No warning if RGB pictures are imported to a CMYK Artboard in Designer

[VR6Seidi]

Hi all, im new here and this is my frist thread here at the affinity forum.
I hope it wrote it in the right topic. So here is my first question:

I just made an DIN A5 Flyer (2-sided) in  Affinity Designer (Artboard). I then exported the file as PDF/X3 for the printing house and made a test-print at home. In the test-print i saw that there are some errors in the picture. These errors were imported RGB-files, that aren't converted into CMYK color space while importing. As i come from Adobe Illustrator, there is an automatic message if you import files that are in another color-space and you then have the opportunity to automatically convert the imported picture to the document color-space. Is this not possible with ADesigner?
Next is, that the error was not recognizable at the monitor, only at the printout! Can anyone tell me how to configure ADesigner that this error cannot happen anymore? (before upcoming questions: the monitor has a 99%sRGB color space and is calibrated)

 

Picture 1 shows the pdf as it is shown at the monitor

Picture 2 shows the error on the printout

[firstdefence]

[stokerg]

Hi VR6Seidi and Welcome to the Forums,

 

We don't have a warning for when importing RGB images into a CMYK document setup.  The option posted by @firstdefence is when you are opening files via File>open and not for imported images.

 

If you'd like to either attach the .afdesign file and the PDF here or if they are too large, please upload them to our Dropbox here and i'll look into this further for you.

 

Just been having a play around with this, with a CMYK image and RGB image on my artboard.  If you select the RGB image on the artboard in Designer and Right click and select Rasterise.  If you then publish as PDF you should find those images are now CMYK (i used Output Preview in Acrobat to confirm this)

[VR6Seidi]

@firstdefence

the options you described were both checked, but there was still no warning.

@stokerg

Rasterise was my Solution too, but:

- you have to rasterise layer by layer, because if you rasterise the whole artboard, it disappears from the Export-menu. Also if you have 2 artboards and rasterise both, they are melting together to one artboard. This behavior is very confusing.

- I‘m not a fan of rasterise vector-elements which are a quality factor in pdf documents. Because then i dont have to use a professional Designer product like ADesigner is.

For my understanding there has to be at least a hint when importing files with another color space, or they have to be converted automatically into document color space. Another problem is, that the color space difference is not recognizable in ADesigner...

 

Regards,

Stefan

 

Maifeier_Flyer_A5.afdesign

Maifeier_Flyer_A5.pdf

Maifeier_Flyer_A5_wrong.pdf

[firstdefence]

This is an interesting read on PDF Export: https://www.prepressure.com/pdf/basics/pdfx-3

 

Quote

Flavors
There are 2 different PDF/X-3 flavors:

• PDF/X-3:2002 – such a file has to be a PDF 1.3 file
• PDF/X-3:2003 – such a file has to be a PDF 1.4 file but it should not contain any transparency and JBIG2 compression should not be used to compress images.

Both flavors share all of the restrictions that apply to PDF/X-3. The 2003 version simply came along because some newer software applications no longer supported the older PDF 1.3 file format.

 

Quote

• PDF/X-4
  • An updated version of PDF/X-3 which adds among others support for transparency and spot colors.

 

I would ask the Printer if they support PDF/X-4 and use that if your printout in this format looks good.

[lepr]

.

[VR6Seidi]

The difference between import and open is clear. But it would be nice if there is NO difference in handling.

 

Nobody spoke about simultaneously rasterising both artboards. Please test it for yourself: rasterise artboard 1 and then artboard 2. artboard 1 will then be hidden behind the „black mask“ of artboard 2. just try it and you‘ll see.

 

@stokerg

can you please move this thread to the requests forum?

 

thanks

 

 

[lepr]

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[lepr]

.

 

[VR6Seidi]

@owenr

thanks for your explanation. But this is not the point. The point is, that if the color space of imported files would be automatically converted to the document color-space, none of these additional actions would be necessary.

this is not a discussion about rasterising or hidden objects, but on treating the color right. 

i hope i explaned it in the right way now...

thanks

[lepr]

.

[MikeW]

I absolutely agree with VR.

 

What should work, and doesn't, is if I purposefully choose CMYK as my output color space rather than leaving as "As in document" instead of tagged RGB images (which is great), the whole out to be exported in the document's CMYK color space.

 

That said, I also need the present behavior as I prefer tagged images.

[MikeW]

2 minutes ago, owenr said:

 

It was you who brought up the subject of rasterising!!!

 

You posted a mistaken description of something that you thought was happening, so I explained what was really happening.

 

 

 

Stoker mentioned rasterizing.

[lepr]

.

[stokerg]

 

On 13/04/2018 at 3:08 PM, VR6Seidi said:

can you please move this thread to the requests forum?

 

The QA guys, well @Sean P has already put in a request about this,  after i asked for his advice. 

 

I'll double check the request on Monday to make sure it covers everything raised.

 

So no need to move the post  

 

[JinoBetti]

This is an old subject, but does anyone know how it evolved after two years? 

I have a document that I will soon send to a printer, it has a CMYK color space setup, with a "convert" policy. Do I still have to rasterize each picture for them to really be in CMYK or not? (I do not have access to Acrobat pro to check it for myself)

Was there any feature request about it in the end ? All I could find is this one that relates to it (or at least would allow me to check) 

[wonderings]

No idea, but I think it is good practice to work with files in the right colour space from the get go. If I am supplied with RGB images they get converted and adjusted as needed before being placed in Indesign. I am not relying on an export conversion to CMYK and I do not have to worry about drastic colour changes as I can see that with the change to CMYK. It always seems backwards to me to work in RGB and then convert everything to CMYK after. If something changes you are now going back, editing the file and re-exporting. 

[lacerto]

(...)

[JinoBetti]

Thank you so much for the quick and complete answer... I get a little lost with all of it, I'll try to figure it all out with the editor, using your answer to try and find the better way to do it ! I'll post the solution we will have chosen afterwards