Join David Blatner for an in-depth discussion in this video 316 Pay attention to Transparency Blend Space, part of InDesign Secrets.
- [Instructor] I want to talk about a kind of obscure feature in InDesign, something that turns out to be really important, especially when printing from InDesign, but that most InDesign users don't even know about. It's called Transparency Blend Space and it lives here at the bottom of the Edit menu, way down here and you can see that there are two options, Document RGB and Document CMYK. Now, most of the time you'll find this set to CMYK, which is fine if you're going to be printing your document on a printing press, like a commercial printer.
But there are two times when you should change this to RGB. But before I tell you about that, let me quickly explain what the Transparency Blend Space thing does. Okay, you know that you can combine RGB and CMYK images and artwork on the same page in InDesign, right? But here's the thing, as soon as you have any transparency on the page, like a drop shadow or an image that has a transparent background, or anything like that, as soon as there's transparency, InDesign has to convert everything to either CMYK or RGB.
It just has to for technical reasons. And that's why sometimes you'll see a whole bunch of colors or gray scale images just change suddenly on your page. Like, check this out. I'm going to select this pink box, the magenta box there, and I'm going to go to the control panel and I'm simply going to click on the drop shadow button up here just to give it a drop shadow. And as soon as I do, did you see that? Did you see all of those colors change? It shifted, many of them became more muted. Sometimes you'll add an effect or just import an image and all of a sudden, all the colors on a spread will change just like this.
That's the Transparency Blend Space kicking in. Okay, like I said, there are two times to change the Transparency Blend Space to RGB. First, change it if you're working on an interactive document, something that will mostly be read on screen. For example, maybe you're going to be exporting a catalog or a product sheet for your company and you're putting it on your website and most people are going to download it and read it on their computer screen. Yeah, maybe they'll print it out on their own desktop printer, but in general, they're mostly reading it on screen.
In that case, use Document RGB. Look at that. I selected Document RGB and all those colors went back to the way they were before I added that drop shadow. Much better, right? Okay, the second time that you want to use RGB is if you're going to be printing the file, but the final print is going to be on a desktop printer, like an inkjet or a color laser printer. In that case, once again, you want to use Document RGB. Yeah, I know those printers use CMYK ink or toner or cartridges, but trust me, unless you have a really high-end printer, it probably is designed to be treated like an RGB device.
I talk about this in much more detail in my course, InDesign: Color Management. So like I said, Transparency Blend Space is kind of obscure, it's a little technical, but if you just pay a little attention and follow those rules, you're going to end up with much better looking output.
Updated
12/23/2020Released
8/25/2011New techniques will be added to the collection every other week, so check back early and often. Find more tips and tricks at indesignsecrets.com.Note: Because this is an ongoing series, viewers will not receive a certificate of completion.
Skill Level Intermediate
Duration
Views
Q: Why can't I earn a Certificate of Completion for this course?
A: We publish a new tutorial or tutorials for this course on a regular basis. We are unable to offer a Certificate of Completion because it is an ever-evolving course that is not designed to be completed. Check back often for new movies.
Related Courses
-
InDesign: Interactive PDFs
with David Blatner2h 27m Intermediate -
InDesign CC to EPUB
with Anne-Marie Concepción4h 35m Intermediate -
InDesign CC 2019 Essential Training
with David Blatner5h 23m Beginner -
InDesign Quick Start
with David Blatner22m Beginner
-
This Week's Secret
-
Introduction
-
Welcome to InDesign Secrets1m 10s
-
-
December 2020
-
November 2020
-
October 2020
-
September 2020
-
Use one frame, not many4m 37s
-
August 2020
-
July 2020
-
June 2020
-
May 2020
-
Threading filled frames3m 14s
-
Custom page numbering tricks5m 13s
-
November 2012
-
October 2012
-
061 Embedding images7m 44s
-
-
September 2012
-
057 Text wrapping6m 54s
-
-
August 2012
-
July 2012
-
June 2012
-
May 2012
-
April 2012
-
March 2012
-
January 2012
-
April 2020
-
Making speech bubbles3m 32s
-
Working with ligatures5m 9s
-
February 2012
-
December 2011
-
016 Running a script9m 33s
-
November 2011
-
October 2011
-
August 2011
-
September 2011
-
March 2020
-
February 2020
-
Auto-expand acronyms4m 39s
-
-
January 2020
-
December 2019
-
November 2019
-
October 2019
-
409 Copy and paste effects4m 39s
-
-
September 2019
-
408 The master page trick1m 46s
-
August 2019
-
July 2019
-
June 2019
-
May 2019
-
April 2019
-
March 2019
-
February 2019
-
376 Make cast shadows3m 35s
-
-
January 2019
-
November 2018
-
December 2018
-
369 Shared CC Libraries tips5m 15s
-
October 2018
-
360 Find spacing problems4m 50s
-
363 Export all text8m 16s
-
-
August 2018
-
351 Change default fonts5m 51s
-
352 Best default RGB4m 45s
-
-
September 2018
-
July 2018
-
May 2018
-
343 Border spacing fix4m 59s
-
June 2018
-
346 Export to HTML55m 38s
-
April 2018
-
February 2018
-
March 2018
-
January 2018
-
325 Link text frames6m 10s
-
December 2017
-
November 2017
-
September 2017
-
October 2017
-
313 Quick Apply preferences6m 35s
-
August 2017
-
July 2017
-
May 2017
-
290 Work with scripts3m 35s
-
June 2017
-
April 2017
-
286 How to format ellipses5m 39s
-
March 2017
-
281 Share a CC library7m 10s
-
January 2017
-
February 2017
-
December 2016
-
271 Add images to an index4m 39s
-
November 2016
-
September 2016
-
October 2016
-
260 Batch process images7m 33s
-
263 Sync master pages5m 51s
-
-
August 2016
-
July 2016
-
June 2016
-
April 2016
-
May 2016
-
240 Side-by-side tables5m 35s
-
March 2016
-
February 2016
-
228 Setting text at an angle6m 24s
-
December 2015
-
January 2016
-
222 Adding paragraph shading1m 50s
-
October 2015
-
November 2015
-
September 2015
-
July 2015
-
August 2015
-
204 Creating a8m 14s
-
205 Managing scripts5m 38s
-
May 2015
-
189 Placing InDesign files5m 14s
-
-
June 2015
-
193 Printing tracked changes5m 41s
-
-
April 2015
-
186 Making long shadows5m 41s
-
February 2015
-
March 2015
-
January 2015
-
December 2014
-
November 2014
-
October 2014
-
September 2014
-
August 2014
-
July 2014
-
148 Cropping with paste into5m 18s
-
-
June 2014
-
May 2014
-
141 Inserting glyphs6m 42s
-
April 2014
-
March 2014
-
February 2014
-
January 2014
-
December 2013
-
November 2013
-
October 2013
-
September 2013
-
August 2013
-
105 Working with MiniBridge5m 45s
-
106 Customize your QR codes6m 17s
-
July 2013
-
June 2013
-
May 2013
-
April 2013
-
March 2013
-
February 2013
-
December 2012
-
069 Ten uses of the Story Editor11m 39s
-
-
January 2013
- Mark as unwatched
- Mark all as unwatched
Are you sure you want to mark all the videos in this course as unwatched?
This will not affect your course history, your reports, or your certificates of completion for this course.
CancelTake notes with your new membership!
Type in the entry box, then click Enter to save your note.
1:30Press on any video thumbnail to jump immediately to the timecode shown.
Notes are saved with you account but can also be exported as plain text, MS Word, PDF, Google Doc, or Evernote.
Share this video
Embed this video
Video: 316 Pay attention to Transparency Blend Space