Batch Convert to CMYK?

[Clever Endeavor]

A client built a photo book, with more than 300 images, and they're all RGB.  The viewable pdf looks great with the black background and images all exported from indesign to pdf.  When it comes to actually printing that book, it needs to be in CMYK (all of it).

I have the InDesign file, and a folder with all the images used.  Is there a way I can batch convert these to CMYK and then simply re-link them in InDesign?

I can go through all of them individually, but I figured there's got to be an action to batch convert.  Hell, there's an action for almost everything else.

Thanks!

[almaink]

When you export to PDF from Indesign, select convert to CMYK in the output tab.

[G_Town]

A client built a photo book, with more than 300 images, and they're all RGB.  The viewable pdf looks great with the black background and images all exported from indesign to pdf.  When it comes to actually printing that book, it needs to be in CMYK (all of it).

I have the InDesign file, and a folder with all the images used.  Is there a way I can batch convert these to CMYK and then simply re-link them in InDesign?

I can go through all of them individually, but I figured there's got to be an action to batch convert.  Hell, there's an action for almost everything else.

Thanks!

I have a couple batch's in PS two save as tiff, convert to CMYK etc...

[gnubler]

Or convert the PDF within Acrobat using the Preflight tool 'convert to CMYK'.

[Sabrina The Turd Polisher]

And there's the Preflight control panel that will convert to whatever profile you want like CMYK sheetfed...SWOP, ect.

(Damn, gnub beat me to it...)

[DCurry]

I like Alma's idea best - do it on the fly during the PDF export, unless you feel like updating all those links.

[Clever Endeavor]

Indeed.  I have the standard problem of exporting as CMYK and the black background comes out gray.  I've tried everything to remedy this, and the only thing that makes the PDF "look" right (black background is true, rich, beautiful black) is to convert everything to ROMM RGB upon export.

When sending it to the press, however, I need it all to be in CMYK AND print the background in the truest, deepest black.

Converting the images to CMYK on preflight or export is the solution - thanks!  Now what's the consensus on the black-to-gray background on exporting?

Thanks!

[DCurry]

Need more info - is it the black of an RGB image that looks gray, or pure black elements (like type set in ID) that are gray?

When you convert to CMYK, any RGB black areas will convert to a 4-color black. The exact build will depend on what CMYK profile you are converting to, and it may appear "gray" compared to the richness of an RGB black, but keep in mind that you have to limit the amount of ink the press lays down, so you can't have 100% of all 4 channels and expect it to print well.

[Joe]

What are the original values of the blacks in InDesign and what do they come out converted to? If it's just a tint from InDesign as opposed to an image you can always change it in the resulting PDF with a global Pitstop change.

[Skryber]

Alma has the best idea. I had Rampage set to abort on RGB, and if there were many, I'd let Rampage convert to cmyk. If there were only a few and I had time, I opened the images in Photoshop and converted them. Photoshop has a smoother conversion than Rampage. Depended on the job really. What's your front end?

[Clever Endeavor]

Right now the black background is CMYK 0-0-0-100.  The images are imported from the folder into InDesign as RGB (how jpgs are naturally).  No matter how I change things in my export options, the black background still comes out as a gray shade on screen.  I haven't actually sent it to my printer to check whether it appears as gray when printed or not.  It's going to come from InDesign to PDF to my Konica Minolta 6501 for a one copy proof.  Then it gets sent off to Create Space for publishing (Amazon publishing).  They're not going to double check any files unless they get an error, so I have to make sure the black truly prints black.

The "Appearance of Black" is set to rich black on display and print in preferences.  I also tried the "accurate black" option, but it made no difference.

As soon as I get back to the office, I'll post up a page in both the CMYK and RGB so you can notice the difference.

Thanks

[Joe]

MY standard rich black background is C60-M40-Y40-K100.

[DigiCorn]

Alma has the best idea. I had Rampage set to abort on RGB, and if there were many, I'd let Rampage convert to cmyk. If there were only a few and I had time, I opened the images in Photoshop and converted them. Photoshop has a smoother conversion than Rampage. Depended on the job really. What's your front end?

This is what we do also.

[G_Town]

MY standard rich black background is C60-M40-Y40-K100.

We just had a job the other day where the pressroom wanted to go from a rich black to a second hit of black but we had to get the customer to OK it.

8 at night we get the OK I call the guy in prep and tell him what we want to do, he does it perfectly but forgets the CM and Y needed to be made over.

Black enough for ya boys?

[mattbeals]

There are a number of issues going on. The conversion to CMYK depends on which profiles you are using and which rendering intent you use. The profiles may have more or less GCR or UCR. It may have a maximum black that is less than 100, the max CMYK may not be the kind of rich black you are looking for, it's total ink limit may be less (or more) than the desired value.

You can certainly batch convert using droplets, you can convert upon export or convert in preflight. But you aren't going to get all the desired results "automatically". You're going to have to put some work into it. If you don't want to put the work in manually doing it you can let software do it. But the software won't be cheap and still may not give you all the desired results in an automatic environment.