How to use Pantone colours with Scribus: Difference between revisions

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==Spot colors==
#redirect [[How to use spot colours with Scribus]]
 
Spot colors are colors made from pure ink, rather than being a mixture of the
primary colors of CMYK (or other color space).
 
Spot colors may be desired for two reasons:
 
- economy: if the document to print contains less than the number of primary
(4 in the case of CMYK) it may be less expensive to use spot colors than to
render them as a mixture of the primaries
 
- quality: it isn't allways possible equal a certain color with a mixture of
inks
 
More on spot colors can be found here:
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spot_color
 
The PDF specification supports the concept of spot color. In terms of PDF
information a spot color is merely a color reference which is defined by a
name. This name is supposed to be known and will determine how the color is
printed.  A PDF spot color also includes the RGB/CMYK information to be used
in cases where spor colors are not supported, eg, viewing the file with a PDF
reader.
 
More on PDF spot colors here:
 
http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/pdf/PDFReference16.pdf
 
(see pages 234 and 532)
 
Scribus provides a way to generate PDFs with spot colors: it is as simple as
checking the corresponding checkbox on the Color Editor.
 
==Pantone colors==
 
The Pantone color set is a list of colors maintained by a company with the
same name. To each color corresponds a name assigned by Pantone.
 
The Pantone set exists only on paper. There is no such thing as "on screen
Pantone colors".
 
In terms of software, Pantone colors are treated as spot colors. To produce a
document with Pantone colors, one must:
 
1 - choose the colors on a Pantone color table
2 - mark the colors used in the document as spot colors, and assign the the
correct Pantone names.
3 - assign them RBG or CMYK values (optional: doesn't affect how the final
result comes from the press...)
4 - generate the PDF leaving the option "Convert spot colors to process
colors" unchecked
5 - handle the PDF file to a print shop that supports Pantone
 
Although the Pantone color table contains and RGB triplet for each color, the
way the color looks on screen (either on Scribus or on the generated PDF) is
irrelevant, because it will be printed according to its name.
 
Of course, it's better if the document on screen is as closer as possible
(this doesn't mean very close) to the final one, so assigning RGB values may
help for visualization. If one wants a very rough preview on a regular
printer, the CMYK values from the Pantone table should be assigned instead.
 
Some programs like Quark Express already come with built in list of Pantone
color names and RGB/CMYK "representations". In terms of workflow this feature
eliminates the need for steps 2 and 3. However since there is no real on
screen representation, the most important step, which is step 1, must be
kept.
 
The reason Scribus doesn't have such a table built-in, is caution regarding
potential legal issues with Pantone. However one can build such a table for
personal use and include it on Scribus.rc

Latest revision as of 23:37, 5 May 2006