DCS images

[dauby]

I have DCS files created from a Crossfield scanner (copydot). My client has imported this file into InDesign. I am trying to export a pdf and i am getting this message, "One or more DCS images cannot be exported to PDF correctly. Click OK to use the DCS proxy (only composite data is exported), or click Cancel to stop the export". So my question is can a get a good pdf with DCS files from InDesign?

Thanks

[Stiv]

As you know, a copydot is just a one-bit tif. I would try to crack that bad boy into Photoshop and save it out as a tif. Place the tif into InDesign and export the PDF.

[dauby]

Tried that

[Stiv]

Yeah, that would have been too easy.

When we had those (years ago now) we had to RIP them and place an FPO that Rampage generated. That isn't going to help you out any though.

Can you place it in any app? ie AI, QXP, etc? Maybe you could export something useful from one of them.

[printnewb]

Is this a DCS1 or DCS2 format?

Pn

[Glenn McDowall]

DCS to PDF support I think came in with CS3 (though I may be thinking of Illustrator). Also because this is a copydot it may be different anyway. I'd try and print separated postscript from InDesign and go from there.

[Stephen Marsh]

"One or more DCS images cannot be exported to PDF correctly. Click OK to use the DCS proxy (only composite data is exported), or click Cancel to stop the export".

Have you tried to print as PostScript and Distill a PDF as an alternative to the problem with exporting?

There used to be plug-ins available for some common copy dot formats, such as TIFF/IT-P1 back in Classic Mac and Photoshop 6 days! Not sure what is around today. There are many forms of TIFF encoding and compression and Photoshop can only access some of them. Perhaps try another application such as Graphic Converter (Mac) or IrfanView (PC).

Stephen Marsh

[pcmodem]

DCS files created outside of Photoshop will need to be printed separated to get the high-res channels from the DCS file. InDesign only supports composite printing of DCS files created from Photoshop.

[pmkprog]

What about taking each of the channels and making them 2400dpi bitmap tiff files and using the foreground color in InDesign, color each channel and set each one to overprint in InDesign. That way they would be doing the same things that they would from the DCS file?
I have done that in the past with 2 color copydot scans. I did not have to try it with the four color, but I think the same principle would apply.

[Toweri]

I don't know if (m)any application(s) can merge pre-separated DCS onto a composite PDF...

We would need some more information of your original CopyDot files. Things like:

- Were they generated on a Crosfield Celsis 6000 series drum scanner, or perhaps on FFEI flatbed scanner (C550 Lanovia or Lanovia Quattro)?
- Which version of C-Dot application was used to generate the DCS? 4.x or 5.x ?
- DCS1 or DCS2 (in latter case: Multi-file or Single file?)
- Which compression algorithm is used: CCITT Group 4 was default, but couldn't be opened on Photoshop of that era. To overcome that, in a pinch someone used PackBits, though it made the sep. files huge, possibly hundreds of megabytes each.
DCS2 Single-file was recommended for most applications.

Admittedly a long shot, but anyway:
Do you still have access to the original scanned files (the "intermediates")? If yes, and if the C-Dot application is also still available, they can be re-processed to more friendly format, e.g. EPS. Mac OS 9 required...