Conflict - color embedding and prepress

[Dee Holmes]

As a prepress person I've been told to uncheck embeded color profiles/halfotne links...ect. It has caused us problems in the past. (BTW that source was from a major supplier of nevermind)

What does this do to an artist's intended file? Does it shift colors that we're not aware of?

Anyway, this major company tells us not to go with these checked items, so what is the purpose of the artist selecting them if they have to send out their artwork to a printing company?

I now wish I hadn't logged in as I had. {If you get my drift)

Maybe someone can enlighten me and save my job. (I'm just kidding BTW)

[Dee Holmes]

Is this a dumb question to ask?

[Wade_Zimmerman@adobeforums.com]

Dumb question are the usual fair as you have to be a dumb to go into this business in the first place.

I don't know if that is correct and up to date info as things seem to work better these days. However many users that will send you a file probably d not have their color management set to anything in particular and so they probably don't change the default settings when saving and sending you a file.In that case it is irrelevant whether you use the embedded profile.

If you get a file with an embedded and it causes problems easy enough resave the file
and uncheck these options.

If you supply the profiles to the source author of the file and they follow your color management setup and color calibration method it is probably OK especially if they are using raster images in the document although if they use your profile I guess it would not be necessary!

I am not sure why one would need to embed the profile unless it was coming from
a prepress person going to an outside output device.

But I guess John Kallios will correct me on this with his opinions…you know he makes me sick…

[Dee Holmes]

Thanks for answering Wade. I thought I was making all the artist out there angry with my question.

[Wade_Zimmerman@adobeforums.com]

I don't think so I think the embedded profile will only perhaps give the receiver an idea what the sender has past along to the you. I would test to see the difference between what you received and what your custom profiles give you.

[Dee Holmes]

Thanks Wade I'll try that when I have a chance. Our monitors aren't callibrated correctly anyway. I have to print a color proof just to see how it should come out on the press and it's way off from my monitor. We were supposed to get a calibration tool, but it got put on hold because our supplier was trying to talk us into some $2,000 system. Which I said we don't need. Our proofers all all pretty much calabrated to press, we just need our monitors to be. What kind of calibration system do you run?

[Dan_Sroka@adobeforums.com]

Dee,

Embedding a profile (or un-embedding a profile) does not change any of the colors in the file. It only changes how those color get interpreted when the file is printed.

However, I would not recommend that you just ignore the profiles that the artist used. An artist should be assigning one of the standard profiles (such as Adobe RGB) to their work, so that he and you both know where he is coming from, color-wise. This means that they are working in a know color space, instead of just out there in raw color land. This means that you have a better chance of giving them colors that they intended.

Typically prepress hardware/software vendors know the least about this kind of stuff.

Dan

[Dee Holmes]

Thanx, Dan.