Been keeping an eye on Inkscape for some time, but have been previously disappointed by the CMYK support. With 0.48.1 things seem to better. Let me explain - I produce maps for offset printing, and when I specify something to be particular CMYK values I want them to stick, regardless of how silly it might seem to Inkscape. Previously the CMYK panel had a mind of it's own (actually it still does), but for the first time the CMS tab seems to work (it never did before for me, the profile just wouldn't stick - couldn't find if this was a known bug or if it was just my installation - 0.48 on Mac OS 10.6.6). CMYK values specified in the CMS tab carry through to Scribus (in eps), and I'm very happy about that. What's more, Inkscape now seems to come with a selection of it's own ICC profiles (maybe my profiles from Adobe were the reason CMS didn't previously work).

I don't care about 'colour management' - in my experience where my documents could go to various bureaus, final colour depended far more on the specific inks used and how heavy handed the printer was on the day. But on large format documents where registration is an issue I don't want my colour values changing because my drawing application thinks it knows best.

With the final end of the road for FreeHand looming (barring a miracle) this is very encouraging. Now if we could have object stroke and fill level overprinting....!

Hi Shanker,
I unfortunately can't comment on your issues, because I'm just not that familiar with printing issues (except for what I read in these forums). But I just wanted to say:
Welcome to InkscapeForum!


Weekends are kind of slow, but someone else should reply before too long

hi. how do i update to 0.48.1 in ubuntu?

Hhhm....Isn't Ubuntu a Linux-based operating system? I'm sorry I'm not all that familiar with any besides Windows. But if I'm right and it is a Linux product, then the link on this page should work: http://sourceforge.net/projects/inkscape/ (all supported OSs are listed there)

Although anyone, please correct me if I'm wrong!

brynn wrote:Hhhm....Isn't Ubuntu a Linux-based operating system? I'm sorry I'm not all that familiar with any besides Windows. But if I'm right and it is a Linux product, then the link on this page should work: http://sourceforge.net/projects/inkscape/ (all supported OSs are listed there)

Although anyone, please correct me if I'm wrong!

yeah lol im a penguin. not a linux geek though by any means. so yes, ubuntu. i cant figure out how to update to the 0.48.1 i found a package online, http://www.ubuntugeek.com/inkscape-0-48 ... luded.html but i dunno if i can trust it. (you should never use the linux terminal with a ppa not recognized as safe)

@ brynn
Thanks for the welcome - glad to be here.

FWIW I confirmed that 0.48 on Windows (Portable Apps version) has the same issue with the CMS colour mixer not working correctly, so this must have been a bug. Nevertheless it appears to be fixed with 0.48.1.

Just a quick update - though the CMS panel now seems to work on my Mac, is still doesn't using Windows (PortableApps version 0.48.1). Shame. Obviously the finctionality is there, maybe theres something wrong in the compiling. I know there's some resistance to CMYK support at all in Inkscape, but you are called Inkscape not Pixelscape! To me, CMYK is a much more natural way of defining colors, and I expect that lots of people who design for print will agree with that.

Theres no resistance to CMYK, theres just a need to do it in an SVG compatible way, and a desire to do it properly.
If your having issues with it email the dev list or post a bug. Jon Cruz is the main man doing the work on CMYK i think.

Yeah, I was referring to the infamous Inkscape should NOT "support CMYK"! blog by Jon Cruz, and possibly (probably) misinterpreting it. One poster there assumed that this referred to a late binding workflow, but I would beg to differ - I think artists would want to set their colours up front. Jon also talks about the intractability of a colour managed workflow, but if you produce series mapping for example (or other drawings with clearly defined specifications) you need to know that 15%C stays 15%C regardless of a CMS trying to match what it thinks 15%C looks like on a given output device. How it 'looks' in this instance is less important than how it 'is', as the same graphic may be contantly reused and output to different presses. You might like them to print the same, but it's even more important that your files are consistent. You can easily request a colour chart from your printer if you really need to know how something will look. In other words, I think a colour managed workflow can come later. Other people obviously have different needs. And yes, Jon is quite right that spot colour support is needed too.

Incidentally, the appearance of additional profiles on MacOS10.6 is, I think, due to Inkscape now looking in the System folder in addition to the Library, which might not have been the case before. As for the CMS panel not working in Windows I'll log a bug report but I suspect it's more to do with the feature not being quite ready for prime time yet.

For print output, I think early versions of FreeHand got this exactly right, and despite the criticism of the monster Adobe has become, Illustrator does a good job too, if not quite so elegantly.