Preview Color Separations On-Screen

CATEGORIES: Acrobat, Photoshop, Tutorials | Adobe | October 07, 2005

Adobe® Acrobat® 7.0 Professional lets you preview color separations on-screen, or soft-proof, so you know exactly how a document will print. For accurate color preview, first specify color management settings. Then, preview one or more separations at a time. You can see how spot colors convert to process colors while you preview separations, and then you can temporarily convert the inks for a single print job by using the Ink Manager in the Print dialog box.

Note: You must use a printed proof to check trapping, emulsion options, printer marks, halftone screens, resolution, or objects on hidden layers.

STEP 1: Specify color management settings.

Choose Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Acrobat > Preferences (Mac OS), and select Color Management. From the Settings menu, choose the predefined color management setting that matches your workflow, or choose Custom and choose working spaces for the document. Color management settings that you save in Adobe InDesign CS®, Adobe Illustrator CS®, or Adobe Photoshop CS® are also available in the Settings menu in Acrobat 7.0.

To provide an accurate on-screen preview, Acrobat must use color management to convert the colors from the monitor’s color space to the color space of the output device. An Adobe PDF document may contain both calibrated (color-managed) and uncalibrated colors. Acrobat uses any color management information embedded in the PDF file first, and then relies on the color management settings in the Preferences dialog box to display or print uncalibrated (devicedependent) colors in a document. Select Output Intent Overrides Working Spaces if you want Acrobat to use an Output Intent profile included in the PDF file for uncalibrated colors instead of the profiles specified in the Preferences dialog box.

STEP 2: Specify proof settings.

Choose Advanced > Output Preview. Then choose the simulation profile that most closely matches the device to which you’ll print the separations.

Acrobat uses simulation profiles to approximate output devices and printing mediums when you preview color separations.

STEP 3: Preview separations on-screen.

In the Output Preview dialog box, select Separations from the Preview menu. Select the color name to display the separation or deselect the color name to omit the separation. You can convert a spot color to a process color by clicking the color until the process color icon appears. When only one process separation is selected, Acrobat displays the process separation as a grayscale image.

STEP 4: Use the Ink Manager to make changes as you print.

When you’re ready to print, choose File > Print. Choose a PostScript printer, and click Advanced at the bottom of the Print dialog box. In the Output panel, choose Separations or In-RIP Separations from the Color menu. Under Ink Manager, deselect inks that you don’t want to print. Convert individual spot colors to process by clicking their icons until you see the process color icon, or convert all spot colors to process by clicking the Ink Manager button and selecting Convert All Spots To Process.

The Ink Manager is available only if you’ve chosen to print separations. Changes you make in the Ink Manager affect only the output of the current print job; color definitions in the document are not affected.

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From the Creative Experts at Adobe. Copyright 2004. Adobe Systems. Adobe, the Adobe logo, and Acrobat are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. ©2004 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved.

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