Dull colors in PDF output

Hi All,

I am having a problem when I output files to PDF - the colors become very dull. I have reviewed the posts on this forum but still have not come to a resolution.

 

The only work around that did help was changing the compatibility to Acrobat 4.0. This changes the "Output all objects as: RGB".

I am usually outputting files that go to an offset press.

 

How can I get the colors to look correctly in the PDF?

 

Thank you!

  • chrisrice said:
    How can I get the colors to look correctly in the PDF?

    Just choose another PDF compatibility level, like acrobat 5

    None of the PDF modes with a slash after it create PDF's with RGB images correctly when native is selected in color mgmt.

    The yellow combinations below do not work for RGB bitmaps.

  • chrisrice said:
    I am having a problem when I output files to PDF - the colors become very dull. I have reviewed the posts on this forum but still have not come to a resolution.

    hi, when you say dull... do you have a small pdf you can upload so we can see? or does the results look like:

     

  • Do you create the files in RGB or CMYK?  If you creat in CMYK see below

    Color management is a detailed study the defautls should get you by for this project.  www.graphictechnology.com has a link to my book for CM on Corel.

    Under tools menu/color management double click RGB icon, select perceptual rendering, set rgb to sRGB, activate arrow from internal RGB to monitor and to the printing press icon.  Monitor can be generic

    Use native color PDF.

  • chrisrice said:

    The only work around that did help was changing the compatibility to Acrobat 4.0. This changes the "Output all objects as: RGB".

    I am usually outputting files that go to an offset press.

     

    For offset press you NEVER must use RGB mode. CMYK color or, sometimes, Pantone colors, are the only option. All objects (specially all bitmaps) MUST be CMYK. And, when you Publish as PDF, you must use also CMYK. If you choose PDF X/3 from the presets list the resuts will be fine (only add cropmarks and bleed if it's neccesary)

  • If you are using the PDF presets in X4 they make a difference too. The Web preset changes a lot of the colours I use, so I always use the Prepress preset as my base then customize it.

    Depending on how you plan to use the pdf .....