Color2Gray

The download is a fully functional, but time limited demo, which can be converted into a full version by purchasing a license. It is available for Mac & Windows versions of InDesign CS, CS2, CS3, CS4 or CS5.

Goal

This tool allows you to convert placed color photos to grayscale without modifying the original color image. It works best for JPEG and TIFF images. As far as we know, complex, multi-layered Photoshop images don’t always work – so you might want to stick to JPEG or TIFF.

Sometimes you want a particular picture to be output as a grayscale image, yet the original image is in color.

You could open the image in Adobe® Photoshop® and convert it to grayscale, but instead you can also use this plug-in. When using this tool, the original image is not changed and remains in color, yet it is output as a grayscale image.

When outputting in CMYK, the gray image will only render on the black (K) plate.

Purchase

Thanks to our unique approach to licensing, we’re able to offer licenses for our tools for a very low per-install cost. Please read http://www.rorohiko.com/licensing.

There are options to purchase a single install, or order multiple installs.

For

  • people who have multiple versions of InDesign installed
  • people who use more than one computer
  • small workgroups

we recommend the 10-install coupon code for US$149.00 – each such coupon code allows you to install Color2Gray up to 10 times – which comes in handy if you have multiple versions of InDesign on your computer and/or multiple workstations.

For larger workgroups, we also have 100-install coupon codes for US$999.00.

Important: if you’re in a hurry, don’t order a multi-install. Purchase one or more single installs instead. The multi-install coupon codes are manually generated, so it can be some time – even more than 48 hours – before you receive it, depending on time zones, our working hours, and a host of other factors. The single install license, on the other hand, is fully automatic – you normally get it within the hour. And don’t forget to check your e-mail spam folder!

To order a 10-install coupon code for US$149.00, click this ‘Buy Now’ button:


To order a 100-install coupon code for US$999.00, click this ‘Buy Now’ button:


You can also purchase a single install license of Color2Gray for US$29.00. To do that, simply install the software and click ‘Get License…’ when the ‘beg’ dialog appears. There is no ‘Buy Now’ button for single licenses. These single install licenses are generated by an automated system, and typically arrive by e-mail within the hour.

Attention: licenses are not transportable between computers or InDesign versions.

If you want to continue using Color2Gray after the demo period lapses, restart InDesign, and click the ‘Get License…’ button when Color2Gray puts up a ‘beg’ dialog.

You’ll be asked for your coupon code (if you have one) or else you’ll be guided through a payment process.

Eventually you’ll receive a license file via e-mail. Please check your spam-box – often, our licenses are mistaken for spam.

You are not obliged to purchase a second license, for APID ToolAssistant (but we’re grateful if you do – it helps us fund further development). A licensed Color2Gray plug-in will work fine with an unlicensed APID ToolAssistant.

If you don’t purchase a license, APID ToolAssistant will show itself as ‘Demo’ for the first 20 days after it was first installed, and after the 20 days are up, it will change to ‘Unlicensed’. Don’t be alarmed by this. A licensed Color2Gray will not stop working when this happens.

A licensed Color2Gray works with an unlicensed version of APID ToolAssistant, and purchasing a license for APID ToolAssistant is optional.

Download

Before you can use the Color2Gray plug-in you also have to install our free APID ToolAssistant plug-in, which is available as a second, separate download.

Download the Color2Gray plug-in (version 2.0. Time-limited, fully functional demo. For InDesign CS, CS2, CS3, CS4 or CS5 on Mac or Windows; does not include the APID ToolAssistant. Don’t worry about the icon of the .spln file: it might not be a ‘regular’ icon, and that’s OK)

Installation

Please make sure you have a copy of the APID ToolAssistant plug-in installed.

Make sure you install the proper plug-in for your version of InDesign. InDesign CS, CS2, CS3, CS4 and CS5 plug-ins are mutually incompatible.

If you already have an APID ToolAssistant plug-in installed (e.g. because you use one of our other plug-ins), make sure it is up-to-date.

When installing plug-ins make sure you copy plug-in files, not the folders they are contained in. On Windows CS5 plug-ins also come with an additional folder with a parenthesized name – these folders also need to be copied along.

Copy the Color2Gray.spln into the same folder as the APID ToolAssistant plug-in you installed (typically that will be the InDesign Plug-Ins folder). Don’t worry about the icon of the .spln file: it might not be a ‘regular’ icon, and that’s OK.

Usage

After you have installed the plug-ins, select one or more placed color images. Then right-click or control-click the selection. In the context menu there should be a menu item called API (shorthand for Active Page Item).

This menu item should contain an option Force Render as Gray which you can select to make the images render in grayscale.

On the menu bar, in the API menu item, you should also find two new menu items – these duplicate the function of the context menus.

If you want you can assign keyboard shortcuts to these menu items via Edit – Keyboard Shortcuts… (product area Active Page Item).

In short, the procedure is:

  1. Select image
  2. Right-click (Win) or Control-click (Mac)
  3. Select API – Force Render as Gray from the context menu

After an image is converted to grayscale the context menu will change – you can convert back to a color image if so desired – the menu item changes to ‘Render Normally’.

Let us know if this plug-In is useful to you, at pluginsupport@rorohiko.com. Thanks!

Limitations

There are currently two known limitations.

First, the conversion to grayscale is done by InDesign, and you have no control over the process.

InDesign does a pretty good job, and this will suffice for many people, but if you want more specialized conversions (e.g. switch off color management, fiddle with curves,…) then this plug-in won’t help you. In other words – it’s back to Photoshop, and create an edited grayscale copy there.

Second limitation: Color2Gray only handles simple bitmap images. It does not work on vector images (Illustrator, EPS,…), and we’ve also encountered complex Photoshop images (with multiple layers) that could not be handled by Color2Gray. Please test thoroughly and check the printed output before going live!

Version history

19-June-2010: Version 2.0:

  • CS5 support
  • Color2Gray is now a commercial tool. Users of CS4 and earlier do not need to upgrade – Color2Gray 1.0.10 is still free and is functionally equivalent to Color2Gray 2.0.

10-Nov-2008: Version 1.0.10:

  • CS4 support

15-Jun-2008: Version 1.0.9:

  • Fixed clipping path issues in CS3 (in some cases the clipping path would be turned inside-out when printing – only showing the image parts outside the clipping path instead of inside).

16-Jun-2007: Version 1.0.8:

  • Fixed issues related to scaled images, and images with clipping paths

15-Jun-2007: Version 1.0.7:

  • Added CS3 support
  • Fixed issue for images with clipping paths

27-Jun-2006 Version 1.0:

  • Initial beta release.

28-Aug-2006: Version 1.0.6:

  • Fixed issue where some grayed images would still print in color.

23-Aug-2006: Version 1.0.5:

  • Fixed issue with ‘clipping’ of gray images

23-Aug-2006 Version 1.0.4:

  • Now supports transparency applied to image
  • Now supports embedded images
  • Fixed InDesign slowdown when many objects are selected

16-Aug-2006 Version 1.0.3:

  • Fixed JavaScript issues that could cause error dialogs

15-Aug-2006 Version 1.0.2:

  • Switched to a totally different technique to force the gray rendering. This version properly shoves all the pixels of the image onto the black plate. This means that if an image is forced to gray in a CMYK job, it will only appear on the K plate, and nothing will show up on the C/M/Y plates.

27-Jun-2006 Version 1.0.1:

  • Changed ‘Luminosity’ to ‘Lighten’

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