LAB and back (to a profile with an InkLimit as desired).
There are ways to do this with PDF files, and don't forget an AI file can be viewed in Acrobat by dragging it to the app (or just changing the extension from AI to PDF). In Acrobat you can view the Total Ink Coverage in much the same way as the Gamut warning in Photoshop, Placing in InDesign works just as well. Acrobat 9 has the advantage of doing colur conversions and preserving black.
Preserving black is going to be your biggest difficulty. I do know there are colour servers that automatically do device link ink reduction… but that would be for a printer to invest in not for the designer (I would think).

The problem is editing. If you convert colours in the PDF using Acrobat you will loose the Illustrator editability.

One more issue you will have to be especially carefull with and where ink limit sometimes has to be compromised is overprints. I would rather allow small black texts (less than 12 pt) and/or hairlines to exceed ink limit than have them knockout.

 

[Jiggy]

Re: Ink Coverage in Illustrator

I've experimented a little with that. It's true that when switching to another colour profile the bottom right colour value varies. Normally the entire CS is set to Europe ISO Coated FOGRA27. Now I've drawn a square with colours: 95,95,95,95 and switched the colour profile to ISOnewspaper26v4. The illustration will be for a newspaper and isonewspaper supposedly has an ink limit of about 240? But when I select the square it still says 95,95,95,95. Why's that? I've also tried setting it to ISO Newspaper, importing this eps file in Indesign and exporting it as pdf also with a setting of isonewspaper. When I open this pdf in Illustrator it still says 95,95,95,95, which is way above ISOnewspaper. When I switch to rgb and back to cymk again it is converted to Europe ISO Coated FOGRA27 cause that is standard. And I would like it to be standard instead of adjusting the default preferences each time I've got another client. I just want to save it with a colour profile of ISOnewspaper26v4 and that all colours above the 240 ink limit are downgraded to acceptable limits. Can that be done? Or should I change to ISOnewspaper26v4 and then start new by selecting colours from the colour palette instead of numeric values?

Edited by: Jiggy on Aug 2, 2008 11:51 AM

 

[Jiggy]

Re: Ink Coverage in Illustrator

But how is this normally done? I've seen newspaper sites for example saying that ink coverage should be below 240%. Like it is so easy to set and no explanation to how to set it. But I understand this is extremly difficult with Adobe. So do designers deliver their artwork just as it is hoping the printing companies won't complain? Or are there some more tricks to control it? In Illustrator I could of course pick each colour manually. Photo's in photoshop with a lot of dark spaces, how to set ink coverage then?

 

[phantasm]

Re: Ink Coverage in Illustrator

> {quote:title=Jiggy wrote:}{quote}
> I've experimented a little with that. It's true that when switching to another colour profile the bottom right colour value varies. Normally the entire CS is set to Europe ISO Coated FOGRA27.

I think that default depends on your location? But carrying on...

> {quote:title=Jiggy wrote:}{quote}
> Now I've drawn a square with colours: 95,95,95,95 and switched the colour profile to ISOnewspaper26v4. The illustration will be for a newspaper and isonewspaper supposedly has an ink limit of about 240? But when I select the square it still says 95,95,95,95. Why's that?

Changing the profile will not update the artwork already present. And as I previously mentioned, even if you specified a newsprint profile, you could still manually create an object filled with 400% ink coverage by specifying the color sliders manually.

> {quote:title=Jiggy wrote:}{quote}
> I've also tried setting it to ISO Newspaper, importing this eps file in Indesign and exporting it as pdf also with a setting of isonewspaper. When I open this pdf in Illustrator it still says 95,95,95,95, which is way above ISOnewspaper.

ID wouldn't tamper with the EPS contents as such. It's akin to Ai not being able to edit the contents of linked/placed artwork/images. It can only control embedded objects.

> {quote:title=Jiggy wrote:}{quote}
> When I switch to rgb and back to cymk again it is converted to Europe ISO Coated FOGRA27 cause that is standard.

A very blunt method would be to change the color mode from CMYK to RGB and then back to CMYK, but I really don't advise this. For example, any black-only text would re-appear across all plates. Potential print alignment disaster alert! (Phantasm CS allows you to ignore text or pure black, etc. and can be applied to a selection.)

> {quote:title=Jiggy wrote:}{quote}
> And I would like it to be standard instead of adjusting the default preferences each time I've got another client.

Then you would need to specify the color profile via the Edit -> Color Settings dialogue. It is advised that you use the same settings across your Adobe suite, but not essential. Also, the Advanced option in this window allows you to specify the conversion method, but I would leave this as standard.

Alternatively, you could create a series of Ai templates; each with a different assigned color profile.

> {quote:title=Jiggy wrote:}{quote}
> I just want to save it with a colour profile of ISOnewspaper26v4 and that all colours above the 240 ink limit are downgraded to acceptable limits. Can that be done?

Not as you're hoping for. There is manual work involved.

> {quote:title=Jiggy wrote:}{quote}
> Or should I change to ISOnewspaper26v4 and then start new by selecting colours from the colour palette instead of numeric values?

For new artwork for this specific client, this would be best. You can convert bits of your existing artwork by the methods I've previously outlined.

All the best,

Nick

 

[phantasm]

Re: Ink Coverage in Illustrator

Hi Lukas,

> {quote:title=Lukas Engqvit wrote:}{quote}
> One more issue you will have to be especially carefull with and where ink limit sometimes has to be compromised is overprints. I would rather allow small black texts (less than 12 pt) and/or hairlines to exceed ink limit than have them knockout.

I'd definitely second that! Very small areas which are technically over-inked don't usually present a problem from personal experience.

Nick

 

[Jiggy]

Re: Ink Coverage in Illustrator

So basically, my best option is just to form a custom color pallette with colours that don't exceed the maximum ink coverage? If I don't want to tamper with the colour profile settings too much with the risk of ruining default preferences settings?

How about photos for newspapers? How to they convert those to ink limit settings of newspapers e.g.?

 

[Lukas Engqvist]

Re: Ink Coverage in Illustrator

Yeah the custom palette may be the way to go. But unfortunately it will not help you if you want to use transparency or overprint, which really means shackling ur creative freedom .

As to what you wrote about colour settings, Europe prepress defaults is (according to Adobe FOGRA 27, which is actually outdated and has been replaced by FOGRA 39, but still has a too high TIC value). In your colur settings file you set the working profile for CMYK and RGB working space. Converting from CMYK to CMYK doesn't affect the values. (I normally don't recommend people using Colour management on Illustrations as the problems/risks that may arise usually outweigh the benifits)

If you enable colour management, use your Photos in RGB then when you RIP or export to PDFx1a you force the RGB images to colur manage, which they do correctly.

I have not tried to use the Live Color for reducing TIC, it is great for reducing work to 2 or 3 spot colour, and should work to convert to a seperate palette.
If you want to globally cut the ink in your illustrations then you can also choose to edit colurs, but I have no experience with that.
Technically it should be possible to add a white square with 0.5% opacity to force the Art to be colour managed… but havent actually tried it… It would mean all work would have transparency, and then you may as well work in RGB and convert to CMYK for output (risking yellows to go green and everything else that comes with that)

 

[Jiggy]

Re: Ink Coverage in Illustrator

I'm a graphic designer myself (make magazines). So I'm curious how advertisers deliver their add files to be printed by a newspaper (which mostly ask for ink limit levels of below 240). In Acrobat I can preflight for 'newspapers' which warns me for ink levels above 240. But what about a graphic artist who creates the add? Placing a photo with many dark black spots, or a vector logo with a dark area? He makes the add in indesign, importing all these images which contain areas of above 240 and exports the add as a certified pdf file. Encofus then gives an error saying 'ink limit above 240'. What then? If there is no option in Illustrator to globally downgrade all colours to below 240? And he can't examine every pixel in the photoshop image to check for that pixel which is above 240? What do you graphic designers do then?

 

[davidmwe]

Re: Ink Coverage in Illustrator

[FlightCheck Professional |http://www.markzware-europe.com/store/flightcheck] can check for Ink Coverage. You have to check it 'on' within the GroundControls AND turn on the special preference in the Preferences section under Images called, "Calculate Image Densities", for this check is intensive and can take a little longer than a normal preflight, but indeed often very important- especially for newspaper adverts.

Friendly Regards,
David Dilling
Markzware Europe

 

[Lukas Engqvist]

Re: Ink Coverage in Illustrator

I work in preprss, so we neeed to decide what to do with those files.

I wish all were all designers were as diligent as you… If they were the pressure on Adobe to have those functions would have meant we had the tools. Uslually some one in prepress has to have the ungratefull job of deciding to work for free or ignore the warnings, unless he can convince his boss to buy an ColourServer of some brand (colur server, ink save etc).

A dark logo in a dark spot would make it tricky to read anyway, but a black logo on a red or green background would exceed 240%, and since many default to designing adds with FOGRA 27 or SWOP it is a problem… my guess is that it's been a dead dog no one dared turn over… but now we have come to a time when we need to clear it up, because the industry is slimmed down to the minimum as print ready-PDFs are being preached as a road to the future. The problem is that these problems have never been solved, only we chose to poit out a different scape goat.

I know many newspapers that prefer custmers to leave files in RGB than to convert to CMYK wrongly. Some RIP systems treat art as Greyscale if it has equal RGB vaues, and maps those tones to Black only. For a newspaper to hava an ink limiting technology in their flow is almost a must. We have in todays topography of designers too many that have an information or marketing expertese rather than a graphic training. The ones who have the big headache are the small printshops with a very heavy pressure to invests but no marging to make the investments.

 

[Lukas Engqvist]

Re: Ink Coverage in Illustrator

> {quote:title=davidmwe wrote:}{quote}
You have to check it 'on' within the GroundControls AND turn on the special preference in the Preferences section under Images called, "Calculate Image Densities", for this check is intensive and can take a little longer than a normal preflight, but indeed often very important- especially for newspaper adverts.

but can it also correct it? checking for densities is not the biggest problem, the big problem is doing something about it!

 

[Jiggy]

Re: Ink Coverage in Illustrator

I agree. I can easily check for ink limits above 240% (newspaper) in acrobat pro with 'preflight'. Enfocus Pitstop problably gives me an error to when I try to save as certified pdf with newspaper settings. The problem is how to solve it when it does.

I've read several sites of newspapers about how to deliver files to them. The specifications a pdf should have. Many of them list a ink limit of max. 240, but offer now answer to how to make sure it does.

 

[davidmwe]

Re: Ink Coverage in Illustrator

> {quote:title=Lukas Engqvit wrote:}{quote}
> > {quote:title=davidmwe wrote:}{quote}
> but can it also correct it? checking for densities is not the biggest problem, the big problem is doing something about it!

Preflight is the first, *very* important step once the design is complete, fixing is the next. If you do not administer a preflight or quality control check, how would you know there were problems, especially one like this which looks perfectly fine on screen?

FlightCheck will not correct or adjust the incorrect coverage within the images for you- you'll have to do that yourself or send it to someone who can, but once again, at least it finds the issues for you, in x-ray speed which the naked eye, on screen, would likely miss.

Jiggy, hi- FlightCheck can postflight a PDF as well, but more importantly, it can also check for these things within Illustrator, InDesign, etc. So that you can address the issues before it gets too far closed up or down the workflow line.

Fine day,
David
[Markzware|http://www.youtube.com/markzwareTV]

Edited by: David Dilling on Aug 2, 2008 3:44 PM

 

[Jiggy]

Re: Ink Coverage in Illustrator

I'm using Enfocus and its preflight indeed has en error on this:

Total ink coverage of flat CMYK color is larger than X%

You can solve this problem using:
# The PitStop Inspector
# Source applications
PitStop Inspector
With the PitStop Inspector in Enfocus PitStop Professional, you can manually reduce the total ink coverage of the CMYK inks to less than the maximum percentage indicated in the preflight report:
1 Use the Select Objects tool of Enfocus PitStop Professional to select the offending objects.
2 Choose Window > Show PitStop Inspector and click the Color tab.
3 Reduce the total ink coverage by lowering the individual Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black sliders. Make sure the resulting color is visually the same as the original offending color.

Source applications
Reduce the total ink coverage of the four CMYK inks to less than the maximum percentage mentioned in the preflight report in your design program, and then re-create the PDF file.

I did notice that when I import an image with a to dark a colour (above 240 for newspaper) and export it in Indesign with a colour profile of "ISOnewspaper", the resulting pdf preflights with no errors.

Isn't it just a matter of ignoring to rich in ink colors in Illustrator/Photoshop? Just creating it without worrying about where I've use a color which goes above 240%? I mean, when the designer imports it in Indesign and exports it as pdf with the newspaper printer's job options (which will probably use an ISOnewspaper kind of colour profile), all colours above 240 are converted to acceptable levels anyway?

 

[davidmwe]

Re: Ink Coverage in Illustrator

I think it would be best, if possible, to adjust or fix the original image, if you have access to it. (30 c / 100 k) Then everything should preflight and thus output fine.

Edited by: David Dilling on Aug 2, 2008 4:55 PM

 

[Lukas Engqvist]

Re: Ink Coverage in Illustrator

> {quote:title=davidmwe wrote:}{quote}
> Preflight is the first, *very* important step once the design is complete, fixing is the next. If you do not administer a preflight or quality control check, how would you know there were problems, especially one like this which looks perfectly fine on screen?

I disagree, how can you say the design is complete it it is not correct?
And how can a first step be once it is complete? Wouldn't that be a last step? And if the preflight fails…we're back to the redesign (which no one can charge for)
Preflight… (or it actually seems like a post flight from the designers point of view ;P)… is important, even very important… but still there is too few people who have the tools. But why should it be after the design is complete? The industry provides tools to design things that can not be printed. It is about as much fun as the dialouge boxes that pop up saying "A serious system error has occurred and the application has unexpectedly quit." with the only option as OK.

I am sure marksware is great (as other preflight tools), but it doesn't adress the issue. That kind of preflight is just a finger pointing saying who is to blame. Finding the problem area is allways faster than fixing it and that is the tool we all are missing. In the web are Adobe quickly learned to be able to limit palette to "web safe" colours, but "Live Preflight" seems to be a long way away. It still amazes me that neither Photoshop or Illustrator has the option to honour ink limit that is in the configured working CMYK. (on the other hand I also know the answer to that, and that is that we as service providers and printers have just fixed the issues and not mobilised ourselves to expect better, working late hours for free solving problems to get our presses running)

Most of the time who done it is irrelevant… what is important is how to fix it. As I said previously today printers are forced to buy expensive server soloutions, because the chance of all designers designing well is just not realistic.

 

[davidmwe]

Re: Ink Coverage in Illustrator

Hello Lukas,

> {quote:title=Lukas Engqvit wrote:}{quote}
> > {quote:title=davidmwe wrote:}{quote}
> > Preflight is the first, *very* important step once the design is complete, fixing is the next. If you do not administer a preflight or quality control check, how would you know there were problems, especially one like this which looks perfectly fine on screen?
>
> I disagree, how can you say the design is complete it it is not correct?

What I meant, was the "first step" *after* the design is thought to be complete, before outputting or sending off... Then preflight and see if any issues appear.

> I am sure marksware is great (as other preflight tools), but it doesn't adress the issue. That kind of preflight is just a finger pointing saying who is to blame. Finding the problem area is allways faster than fixing it and that is the tool we all are missing. In the web are Adobe quickly learned to be able to limit palette to "web safe" colours, but "Live Preflight" seems to be a long way away. It still amazes me that neither Photoshop or Illustrator has the option to honour ink limit that is in the configured working CMYK. (on the other hand I also know the answer to that, and that is that we as service providers and printers have just fixed the issues and not mobilised ourselves to expect better, working late hours for free solving problems to get our presses running)
>

You are certainly correct, fixing is a key part of the preflight process. We as Markzware support some 50 file formats, thus fixing found problems in them all or even a handful would be a tall order. Luckily the 80/20 rule applies and most preflight problems are relatively easy to fix, such as a missing or non-embedded fonts or a low res image placed for placement only. However from the printers I have contact with, much like you say above, many are still fixing, at their costs, the problems of their good customers- and willingly doing it in most cases, for making a PDF does not magically solve things. I think you will see Illy and Photoshop getting better and better in this area, for the competition is far away and Adobe can spend, in theory, more time addressing these sort of issues. Yet, still, there is always something.

> Most of the time who done it is irrelevant… what is important is how to fix it. As I said previously today printers are forced to buy expensive server soloutions, because the chance of all designers designing well is just not realistic.

I agree. The main reason I jumped in on this thread, was I thought someone was looking for a way to catch ink coverage in Illustrator... Fixing can indeed be tricky and tradesman like yourself have the better insights for that, which we all learn from.

 

[rich apollo]

Re: Ink Coverage in Illustrator

Jiggy,
You said the colorspace you generally work in is a FOGRA39 space. That's fine. When you're finished with the file you have three options:

1) Convert to the newsprint profile in Illustrator. Just go under Edit>Convert to Profile. The problems with this method are that you cannot keep black objects from breaking to 4c black and the rendering intent used will be the default specified in your color settings.

2) Convert to the newsprint profile when saving the PDF. This has the same problems.

3) Convert to the newsprint profile in Acrobat. This has the advantage of allowing you to maintain black objects, and if you go through the Preflight function to do this you can specify the rendering intents for objects in each colorspace. If you use the Convert Colors tool/dialogue you'll get the relative colorimetric rendering intent (in my experience) - (there is some question as to what rendering intent gets used).

I recommend #3. Using the Preflight functions you can save a droplet to your computer that you can use from that point forward to perform that specific color transform. If you need any help with this, contact me off-list and I'll help you set it up. I'm sure you won't - it's not tough. The interface is a little weird, though.