Convert To Profile Using Custom CMYK & Maximum Black Genaration

[ratintrap]

Maybe everyone knows about this trick already but here goes anyway.

Have you ever gotten a job that was designed in Photoshop that was full of 4 color blacks that you wanted to be on the black plate only? Here's a trick that works like a charm.

Step 1: Convert to profile ...


Step 2: Click Advanced button ...


Step 3: Pick Custom CMYK ...


Step 4: Pick Maximum for Black Generation setting ...


Step 5: Click OK x2. :tongue:

Now everything that's supposed to be black should be on the black plate only. :smiley:

Be sure to embed the profile when you save. You will also need to be sure to use the embedded profile in stead of your working CMYK when you open the file again in Photoshop otherwise the blacks will be on all 4 plates again.

[Joe]

Yeah I use a form of it all the time. I have it setup as one of my color settings. Then I can just change it to that color setting, convert to LAB and back to CMYK and it's done. This way you don't have to embed the profile and if you open it later it will still have the black only blacks. Just be careful if your image has flesh tones in it as what it is doing is a GCR correction which can wreak havoc on flesh tones/people in general.

[frailer]

Am missing something here. Envisaging a job with PhSh 4 col throughout. What will be changed to Black-only when you do this? What will still retain CMYK?
I gather you are not converting all to Grayscale here, but somehow pushing stuff onto the Black... what doesn't get moved onto the Black?

[Joe]

The simple explanation as to what it is doing in Photoshop: GCR =  Gray Component Removal meaning it will mainly make the grays (and blacks) black only. It replaces CMY with black. The less gray it becomes the less it will affect the colors.

[frailer]

The simple explanation as to what it is doing in Photoshop: GCR =  Gray Component Removal meaning it will mainly make the grays (and blacks) black only. It replaces CMY with black. The less gray it becomes the less it will affect the colors.

... which I guess is tweakable within Advanced.    :undecided:

[Joe]

Not really a lot of options in Photoshop for how much GCR other than setting the black level. There are software applications out there where you can tweak the hell out of it and they are not cheap. By using a heavy dose of GCR you can gain some substantial ink savings but pressmen have to be reconfigured in their thinking on how to run a GCR job. One benefit of GCR is more consistent press runs because even if a pressman wants to change the color on press he can't. They are locked into what is on the plate. If color does need to be changed you have to go back to prepress and change it and then output new plates. It has its advantages and disadvantages.

[frailer]

Interesting, as I've just made enquiries on ink saving add-on to XMF. What/how it does it and how much. No answer yet. Maybe they're waiting until I'm sitting down.
Yeah our press guys do quite a bit of density push~pull. So, with effective GCR, less room to move...     :undecided:
Must bear this in mind during assessment.

[Joe]

Interesting, as I've just made enquiries on ink saving add-on to XMF. What/how it does it and how much. No answer yet. Maybe they're waiting until I'm sitting down.
Yeah our press guys do quite a bit of density push~pull. So, with effective GCR, less room to move...     :undecided:
Must bear this in mind during assessment.

It's not always a bad thing when a pressman has "less room to move". :laugh:

[frailer]

We've just recently started Exporting CIP3 files from Imaged Black Magic files. It's a by-pass/alternative to paying a fortune for the auto-XMF module, as it's bundled inside BM anyway. About 5 mins of mouse clickin' on a 14 side job. The slow bit's waiting for the Export beach-ball, about 15~20 secs. --> then next side --> repeat....  But not a big deal, really.
Pressies are liking it.

[andyfest]

We've been generating CIP3 profiles for the presses since 2001. At first they used them, but now rarely do, even though we still generate them for every job. When the CIP3 server dies, I don't think I'll waste the money replacing it.

[Joe]

We bought a 3rd party CIP3 solution a few years back and then found if the presses aren't kept to a certain level of functionality it doesn't work correctly. That ended that pretty quickly.