[lug] Gimp CMYK

[jd]

On Tue, 2003-04-08 at 09:22, Michael J. Hammel wrote:
> On Tue, 2003-04-08 at 09:29, jd wrote:
> > Hello,
> >   From looking on the web it appears that GIMP does not support
> > CMYK yet. So I was hoping someone could give me some input on
> > converting to CMYK using another program (Phototshop). Will
> > this make big chages to the picture?
> 
> Depends on the colors in the original.  In Photoshop you can check to
> see if the colors are "out of gamut", though I don't know exactly how to
> do this - I just know it can be done.
> 
> > Also, just in general is the GIMP recomened for projects
> > that will be printed..such as flyers and brochuers?
> 
> If you aren't real picky about the colors (they don't have to match
> exact but just be pretty close) then GIMP is fine for this.  I've done
> lots of flyers, etc. with GIMP.  I did the covers of both my books and
> lots of magazine artwork (the last 4 issues of LinuxFormat have
> tutorials I've written on GIMP that include a colorful splash image at
> the front - the upcoming issue will feature a new, fairly bizarre image
> I did that came out very nice, IMHO).  Just be sure to generate an image
> that is at the correct resolution.  An 2x10 image for the front of a
> trifold brochure printed at 150DPI would be 300x1500 pixels in size when
> you create it.  Be sure to set the DPI for the image before saving as an
> uncompressed TIFF image (uncompressed so you can avoid issues with
> incompatible compression/decompression software).
> 
> CMYK conversion is necessary for mid to high end print processes - note,
> for example, that your home printer doesn't need you to convert to
> CMYK.  Most conversions from RGB to CMYK can be done by your print shop
> and it doesn't usually cost much, if anything.  The printing itself will
> generally be the bigger expense (speaking as a consumer of print
> services and not as a print shop employee myself).  So, unless you need
> absolutely exact matches, you can use GIMP to produce uncompressed RGB
> TIFF images and hand them over to your print shop, letting them convert
> to CMYK if they need to.
> 
> > Are there any RGB to CMYK converters I can run on a image
> > that work for Linux? Perl or Python module maybe?..
> > couldnt find anything on CPAN.
> 
> ImageMagick does this, I think:  http://www.imagemagick.org/
> Not sure of any others that do it, though there are probably a few
> programs that can.  You might even be able to generate CMYK EPS output
> using Ghostscript, CUPS and/or GIMP-Print, but don't quote me on that.

thanks Micheal,
I have decided I need to join the GIMP users list as my GIMP usage
is getting more complex and frequent by the day. You answerd most
of my questions. However, Im still confused about "Dot for Dot"...

on or off when you are going to import a jpeg into your
300 dpi project?

and some others.... maybe ill see you on the GIMP board.

Thanks again,
jd
jd at taproot.bz