Okay, so you want to setup color management in Pitstop. So what's going on with Pitstop? A lot! Well, here we go! Pitstop by default essentially uses the same method of separation as Photoshop does using "maximum GCR". Have you ever wondered why the images come out flat when converting from RGB to CMYK? That's what happens when you use "maximum GCR". You are replacing as much color as you can by using black. That's great if you are converting type and line art. Not so good for images (unless they are black and white!).

So what to do? Easy! Get color managed! Now, where do we start? Everything starts in Photoshop. I know, you're saying "But I'm working in Acrobat??". You're right, you are. But Photoshop can do something for us that Acrobat can't do. Heck Illustrator and InDesign can't either. But what we do here will work EVERYWHERE else in your color managed workflow in one way or another.

Adobe Photoshop

1. Open up "color settings"
2. Click "advanced mode

Here's where you need to tweak the settings to fit your situation.

3. RGB - pick your working RGB space. On a Mac, it "should" be Adobe RGB(1998) as on Windows. For Windows you might want to pick "sRGB" if you want to follow Microsoft's suggestion or use a consumer grade digital camera and are working with images from that camera..

4. CMYK - pick your preferred CMYK space. For me, I chose US Sheetfed Coated v2. You're choice will vary based on your workflow(s) and stocks.

5. Gray - the "options" are basically only various amounts of dot gain. Nah, those aren't the only options! Who says we're running 20% dot gain? I want the dot gain built into my ICC profile. So what do you do? Click on one of the values and you will see a drop down menu. What we want to do is go to the top of the menu and choose "Load Gray". Pick the same profile you chose for your CMYK space. You'll see it show up as "Black Ink - (profile name)". Now, click on it again but this time choose "Save Gray". Yes, you want to save it! Make sure you save the new profile in the same place as the other profiles you have. For you Mac users you should put them in /Library/ColorSync/Profiles. Windows users, save them any where then navigate to the profile. Once you find the profile, right click and choose "install".

6. Spot - Same as above. Why do I only want to choose various amounts of dot gain? Right! You don't! So now you want to "Load Gray". The profile you want is the "Black Ink - xxx" profile you just saved in step 5. So, when you're all done it should look something like below. Now don't forget to click the "Save" button because we'll wan to use this EXACT same workflow in all your Adobe apps. When you save the workflow (.csf) you want to save it in:

/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Color/Settings/ for you Mac users. Windows users, you can leave it in its default folder.

One note about Black Point Compensation. Black Point Compensation essentially helps to map the blacks from one profile into another without cramming them in there. It's the kinder, gentler way of mapping blacks. You milage may vary depending on your tastes and the subject matter. Remember; Test, test again, test some more.

 

Don't forget to stop by my Enfocus forums! You can also email me direct at support )@( mattbeals )dot( com