[Scribus] implementing a CMYK workflow scenario with Gimp and Scribus

[Gustavo Homem]

Hi,

Sometime ago I asked some questions on how a CMYK workflow could be achieved 
with OSS tools and how to replace the "default" Phothoshop conversion. The 
conclusion from the answers on the list was "there is no such thing as default 
conversion". So I looked further.

Current scenario that works:

1- Photographer takes pictures (result is an RGB JPEG)
2- Pictures are edited for color, brightness, etc on PS and saved again (RGB  
JPEG)
3- Another person opens the pictures on PS, changes some more parameters, 
crops, cuts and converts to CMYK using the following profiles:

	RGB: sRGB IEC61966-21
	CMYK: Euroscale Coated v2

(these are actually the default settings for this version of PS)

Converted image is both stored as PSD and exported as EPS with PS.

4a - CMYK EPS is imported to QXP, which then generates Postscript, then 
converted to PDF via extra tools
4b - CMYK PSD is imported to Scribus which generates directly PDF. Colour 
management is NOT activated.

5 - PDFs from 4a and 4b look exactly the same, so Scribus is well integrated 
on the current workflow.

Now, how to replace PS by the Gimp on step 3?

I have installed this plugin:

http://www.blackfiveservices.co.uk/separate.shtml

along with Adobe ICC Profiles.

The results are as follow:

Original image:

http://people.angulosolido.pt/~gustavo/scribus/cmyk-workflow/sweet.jpg

Tiff exported from the Gimp:

http://people.angulosolido.pt/~gustavo/scribus/cmyk-workflow/sweet-CMYK.tif

Scribus sla with imported image:

http://people.angulosolido.pt/~gustavo/scribus/cmyk-workflow/sweet-scribus/source/sweet_scribus.sla.gz

PDF generated with Scribus (colour intended for Printer, Colour Management NOT 
active):

http://people.angulosolido.pt/~gustavo/scribus/cmyk-workflow/sweet-scribus/sweet_scribus.pdf

PDF generated with QXP+Distiller:

http://people.angulosolido.pt/~gustavo/scribus/cmyk-workflow/sweet-qxp/sweet_qxp.pdf

The printed results (on a laser printer) look quite similar.

Can someone comments on the quality/correction of this workflow?

One complaint of mine is that the Gimp CMYK plugin turns a 758K jpg into a 
32MB tiff.

Best regards
Gustavo

-- 
Angulo S?lido - Tecnologias de Informa??o
http://angulosolido.pt