Re: [artworks] Colours not displaying properly in PDF on PC

  • From: Martin Wuerthner <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <artworks@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:47:21 +0100

In message <50be5632b6a.m.conroy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
          Andrew Conroy <a.m.conroy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I've just created a test page in Artworks consisting of stripes of pure
> C, M, Y & K and then exported this as a PDF. On RISC OS, this still
> appears to be pure colours, but when viewed on a PC the colours get muted
> and look like 'dirty' C, M, & Y.

More likely, they look more like real CMY inks that get printed.

> Have I missed something, or am I doing something wrong? I assume
> Artworks is creating the PDF correctly!

If you define colours in the CMYK model, ArtWorks puts CMYK 
definitions in the file. The default way of displaying CMYK colours in 
ArtWorks (but see the option below) is to use the standard naive 
conversion by channel inversion, which bears little relation to how 
the inks look when printed. For instance, the Magenta is far too 
bright and pinkish.

There is no "official" way of displaying CMYK colours. The only proper 
way to "display" a CMYK colour is to mix inks and put them on paper, 
and of course, even then, you have many different kinds of paper for a 
start, which result in very different colours, so any given CMYK 
colour can look very different.

The default in Adobe Reader is to do ink simulation. You can get a 
similar rendering in ArtWorks by switching on the "Simulate CMYK inks" 
option. OvationPro has the same option, which even works for colours 
in embedded ArtWorks files. Impression always uses naive conversion. 
PhotoDesk has good ink CMYK simulation. RISC OS Select supports CMYK 
sprites but does naive conversion only.

Martin
-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Martin Wuerthner           MW Software          lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
---------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
    To change, suspend or cancel your subscription go to
           //www.freelists.org/list/artworks
------------------------------------------------------------

Other related posts: