Separations Preview Question ...CMYK Mode

[perplexed82]

Hello all -

I am doing an assignment for class and I have to print out color separation "plates" onto paper as part of my assignment. I am using Indesign CS4, and under the Separations Preview panel, I have CMYK selected, which looks like: CMYK, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black, with boxes checked or unchecked next to the respective color.

My question is when I only have one (for instance, just the Cyan or just the Magenta) checked, the preview is in gray scale. When I have selected the Cyan (or any other color for that matter) PLUS the Black, then it looks like what I thought was "right" i.e.

See attached screen shots. Is this correct, or am I missing something?

Thanks in advance!

Amanda
http://i35.tinypic.com/qy93br.jpg
http://i37.tinypic.com/23vymnt.jpg

[artgem1984]

look under 'output' in your actual print menu (ie when you go to file>print)

[eugenetyson]

See the little down arrow on the top right of the "Separations Preview" panel.

Hit that and turn off "Show Single Plates as Black"

But be aware that is just a Preview, not a mode.

So you need to go to File>Print

in the Output section you can choose Separations.

[eugenetyson]

And you may not be able to select your normal desktop printer, so choose Adobe PDF or some other printer that will allow printing of the separations. If you make a pdf of the seps you will have to print from acrobat (obv.)

[eugenetyson]

And, they will show up on different plates, don't mind the black preview.

[perplexed82]

Awesome, thank you guys for your help so much! :)

[perplexed82]

Eugenetyson,

You said, don't mind the black preview... I am guessing this means that after I printed these to PDF, they were just black and white pages of Cyan, Magenta, etc. rather than the colors themselves, correct? Because theoretically it's a "negative"? OR should they be printing in their actual colors?

Would you mind looking at my PDF and telling me if this is how it is supposed to look? It is supposed to only "print" 4 pages, right? http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B7_ac_tpsvT3ZjMzMGUxYzQtMTA1Mi00ZGY2L Tg1MjUtNmJkZTc4OWE1YWFj&hl=en
Thanks :)

I REALLY appreciate your help!!

Amanda

[artgem1984]

Eugenetyson,

You said, don't mind the black preview... I am guessing this means that after I printed these to PDF, they were just black and white pages of Cyan, Magenta, etc. rather than the colors themselves, correct? Because theoretically it's a "negative"? OR should they be printing in their actual colors?

Would you mind looking at my PDF and telling me if this is how it is supposed to look? It is supposed to only "print" 4 pages, right? http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B7_ac_tpsvT3ZjMzMGUxYzQtMTA1Mi00ZGY2L Tg1MjUtNmJkZTc4OWE1YWFj&hl=en
Thanks :)

I REALLY appreciate your help!!

Amanda

This is correct.

[eugenetyson]

Yep.

Basically what's happening there is you're "pre-separating" the file. You can do this but generally you send a composite of the file (not separated) to a printers.

That's because you've determined the screen angles, and some printers could have different angles, so it could cause (in theory) hiccups.

The angles, listed below, are typical of lithographic printing, used to avoid moire patterns

C: 75 M:15 Y: 0 K: 5

C:15 M:45 Y:0 K: 75

C:105 M:75 Y:90 K: 15

[perplexed82]

Eugenetyson,

Hey thanks for your help. I really appreciate it! :)

Amanda

[eugenetyson]

C: 75 M:15 Y: 0 K: 5

C:15 M:45 Y:0 K: 75

C:105 M:75 Y:90 K: 15

That K: 5 should be K: 45

[otherthoughts]

Hello all -

I am doing an assignment for class and I have to print out color separation "plates" onto paper as part of my assignment. I am using Indesign CS4, and under the Separations Preview panel, I have CMYK selected, which looks like: CMYK, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black, with boxes checked or unchecked next to the respective color.

My question is when I only have one (for instance, just the Cyan or just the Magenta) checked, the preview is in gray scale. When I have selected the Cyan (or any other color for that matter) PLUS the Black, then it looks like what I thought was "right" i.e.
Before the advent of CTP and Digital Printing, everyone worked with film separations. Film separations are essentially B&W in nature.

Being that film separations were what most people had been used to working with. I suspect that it is for this very reason, that many applications selected for their default's, to set the film separation point of view, rather than the ink's point of view, when displaying one color at a time.

Perhaps a better or more compelling reason is that the film separation view typically conveys much more separation information than the ink color view does when viewed individually. This is especially true with very lightly colored inks.

Take for example the Yellow ink channel. Which of the display modes would be preferable to use for evaluating the image's yellow contrast only? What about the USM settings? You get the idea.

So It's my contention that the film separation(B&W) view is often the superior view, up until a second color channel is mixed in.

When two or more color channels are displayed simultaneously. It would seem foolish for an application to display more than one channel at a time in the B&W film separation mode. So applications naturally switched over to the appropriate ink color modes whenever they were displaying multiple channels.

I have been to several shops that, when color correcting images, they would sometimes load and display each color's channel individually, using the film separation, B&W view. This method helps them to evaluate and determine the best possible gradation and USM settings to deploy for each and every individual color. This technique often maximized an image's overall contrast while minimizing the introduction of any new defects.

I should also note that this individual channel method of editing was typically implemented upstream to the introduction of any UCR/GCR applications in their workflow's,.

I should also apologize here for being a bit long winded, especially seeing as how the OP's questions have been more than adequately addressed by the many talented members posting thus far. There is no doubt in my mind that their many "how to" responses, are by far, much more to the point, than my feeble attempt to address an esoteric "why" question.

Best Regards
OtherThoughts

[jimking]

Before the advent of CTP and Digital Printing, everyone worked with film separations. Film separations are essentially B&W in nature.

Being that film separations were what most people had been used to working with. I suspect that it is for this very reason, that many applications selected for their default's, to set the film separation point of view, rather than the ink's point of view, when displaying one color at a time.

Perhaps a better or more compelling reason is that the film separation view typically conveys much more separation information than the ink color view does when viewed individually. This is especially true with very lightly colored inks.

Take for example the Yellow ink channel. Which of the display modes would be preferable to use for evaluating the image's yellow contrast only? What about the USM settings? You get the idea.

So It's my contention that the film separation(B&W) view is often the superior view, up until a second color channel is mixed in.

When two or more color channels are displayed simultaneously. It would seem foolish for an application to display more than one channel at a time in the B&W film separation mode. So applications naturally switched over to the appropriate ink color modes whenever they were displaying multiple channels.

I have been to several shops that, when color correcting images, they would sometimes load and display each color's channel individually, using the film separation, B&W view. This method helps them to evaluate and determine the best possible gradation and USM settings to deploy for each and every individual color. This technique often maximized an image's overall contrast while minimizing the introduction of any new defects.

I should also note that this individual channel method of editing was typically implemented upstream to the introduction of any UCR/GCR applications in their workflow's,.

I should also apologize here for being a bit long winded, especially seeing as how the OP's questions have been more than adequately addressed by the many talented members posting thus far. There is no doubt in my mind that their many "how to" responses, are by far, much more to the point, than my feeble attempt to address an esoteric "why" question.

Best Regards
OtherThoughts
I do agree with you otherthoughts. Having handled film for decades and always think and see in "separation" in both film and plates I catch myself from saying things to others about not catching errors on plate and film before press. Another words what's obvious to me isn't to most.