Print output from AI is terrible

[fast-lane-graphics]

Ok all, I have searched till my head hurt! I have been at this for 2 years working in Flexi and Photoshop, and printing on my versicamm 540 thru versaworks with great quality and results. Recently I have been learning AI and doing some test prints and the colors are very bad. The blues are purple, none of the colors are vibrant, and the blacks are all brown. I corrected it some by adding some CMYK values in versaworks, but then it has an adverse effect on other colors. I have printed many test swatches working with material settings and such, and just cannot get it.

When starting a new file in AI I am setting it to RGB color mode, and assigning Adobe rgb 1998 color profile to the image. It looks great on the screen ( and yes I understand the difference between RGB monitors and CMYK printers) but when it prints, none of the glows, shadows, or effects even look right... on top of the off colors. I can continue doing great prints working in Flexi and PS but sure would like to get the same output from AI as it is much faster. I can layout a job in flexi, shade it in PS and print it fine; if I take that same file thru AI to add effects instead of going thru PS the colors go bad.

Sorry for the long post, just wanted to try to explain the problem as best I could. Thanks for any help.

Chad

 

[J Hill Designs]

what mode/profile do you use in PS?

 

[fast-lane-graphics]

When I would import from flexi to PS everything came in as CMYK color mode, and profile (which I had never checked before) is working CMYK US Web Coated (swop)v2

To be honest I have not tried setting the profiles to that in AI as I was always told to design in RGB in AI. I will try that now and see what happens.

Not sure if it matters but the photoshop I was using is CS2, now I am using CS4 AI.

thanks again.

 

[TresL]

I use AI (RGB)to Versaworks for prints.
and use the Roland spot colors.

CMYK to RGB in AI makes a huge color swing.

 

[fast-lane-graphics]

When I would import from flexi to PS everything came in as CMYK color mode, and profile (which I had never checked before) is working CMYK US Web Coated (swop)v2

To be honest I have not tried setting the profiles to that in AI as I was always told to design in RGB in AI. I will try that now and see what happens.

Not sure if it matters but the photoshop I was using is CS2, now I am using CS4 AI.

thanks again.

That was even worse.

 

[fast-lane-graphics]

I use AI (RGB)to Versaworks for prints.
and use the Roland spot colors.

CMYK to RGB in AI makes a huge color swing.

YGM Tres, thanks bro. I knew I should have emailed you a few days ago.

 

[fast-lane-graphics]

That was a little better, but still not near the same output I am used to.

 

[sjm]

Ok all, I have searched till my head hurt! I have been at this for 2 years working in Flexi and Photoshop, and printing on my versicamm 540 thru versaworks with great quality and results. Recently I have been learning AI and doing some test prints and the colors are very bad. The blues are purple, none of the colors are vibrant, and the blacks are all brown. I corrected it some by adding some CMYK values in versaworks, but then it has an adverse effect on other colors. I have printed many test swatches working with material settings and such, and just cannot get it.

When starting a new file in AI I am setting it to RGB color mode, and assigning Adobe rgb 1998 color profile to the image. It looks great on the screen ( and yes I understand the difference between RGB monitors and CMYK printers) but when it prints, none of the glows, shadows, or effects even look right... on top of the off colors. I can continue doing great prints working in Flexi and PS but sure would like to get the same output from AI as it is much faster. I can layout a job in flexi, shade it in PS and print it fine; if I take that same file thru AI to add effects instead of going thru PS the colors go bad.

Sorry for the long post, just wanted to try to explain the problem as best I could. Thanks for any help.

Chad

What settings did you use in Flexi and PhotoShop?

 

[fast-lane-graphics]

What settings did you use in Flexi and PhotoShop?

cmyk colors in flexi, then I would just open them in PS so they were still CMYK. I always just saved with the default settings in PS which is the CMYK US Web SWOP profile. Output was AWESOME! I have even tried opening a new CMYK document in AI, using the base Adobe Color Palette, and using the same profile as I used to in PS and it still prints terrible.

 

[sjm]

cmyk colors in flexi, then I would just open them in PS so they were still CMYK. I always just saved with the default settings in PS which is the CMYK US Web SWOP profile. Output was AWESOME! I have even tried opening a new CMYK document in AI, using the base Adobe Color Palette, and using the same profile as I used to in PS and it still prints terrible.

What profile is Flexi using as a default. You are aware the SWOP Profile reduces the colour gamut as it is intended for press output? Which has a narrower colour gamut.