Hi,
I am sending artwork to be printed on a large-format composite printer. The design emanates from a website background and is therefore in RGB. But that shouldn't be a problem should it? I mean it would be just the same as sending a photo to a composite printer and you never convert to CMYK in those cases.
Anyway, to get the brightest colors/largest color space I have assigned and converted the document to AdobeRGB, but now I wonder: should it suffice to mention to the service bureau that the PDF is in AdobeRGB?
I mean if I convert to CMYK I might get duller colors than possible. If I retain aRGB color space, it's only their ink and paper that sets the limit. If they only know that the PDF is in aRGB they should use that as an input profile and then use the optimum profile for their output, right?
****
One other thing I am curious about in connection with this. Why must I embed both RGB and CMYK colour profiles if I want CorelDraw to remember what RGB profile is? I mean it takes 1,75 MB just for the profiles only. If I could embed just the aRGB profile, it would be a lot less, around a few kB I think. And If I want to send it to a composite printer, like above, it wouldn't use the CMYK profile anyway, would it?
I experimented with this some more and I found that if exactly all colors in a drawing are RGB, then no CMYK printer profile will be embedded, only the RGB profile, which is 0,5 kB (aRGB). The difference in my file is form 110 kB with RGB only (aRGB) to 1446 kB with some CMYK objects in the drawing. And the lower number is obtained EVEN if the save dialog says 1,75 MB for embedding the ICC profiles. So, actually there is something wrong with the calculation.
Anyway, my conclusion is that if you keep all CMYK objects away you will get away with a lot smaller file sizes, because only the RGB profile will be embedded, and that is a lot smaller.
I believe you're right; only profiles for RGB will be embedded if there are no CMYK objects in the drawing.Regarding the size (have noticed it too), I guess it's because the file is compressed, including the profiles. Just a guess though.
Thanks! I don't know if I understand everything in your answer, but I'll contemplate on it a bit.
Anyway, I sent this design to a printer (Adobe RGB embedded) but they printed it assuming it was sRGB i think and the colours came out very flat. They redid it with aRGB as the input profile and ot turned out exactly as I wanted it. And I also got the chance to fix some conversion errors, I had CMYK black for some reason, and it did not convert well (I forgot to check that box) and the black came out a bit light the first time too. Now it was charcoal black, I made all objects RGB alreday in the .cdr file. The background was also used here: http://www.huddingebigband.se/ And I think I had to assign aRGB to get this kind of bright colors. I started from Ruby Red (RGB) and made some variations on that color in the Color styles docker.
Soon the music stands will have the design I enclose and we will change the image on the front page to reflect this. (I'm in the center of the saxes).
Lars Forslin said:They redid it with aRGB as the input profile
Bingo, most printiers don't even know how to use their equipment. When I ws an apprentice I never thought I'd be ashamed to be a printer but the level of professionalisim just embarrases me.
That was because I told them to.
But in connection with that, If I send a PDF to a printer with an embedded aRGB profile. How can they tell? I am not too familiar with Acrobat but I notice there is an Output Preview where you can select Separations or Composite and different profiles. But where do you actually check what ICC profiles are embedded?
Ok here's the rub, a proper service provider opens your PDF in Acrobat and should have a plugin either way is reads the profile. Now many open your PDF in Illustrator. If they set their RIP to use embedded profiles it does so with no effort on their part.
Either way with an embedded profile if it is not working it is because they did it wrong.
This does not apply to press work.
Even the best profile isn't going to be the best printer method. It sounds like they have tried to make you happy by applying a profile to the printer. What a waste of time! The best output is achieved by NOT applying a profile to the printer and just letting the printer driver do the work. The driver is designed meticulously by the manufacturer to make the printer sing. For a profile to work at the printer level means matching the ink, paper etc and doing a not effortless profile creation. I did this and it was a waste of a week! Least as far as the Epson goes, no profile on the printer always gets the best result. It's easier to do a print test then make an adjustment to the driver (Epson Windows) if required.
The profile used in the document doesn't cause a "flat image". Applying a profile to the printer does.