Text Not Black

FusionPro 6.0P1e

Windows XP SP2

 

I created a PDF Output file from Compose, which took a while to Rip (see my other post), but when it finally did and I printed sample pages from the job, my variable text appeared to be a CMYK black as opposed to just plain Black. I am assuming that I did something incorrectly, any body know what it was?

Trying going into the Colors dialog (from the menu in Acrobat, FusionPro > Advanced > Colors), double-click on the list item for Black, and click "Spot Color". Click OK twice and re-compose.

Is this a work-around, any reason why the default doesn't work? Will this vary from job to job?

Is this a work-around, any reason why the default doesn't work?

I'm not sure what you mean by "the default doesn't work." Different customers have different needs for spot and process colors for different RIPs and presses.

Will this vary from job to job?

Well, colors are job-specific, but the defaults depend on the source of the template. If you export from QuarkXPress or InDesign, then the color dictionary will be included, and any colors designated as spot colors in the original design tool will continue to be designated as spot colors in your job in the Acrobat plug-in. If you start out with a PDF and "FusionPro-ify" it in Acrobat, then a default set of colors will be assigned, of which only Red, Green, and Blue will be marked as spot colors, and Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black will be marked as process colors. I think the idea is that those four are going to end up as spot colors anyway on most four-color presses. Again, though, I don't think there's universal agreement about a single "right" way to deal with this issue for all output formats and devices.

 

By the way, if you have the colors set up the way you want them in one job, you can use the Import feature (from the Advanced submenu under the FusionPro menu in Acrobat) to apply them to other jobs.

I tried the suggestion of setting the black to a spot color - that didn't work.