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damo523638527
damo523638527
Participant
April 19, 2018
Answered

Default CMYK Working Space - convert or start anew?

  • April 19, 2018
  • 1 reply
  • 8917 views

HI,

I'm working on a number of documents for print but didn't realise that by default the CMKY working space was set to Us Web Coated SWOP.

Is it destructive to convert profile to the required FOGRA 39 from the edit menu or should I start each document from scratch with the correct profile?

I read in previous discussions how converting between different CMYK profiles can be detrimental and "lossy" in terms of colour gamut, but I'm kinda new to this side of things, so I'm being a bit hesitant in my actions so as not to do irreversable changes.

      This topic has been closed for replies.
      Correct answer rob day

      When the source and destination profiles are similar, which is the case with SWOP and Fogra, my preference would to be to assign FOGRA 39 Edit>Assign Profiles rather than convert. In that case the appearance of the document CMYK colors will change, but because the profiles are so similar the change probably wont be noticeable.

      Keep in mind if you convert either via Edit> Convert to Profile, or by setting you Color Settings CM Policy to Convert, only the native ID colors and swatches are affected—if you wanted to convert the entire document including placed images you would have to do that via an export to PDF, or by manually converting each image in Photoshop.

      There can be problems with converting InDesign native colors, that you have to consider. Any black or gray colors built with black only will convert to 3- or 4-color (with the exception of the default [Black]). Pure primary colors like 100% cyan or 100% yellow might get "contaminated" with other colors. And yes once you do that you will not be able to get back to the original "built" values.

      1 reply

      rob day
      Community Expert
      rob dayCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
      Community Expert
      April 19, 2018

      When the source and destination profiles are similar, which is the case with SWOP and Fogra, my preference would to be to assign FOGRA 39 Edit>Assign Profiles rather than convert. In that case the appearance of the document CMYK colors will change, but because the profiles are so similar the change probably wont be noticeable.

      Keep in mind if you convert either via Edit> Convert to Profile, or by setting you Color Settings CM Policy to Convert, only the native ID colors and swatches are affected—if you wanted to convert the entire document including placed images you would have to do that via an export to PDF, or by manually converting each image in Photoshop.

      There can be problems with converting InDesign native colors, that you have to consider. Any black or gray colors built with black only will convert to 3- or 4-color (with the exception of the default [Black]). Pure primary colors like 100% cyan or 100% yellow might get "contaminated" with other colors. And yes once you do that you will not be able to get back to the original "built" values.

      L
      Community Expert
      LaubenderCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      April 19, 2018

      Hi Rob,

      and it's debatable if FOGRA 39 is the right preset.

      The OP should consult the printers for the right color profiles.
      Could well be also ISO Coated or something else.

      Regards,
      Uwe

      rob day
      Community Expert
      rob dayCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      April 19, 2018

      and it's debatable if FOGRA 39 is the right preset.

      I assumed by "required" damo meant the printer requested FOGRA—but in general I think converting between two similar coated offset profiles does more harm then good. A default SWOP to FOGRA 39 conversion of 100% yellow outputs to 2|0|91|0.

      If the source and destination are significantly different—something like a SWOP document that needs to be printed on newsprint or uncoated then a conversion would be needed at least for the images where there might be total ink problems. Placing RGB and handling the conversion at export or output solves that problem.

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