Ink Weight & Color Management in Corel X5

Kat posted on Tue, Sep 7 2010 21:59

rated by 0 users

Hi Guys,

I know that this topic has been discussed before; I've been through the forum posts, but it hasn't helped me in fixing the situation I'm in now.

In my job, I have to do the real estate pages for the property week for two separate real estates, then I convert the files to .PDF and send it to the local paper.  Ever since we upgraded to Corel X5, I've had nothing but a world of trouble with the photos showing up too dark and it's driving me insane trying to fix the problem.

The paper is telling me that the total ink weight (or TIC) is too high, that it should be set to 230%.  My first question, naturally is, where should it be set?  Where in Corel is the option to reduce the ink weight to 230%? I've had a look through the help files and through this forum which lead me to color management.

I am using the color proof settings dock and I had hoped that playing with the colour management settings would assist me in limiting the ink weight.  Currently, it's set to simulate U.S. Web Uncoated v2.  I've got "preserve CMYK numbers" selected (whether this is helpful is another thing entirely, I honestly don't know). Normally, I have the rendering intent set to perceptual, however, it hasn't helped me get close to appropriate results, so I'm trying "Relative colorimetric" since it shows the images a lot darker and would presumably simulate the 25% dot gain incurred during printing.

Which leads me to another question, do I need to adjust the dot gain in the color settings to 25% to compensate?  It's currently set 20%.

Also in the .pdf settings, in regards to bitmap downsampling, are there any "magic numbers" which will help to ensure the black is not printing too dark?  The current settings that I've been working with (both prior to and since upgrading to X5):

Color: 300

Grayscale: 300

Monochrome: 300

It's also been suggested that I need to lighten the images manually, removing or lightening shadows and in general washing out the images.  Other than for image correction, is that entirely necessary and if so is there any gauge for what is appropriate and what is going overboard?

I've also been told to switch to working in inDesign, which I wouldn't prefer, but I don't really get the option in the matter; I know how to use both programs, however, am much more fluent with Corel (though I do all major print jobs in inDesign).

I need to know how to make the appropriate settings for the color profile etc, so I'm not constantly sitting there and fiddling with colour levels, though I understand tweaking will always be necessary, but hopefully not to the extent that they're suggesting.

So, In summation:

Total Area Coverage Settings:

• Where can I adjust the settings?
• Is there an equivalent in Corel X5?

Color Management:

• What are the ideal settings for working with newsprint?
• What should the rendering intent be set to for best viewing?

Dot Gain:

• Should this be adjusted to 25%?
• How effective would the results be?

Bitmap Downsampling (when publishing to .pdf):

• What would be the optimal settings to ensure that images don't show up too dark? 
• Is this necessary in fixing the issues with ink weight?

Tweaking Photos Manually:

• How much is too much?
• How crucial is this to Ink Weight issues?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.  I hadn't experienced any issues when using X3, and it's troublesome that so much has apparently changed from one version to the next. 

I'm not industry trained, though I did study Multimedia at University (which had one course in DTP, but that was it), I wasn't aware of all the issues involved in the printing side of it and there was little to no on-the-job training - I've basically had to cobble together my own understanding over the last two years and really don't know much at all about the business end of graphic design.