[farnsy]

I work in the artroom/studio at an advertising agency in Perth Australia and we are thinking of changing from working in cmyk to an rgb workflow. I've been nominated to found out information on whether it is worthwile or not. I've tried looking on the net for cases studies or even just general information on pros and cons but haven't been able to find anything.

If anyone could perhaps point me in the right direction to find something out or perhaps even gone thru a similar change over any info would be great.

help!

[almaink]

Why would you want to do this?
Disk space is as cheep as it's ever been
so I find it hard to belive that could be the reason.
RGB has a much wider gaumat than CMYK so what you see
may not be what will print.
almaink

[Mark Tungston]

when it comes right down to it are you trying to work with a RGB images/files the entire devlopment of a project and then when it's time to output you convert to CMYK?

that's dumb. especially for a advertising company.

you're working with you client's art most of the time and probably dealing with PMS colors or precise conversions.

I can't think of a real reason except to save space. we're talking 30% more most of the time (RGB=33% each color and CMYK is 1 extra "plate" or channel"). But really, disk space is not the issue here right? The issue you're exploring is whether RGB workflow can have other advantages that have more to do with productivity rather than technological.

[ghost_flash]

Convert it all to Grayscale... you'll save tons of space.

[chris.p]

Everywhere I have worked used rgb until client proofs/ final output, and converted to cmyk for print. That is, the client wasn't shown anything that wasn't possible- we worked in rgb, then when final ideas were shown, we converted for the run outs, and corrected the colours to make sure the best was presented to them.

If you work entirely in cmyk, its bad if you are working on a multi- layer psd file, because the layers and layer types mix differently when in different colour spaces. You cant print with rgb files on a RIP, it won't separate, so use both- horses for courses.

[Apple Pro Underwear]

chris.p is describing normal print procedures...

which is fine and the industry standard more or less depending on each offices's particularities.


but a super strict RGB workflow is not going to be productive. or i don't see how it is much better than the status quo.

[farnsy]

Yeah. The idea is that we work totally in rgb until going to print, press, etc.

I tihnk it is trying to be both technologial as well as productivity related. If a single rgb file is used and then a profile addded at the end I have been told it is more likely to be an accurate reproduction. We supply our files to printers as pdfs and the feeling is that the profiles added then will be more accurate. The concern I have is that as operators we have to relearn colour correction.

I also think the creative department like working in rgb because they have more options. They feel we limit ourselves by working in cmyk. But in saying that they don't really know much about colour and reproduction anyway, which they leave up to us.

[ultra-V]

"which is fine and the industry standard more or less depending on each offices's particularities"

Is this an advertising thing? Makes no sense to me when working for print. Having worked in numerous design agencies, big and small, cmyk has always been the way to go for production work. That way you know what you're doing when adjusting colors. Sure, when working quickly for a comp in a client presentation, that lo-res stock image preview you downloaded off the web may not get converted, and as long as it prints fine, no problem. But I can see if working RGB until the last step, your client's going to be surprised when that bright blue sky she loved suddenly looks lavender from the printer proof (or worse yet when placed in the magazine).

[RGB]

I'm lazy. Please don't make me do any more work than I have to.

[farnsy]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by chris.p:
[B]Everywhere I have worked used rgb until client proofs/ final output, and converted to cmyk for print. That is, the client wasn't shown anything that wasn't possible- we worked in rgb, then when final ideas were shown, we converted for the run outs, and corrected the colours to make sure the best was presented to them.



I can see this being a problem with the usual client changes that come back. You would have to go back to the rgb file, make the changes then do the cmyk conversions every time for client proofs.


RGB are you saying it is easier to work with rgb files, or we are lazy for not wanting to change and sticking with what we know ... cmyk?

[RGB]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by farnsy:
[B]

Originally posted by chris.p:
RGB are you saying it is easier to work with rgb files, or we are lazy for not wanting to change and sticking with what we know ... cmyk?

None of the above.

Was just making a misguided attempt at humor.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Carry on.

[farnsy]

that's cool.

obviously i'm new to this forum type thingy so just still working out how it all works.

no luck yet from anyone if they know of an agency / design studio or whatever who has done the change over to rgb.

it's sounding like it doesn't really have much support out there.

[gadster]

Originally posted by farnsy:
that's cool.

obviously i'm new to this forum type thingy so just still working out how it all works.

no luck yet from anyone if they know of an agency / design studio or whatever who has done the change over to rgb.

it's sounding like it doesn't really have much support out there.

farnsy,
I prefer to work in rgb for scanning and photoshop files. There are lots of things you simply cannot do in photoshop once the file is cmyk. You can always command-y to see how the thing will look in cmyk. So I generally have say, document.psd in rbg, save that, then flatten and convert to profile (depending on which press it's going to), save as document.tif, close file, don't save changes ->Quark->pdf. Works for me. Plus the scanner software we use does a crap job of converting to cmyk (it's old).

I only use rgb in photoshop though (unless it's a spot colour job). In Illustrator and Quark I always work in cmyk.