A 1 How applications co-operate with PrintPreview
A 1.1 Printing composite/separations
Note that for preview generation, PrintPreview must rely on the data that comes from the application you have used for printing. Sometimes, if you print e.g. separations, it may happen that the application sends correct data for the separation plates, but insufficient information for the calculation of a composite preview; the composite preview in the preview file may be corrupt then. The other way round - in case you print composite - some applications send insufficient data for the calculation of separation plates, meaning that the separations in the preview files will not be identical to the separations you would have got if you had printed separations. Two examples are shown below.
Fig. A-1: Example of a file with a corrupt composite preview
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In the first example (Fig.
A-1), we printed separations from FreeHand 8 on Macintosh. The separation plates in the preview file are correct, but a composite preview is missing. Instead, the file contains four "Composite" pages which are identical to the separations, but tinted cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.
Fig. A-2: Example of a preview file with corrupt separations
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In the second example (Fig.
A-2), we printed composite from FrameMaker on Macintosh. The composite preview is correct, but the separations are not. Some paragraphs of the black text appear on the Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow separation plates. Some paragraphs appear on the Black plate only - which is correct.
Adobe Acrobat with PDF HandShake on Macintosh
PDF HandShake perfectly co-operates with PrintPreview. So, printing a PDF file using our Acrobat print plug-in (or "pdfprint" on UNIX) will always produce reliable results on a preview queue.
A 1.2 Proof printing files with spot colors
Most applications - even non-graphic programs such as FrameMaker or QuarkXPress - allow you to define colors and apply them to text elements or borders. In case you define spot colors, e.g. HKS, TRUMATCH, or PANTONE colors, this may cause incomplete previews. Note that the problem will not occur if you place EPSF files with spot colors.
Fig. A-3:
Solving the problem of missing spot colors on a composite preview
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When printing separations, some applications do not send any process color information for the spot colors that are contained in the document. Thus, PrintPreview cannot calculate the composite preview of the print jobs. The separation plates in the preview files will be correct, but the spot colors will be missing on the "Composite" pages. An example is given in file "test1.fm5" in Fig.
A-3.
Of course, the composite preview will always be complete if you print composite from your application.
First of all, we should say that among all applications we have tested, the problem only occurred with QuarkXPress and FrameMaker. Nevertheless, the workaround can be used for any other application as well.
The solution is: Rename the spot colors you have defined. We have implemented in PrintPreview additional color tables that can be used for the creation of a composite preview. They are activated whenever the spot color names comply with PrintPreview's naming conventions.
Now, spot colors that are named according to these conventions will always be included in the composite preview. An example is given in file "test2.fm5" in Fig.
A-3, where the color names PANTONE 142 CVC and PANTONE 640 CVC have been replaced by PANTONE 142 C and PANTONE 640 C. The composite preview of the file is complete.
Make use of the HELIOS spot color editor, which allows you to assign a spot color a unique name which is recognized by ImageServer and PrintPreview. The spot color editor is described in the ImageServer manual.
The PrintPreview naming conventions are shown in table
A-1. To guarantee correct composite previews, make sure that your spot color names correspond to the notations listed in the left column of the table.
Tab. A-1: PrintPreview naming conventions for spot colors
Supported names (Examples)
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Non-supported names (Examples)
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Any other notation for DIC colors
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Any other notation for FOCOLTONE colors
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Any other notation for HKS colors
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Pantone Solid to Process:
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Any other notation for TOYO colors
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Any other notation for TRUMATCH colors
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A 1.3 The spot color editor
HELIOS Admin features a spot color editor which enables the user to define a preview color for a custom spot color name. This allows PrintPreview to include spot color objects in the composite preview, e.g. when working with pre-separated PDF documents. The spot color editor is described in the ImageServer manual.
A 1.4 Using in-RIP separation with PrintPreview
When printing in-RIP separations, each spot color which is used in the print job would normally have its own plate. To specify which spot colors should be transformed into process colors, HELIOS Admin allows initializing a
Print Preview queue (
Edit Initialization button in HELIOS Admin). By use of the following examples you may induce print jobs from applications which are not capable of printing in-RIP to output in-RIP separations. However, applications which output in-RIP separations will not need such initialization and override it. In addition, you can also define the output color space.
/ProcessColorModel /DeviceCMYK
/SeparationColorNames [(HKS 12 E)]
/SeparationOrder [/Cyan /Magenta /Yellow /Black (HKS 12 E)]
RGB + HKS 12 E + HKS 36 Z
/ProcessColorModel /DeviceRGB
/SeparationColorNames [(HKS 12 E) (HKS 36 Z)]
/SeparationOrder [/Red /Green /Blue (HKS 12 E) (HKS 36 Z)]
Gray + HKS 12 E (Swapped output order)
/ProcessColorModel /DeviceGray
/SeparationColorNames [(HKS 12 E)]
/SeparationOrder [(HKS 12 E) /Gray]
/ProcessColorModel /DeviceCMYK
/SeparationOrder [/Cyan /Magenta /Yellow]
CMYK + defined (but not printed) spot color
/ProcessColorModel /DeviceCMYK
/SeparationColorNames [(HKS 12 E)]
/SeparationOrder [/Cyan /Magenta /Yellow /Black]
The
setpagedevice (PostScript) command defines the output of the rendering device. The attribute "Separations" determines, whether the output is composite or separations.
Possible values are
TRUE and
FALSE. The following atttributes are only considered, if the attribute and the preference
inripseparations (
4 "Preferences") are set to
TRUE.
/ProcessColorModel defines the color space. Possible values are
/DeviceGray,
/DeviceRGB and
/DeviceCMYK.
/SeparationColorNames defines the spot colors which are supported by the rendering device. The rendering device decides on the basis of this list, whether spot colors are output on their own plate or transformed into the alternative process color space.
/SeparationOrder defines, which color components are output in what order by the rendering device.
The printer initialization via the
Edit initialization button in HELIOS Admin only has an effect, if the attributes are not overridden in the (PostScript) job by another
setpagedevice command. This is the case e.g. if you print a document from InDesign, with the setting
in-RIP Separations.
A document which contains a spot color, e.g. HKS 12 E, is created in InDesign CS . Then the following initialization is added to the used
Print Preview printer queue in HELIOS Admin:
/ProcessColorModel /DeviceRGB
/SeparationColorNames [(HKS 12 E)]
/SeparationOrder [/Red /Green /Blue (HKS 12 E)]
The checkbox
In-RIP-Separations must be enabled.
Print the document (
File > Print-) using the following settings (
"Output" section):
Printer: <PrintPreview Queue>
In the case of
Color: Composite CMYK the print job contains no further
setpagedevice, which overrides the above mentioned attributes.
The result is the four separations
Red, Green, Blue and
HKS 12 E.
