Why doesn't Artrage convert from RGB to CMYK?

[Jesmcalli]

I'm not really savvy in terms of how the RGB-CMYK conversion works, but from what I understand, we ( as the artists) generally paint/draw/etc in RGB, and the final product is converted to CMYK format for printing ( in most cases). Here's my problem: I'm doing an illustration for a college assignment, in digital format, that will be printed. I have Photoshop CS4, but I really love the ease of use of AR3 and the way it handles paint mechanics. I would certainly prefer to work in AR3. But, from my research, converting an AR3 file to PS, and then changing from RGB to CMYK can cause some serious problems, to the point of basically needing to redo the entire piece in PS.

So, my question, as the title states, is why hasn't AR3 added that feature? Does it have to do with some kind of technical limitation inherent to AR3? It's probably a silly question, but as I cannot find a concrete answer via the internet, I thought I'd post it here. Thanks for any replies.

[MattRage]

Converting to CMYK or painting directly in CMYK would have the same effect: The range of colours available in CMYK is smaller so you can't get a full range of blends. When you convert, the application (Photoshop in this case) converts any non CMYK legal colours in your image. If you painted in CMYK you'd get the same limited palette. This is why ArtRage works in RGB, we try to avoid reducing your colour palette as much as possible.

We don't do internal CMYK conversion because of the associated complexities of that type of system - Including it would require us to provide a wide range of print style services that the application isn't suited to. In your case, Photoshop is probably your best bet for reducing the image to CMYK if you need to.

Hope that explains it!

[Steve B]

As a side note- could some of this be solved by just having a CMYK color palette option, for those who want it? I can understand not wanting to limit color options right off the bat, but its an issue that's been brought up a number of times on the boards. Or is it more complicated than simply reducing the number of color options available if one were to choose a CMYK color-palette option in a pull down menu, for example?

[MattRage]

Unfortunately it's a bit more complex internally, RGB and CMYK colours are stored in a different format (3 component and 4 component respectively) and when paint blends we would need to make sure that the blended result conformed to the limited palette.