How to set 240% CYMK limit for ingramSpark?

[Hht tb]

Hello everyone, I'm new to this Adobe Support group and as new as Baby Yoda appreantly.

this is my first time to publish a book and IngramSpark require a lot technical stuffs, I googled a bit about the 240% CYMK conversion limit and find this site that provide a way to view and apply that limit but I found a user say that profile make the images wash out. So what's the correct way to do and is it neccesary to do on my side?

https://indesignsecrets.com/force-color-images-cmyk-240-ink-limit.php

A bit details of my book, I done all the full page artworks in Affinity Designer and going to export it as pdf(for export quality) and place into InDesign and then re-add the texts back in InDesign and then export as print ready pdf and ePub3 ebook. All the artworks and photos are in sRGB, in Affinity Designer document setup, I have to choose a color profile(IngramSpark say you can't inlcude color profile but I not really sure how) and I don't know which to choose so I just leave it to the default sRGB IEC61966-2.1(is this right?), when it's time to export as pdf, thre's an option to untick "embed profile", if I untick, is this mean I removed  the ICC profile? If yes, should I do it now or wait until when I export the complete book in InDesign? And should I tick overprint black and honor spot color?

[Test Screen Name]

Please share the printer’s requirements page. 

[Hht tb]

There’s a 35 pages file creation guide by them

https://www.ingramspark.com/hubfs/downloads/file-creation-guide.pdf

[Derek Cross]

Seems a bizare workflow; why not optimise your RGB images in (say) Photoshop and Place them in InDesign where you can add your text and where you can create a PDF to suit your printer's spec.

(Are you really using spot colours?)

What do you mean by an ePub3 ebook – maybe a FXL ePub?

[Hht tb]

Here are the file creation guide by them, no they want us to remove spot color and ICC profile, I don’t really know what’s ICC profile as I don’t see it in the InDesign and Affinity Designer, in Affinity Designer I do see “color profile” tho.

since I done everything in Affinity Designer, I don’t want to redo everything by placing all images one by one in every pages in InDesign. So I just export every page as pdf and places into InDesign, it’s not bad but I have to learn too

[rob day]

Here are the file creation guide by them, no they want us to remove spot color and ICC profile, I don’t really know what’s ICC profile as I don’t see it in the InDesign.

Every InDesign document gets an RGB and CMYK profile assignment. The profiles are used for the color managed preview of RGB and CMYK colors and the conversions from one space to another. If you assign the default US Web Coated SWOP profile to your doc (Edit>Assign Profiles...) and export to the default PDF/X-1a preset all color—RGB, Lab, or CMYK—will be converted into SWOP, and there will be no profile assignment (PDF/X-1a doesn't allow profiles to be included).

[Hht tb]

Anyone? 🥺🙏

[rob day]

This has come up before. Ingram’s print gudelines are conflicted—they recommend US Web Coated SWOP to be used as the document’s assigned CMYK profile, with export to PDF/X-1a (all CMYK). Their system is automated, so they don’t want to be responsible for color conversions.

SWOP allows 300% total ink on a conversion from RGB to CMYK, so any image you convert from RGB to SWOP could easily exceed 240%.

I think what they are really referring to is Rich Black CMYK builds—if you are building a CMYK black swatch to be used in the page layout for extra density it should not exceed 240%. It should be something like 40|30|30|100 (200%).

[Hht tb]

How do I do that? I done the vector and full page artwork in Affinity Designer and export it as pdf page and place into InDesign, I think InDesign treat or like a image because these vector and text are unselectable, any chance I can do the adjustment in InDesign and not adjust individual element in my other program? Because I want to export as ePub as well and adjust one element by one element is too time consuming 

[rob day]

I done the vector and full page artwork in Affinity Designer and export it as pdf page and place into InDesign

Can you share a sample of the Affinity PDF?

The final export from InDesign would depend on the color modes and profiles of the objects in the Affinity PDFs. If the Affinity color is all CMYK with no profile, the output color values would not change when you place in InDesign.

If it were my project I would not try to limit the TAC to 240% and would provide SWOP CMYK (which their guideline also reccomends), and run a small quantity as a proof.

[Laubender]

Baby Yoda said: How do I do that? I done the vector and full page artwork in Affinity Designer and export it as pdf page and place into InDesign…

Hi,

do the placed PDF pages again using the right ICC profile and export to PDF/X-1a.

As Rob already mentioned the profile should be US Web Coated SWOP. How you will do that cannot be discussed here.

Check the new PDF pages before placing them in InDesign with Acrobat Pro that maximum TAC is not exceeded and the right output intent is attached: Acrobat Pro's Print Production > Output Preview (visually) or Acrobat Pro's Print Production > Preflight.

Alternative: Do the conversion of the already done PDFs with Acrobat Pro's Print Production > Convert Colors function or its Preflight functions. Warning: You'll risk to convert items in "Black only" to a mix of CMYK colors. That should be avoided. FWIW: To do that properly requires special software or special Acrobat plug-ins like pdfToolbox from Callas:

https://www.callassoftware.com/en/products/pdftoolbox

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )