PDF saved as CMYK from designer, are not accepted by printing plant as they come out as sRGB

[ollilaboratories]

So i have a problem, i have found some similar issues but not one that directly related to my problem hence the new post.

File is CMYK, also i am exporting this as CMYK, but my pressing plant insists that the color profile is still sRGB. This is driving me crazy, i have no way of checking the color profiles myself other than at https://www.presspdf.com where it seems to be accurate.

I am exporting to PDF with profile "for print", color space CMYK, FOGRA39 embedded.

 

[ollilaboratories]

Also tried to export with publisher too, but same results.

[Hangman]

Hi @ollilaboratories and welcome to the forums,

Are you able to upload the PDF file you exported so we can take a look...

[ollilaboratories]

Yes for sure!

 

Edited November 24, 2023 by ollilaboratories
removed attachments for quota

[ollilaboratories]

14 hours ago, Hangman said:

Hi @ollilaboratories and welcome to the forums,

Are you able to upload the PDF file you exported so we can take a look...

Thanks @Hangman! uploaded

Edited November 21, 2023 by ollilaboratories

[Dazmondo77]

The pdfs you uploaded all show the correct CMYK profile but there seems to be pink boxes in place of the circles in your design which should reproduce correctly if you rasterise them before PDF-ing (I usually rasterise duplicates) better still recreate vector circles which will print a lot cleaner and leave you the option to scale up if the band decide to put out the release on vinyl or need posters, base drum art, backdrop etc. Also noticed that the photo of the band has a maximum ink density of 326% which some music duplication companies, auto workflows will flag, I usually try to keep it below 300%, and for vinyl, 260% 

[Dazmondo77]

Your struggle highlights this massive problem small agencies / freelancers / self employed graphic designers have if they choose to break away from Adobe - checking separations, spot colours, profiles, etc are a crucial part of the process of getting a job out of the door so if you are on PC you have the option of getting an old copy of Acrobat pro (pre subscription) or apply for a free Packzview serial, although, you'll need an online portfolio with at least a few packaging examples to land a serial - if you're Mac based and are running Affinity 2, you can no longer run 32bit apps so you'll need either Packzview or a pre- Catalina Mac / Partition to run a pre subscription version of Acrobat - I'd always hoped we'd get an Affinity output / checkup persona which I've been waffling on about since around 2016 but I don't think checking PDF's is a current priority - there's hundreds of PDF apps knocking about, why can't at least one of these apps add these crucial features? 

[Hangman]

24 minutes ago, Dazmondo77 said:

The pdfs you uploaded all show the correct CMYK profile but there seems to be pink boxes in place of the circles in your design

I'm only seeing this in PACKZVIEW and I think it is actually a bug in their PDF Preview software... Opening the file in pdfToolbox doesn't display this issue... I actually tried resaving the Tiff file and re-exporting but it makes no difference. I also exported it as a PNG file with Alpha but PACKZVIEW still won't display the circles correctly...

Likewise, both use the Coated FOGRA39 (ISO 12647-2:2004) profile so I'm a little unsure why your pressing plant insists that the colour profile is still sRGB. Can you ask them to clarify... 

File Opened in Callas pdfToolbox

[ollilaboratories]

Thanks a lot guys for the feedback, have been scratching my head on this one big time. I will ask for clarification as this really seems to be ( the way i see with my limited knowledge ) done by the book, also thanks for confirming with pdfToolbox and others with further helps to strengthen my case.

I might have to get a pdfToolbox license to preflight my stuff in the future. Also agree that this check would be nice to have in the Affin suite as per Dazmondo77 

[Dazmondo77]

Just rasterised the circles and they now view correct in Packzview although now colour profile info doesn't show up so looks like a Packzview bug?!?! - PDF toolbox would be the obvious choice for checking PDF's but it's so darn expensive at over £600

[anto]

Acrobat Pro shows that black is not black. A photo and barcode are not black CMYK.

 

 

[lacerto]

As you have "Points" in the initial screenshot of your post [implying that a PDF file might have been opened for interpretation], I'll show one scenario where this kind of RGB-CMYK confusion can easily occur. It basically involves placing an RGB-based PDF for passthrough in a CMYK document and exporting it to PDF. One might imagine that this results in a CMYK converted colors, as it would do when doing a similar thing in InDesign. But in Affinity apps an RGB based PDF would be passed through as an RGB file even when creating a CMYK export from a CMYK document (and disregarding the value of "Convert image color spaces"). Perhaps your printer has been seeing something that was produced like this?

Your posts, however, might be results of your checks, performed by opening the original RGB based PDFs in Affinity Publisher (or any other Affinity app) -- thus interpreting the contents. If you open an RGB file in a CMYK document, or later switch an RGB Affinity document to CMYK color mode, and then export to CMYK PDF, the resulting PDF will be in CMYK mode (as your posts are) -- all RGB 0, 0, 0 blacks (e.g. in barcodes, that might initially have been monochrome bitmaps, which in Affinity apps will be converted to 8-bit RGBs) will be four-color blacks -- as they are in your post attachments.

I am not saying that this is what has happened, but just showing one explanation for issues that are frequent on this forum. 

Having a tool like Adobe Acrobat Pro (perpetual license or subscription), pdfToolbox (more expensive, but operates on multiple platforms with the same license), or in a more limited way, PackzView (free but license only given for professional use), is highly recommended...

[ollilaboratories]

Alright so after a lot of back and forth, the error was on their end when checking the files. Thanks everyone for helping to confirm this, i would have never been able to convince them had i not been able to showcase the evidence as presented by you guys on the thread. 

Thanks again, really really appreciated! 🙌