Color Workflows for Adobe Creative Suite 3

Creating PDFs of proofs and print-ready files

Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) accurately reflect the original design, artwork, and intent. One of the most predictable ways to deliver files bound for press is the PDF/X file standard. PDF/X standard eliminates many of the color, font, and trapping variables that could cause printing problems—such as fonts that aren’t embedded, incorrect color spaces, missing images, and overprinting and trapping issues. (For more information, see PDF/X files and Adobe Creative Suite 3).

To create a PDF file for your print provider, choose from one of its various PDF/X formats, depending on your workflow.

For a CMYK commercial print workflow, choose from these options to create a CMYK PDF file:

• If all content is CMYK or spot colors, use the PDF/X-1a standard, which converts all non-CMYK content to the document’s CMYK profile.
• If your artwork has transparent artwork, effects, or layers that you want to preserve, choose PDF/X-4.
• If RGB content will be converted to CMYK later, choose PDF/X-3.

For a mixed RGB-CMYK print workflow, use the PDF/X-3 standard. A superset of PDF/X-1a, PDF/X-3 supports color-managed workflows and treats RGB images as device independent if enough information is included. PDF/X-3 is useful for transferring data in CIELab or RGB color spaces, with conversion to CMYK occurring later.

To create a CMYK PDF file from InDesign CS3:

1. Choose File > Export.
2. Select Format: Adobe PDF, and then click Save to display the Export Adobe PDF dialog box (Figure 15).

    

   

   Figure 15. You can choose a standard Adobe PDF preset from the Export Adobe PDF dialog box.

3. In the Export Adobe PDF dialog box, choose an option from the Adobe PDF Preset pop-up menu:
   • PDF/X-1a:2001 to create a PDF file in which all content is CMYK or spot color, without any RGB data. Any RGB content will be converted to the document CMYK color space as defined in the Destination menu. This conversion does not impact a CMYK print workflow, because all content in the InDesign CS3 document already is CMYK.

   The PDF/X-1a standard does not permit embedded profiles in the body of the PDF file.

   • PDF/X-4 if your CMYK artwork has transparent artwork, effects, or layers that you want to preserve.

   Choosing a PDF/X standard automatically sets an Output Intent Profile in the Output pane (Figure 16) that uses the document’s CMYK profile.

   

   Figure 16. The PDF/X-1a format converts all data contained in the document, except spot color, to CMYK.

4. To view the Output settings, select Output in the left pane.

   To preserve CMYK color numbers and avoid unwanted conversions, keep the defaults (color conversion as Convert to Destination (Preserve Color Numbers) and the destination profile as Document CMYK—U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2).

5. Click Export to create the PDF document.

To create a mixed RGB and CMYK PDF file:

1. Choose File > Export.
2. Select Format: Adobe PDF, and then click Save.
3. In the Export Adobe PDF dialog box, choose PDF/X-3 from Adobe PDF Preset menu (Figure 17).

    

   

   Figure 17. The PDF/X-3 format permits embedded profiles in the body of the PDF.

4. To view the output options, select Output (Figure 18) in the left pane of the dialog box.

   For the PDF/X-3 preset, No Color Conversion is the default. This setting preserves content in the RGB and CMYK modes, without changing the color numbers. Profiles for RGB and CMYK content are included in the PDF/X-3 file so that the PDF file can be more easily repurposed to different output devices later in the workflow.

   

   Figure 18. For the PDF/X-3 preset, PDF Export automatically sets Color Conversion to No Color Conversion.

5. Click Export to create the PDF document.

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