Planet Quark

This morning, Macworld.com posted my rather lengthy review of InDesign CS6 here.

While the CS6 upgrade is definitely worthwhile for InDesign users, I don’t think the new features will cause any QuarkXPress users to switch. In fact, if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Quark should feel flattered about several of the new features. ;-)

For additional information about the upgrade and its features, be sure to also read my “First Look” article for Macworld here.

To hear me chat about it, have a listen to Macworld’s podcast, which also features my wife Lesa discussing Photoshop CS6, which she reviewed for Macworld:

http://www.macworld.com/article/1166825/reviewing_crea.html

Popularity: 1% [?]

Acrobat’s soft proofing feature simulates onscreen how your final print will look once it’s printed. How you activate it depends on your version of Acrobat.

Here’s how to find it in Acrobat X: choose View> Tools> Print Production> Output Preview.

In earlier versions of Acrobat, choose Advanced> Print Production> Output Preview.

Then, select a profile from the Simulation Profile dropdown menu that matches the press and paper onto which you intend to print the final PDF. Next, turn on the Simulate Paper Color checkbox (the Simulate Black Ink checkbox should also be automatically activated).

It can be helpful to open a duplicate copy of your PDF document first and position it beside the original. That way, once you activate soft proofing on the duplicate, you can quickly spot color shifts.

Below, the first image shows how Acrobat displays the document by default. The second image shows Acrobat’s preview of how the document will look when printed in a newspaper.

  

Eek! I’d better make some adjustments to my original before sending this one off to the press!

Fortunately, QuarkXPress gives me tools to preview my output while working on it.

First, I choose View> Proof Output. However, the default choices don’t include newsprint! Fortunately, it’s easy to create one: just choose Edit> Color Settings. Give your new setting a name, such as this one: “US Newsprint”.

Choose Separations from the Mode popup menu, In-RIP Separations from the Model popup menu, and US Newsprint from the Profile popup.

Click OK, and now US Newsprint shows up under the View> Proof Output menu and I can preview my colors as they would appear on newsprint, right from within QuarkXPress!

Popularity: 1% [?]

Pictaculous (free) is an interesting online service that builds unique color palettes from images you upload. Just use the Web interface or email a photo to colors@mailchimp.com and Pictaculous will report back with a color palette based on the colors in your picture.

The color suggestions are culled from Adobe Kuler and ColourLovers, so you don’t have to worry about getting combinations that don’t work together. Pictaculous gave us some great palette suggestions, and it’s fun to experiment with, too.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Exportools Standard 4 for QuarkXPress and InDesign ($59) lets you export individual document pages or spreads as separate PDF, EPS, rich text, or JPEG files, among others. The export process can be started through the standalone application or through a menu option in InDesign and allows for automatic naming of files. The completed files can be opened all at once automatically into the application of your choice. Exportools Standard works with QuarkXPress 4–9 and InDesign CS3–CS5.5.

Popularity: 2% [?]