Adobe 65023809 - Creative Suite 4 Master Collection Printing Manual page 15

ers and toner-based digital presses) are capable of rendering a wider gamut than is possible with
offset inks. Consequently, in such an environment, it is beneficial to maintain maximum color
possibilities by not converting to CMYK prematurely. Using RGB also makes it easier for you to
move the project from one press to another while keeping the color looking consistent among
your own equipment, deferring the conversion to CMYK until the latest point possible.
Managing color needs for a customer is a comprehensive job. Start by encouraging customers to
at least calibrate their monitors using Adobe Gamma (Windows) or the Color System Preference
under Displays (Mac OS). This provides them with a very basic system profile to be used in color
management. For more reliable profiling, encourage them to obtain a monitor profiling device
and use it at recommended intervals to maintain reliable on screen display. Don't share custom-
ized monitor profiles; each monitor needs a profile specifically generated for that particular
monitor
In many cases, choosing North America Prepress 2 as your color setting will be a sufficient start,
but you can customize settings as you develop more specific RGB-to-CMYK conversions. For
example, North America Prepress 2 uses a CMYK conversion that is based on Specification for
Web Offset Publications (SWOP), and although it does work for sheetfed printing, it's not always
the best choice. A more appropriate conversion for a sheetfed operation might be to choose the
U.S. Sheetfed CMYK working space by selecting U.S. Sheetfed Coated (or Uncoated) v2 from the
CMYK menu in the Color Settings dialog box. If you want to take more control, you can create a
custom CMYK conversion. From the same CMYK working space menu, choose Custom CMYK.
In the Custom CMYK color settings dialog box, enter the values that will result in a CMYK
conversion that best meets your needs. You may find it easiest to establish your settings in the
Photoshop Color Settings dialog box (Edit > Color Settings). Keep in mind that, for optimum
results, you should fingerprint your presses and proofing systems, and use custom profiles.
Once you have established a color setting in Photoshop, save and name it by clicking the Save
button in the Color Settings dialog box. The settings will be placed in the correct folder so that
the entire Creative Suite can access them. However, you can save them to another location as a
way to distribute them to others. The file you create, with the extension .csf, contains the settings
you share with other users in your shop or with customers.
To import color settings, click the Load button in the Edit > Color Settings dialog box in
Illustrator, InDesign, or Photoshop. Navigate to the .csf file you want to load and select it. Once
the color setting is imported into one of the applications, you will need to synchronize settings
so that the other components can access them. The easiest way to do that is to use Adobe Bridge
CS4. Here's how:
1. Launch Bridge.
2. Choose Edit > Creative Suite Color Settings.
3. From the list, choose your color settings by name. If you have not already loaded a supplied
color setting, you can browse for it by clicking the Show Saved Color Settings Files and then
navigating to the desired settings file.
4. Click Apply.
Using Bridge to Synchronize Color Settings
Adobe Bridge displays a red "pie" section to indicate that color
settings are not synchronized across components that use color
management (left) . To synchronize settings in all applications, select
the proper color setting from the list of Suite Color Settings, or
browse to import a supplied setting by clicking the Show Saved Color
Settings Files button . Click Apply . Bridge then displays an intact color
"pie" to indicate that color settings are synchronized (right) .
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