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

[Branko Vukelic]

>         RGB: sRGB IEC61966-21
>         CMYK: Euroscale Coated v2
>

This is what some may term Default, but others may call it prefered.
In Photoshop, this is not the default. Photoshop defaults to using
Adobe RGB as default RGB profile.

On the same hand, you have a term "prefered" or "recommended" and this
is true only for Europe where Euroscale Coated v2 (or FOGRA) is the
most common CMYK profile.

So, as others have already said many times, there is no such thing as
a Default if you look at the industry as a whole. Individual software
may already have some Default settings (like Photoshop's Adobe RGB and
US Web Coated SWOP, or whatever it is called anyway). IOW, there are
only software defaults, industry recommendations, and last but not
least, individual designer's / prepress operator's preferences.

Individual preferences describe the techniques and methods that work
for some, and it depends on their experience. I know of a person who
actually adjusts brightness / contrast / RGB gain of his monitor based
on proofs from a printer and works without utilizing ICC profiles.
This method works for him. Others may prefer a perfectly
profiled/calibrated monitors and using ICC profiles. It all depends on
what works best for you.

Apart from this phylosophical babbling by myself, I guess your problem
is much simpler if you avoid using sensitive and ill-defined terms
such as "default conversion".

With GIMP 2.3.14, it is possible to open an image with embedded ICC
profile and use some form of color management, but only in RGB space.
There is also a plugin called Separate, which can convert an image
into CMYK space using input and output ICC profiles. Basically, you
can edit an image in RGB space by choosing an sRGB working profile and
choosing to convert an image to sRGB when you open it. The image can
then be converted to Euroscale Coated v2 if you have the profile, and
using Separate.

As a side note, Separate can create a simulated CMYK image (using some
layer transparency tricks) and *cannot* be easily edited in CMYK mode.
The separated file can be saved as XCF for later edits, or exported as
color-managed CMYK TIFF image for use in Scribus.

The resulting TIFF can be imported into Scribus.

The only downside of GIMP's own CMS is that it doesn't support black
point compensation, so some darker images will look... well... awful
in Print simulation mode. Also, the output of Separate plugin and
GIMP's print simulation is not the same. They differ a lot. However,
Separate is considered fairly accurate.

Another image editing tool on Linux is Krita. It supports full color
management in 16-bit per channel, but its editing capabilities aren't
that great. You can, of course, edit the image in GIMP and convert it
to CMYK using Krita. But that will not always work, because Krita is
not so reliable (at least in my modest experience with Krita).

Another way is to just save the image as RGB, and import it straight
into Scribus. Scribus will then convert the image into CMYK space at
PDF export if you chose to do so.

BR

Branko