Acrobat, as it turns out, is a lousy RIP with minimal color management capabilitties. RIPing your PDF in Photoshop and printing from there has been a long standing ‘fall back’ procedure that service bureaus and print vendors use when all else fails. Scott Martin www.on-sight.com www.martinphoto.com On Sep 30, 2014, at 6:57 AM, Louis Dina <lou@loudina.com> wrote:
I posted this previously in the adobe Acrobat Forum, but got no answer, so I thought I'd try here…
I created a CMYK file for press in InDesign CS6 (Mac OSX 10.8.5). I exported from ID to PDF using PDF/X-4. The output intent is Coated_GRACoL 2006 (ISO 12647-2:2004). The file checks out great in ID and Acrobat preflight and all is as it should be.
I wanted to print a hard copy press simulation on my Epson 3880 (custom RGB profiles, no RIP). I set up Acrobat Output Preview with the above profile, Simulate Paper Color and Simulate Overprinting. I left the Output Preview window open. Then I printed it from Acrobat X Pro (v10.1.12). I selected Advanced > Color Management with the following settings:
Acrobat Color Management
Chose my custom RGB Inkjet profile
I checked Apply Output Preview Settings
Then I printed the file. There are pure white elements in this design, and using a loupe, it is clear that no dots were laid down to simulate the paper color. It also appears that the print is darker than it should be, so I don't think it is simulating press blacks, but the deeper blacks I can achieve on my inkjet with a semigloss RC paper. I printed the same file from InDesign and it properly lays down dots in the pure white components and prints a less dense black. BTW, I chose to leave the Output Preview dialog box open in Acrobat, because a previous print from Acrobat also gave me pure whites. I thought perhaps you need to keep that dialog box open to retain the simulation settings, but open or closed, I got the same results.
Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but I can't figure out what it is. Or, is Acrobat not working properly for printing press simulations?
Thanks,
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