Pitstop - Converting RGB to CMYK with profiles

[DCurry]

Acrobat 4.05, Pitstop Pro 5.03

I know that Pitstop's generic RGB to CMYK conversion is sucky, so I usually just open the image in PS (using Acrobat's Edit Image command) and convert it there, then resave it into the PDF. I have a job, though, where this is not a practical solution. I've read somewhere on this board or another that Pitstop performs these conversions much better if profiles are used, but I can't seem to get it to work.

All the images are currently tagged sRGB, and I want to tag them with either US Sheetfed or my custom press ICC profile. I went to the Image matching window and selected an image, but Pitstop won't let me tag it with a CMYK ICC of any kind - just RGB ones.

Can anyone walk me through what I'm supposed to do? I am also open to solutions using Acrobat 6, but I don't have Pitstop for that version.

Thanks in advance!

[j_bessant]

Update to Pitstop 6.1 (download trial and install on another workstation) with Acrobat 5.05 or 6.01 in OS X native.

Turn on the colour management in the Pitstop Professional preferences and then try it ......

Jon

[Kakuzo]

Originally Posted by DCurry

I know that Pitstop's generic RGB to CMYK conversion is sucky, so I usually just open the image in PS (using Acrobat's Edit Image command) and convert it there, then resave it into the PDF. I have a job, though, where this is not a practical solution. I've read somewhere on this board or another that Pitstop performs these conversions much better if profiles are used, but I can't seem to get it to work.

This was discussed in the "Can Pitstop Be Trusted" thread just a little while ago (in this Acrobat forum). The conclusion BillS came to was that Pitstop's color engine is just broken, with or without color management active. I haven't tested it extensively myself, but my initial research would tend to agree with his findings.

I'll second Jon and recommend you download a trial of Pitstop 6.1 for the conversion if you going to use Pitstop. In addition to the general preferences you should be able to set ICC profile conversion in an action script. I believe you'll have to convert the colorspace before you can apply the CMYK ICC tag (not positive on that one - don't have Pitstop in front of me at the moment). I'm not terribly familiar with Pitstop 5.03.


Out of curiousity, why isn't Photoshop a practical solution in this case? Getting an error during the import?

[DCurry]

Originally Posted by Kakuzo

I believe you'll have to convert the colorspace before you can apply the CMYK ICC tag (not positive on that one - don't have Pitstop in front of me at the moment). I'm not terribly familiar with Pitstop 5.03.


Out of curiousity, why isn't Photoshop a practical solution in this case? Getting an error during the import?

Converting the colorspace beforehand won't solve the problem - that's when Pitstop's crappy conversion happens, and then I'd just be tagging a crappy image, which is what I'm trying to avoid. (You'd think I'd come up with a more descriptive term than "crappy", wouldn't you?)

The reason using Edit Image to open the images in Photoshop is not practical is this job has tons of images that basically tile together, and it would be too easy to miss some of them, plus it would take longer than I want to dedicate to it. I was able to just open the whole darn thing in Photoshop and convert it there, but if this had been a text-heavy job, I wouldn't want to do that because I don't want rasterized type. I'm aware of all the possible workarounds, but I was just seeing if I could get Pitstop to do the heavy lifting for me.

I'll try it with the demo of the latest version and see if it is any better. Thanks, guys.

[ddbray]

Have you tried Quiet a Box of Tricks? i downloaded the demo file and have been experimenting with it. Thus far i like it better than Pitstop for making global changes. I have converted several RGB to CMYK using the US Sheetfed Coated V2 profile and I am pleased with the result so far.

[j_bessant]

Yes - I was aware of that thread .. and yes, Pitstop is not brilliant at converting colourspaces.

It is not a *can-do-it-all* application - but for 'better-than-RGB- conversion it is OK.

I am no colour expert - I would recommend Gretag or similar colour specialised solutions if its pure colour management you require.

Cheers,

Jon

[Kakuzo]

Originally Posted by DCurry

(You'd think I'd come up with a more descriptive term than "crappy", wouldn't you?)

No need. Crappy sums it up nicely.

[jjsportz]

Ill have to agree with ddbray in using Quite a box of Tricks. If you have a good icc profile, the conversion comes out fine.

[cari]

wouldn't assigning similar ICC within PitStop preferences for colour achieve the same during conversion?

I thought PitStop would look at those settings (if enabled, and they aren't by default I think) when converting RGB to CMYK.

[trap]

I have QABOT (Quite a Box of Tricks) on both macs and pcs and the results are fantastic, not only at converting RGB to CMYK, but also converting everything to grayscale when I have received PDF that need to be grayscale only and had RGBs on it.

Good luck.