
The total ink coverage is set by the color profile you are using. Measure the color coverage of every page or average document coverage of a PostScript or PDF file (.ps. When you use APFill Ink Coverage you can estimate your cost more accurately. APFill Ink Coverage Calculator helps you calculate PDF ink and toner coverage on the page (total ink coverage/density or total area coverage (TAC)) before printing.



The PDF/X-1a:2001 setting is found in the Professional versions of Adobe Acrobat 6 or above (listed as PDF/X-1a in Acrobat 6 Professional). PDF COMPLIANCE: Files must be PDF/X-1a:2001 or PDF/X-3:2002 compliant. what happens when you have mutiple layers interacting, like a dropshadow over the jpeg background? how do you adjust the CMYK for both without messing up both color renditions?Here are Ingram Spark's specs for the cover submission: The actual maximum that is acceptable depends on a number of parameters:
If these files with densities over 240% encounter print issues in future orders, LS will require a corrected file from the customer.My color settings, then below that a screesnshot from Acrobat Pro of the TAC areas that are over 240% in bright green.Would appreciate any suggestions to how to proceed. Files with densities greater than 240% may process and print without rejection. *Files sent with densities higher than 240% may be rejected for correction. Elements should not be built in ‘Registration’ (100% of all colors). CMYK total value should not exceed 240%. We recommend a rich black with CMYK values = 60% Cyan / 40% Magenta / 40% Yellow / and 100% Black.
Clearly people have black areas on book covers that can be the Rich Black 240%, so how do I adjust my shadows and dark areas to not be a high CMYK value but look dark still?As far as the red leather background image, I went into the properties of the original file and it said it was RGB. Do all the pieces of art that were originally on top of each other in the Ai file get added at some point when converted to a PDF? Is it the sum total or a new total of the combined color they create when smooshed into the new PDF-X?Most importantly, how do I fix it? If I go in to the drop shadows and adjust the sliders, for instance, the colors look terrible. I guess I don't know how the TAC is being calculated or how to fix it. I'm afraid you'll have to be extra patient with me, as I'm very new at Illustrator and, in all honesty, all parts of this are confusing for me!!!I was particularly perplexed how the CMYK values were so high for areas like the drop shadows unless they were being totaled separately and combined instead of flattened/joined/(what's the right word?) first as I thought was supposed to happen.However, after I sent the post I went into my original Ai file for the cover to add things up and the CMYK values for the two drop shadows on top of each other are quite high (281 and 222), so maybe that's all it took to make the TAC scan glow there.
I couldn't find any vector files out there for believable leather backgrounds, esp with the old book effect that is worn in all the right places.Which brings me back to the question of whether there is a way to force the TAC values of the entire file down at one time? I read that the US Web Coated SWOP v2 setting I'm using forces the TAC down to 300. It was enormous and very cartoony. What should I be doing to turn the JPEG to CMYK before I drag it in?On a side note, I did try to turn the red leather background into a vector file (don't laugh too hard-I'm a newbie). Web Costed SWOP v2 profile. Is this what you mean by not being able to "fix" the JPEG in Illustrator? I just assumed the whole file was CMYK if the mode was and it was being saved as a PDF with a CMYK U.S. When I open the color balance, the CMYK sliders have no values, though I can adjust them and it will adjust the background.
Total Ink Coverage Code They Included
When I export the file now via the PDF/X-3:2002, setting the Destination and Working Space to the new profile, things get interesting with the resulting PDF.Now, all the values seem to have been forced down in bulk, and for the first time register as under 240%. Now I can access it in Illustrator, where I've saved it as the Assigned Profile. I downloaded that and installed it in the Library: Color Sync: Profiles. So if there own files aren't the right setting.are the values being increased by Illustrator?Ingram Spark charges $25 every time you submit a new file to them, and their tech support has been really difficult, so I'm trying to get all this sorted now.So I did go and explore the article within the article mentioned above: This guy at least provides a color profile to try: SWOP coated 240% ink. Without success.Or is Ingram Spark wrong asking for this low a TAC for color images? Interestingly the barcode that's showing over 240% in black lines is the barcode they included with the required cover template.
Total Ink Coverage Pdf Save Settings
Here's what it looks like now:Here's what color and pdf save settings are right now:Two steps forward, one step back. Not sure what I did differently. I don't think I changed any settings, but something must have happend.
It does light up (though less) if I set the simulation to US Web Coated (SWOP) v2. I duplicated the Ai file of cover, reset Color Mode to RGB (telling it to override the Color Settings for this one file) then saved a copy as a PDF X1a:2001, customizing the Output window to Convert to Destination: SWOP 240% (the new color profile mentioned in reply to other user in this thread).Now when I open the PDF in Acrobat PRO DC, and use the Tools: Print Production: Output Preview, the TAC levels (when set to 241%) don't light up on the file if the simulation is set to the new SWOP 240% profile. Warning to other newbies: run away!!Okay, that does make a huge difference. Not sure what most of it means but going to poke around with it.Golly, I thought writing was hard. Argh.This article also looks like it might have something useful to add even though it's for Photoshop.
Here's what that looks like before changing the profile: Started with a version of the cover saved in CMYK MODE. See pic:Not getting the same result.
Use the Save a Copy under File to create a PDF, selecting the PDF X-1a:2001 that the printer wants which converts the destination over to the new profile with this warning: Note there is an instant massive color shift-all the shadows in the images decrease to a washed out look and the drop shadows features are nearly lost so the title no longer pops. Selected this new profile under Edit: Assign Profile
Fascinatingly, then and only then, does it appear as an option in Acrobat to Convert to or use as a the Simulation Profile. Is this because I am relying on the Save as PDF in X-1a:2001 to flatten? Should I be doing it someplace different?The only way I can get it into the Acrobat menu is if I save as a custom PDF such as the X-1a:2001 with conversion set to the CGAT profile. If I go and convert in the Tools: Print Production: Preserve Black, then return to the Output Previewer and run the TAC again it's still over 240%.
Ai Save a Copy as the Ingram Spark required PDF X-1a:2001 with conversion set to the SWOP 240% profile and the overprint discarded (not sure if that matters). There's less color loss with this profile than the CGAT one. Ai Color Settings: SWOP 240% downloaded from this guy.
