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• • May 30, 2012 at 3:12 pm #62308
    Alan Gilbertson

    Participant

    Here's an oddity. I've not tested this in any of my earlier versions of InDesign, but in CS6 I have a grayscale image placed as an illustration. It's black only (the page is blank with the black plate turned off in Separations Preview), but… if I have CMYK, or K with any other plate enabled in the preview, the image looks like this:

    

    Deselect all of C M and Y and it looks like this (note how much darker it is):

    

    Any clues as to what that's about? It's not a big deal, but it's a curiosity. Curiosities bug me…

  • May 30, 2012 at 7:46 pm #62311
    Bob Rubey

    Member

    Alan,

    Perhaps the grayscale image is being affected by the Appearance of Black preference? Just guessing….

    Bob

  • May 30, 2012 at 9:04 pm #62312
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    Other things I'd check: whether overprint preview is on; whether there is transparency on the spread; whether you've cleaned your glasses ;) ; whether you have RGB or CMYK transparency blend space selected… hm…

  • May 31, 2012 at 7:41 am #62318
    Alan Gilbertson

    Participant

    Lessee… glasses clean — check. No transparency (first thing I thought of, too, although in this case there's no reason it would make a difference).

    As for overprint preview, that's inevitable. You can't be in separations preview mode with it turned off, and you can't turn it off without exiting separations preview. (Try it!)

    The document is a book chapter, thoroughly CMYK, with certficates, blend space and celebrity endorsements to prove it. And I made this illustration grayscale. So that's out.

    It's just odd, and the fact that there's no logic behind it whatsoever tickles my sensible bone, which hasn't talked to my funny bone in years.

    @Bob: Appearance of Black ought not to factor in. Why would it change because one plate (with no coverage) is turned off or on in seps preview? But, for the record, one of the first things I do with a new install is change the defaults to “Accurately”. Print designers who don't do that can make embarrassing mistakes…

  • May 31, 2012 at 9:12 am #62321
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    Well, Alan, it was good to see you at pepcon… you must have been inspired because now you win a prize… I don't know what it is… maybe a swift kick in the behind! ;)

    I have tried it, and can reproduce it perfectly. It happens in CS5.5, too, so it's not new.

    Is not affected by appearance of black, proof colors, and a half-dozen other things I tried. It even does it when I apply a new 100%K swatch to the image (instead of using [Black] )

    I will inquire. I agree that it's not likely a problem, but it's a great mystery!

  • May 31, 2012 at 12:07 pm #62325
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    Our friend Marijan Tompa answered: “Tick off 'Show Single Plates in Black' under Separations Preview panel menu.”

    YES!

    Now, why ID would display “black” as “black” any differently than “black” is still kind of weird, but at least we're one step closer to understanding.

  • May 31, 2012 at 1:51 pm #62326
    Alan Gilbertson

    Participant

    It was a delight to see you again, and to meet Anne-Marie for the first time. I had no idea she was so petite! To borrow from Jackie Gleason's great line in “Smokey and the Bandit” — She sounds taller on the podcast. :)

    PePcon was, hands-down, the best, most enjoyable, most productive design-related conference I've ever been to. (You can quote me on that!) Three hours of unexpected “quality time” with Chris Kitchener and Doug Waterfall added a massive cherry on top of what was already a perfect pêche flambée avec crème frappé (oo la la!).

    But I digress…

    Yes, it's just weird that ID would do that, since it makes no sense whatsoever. And that it should change just because “Show Single Plates in Black” is unchecked just enhances the Twilight Zone ambiance. If this were an M. Knight Shayalaman movie, it would be an obscure clue to some supernatural force hidden in the program, eventually revealing that the reason the city streets chaotically change color every few hours is they are in the power of the Swatches panel. But I digress again. Coffee deficiency, don't y'know.

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