PANTONE To CMYK

[Yousef000]

What is right
Convert Pantone to CMYK through Adobe Illustrator
Or take the colors of CMYK For Pantone from Pantone.com ?

Example:

PANTONE 158 C

if i convert in illustrator : C 0 M 63 Y 92 K 0

But

if i see the 158 C in Pantone.com : C 0 M 62 Y 95 K 0

What is right???? Adobe Illustrator or Pantone.com???

[Bill Silbert]

Over the years PANTONE has changed the CMYK values of its colors many times. Unfortunately, the CMYK breakdowns that are still attached to the spot colors libraries used in all of the Adobe programs reflect values that are at least ten years out of date. However, if you were to use the PANTONE + Color Bridge Coated library which you can find in Illustrator through Window>Swatch Libraries>Color Books>PANTONE + Color Bridge Coated you would find that those CMYK breakdowns match what you found on Pantone.com. Once you’ve found that library choose the option under that library’s pull-down menu “Persistent”. Quit the program then and when you reopen it that library will remain open for future use. This library will default to separating process but if you double-click on the color once you’ve moved it into the Swatch Panel you will see a pull-down that you can toggle between process and spot. If you’re an InDesign user you will have to switch the color mode to CMYK for this to work. In my agency we use this library all of the time as it allows us fast flexibility in switching spot colors to process with the assurance of the correct CMYK breakdown. Naturally, if you are using uncoated colors or any of the other options you would use the appropriate Color Bridge version of that.

[Ton Frederiks]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Bill+Silbert  wrote

Unfortunately, the CMYK breakdowns that are still attached to the spot colors libraries used in all of the Adobe programs reflect values that are at least ten years out of date.

There are no CMYK breakdowns attached to Pantone Spot color libraries in Adobe Applications anymore.

These have been replaced by Lab values that are used to convert to CMYK using your CMYK ICC profile.

The results are different for various printing processes and printing inks in various countries.

Pantone Plus color libraries

[Bill Silbert]

The breakdowns are still there if you change the color mode to CMYK and they are still the old values which is what the OP was questioning.

[Ton Frederiks]

No, the breakdowns get calculated from Lab to the CMYK Working Space profile in your Color Settings.

These are not the fixed values from 10 years ago.

The fixed values for 158C used to be C 0 M 61 Y 97 K 0

Now the values vary:

In Japan it would be: C 5 M 69 Y 92 K 0

In the US: C 2 M 66 Y 100 K 0

In Europe: C 0 M 64 Y 91 K 0

[Bill Silbert]

At any rate they are still not the values that the OP found on the Pantone website. The Color Bridge US values did match what the OP found.

[Bill Silbert]

The US values are still quite different between the US Coated library and the US Color Bridge Coated library. See screen shot:

[Ton Frederiks]

Of coarse they are.

The Adobe one is calculated from Lab values and the Pantone Bridge one is fixed and based on whatever Pantone decided it should be.

The Pantone Bridge values will give a different result with different inks from different countries on different paper with differen printing processes.

There are reasons to use Pantone spot colors.

One is that they generally cannot be reproduced with standard CMYK process inks.

That means that whatever simulation you try to make with process inks will look different compared to the solid spot color.

The conversion is a matter of taste and almost never accurate.

[Bill Silbert]

The conversion is a matter of taste and almost never accurate.

Agreed. As I said in my original post my company has chosen to use PANTONE's US breakdowns. It just seems to make sense to us to use the recommendation of the company that actually makes the ink.

[Ton Frederiks]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Bill+Silbert  wrote

It just seems to make sense to us to use the recommendation of the company that actually makes the ink.

Then you can always point to Pantone if things go wrong.

[Bill Silbert]

In the literally thousands of jobs with which I've been involved through the agency I work in we've never had even one problem using this method.

[Ton Frederiks]

I suppose you are lucky.

It seems that your customers accept that the CMYK color simulation cannot not match the Pantone solid color.

[Test Screen Name]

They are both right. Your error is in thinking CMYK is a single colour Scheme.  Common error, but an error nevertheless. The actual colour of printer's inks varies and the conversions reflect that.

[Bill Silbert]

I have read that the reason that PANTONE has changed their values over the years is that as technology has advanced they have been able to use more accurate screens to simulate the look of their spot colors when they are produced using process colors. The Color Bridge colors reflect the latest version of the breakdowns.

[Monika Gause]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Bill+Silbert  schrieb

I have read that the reason that PANTONE has changed their values over the years is that as technology has advanced they have been able to use more accurate screens to simulate the look of their spot colors when they are produced using process colors. The Color Bridge colors reflect the latest version of the breakdowns.

Pantone cannot provide the same color values all around the globe. That simply does not work as even the plain offset process works differently in different regions. There's a reason for all these region coded settings in the color management dialog box and Adobe doesn't even include all available color profiles.

[Bill Silbert]

Right. I should have added "for the US.".

[jdanek]

I still prefer to build my own swatches based on Pantone's Solid=to-Process printed guides.