I need a quick RGB to spot color converter

Started by sblack, March 24, 2020, 12:24:45 PM

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sblack

Newbie here, out of my element. I'm a programmer by trade but need to investigate color conversion for an internal client. :rolleyes2:

I have a file in RGB (I can have it in multiple formats, but more on that later) and I need to convert it to a spot color that has been pre-loaded into a Fiery.

Currently I have a multi-page pdf, which is essentially a black and white vector image. All I need is to convert the Black stokes to a spot color.

I can control the input file types if necessary. I prefer to begin and end with a pdf file, but I can create tiff, jpg, svg, etc. and need a print-ready file with an embedded color profile.

I know how to take a single grayscale tiff and assign a spot color, but I need to process thousands at a time. We've tried Pitstop, but it's seriously slow. What do you all know and use or recommend?

Joe

It shouldn't be slow using Pitstop if you are doing it correctly if it is a PDF with a vector image. With Pitstop you should be able to remap it to a spot color faster than any other method I can think of.
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abc

Yep should definitely not be slow in PitStop.
How are you trying to do it?

Do you have thousands of files or thousands of images?
Maybe you need the Server version instead of the Plugin.

sblack

A couple months ago we attempted to run a 2,000+ page document. We isolated the color that need converted and processed it to spot. We let it run overnight, and in the morning it was still processing so I don't know how long it would have taken.

Yesterday we ran a 160 page PDF and it took 40 minutes to process. (on a PC not a server).

The vector is not optimized and has many stokes, hopefully you can see in the attached image. It may be the cause of the slow processing.

We will have Multiple documents with thousands of pages per document. If the process runs faster we can look into running thousands of images (rather than pages)

Tracy

How are you changing the color in pitstop?
in the global changes you can select remap colors
It shouldn't take too long, I would try under pages select 1-500 and see what that does
or 1- 100
can you post a screen shot how you are doing it?

abc

If you can send me some files I'll take a look. (andrewb@enfocus.com). It looks like the files may contain a 'lot' of elements.
For jobs like these PitStop Server can be attractive as it processes multiple files simultaneously (number dependent on hardware and the number of cores), and it doesn't have the limitation of being within Acrobat.
Also it's standalone so an operator is not waiting staring at Acrobat waiting for the file to finish.
This is also available as 30-day trial, so you can have a play with it if you want.

sblack

Quote from: Tracy on March 24, 2020, 04:09:38 PM
How are you changing the color in pitstop?
in the global changes you can select remap colors
It shouldn't take too long, I would try under pages select 1-500 and see what that does
or 1- 100
can you post a screen shot how you are doing it?
I am not actually doing the processing, but I had my colleague send me the following screenshot. He says he is using the correct tool

sblack

Quote from: abc on March 25, 2020, 12:32:31 AM
If you can send me some files I'll take a look. (andrewb@enfocus.com). It looks like the files may contain a 'lot' of elements.
For jobs like these PitStop Server can be attractive as it processes multiple files simultaneously (number dependent on hardware and the number of cores), and it doesn't have the limitation of being within Acrobat.
Also it's standalone so an operator is not waiting staring at Acrobat waiting for the file to finish.
This is also available as 30-day trial, so you can have a play with it if you want.
Andrew, I'm not able to send a file at this time, as they do contain HIPAA regulated information. I will need to see if I can generate some "generic" components if we need to send them. We will be contacting our internal enfocus rep about the server version of PitStop and see if it is a better price than the DesignMerge they want us to purchase for spot color conversion.

Tracy

I would try maybe 100 pages at a time and see if that helps
I get some huge crappy files and sometimes I have to resort to that.

DigiCorn

I'm not doing anything, and I have access to an old version of PitStop. Text me at 916-three-nine-0-eight-one-6-five if it's an emergency and I'll get on it. Don't monitor this forum enough to catch a post.
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