April 1999 CorelNews

RGB or Superblack Text
Duotones & graphics containing spot colors
Portable Document Format (PDF)
Lens Effects... effects
Trapping
Color Management
Preflight
Powerful Imposition Capabilities
Time Savers and other mentionables
Tech Support Tales From Our Database

RGB or Superblack Text

This and similar concerns were surprisingly quite common. A particular problem was posed when outputting color separations in expecting the `black’ text to only appear on the black plate when it spans all process plates. This essentially creates `superblack’ due to the way the text is mapped from RGB to CMYK gamuts. The real issue here is why there is superblack text in a file in the first place - to which we assume that many are using the Windows clipboard to place text into DRAW which results in it being mapped into the RGB space. One suggestion was to use CorelDRAW’s Find/Replace feature so that these objects can more easily be converted to 100 K when necessary. Moreover, to resolve this issue in DRAW 9, these superblack clipboard objects are forced to the black plate as 100 per cent black, which should alleviate the concern in the beginning.

Another common concern is that of duotones – either bitmaps containing spot colors or even spot-to-spot fountain filled objects. These objects are truly unique and pose particular problems when attempting to output or transfer to other applications. An object with a spot-to-spot fountain fill (gradient) created in CorelDRAW 8 for example, will output to the appropriate spot plates when sent to a postscript device directly from CorelDRAW. There are however, exceptions that are described in the section on Lens below. Besides providing percise color control the use of Spot colors in jobs is usuarlly to minimize the number of colors in a jobs and therefore save money at print time.

PDF is certainly a standard that is emerging in the prepress and printing industry and Corel’s commitment to this format is obvious in the upcoming release of CorelDRAW, which offers a powerful Publish to PDF capability. Those of you with Postscript 3 RIPs should find this new feature particularly appealing. The recently released PDF 1.3 spec. from Adobe should make this format even more attractive and usable for professionals.

Corel’s QA department reports that testing results thus far have proven not only comparable to PDF files generated using Adobe’s Acrobat Distiller, but in some cases superior. Even bookmarks and web links can be maintained when publishing to PDF from CorelDRAW. Even when PS files are Distilled, as long as the appropriate PDF tag options are enabled when CorelDRAW created the Postscript PRN file, this information will be maintained. Last but not least, CorelDRAW 9 offers options for Job Ticketing when outputting to PDF. As workflows gradually adopt and implement job ticketing this should become an increasing popular feature.

Lens effects have been around a long while in CorelDRAW, and provide designers with the capability of easily applying various effects to images such as magnification, color transforms and allow for the transparencies which are evident in CorelDRAW’s drop shadows. What is important to remember about Lens effects is that they must render the underlying object colors in RGB space. This shouldn’t pose a problem for 4-color work assuming color manager is properly configured for the output device being used. Based on this, issues can arise when underlying objects contain Spot colors which would be rendered to process color and therefore jeapordize a 2-color job for example. Later versions of CorelDRAW monitor such activity by providing users with pop-up warnings for when:

• A transparent object interacts with a Spot color
• A drop shadow interacts with a Spot Color
• Applying lens effects to Duotones

These warnings however don’t limit users from applying these effects, but rather make users aware of that there are consequences to this effect. The consequences may include the possibility of an increased number of color separations that the job will produce, subsequently introducing the potential for color discrepancies between the rendered area (process color) and the unrendered (Spot color) areas.

The Auto-trapping options in CorelDRAW are quite powerful although they are limited when compared to third-party automated trapping applications like Imation’s Trapwise or Ultimate Technographics’ Trapeze. Over-printing fills, outlines, and auto-spreading are essentially the extent of CorelDRAW’s trapping technology. Limitations such as the ability to trap text over fountain filled objects or even bitmaps would still require a third party color trapping application. The good news is, this kind of trapping isn’t always necessary for all files and even if it is - CorelDRAW files can easily be transferred to such programs as mentioned above. In the latest revision of CorelDRAW 8, this could be accomplished by exporting the pages as EPS files and then taking that into

Trapwise or other similar applications. CorelDRAW 9's compatibility goes even further by offering the option to directly output to Device Independent Postscript files which can be used to easily transport jobs to such trapping applications. Additionally a new auto-trapping option was added in CorelDRAW 9, allowing the ability to either Preserve object overprints, or not. This can be useful when you want to ignore any designated fill or outline overprints that may be present within the CorelDRAW file.

This is obviously an area of great concern to professional CorelDRAW users as it is necessary to help keep colors consistent not only in output but on-screen and throughout a file’s entire workflow. Kodak’s Digital Science technology and distributor’s ICC profiles are the backbone of Corel’s Color management. As ICC profiles are being created and recreated with even better quality, users can be more confident of their color being consistent. The key note to remember here is that the color transforms only come into play when colors need to be mapped from one gamut to another and that this is done on a device (profile) to device (profile) basis. Moreover, this process is only as good as the profiles and devices themselves. CorelDRAW 9 includes 100's of quality ICC profiles that can now be embedded in supported file formats such as. CDR, CPT, TIFF which will help make colors consistent across other application as well. Additionally, in an upcoming professional edition of CorelDRAW 9 - Heidelberg’s ColorOPEN Lite Color Management solution will be included which allows for professional device calibration and ICC profile creation.

One last important point about CorelDRAW 9's color management is that it is based on a standard internal RGB color space that can be changed if needed to other known internal spaces such as SMTPE, NTSC, Barco D65, CorelDRAW 5-6-7, sRGB, or even profiles for specific devices.

Having the ability to predict and detect potential output problems with CorelDRAW files is specifically addressed in CorelDRAW 9's built-in Preflighting. Previously in CorelDRAW 8 you could be notified when many fonts were going to be downloaded or when banding could occur, etc. By providing a separate Issues (Preflight) tab in CorelDRAW 9's print engine, many more issues are checked by analyzing the current job and producing a report of print issues ranging from non-severe informational warnings to high-severity issues. Some examples of the almost two dozen issues checked include:

• plates at same screen angles
• white objects set to overprint
• images rotated to angles other than 0, 90, 180, 270
• similarly named inks that will print on sep. plates
• images or marks not fittings in media’s printable area

There are also many more as well, some of which are only applicable to those sending to postscript level 1 devices.

CorelDRAW’s expanded imposition and layout capabilities created the biggest response for attendees at the show. In fact, the demonstration of creating a complex layout and saving this for future use (like a template) all from within CorelDRAW’s print preview screen was a pleasant surprise to most. Anyone in the business of quickly running off such things as 10-up business cards for example, would really appreciate this timing saving feature. No more copy-pasting of images or bringing the job into another DTP application is required. Moreover, CorelDRAW 9 adds the ability for independent gutter spacing, fold/cut marks, multiple page sizes and capability to include separate CorelDRAW files into one layout.

Time Savers and other mentionables

1. Image resolution is a concept that still seems to mystify many users and as a result, files typically contain images of either lower or higher resolutions than required. In other cases, bitmaps within a file need to be up- or down- sampled. (i.e. useful when proofing) CorelDRAW 9 allows for such resampling to be accomplished at print time by simply specifying separate values for all grayscale, monochrome and color bitmaps.
2. Another great time saver or troubleshooting option introduced in CorelDRAW 9 is the ability to Rasterize Entire Page for output. This print option takes this burden away from the RIP itself, or may be used to simulate a RIP on the workstation.
3. The Service Bureau Profiler has been expanded in CorelDRAW 9 to include the newer print options available within it. (ie., Device Independent Postscript) A collect for output option is also available which will compile all associated files (fonts, linked images) and job info sheets that are to be submitted to a service bureau. Whether a specific service bureau profile is used or whether files are simply collected for output, this should certainly save time for both the end user and the service provider when submitting CorelDRAW jobs.
4. The inclusion of Microsoft’s Visual Basic for Applications with CorelDRAW 9 greatly improves the potential for program automation and integration.

Problem: Customer wanted output color separations with MS-Publisher files using CorelDRAW.
Resolution: MS Publisher’s proprietary file format doesn’t allow for it to be imported directly into CorelDRAW, so the information must be transfered using the Windows clipboard or by using a common alternative file format. One method is outlined in a Microsoft Publisher support document found at: http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q140/7/15.asp

Method:

1. Apple menu, control panels, choose extensions manager, the default set is called My Settings.
2. On bottom right hand side of extension manager window, click on "duplicate set button" rename set, " Installer "
3. Once set has been renamed, in extension manager window, locate the control panel folder. If folder has a minus sign beside it, click on the minus sign to change it to an X, meaning all control panels on. Click on the X to remove checkmark from control panel folder, and this will effectively disable all control panels.
4. Next step, locate the Extensions folder in the extensions manager window and again repeat same process as above to turn off all extensions. Once all extensions are off, locate and turn on the Apple CD/DVD driver by placing a checkmark beside this extension. Locate an extension called Foreign File Access, turn on by same method as above and also make sure to enable appropriate printer extensions if customer has a printer connected to system.
5. Once all above steps have been performed, click on the restart button to restart using the new set called `installer’. Use the "Installer" set to install all Macintosh software on a G3 running O/S 8.5 to acheive a `clean’ installation. Once the software has been installed, locate Graphics 8 folder on HD, open folder contents, highlight draw 8 icon, file, get info, memory and then allocate more memory to application.
   - Minimum size, set to 30000 KB and maximum size 45000 KB .
   - Make sure that virtual memory is enabled, go to Apple menu, control panels, memory, enable radio button beside virtual memory on.
6. Reboot the Mac after enabling virtual memory.
   - If application launches OK, return to extensions manager and select set called `My Settings’ to restart with the original extensions.

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