Astute Graphics plugins - InkQuest

[ZooCity]

Anyone use InkQuest?

I got a trial of InkQuest after watching a vid that made it look like exactly what I wanted - output values visible in AI.  Well, after half a doz emails with Astute I'm still not clear what the application of this plug in is to a screen printing work flow.  They're telling me that I need to bring a CMYK file into AI to use the Output Preview and other functions, only CMYK will work.  I think exactly none of our files are built or outputted as CMYK.

Also being told things like "Many screen printers - especially garment printers plus brands such as Adidas and Nike use InkQuest to fully separate artwork into CMYK+Spot channels."....

[Colin]

They are saying those shops run cmyk seps from illustrator?

BullPucky!

Just my opinion of course.....

[ZooCity]

I seriously have no idea what they are saying, maybe the support is outsourced? 

I tried the sep feature with a CMYK .ai file I have from a client, basic vector shapes.  It's no bueno.  Adds little tails to vector shapes, things that would be absolutely maddening on press.  Maybe OK for other types of printing.  Might be interesting to use here and there for our purposes. 

The readout for ink coverage is goofy, some kind of color map nonsense.  What I want is basically Acrobat's Output Preview inside AI so I'm not jumping back and forth.

What I did like is the sq in read out per color after it's sepped.  I'll probably buy the plug in just to get accurate sq in of image area so my staff can mix the right amounts, they've been asking for that for awhile now. 

[starchild]

Your file don't have to be CMYK buddy.. Just change the profile preview  under AI file menu to CMYK to access InkQuest. It will read out your spot channels and do the calculations. Then change it back to rgb after.

The color map is cool because you can see where you're clipping/over exposed in your channels. (where 100% coverage are not desired or plot your ink coverage out. Where 10% is a color, 50% another color and so on)

But the written info about the image's individual channels, displayed at the bottom of the panel alone is worth getting it.

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[ZooCity]

starchild, Astute totally owes you. 

And so do I, thanks for clarifying for me.  They were insisting that any rasters, etc. had to be CMYK, but your suggestion totally works.  And now that I can use it and played around with it for a moment yes, the color temp thing is very handy for doing a quick visual on coverage, which is something that will save me tons of time bouncing files from AI to acrobat to check ink coverage.

And I agree, the ink area data is huge, especially for us discharge printers. 

[starchild]

Very cool..
And with their Phantasm plugin you have access to Adobe's curves, levels and other pixel manipulation tools to make adjustments right their in AI. Approach it as post Sep/pre output workflow.

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[ZooCity]

Very cool..
And with their Phantasm plugin you have access to Adobe's curves, levels and other pixel manipulation tools to make adjustments right their in AI. Approach it as post Sep/pre output workflow.

Sent using Tapatalk

I saw that and I think I drooled a little.  Being able to not only see what the hell is going on with ink coverage but also adjust it and tune it up on one screen is something I've always wanted....and always wondered how it is a program suite like Adobe's does not provide it. 

[starchild]

Very cool..
And with their Phantasm plugin you have access to Adobe's curves, levels and other pixel manipulation tools to make adjustments right their in AI. Approach it as post Sep/pre output workflow.

Sent using Tapatalk

I saw that and I think I drooled a little.  Being able to not only see what the hell is going on with ink coverage but also adjust it and tune it up on one screen is something I've always wanted....and always wondered how it is a program suite like Adobe's does not provide it.

I deleteted this post many times because I didn't want to come off as the crazy uncle..

All of AI's CC new features came after Astute Graphics and are identical in functions but sluggish in operations comparing..

Adobe (engineers)  take free and open ideas and package it as proprietary. Astute Graphics for instance discuss on communities much like this before they come up with these useful tools.

Adobe is big n'slow like the giant on the Game of Thrones. Open Source is small and nimble like the Elves on the Hobbit. 

It's not that they didn't think of it (They don't have too) but the roll out has a buracucy that suffocates.

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