Use CMYK in PDF export

related:
Bug #171214 “Use CMYK in eps exports”
<https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/171214>
Blueprint "ICC for cairo":
<https://blueprints.launchpad.net/inkscape/+spec/icc-for-cairo>

There would be a support CMYK, thousand designers would send on this program.

Get more users on board by implementing this patch and extending support for CMYK in exports:
  http://www.inkscapeforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=5943

What I wanted to do is:
- create svg image in Inkscape
- export to pdf
- include image.pdf into some LaTeX document
- compile using pdfTeX

Doing so gives some problems as stated here:
http://sarovar.org/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=4326&group_id=106&atid=493

In the previous post there is a link to the CMYK export plugin
I assume it is identical to the plugin available here:
http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ExportPDFCMYK
This plugin is no solution for me, as I am not on Linux...

Matthis, I fail to undertstand why you would want using ExportPDFCMYK extension. It has nothing to do with your problem. Please use LaTeX export as desscribed here: http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/Release_notes/0.48#New_LaTeX_export_for_PDF.2FEPS.2FPS

The CMYK thing is absolutely irrelevant.

hello,

I have flyers that I want to print on a printer online.
I provide a PDF with CMYK.
when I work on INKSCAPE 0.48, I save my PDF file, it is saved with RGB
colors. after printing the result is bad.
Is there a solution in inkscape for the document is saved in PDF format with
CMYK color (such as Adobe Illustrator).

thank you
2011/2/12 Alexandre Prokoudine <email address hidden>

> Matthis, I fail to undertstand why you would want using ExportPDFCMYK
> extension. It has nothing to do with your problem. Please use LaTeX
> export as desscribed here:
>
> http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/Release_notes/0.48#New_LaTeX_export_for_PDF.2FEPS.2FPS
>
> The CMYK thing is absolutely irrelevant.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/574717
>
> Title:
> Use CMYK in PDF export
>
> Status in Inkscape: A Vector Drawing Tool:
> New
>
> Bug description:
> Hello
> it is impossible to save the document in PDF with CMYK colors (the colors
> are saved in RGB)
> function is essential for CMYK printing documents from the printers.
> Is it possible to create this function?
>
> inkscape 0.47
> windows vista
>
> To unsubscribe from this bug, go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/574717/+subscribe
>

Hi Alexandre,
i will try Latex export next week, as soon as I return to my work computer, it sounds interesting, but I assume it will not solve my problem:
If I understand the description on http://tug.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/svg-inkscape/ correctly, the LaTeX export creates a pdf and overlays all text using LaTeX. But right now my "drawing" does not contain any complicated formulas, it does not even contain text, but only a blue square.
So my problem is not about rendering formulas, my problem is that pdfs created by Inkscape are RGB, but pdfLaTeX pdfs are CMYK per default. Now when an Inkscape pdf is included in a LaTeX document and that document is compiled using pdflatex, then the output pdf is in general CMYK, but the pages conatining Inkscape drawings are in RGB (the complete page). Colored text (like URLs) will now look different on RGB and CMYK pages.
This is not a big problem; and I am not 100% sure how this RGB and CMYK stuff really works, please correct me if I misunderstood something or if there is a simple solution.
Right now my workflow is to export from Inkscape to ps or eps and then convert from ps or eps to pdf using Acrobat Distiller.
Regards,
Matthis

OK, so you want CMYK PDF after all :)

I don't quite see why the http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ExportPDFCMYK should not work for you. Both ImageMagick and UniConvertor are available for Windwos and, AFAIK, are shipped with Inkscape (not sure about ImageMagick though).

A better way, however, is importing SVG to Scribus, and printing PDF from there. Just choose "Output intended for: Printer" on the Color tab of PDF exporting dialog. And even better way involves assigning a CMYK color profile in Inkscape and setting colors from CMS tab using this profile before you import SVG into Scribus.

Until now I tried ImageMagick, Scribus, UniConverter, GhostScript and Acrobat Distiller and various combinations, but each workflow breaks something, like fonts, gradients, colors, bounding box / canvas etc.
I already have assigned color profiles in Inkscape, but they are assigned only in the svg file.
Maybe I will try Adobe Illustrator or Corel draw, too, but I would prefer an OpenSource workflow.

So right now I just use Inkscape pdf export; or I use Inkscape eps export and then convert to CMYK pdf using Acrobat Distiller. After all its just a slight color shift and until I will hand in my thesis the world will see new versions of all software involved...
Regards,
Matthis

I (and probably many other people) would be more than happy to provide financial support or compensation for whoever fixes this bug. We could create feature request funding at https://www.catincan.com/

Hi there!

Sorry for the late reply.

I developed this extension some time ago, but now I've working on a new
extension with more resources. You can check and keep on touch here:
https://github.com/jonata/Inkscape-OUTPUT-PRO

Thanks for your attention.

On Mon, Apr 29, 2013 at 10:19 AM, Pander <email address hidden> wrote:

> I (and probably many other people) would be more than happy to provide
> financial support or compensation for whoever fixes this bug. We could
> create feature request funding at https://www.catincan.com/
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/574717
>
> Title:
> Use CMYK in PDF export
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/574717/+subscriptions
>

--
Jonatã Bolzan

Where do I donate according to http://libregraphicsworld.org/blog/entry/inkscape-starts-encouraging-paid-development to get this fixed?

I would ask questions of this nature on the mailing lists, the bug tracker is not an appropriate place for this discussion. The devel or user lists would be where to ask: https://inkscape.org/en/community/mailing-lists/

According to http://libregraphicsworld.org/blog/entry/color-managed-cairo-is-slipping-away this bugs mainly depends on Cairo. Upstream : https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=24891

See also https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/171214

Sorry for the mess, I didn't notice "triaged" was a higher status than "confirmed"…

This seems to take some time still, so I built a workaround some time ago that I want to share:

This desktop file:
[Desktop Entry]
Hidden=false
Exec=pdf2pdfx
Icon=/usr/share/icons/oxygen/64x64/apps/acroread.png
Type=Application
NoDisplay=true
Version=1.0
MimeType=application/pdf;
StartupNotify=false
GenericName[en_US]=PDF to PDF/X-3 converter
Terminal=false
Name=PDF to PDF/X-3 converter
GenericName=PDF to PDF/X-3 converter
Icon[en_US]=/usr/share/icons/oxygen/64x64/apps/acroread.png
Name[en_US]=PDF to PDF/X-3 converter

which calls
#!/bin/bash

gs \
-dPDFX \
-dBATCH \
-dNOPAUSE \
-dNOOUTERSAVE \
-dPDFSETTINGS=/prepress \
-dCompatibilityLevel=1.5 \
-sDEVICE=pdfwrite \
-sColorConversionStrategy=CMYK \
-sProcessColorModel=DeviceCMYK \
-dHaveTransparency=false \
-sOutputFile="${1%%.pdf}_X-3.pdf" \
PDFX_def.ps \
"$1"

and /usr/share/ghostscript/*/lib/PDFX_def.ps countaining the icc profile you intend to use will make you able to convert any pdf with a few clicks in your file manager. This is PDF/X-3 then, which is what most prepress shops want.
Combined with a color-managed setup in inkscape with the same profile will get you decent color reproducibility.

hope that helps,
th

My solution is similar, I then checked the result in Scribus 1.5 where the print preview lets you toggle the channels. But you could also check in the list of colors (e.g. in the dialog to replace colors) that all are CMYK.

Here the pdf2cmyk script with rich black and the ISO coated profile, I also prefered PDF 1.4.

#!/bin/bash
gs -o ${1%%.pdf}_cmyk.pdf \
       -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -dSAFER \
       -sDEVICE=pdfwrite \
       -dPDFSETTINGS=/prepress \
       -dEncodeColorImages=false \
       -dEncodeGrayImages=false \
       -dEncodeMonoImages=false \
       -dOverrideICC=true \
       -dHaveTransparency=false \
       -dCompatibilityLevel=1.4 \
       -dRenderIntent=3 \
       -dDeviceGrayToK=true \
       -sDefaultCMYKProfile=/usr/share/color/icc/ISOcoated_v2_eci.icc \
       -sOutputICCProfile=/usr/share/color/icc/ISOcoated_v2_eci.icc \
       -sProcessColorModel=DeviceCMYK \
       -sColorConversionStrategy=CMYK \
       -sColorConversionStrategyForImages=CMYK \
       $1