RE: Eps or tiff (Vector versus raster color ABC)
RE: Eps or tiff (Vector versus raster color ABC)
- Subject: RE: Eps or tiff (Vector versus raster color ABC)
- From: Henrik Holmegaard <email@hidden>
- Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 09:29:47 +0100
Let me ask something, in CMYK files (EPS or not) can I improve color
matching between
vector and images? Using only EPS format instead Tif will make a good
diference?
or maybe use RGB profiles to manage CMYK vector/images with RGBprint?
All this put together in a Fiery RIP (E-310) with a Gestetner CS225.
Look at it this way:
EPS is designed for and on the whole only implemented for PostScript
Level 1 deviceCMYK /pre-color managed workflows. Adobe later
published a specification that explained how to embed both ICC device
profiles and PostScript Color Space Arrays into EPS, but Adobe did
not implement device independent color in all its own applications.
Photoshop 2 embeds Color Space Arrays. Photoshop 5 embeds ICC device profiles.
Illustrator 8 reads ICC profiles in incoming TIFF data, but does not
embed ICC profiles in outgoing data in any format. Illustrator 9
reads and writes ICC profiles in TIFF and PDF 1.3. CSA support was
never implemented in Illustrator.
This means that there is not even within Adobe a shared understanding
of PostScript. Is it supposed to be device color or CSA color or ICC
color?
Therefore, if you use EPS, the only safe workflow assumption is that
you are generating a PostScript program which a PostScript
interpreter will interpret for imaging by the numbers in what is
sometimes called a Level 1 and at other times called a deviceColor
rendering procedure.
On the other hand it has been clear since before InDesign 1.0 was
released that Adobe was putting the necessary effort into making PDF
work and disengaging itself from EPS.
Therefore, if you wish to color manage raster files, use TIFF. If you
wish to color manage vector files, use PDF 1.3 and 1.4. But do NOT
use EPS as you are never sure whether you are getting device colors,
CSA specifications or ICC specifications (or all three at once).
There are and there will remain residual problems arising from the
fact that some applications do not snoop into placed PDF for color
space specifications.
Therefore, place a color server like iQueue from GretagMacbeth in
your workflow.