URGENT! Duotone Print Problem

[mitchino webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

I have imported two dutone eps files from Photoshop into a Freehand 9 document. The duotones have exactly the same colour and transfer settings. When I print the document to a Canon CLC printer, one of the duotones printa as expected, while the other prints too dark. I've tried just about everything, but to no avail. The duotones are pasted inside paths, and I wonder if there's a bug that causes this.

Mitchino

[mitchino webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

It seems it may be something to do with the way the duotone files are saved from Photoshop. If I save them with transfer function included, the problem occurs, one prints normally and the other too dark. If I save them without transfer function, both print too dark. So now I have consistency, but incorrect colour!

[sleepygal webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

Do u mean the freehand colour and your paste photoshop colour is different when you print them out?

[Judy Arndt]

mitchino wrote:

> It seems it may be something to do with the way the duotone files are saved
> from Photoshop. If I save them with transfer function included, the problem
> occurs, one prints normally and the other too dark. If I save them without
> transfer function, both print too dark. So now I have consistency, but
> incorrect colour!

Transfer function is supposed to lighten or darken an image. It's like
applying a gamma curve. Do you need it or don't you?

Judy Arndt

[David Soltess]

"mitchino" [email]webforumsuser@macromedia.com[/email] wrote:

> I have imported two dutone eps files from Photoshop into a Freehand 9 document. The duotones have exactly the same colour and transfer settings. When I print the document to a Canon CLC printer, one of the duotones printa as expected, while the other prints too dark. I've tried just about everything, but to no avail. The duotones are pasted inside paths, and I wonder if there's a bug that causes this.
>
> Mitchino
>
>

I guess my question first would be why use duotones if you want to print
to a composite colour printer? A duotone by its very nature is intended
for 2-ink offset printing. If you want the 'look' of a dutone but are
not intending to reproduce them using 2-ink printing, why not try
converting them to cmyk & using them that way?

Other things you don't proffer: how do the original duotones compare to
each other in PShop? Are they the same tonally there to start with? In
newsletters, etc. where I use lots of duotones, I find it necessary to
adjust the ink curves for many of them individually in order to make
them visually similar to other duotones appearing in the same
publication. The function of a duotone is primarily to add tonal range &
depth by "extending" the available tones using 2 inks, and not just a
decorative touch. Predominantly darker pix will look quite different
from average or predominantly light toned pix unless you tweak those ink
curves.

If you are using the Canon printer as a 'soft proofer' for a job
intended for lith printing, you may be better off checking the duotones
out of PShop to see how they are printing. Otherwise, maybe try turning
off the FH color management & seeing if that makes a difference.

As for transfer functions, in addition to Judy's comments about
"lightening and darkening", I'd add that transfer functions are really
designed to maintain custom tonal settings to compensate for dot
gain/loss in various applications (one example being screen printing,
such as for cd printing, where the screener specifies varying dot
percentages for dots in various areas, like 83% instead of 90% shadow or
17% instead of 10%, to compensate for screening-specific dot gain/loss
in those areas.

DS

[Brian Pylant]

"mitchino" [email]webforumsuser@macromedia.com[/email] wrote:

> It seems it may be something to do with the way the duotone files are
> saved from Photoshop. If I save them with transfer function included,
> the problem occurs, one prints normally and the other too dark. If I
> save them without transfer function, both print too dark. So now I
> have consistency, but incorrect colour!
>
>
>

We have documented an incompatibility between duotones saved from PS7
and our Canon CLC / Fiery - the Canon is Pantone-certified, but only
prints fairly accurate color from duotone EPSs saved from PS5; PS6 and 7
both embed something in the EPS which causes the Canon to print incorrectly.

As expected, both companies blame the other for the problem.

Brian

[mitchino webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

Thanks Brian,

I reckon it's a problem with the RIP on the Canon. Maybe you can help with my new problem - see today's postings.

Mitch

[Brian Pylant]

"mitchino" [email]webforumsuser@macromedia.com[/email] wrote:

> Thanks Brian,
>
> I reckon it's a problem with the RIP on the Canon.

Actually I'm thinking the opposite -- the RIP has remained the same, but
the version of Photoshop changed. In any event, there's definitely some
incompatibility there, that no one wants to take credit for or help resolve.