PDF ink coverage?

[danomo]

Does anyone know of a software solution that could determine the ink coverage of a pdf? That is, to determine if a file is light, medium or heavy coverage without opening it?

Thanks

Dano

 

[mattbeals]

if you're looking to check individual objects such as images, vector objects, shadings, etc. we can do that with pdfToolbox. But if you are looking to calculate the coverage of a sheet/page for its overall coverage there used to be (may still be) a product called Press Percent that would do this.

 

[danomo]

Hi Matt,

I Googled Press Percent and it's still around. From what I see, it's for setting ink keys. What I'm trying to do is find a software that would read incoming pdfs from clients and tag them with either light, medium or heavy ink coverage. Then an auto imposition software would use this data to group pdfs together with the same ink coverage when imposing the files.

Thanks

Dan

 

[mattbeals]

I suppose we could do this with Enfocus PowerSWITCH, Callas pdfToolbox and Quite Hot Imposing/Dynagram/Ultimate Impostrip.

We would use SWITCH as the routing application and data collection program. We could "RIP" the PDF into a JPEG with pdfToolbox. Then we can use a check in pdfToolox to check the amount of ink in the JPEG. We could then run another check where we ask does this exceed 220TAC, does it exceed 280, does it exceed 330, etc. Once we have the right "failure". Once we collect the correct "failures" we can combine those into a job folder. Then send that folder to the imposition program.

This wouldn't be trivial, but should also not be rocket science.

 

[andreisarbu]

ink coverage

ink coverage

TGLC used to have a solution for ink coverage, free. At that moment you can't download it from their web site but I found a mac version PerfX Image Ink Download - Softpedia

Good luck.

 

[mattbeals]

It is still available last I knew of, but I'll have to find the download link and post it for you.

 

[leonardr]

We would use SWITCH as the routing application and data collection program. We could "RIP" the PDF into a JPEG with pdfToolbox.

pdfToolbox, as well as Adobe Acrobat's Preflight, can do ink checks on the NATIVE PDF - there is no reason to RIP and check. If, however, you insist on RIPping - do NOT USE JPEG! Because of the image compression algorithms of JPEG (P==Photographic!) you will get HUGE color shifts. Instead, use TIFF or PNG.

 

[Quetu]

Script para Photoshop Cobertura de tinta

Script para Photoshop Cobertura de tinta

Does anyone know of a software solution that could determine the ink coverage of a pdf? That is, to determine if a file is light, medium or heavy coverage without opening it?

Thanks

Dano

Para calcular la cobertura de tinta en un PDF puedes usar este script en Photoshop.

www.qpdf.es/mac.html

Descomprimir y poner en la carpeta de Photoshop /Presets/Scripts

Reinicia Photoshop si lo tenias abierto, Luego, en Photoshop ve a - File - Scripts, selecciona el script para ejecutarlo.

Selecciona un PDF y en unos segundos tienes una página html con la cobertura y un gráfico.

Saludos

Jesús

 

[rich apollo]

Here's one APFill - Ink Coverage Meter 5.1

Here's one for Mac Ink Coverage 1.5

Attached is a screen grab of the Mac software. It's geared to laser or inkjet, but looks like it might do what you want.

Seems like TGLC had something, but their website is all in French now.

 

[danomo]

Thanks everyone for the response. I looked at Ink Coverage and PerfX Image Ink , both are very interesting and have pointed me in the right direction.

 

[gordo]

A free service that takes PDFs and does the calculation is available here:

http://demo.printcalc.net/PrintCALC/UploadFile.aspx

best, gordon p

 

[Thierry]

PerfX Image X is very nice but if you want to try with Acrobat 9, it seems to be possible. I made a preflight profile using what is called a "vérification personnalisée" in my french version of Acrobat (maybe "custom checks" in english). I choosed to add three times the same action but with different settings (245, 300 and 340% of TAC, for instance). The first one will trigger an information, the second a warning and the third an error. Then, I made a droplet with this profile. You only have to drop your file on the droplet and you receive a report with all the information you need. It's not fast but it works…

Sorry for the screen capture in french, but I don't have an english version.

 

[Quetu]

Para calcular la cobertura de tinta en un PDF puedes usar este script en Photoshop.

www.qpdf.es/downloads/Cobertura.zip

Descomprimir y poner en la carpeta de Photoshop /Presets/Scripts

Reinicia Photoshop si lo tenias abierto, Luego, en Photoshop ve a - File - Scripts, selecciona el script para ejecutarlo.

Selecciona un PDF y en unos segundos tienes una página html con la cobertura y un gráfico.

Saludos

Jesús

Disculpen, el enlace no estaba bien.

Ahora si.

www.qpdf.es/downloads/Cobertura.zip

Se esperan comentarios. Gracias

 

[Pirate Mike]

APFill is an inexpenive software that can calculate ink coverage. I have used it to build pricing structures for toner based machines.

Depending on your workflow if you have digital equipment that uses a Fiery rip and can get the grahics arts package premium edition they have tools in it as well. Which is nice to see how your color management sytems (profiles etc) change the coverage and percentages.

Pirate Mike

digitalprintingevolution.blogspot.com/

 

[takacsal]

Dear All,
Is there something out there like Presspercent, but for Windows OS?

Many Thanks,
ALbert

 

[made4print]

Hi All,

We are pround to annouce that Printcalc, mentioned above, has now been updated and supports PDF, PS and EPS files.

Mark

 

[Al Ferrari]

Your message is confusing. Why are your customers "complaining they need to use too much ink for the coverage"? Are they the offset printer, or are you?

The one doing the design is the one responsible for using too much ink.

Al

 

[ASchuett]

Maybe you could try a trick with Photoshop. Right now, I do not have a version of Photoshop on my computer but I will try to explain from my memory:
1. Open your file with Adobe Photoshop. You will be asked about the resolution. Resolution is not really important to find out about ink coverage so you can choose, for example, 72 ppi. You will also be asked about the colorspace. Here you choose CMYK, of course. If you choose the wrong ICC profile, you will not get the exact values about your ink coverage but even then it should give you a close estimate.
2. Now your PDF is open in form of a pixel file. You then go to the filter menu and start the filter Average Blur or Blur Average, i do not remember the exact name. The result is one color that fills your whole image. This color represents the average color of the whole image.
3. Now you go to Photoshops window menu and open up the info panel. In the info panel you can measure the color values of your image in RGB, CMYK, LAB or whatever you want. The CMYK values, though, represent the average ink coverage of your PDF-file, for each process color. There is also an option to get the total ink coverage in the info panel.
That's it, i hope this can help! This whole procedure can, of course, be made more convenient when you make a Photoshop action out of it and put it into a droplet.

 

[ASchuett]

@stephen

If the ink coverage in your pictures is too high, then this is a problem about Color Management. Unfortunately, color management is a complicated matter and cannot be explained in one single post.
Let me put it this way: Obviously, all the color images in your PDF file must be CMYK or they must be converted into CMYK, before they can be printed. Unfortunately all images that come from a scanner or from a digital camera are RGB until they will be converted into CMYK. Maybe, some day, cars will be able to fly to the moon but there will never, ever be a scanner or a camera that directly catches pictures in CMYK mode.
So, sooner or later there must be a conversion from RGB to CMYK in order to print a picture. And in this conversion a so called ICC color profile decides about which RGB value will be coresponding to which CMYK value.
The complicated thing is that there are several different ICC color profiles for different kinds of paper. This is a necessity because there are different kinds of paper whith different paper tones, different dot gains and of course different amounts of total ink coverage they can hold.
Another complicated thing is the fact that there are different places where the RGB to CMYK conversion can be done. It can be done in Photoshop, then you have a technique which is called Early Binding. It can be done while the PDF file is exported, then you have a technique called Intermediate Binding. It can also be done by the print shops prepress in the PDF file, this technique is called Late Binding.
There are several ways to change the ink coverage even when a PDF already is CMYK. For example you can convert the file from CMYK into RGB and then back into another CMYK profile or you can directly convert it into CMYK by using a special Device Link Profile. But also, there are also lot of things that can go wrong and mess up the whole job. I would strongly recommend to invest some time and money in literature and training courses about this sensible topic. A doctor should not learn how to do heart surgery on the internet and a press operator should not learn how to set up his color management, online, either.

 

[leonardr]

1. Open your file with Adobe Photoshop.

NO!!!!

Photoshop is NOT a PDF RIP. The results you obtain when opening a PDF up in Photoshop are purely for image import. You should NEVER EVER EVER (did I say that enough???) use it for anything else!!