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[black] not exporting as 0,0,0,100 only on some pages

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
December 15, 2017
6 replies
2467 views

Hello,

I am having a problem exporting my indd doc as print pdf. I have all the text set as [black] throughout the document. For some reason when I do the pdf export (colour settings - convert to profile - preserve numbers) some of the pages export correctly and some texts export without a clean black. ie. they export cmyk 74, 64, 64, 98

The problem appears to be on random pages and I feel like I am going mad. What am I doing wrong?

Any help appreciated!

[black]

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Correct answer Dave Creamer of IDEAS

It sounds like the document is set to RGB transparency blend setting (as Rob suggested)

However if the text is in a graphic, it would be your color conversion too.

If Illustrator graphics, change the blend mode there too. Double check that the text is set to the default Black.

If Photoshop graphics...

the PDF color setting was set to Leave color Unchanged, leaving the RGB as RGB. Acrobat will show CMYK numbers regardless of the image color mode of the document/image unless you change the Simulation Profile to an RGB setting.
RGB images were converted to a CMYK profile during PDF creation

Mixed CMYK and RGB raster images can be difficult to fix in one document without working the graphics in either Photoshop. However, you can use Acrobat Pro to convert to RGB objects to CMYK this easily using the Convert Colors panel. (Use the same CMYK profile that was used in the InDesign export.) Be sure to select Preserve Black and Promote Gray to CMYK Black. The first setting will prevent RGB black from becoming a 4-color black.

Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Community Expert

Thank you to the OP, but if the problem was the RGB Transparency Blend Space, credit for this answer should go to Rob Day, not me.

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

johannesc6738977Author

Participant

Hey Everyone, thanks so much for your input. I believe rob and everyone else who suggested the rgb transparent blend space solved it. I had some neon spots in the doc and had the document still set to rgb to spit out some visual pdfs for approval. I was naive enough to think that the conversion with 'preserve numbers' would still honour my text 0 0 0 100 black.

Well thanks for solving the case! I can sleep well now...

rob day

Community Expert

I was naive enough to think that the conversion with 'preserve numbers' would still honour my text 0 0 0 100 black.

Just to clarify, you can preserve the black value and keep the RGB blend space if you export to PDF/X-4.

InDesign's Separation Preview shows the values you would get printing separations with transparency flattened—you will also get those numbers if you export flattened (PDF/X-1a).

But, if you use PDF/X-4 preserve numbers will work. Here I have an RGB background and outer glow, applied to the A with a default [Black] fill. ID's Sep Preview shows a 4-color conversion for [Black] because I’ve chosen an RGB blend space:

If I export to PDF/X-4 with a CMYK conversion, the background green and glow get converted to the destination space, but the [Black] is protected. This is a powerful feature of X-4 because you are no longer forced to use the CMYK blend space where some blend modes act erratically due to the black channel.

rob day

Community Expert

The problem appears to be on random pages and I feel like I am going mad

Sounds like your Transparency Blend Space is RGB. Either set it to CMYK or, if you want to use RGB, export to PDF/X-4 as Bob suggests.

Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Correct answer

Community Expert

It sounds like the document is set to RGB transparency blend setting (as Rob suggested)

However if the text is in a graphic, it would be your color conversion too.

If Illustrator graphics, change the blend mode there too. Double check that the text is set to the default Black.

If Photoshop graphics...

the PDF color setting was set to Leave color Unchanged, leaving the RGB as RGB. Acrobat will show CMYK numbers regardless of the image color mode of the document/image unless you change the Simulation Profile to an RGB setting.
RGB images were converted to a CMYK profile during PDF creation

Mixed CMYK and RGB raster images can be difficult to fix in one document without working the graphics in either Photoshop. However, you can use Acrobat Pro to convert to RGB objects to CMYK this easily using the Convert Colors panel. (Use the same CMYK profile that was used in the InDesign export.) Be sure to select Preserve Black and Promote Gray to CMYK Black. The first setting will prevent RGB black from becoming a 4-color black.

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

rob day

Community Expert

However if the text is in a graphic, it would be your color conversion too.

The OP has chosen Convert to Destination (Preserve Numbers). That setting protects all InDesign CMYK swatches and colors from being converted. I think the only way you can get some native blacks converting and others being protected is when there's transparency being flattened with the transparency blend space as RGB (i.e. PDF/X-1a where the Destination profile is not DocumentCMYK and the blend space is RGB).

With PDF/X-4 black will get protected when Convert to Destination (Preserve Numbers) is chosen no matter what the blend space is, which is a great X-4 feature because the blending modes work better with an RGB blend space and RGB colors and images.

BobLevine

Community Expert

Was this text placed from a Word document? Did you check that the text is actually black in InDesign using the separations preview? Where are you checking these values? Have you tried PDF/X-4 export?

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Test Screen Name

Legend

Does it happen on the pages with transparency? What is your transparency blend space? how do you measure the final CMYK value?