[Scribus] pantone colors

[Christoph Schäfer]

Hi Gustavo,

Am Freitag, 5. Mai 2006 02:45 schrieb Gustavo Homem:
> Hi Christoph,
>
> [...]
>
> > > do the above steps enable me to produce a PDF which contains the right
> > > indications for a "print shop" to produce Pantone colors for me?
> >
> > Yes.
> >
> > > (even if I had to look them up on a book, and the representation
> > > manually I picked for them on the screen is not very faithful)
> > >
> > > Can I hand over such PDF and expect them to understand it, with no
> > > further questions asked?
> >
> > "With no further questions asked" is always a bad idea. Success in
> > printing has a lot do with communication between human beings, since
> > there are hundreds of uncertainties. It's almost the same as asking a
> > doctor for help by describing shortly what you think is wrong with you.
>
> seems that I picked the wrong words there.... what I want to know, is if
> such a PDF can be automatically interpreted by their workflow, if the
> colors have correct Pantone names and are marked as spot colors.

Yes, it can.

>
> > > > > If so, the missing bit is an algorithm to display them "correctly"
> > > > > on screen, right?
> > > >
> > > > No ink colour can be displayed "correctly" on screen. It is possible
> > > > to come cery close, but accuracy is almost impossible.
> > >
> > > I am aware of that, that's why I used the "". I suppose "very close" is
> > > what programs that claim Pantone support do...
> >
> > They don't even do that. Read the disclaimers!
> >
> > > Can you explain the difference between a spot colour and a non-spot
> > > color in terms of what is stored on the PDF?
> >
> > A spot colour is stored as a separate colour (only the name of the
> > colour) in the PDF file, whereas a process colour is stored in CMYK/RGB
> > values.
>
> aha! Then why is it that when I marked as color as spot and gave it a
> foobar name Acrobat still rendered it?  If only the name was there, it
> shouldn't , I think.

Because in reality, you defined a RGB/CMYK colour and only marked it as a spot 
colour, which is totally independent from the values you entered. You can 
define a blue colour, choose a red one from a colour book, enter the name, 
define it as a spot colour, and the printer will use use red, while you see 
blue on your screen or on a print from your inkjet.

>
> > The
> > developers will be able to explain the technical details better than I ;)
> >
> > > Sorry for not understanding at first :-)
> >
> > You need special software for this. AFAICT, none of them is available for
> > Linux yet :(
>
> but this list does a god job anyway.

That's what it's for :)
>
> Best regards
> Gustavo
>
Cheers,

Christoph