Chapter 9. Color Proofing

In this chapter, you'll learn how to print while ensuring consistent color throughout your workflow and between devices; proof images and documents to predict the output of a particular device; create PDF files of images, artwork, and documents; and view, proof, and print PDF files using color management.

Download Chapter 9 files from www.peachpit.com/xpcolor.

This chapter takes approximately 2 hours to complete.

If you plan to print your image or document from a desktop printer or large-format printer or even as short-run print job, you'll eventually need to produce a hard-copy proof.

Desktop printers can provide an excellent option for printing hard-copy proofs, compared to conventional high-end prepress proofing methods like Matchprint, which are often very expensive and time consuming. Desktop printers today offer excellent quality and wide gamuts, and they are well suited for proofing offset printing processes.

And because color management enables you to reproduce color consistently across devices from soft proofing on displays to proofing on desktop printers, to final output on press or photo printers all from a single, unmodified file, you can quickly and easily generate proofs from a desktop printer that closely resembles those from the final output device. This permits a much easier workflow than what was once required, when files had to be separated for each device.

Once you have created your proofs and edited them, the next step is to prepare the data for the final output device(s). In this chapter, you'll learn about the process of printing and proofing images and pages, and about using PDF as a proofing tool.