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MickMaher1066
Participant
September 20, 2013
Question

Spot color CMYK values are now LAB in indesign 6

  • September 20, 2013
  • 2 replies
  • 14988 views

When I choose a spot color using InDesign 5, I get the CMYK values and have the option to use LAB values if I select "Use Standard Lab Values for Spots" from the ink manager.

In Indesign 6 I no longer have that option. The spot colors come in as LAB whether or not the "Use Standard Lab Values for Spots" is selected in the ink manager.

This is causing all kinds of problems. Why was the functionality changed. What can I do to have the program work as it did before?

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    2 replies

    rob day
    Community Expert
    rob dayCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    September 20, 2013

    Why was the functionality changed.

    You might not notice the problems caused by solid ink CMYK definitions if you tend to leave Color Settings at the defaults.

    The obvious problem is with some colors that are out of the CMYK gamut and can't be displayed or printed with a CMYK mix. Pantone Purple is a good example. If you take the legacy mix for Pantone Purple—38|88|0|0—and assign it different CMYK profiles, you'll get different previews for the same mix, which simulates what would happen to the same values under different press conditions.

    If you were printing Purple as a spot color, the CMYK press conditions would have no effect on the color—with Lab definitons the CMYK profile also has no effect on the spot color's display.

    Here's Pantone Purple as Lab at the top, which is displaying the more accurate out-of-gamut color. Below is 38|88|0|0 with three different profile assignments, which one is right?:

    A
    Anonymous
    September 20, 2013

    The reason is because CS6 uses the newer Pantone Plus libraries which do use LAB values.

    I think you should be able to load the previous Pantone libraries into InDesign CS6 and use both the older and newer at the same time if you wanted (or switch to the old).

    Illustrator does not work the same way. You can only have one Pantone library at a time loaded, but can switch to the older library if you wanted.

    Google should turn up instructions.

    M
    MickMaher1066Author
    Participant
    September 20, 2013

    Tried the the color library from 5 in 6 already; no luck.

    It still will only recognize the LAB values.

    And the Pantone Plus values are much different from the previous CMYK values. Which is a problem.

    Thanks for your input.

    Peter Spier
    Community Expert
    Peter SpierCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    September 20, 2013

    In color managed workflows it's generally accepted that Lab conversions give better results, but I can understand how for an older workflow where you are trying to match previous output you need the old numbers. You could try making a copy of the swatch, then redefine it to be Process and give it the numbers you want. If you name it something like Process Pantone XXX you should be able to delete the original spot swatches from the file and replace with the process versions (though this won't help with placed content that uses your spots).

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