Printing Pantone Colors

I am using a Xerox Phaser 7760 with Freehand MX on OSX 10.3.
When I go to the printers web interface and print out the test
Pantone library on this printer, it prints very good, not perfect,
but very good. When I then go into freehand and draw some shapes
with colors, I can't get the colors to print as good as the pantone
swatches do. Any ideas?

I suspect when you are printing from the web interface the
file is directed to the RIP without prior colour management. When
you print from any application that is using colour management
typically a destination profile will be applied to your file,
especially if the colours are RGB or spot. So when that print file
then gets to the RIP it's already been altered.
In InDesign for instance you can print a document and disable
InDesign's colour management, allowing it all to be handled by the
printer's RIP. I use this when I print to our 6 colour inkjet, so
it gets unaltered RGB and only one conversion happens.
In FreeHand I'm not so sure how to achieve this. I would make
sure your spot colours are not being converted to CMYK on print
(there's a checkbox under advanced/separations) and turn off colour
management of spot colours.
There is an additional factor. Book manufacturers (ie
Pantone) change the built-in conversion values for swatches from
time to time. So when you specify a spot in FreeHand and convert it
to CMYK you will get a different result than Illustrator CS. The
swatches in FreeHand maybe older or different than those in your in
your test file. In which case you will never get the same
result.

Similar Messages

How to print pantone colors

I have a CS3 with a 10.5.8 operating system, and would like to print a file I made with Pantone swatches.
My printer is a Canon Pixma iP 4000.
I tried using photoshop manages colors in color handling, with cmyk-US web coated in printer profile, with relative colorimetric in the rendering intent.
Black point compensation?
Please advise which settings I should use to get the pantone colors correctly under color handling
Thank you
Finnegan56

You can certainly do it through the Swatches panel. The method I suggested is the one I mostly use - force of habit, you know.
"True" Pantone colors are produced by mixing a specific formula of inks produced by the Pantone corp. For example, the swatch Marian showed (Pantone 1535 U)is 16 parts Pantone Orange 021, and 2 parts Pantone Black, printed on uncoated paper. You go to the Channels panel menu, and select "New Spot Channel". Click on the color, and specify it as I said.
Then, when you print on a commercial offset printing press, there will be a seperate printing plate for that color. The press operator mixes up a batch of the specified ink formula, and use that for the spot color plate.
For further info, take a look at http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/index.aspx

Why do my Pantone colors in my pdf print differently from Adobe Reader than they do from Illustrator

I'm using the same printer color setting/profile in each application, US Web Coated Swop v2, (I choose this profile in the pint dialog box in Reader). The pantone colors do not match on our Sharp MX3100. I know Illustrator has been using the new Pantone books. Is Reader updated with these or is it converting my pdf to rgb when it prints? I like to print my customer's pdf file from Reader first and then after I set the file up with our shop parameters in Illustrator CS6 I print the file from illustrator but the Pantone colors, Orange 021 for instance looks entirely different. Thanks for any help!

Downgrade to previous CS where color was color. Seriously, if you were getting correct color on output and the color appeared correctly on your monitor before you updated, then there's where the problem is. The update.

Pantone Color 5615 Coated Won't Print On 1 of 2 Identical HP DesignJet 5500s

Hi,
We've run into an odd problem where we have 2 locations with identical setups: Creative Suite Design Premium 4, Mac Pros, and HP DesignJet 5500s. The same InDesign file prints fine in one location with a DesignJet 5500, but when we print the same ID file at the second location that has a second DesignJet 5500, the only color that doesn't print correctly is Pantone 5615 Coated. We're using same printer driver version for both printers. I haven't yet checked Firmware versions for both printers.
On the printer that won't print Pantone 5615, the printer doesn't print it correctly in any of our Creative Suite applications. We tried creating completely new files in ID, PS, IL and the color won't print. We've checked color management in Bridge and ID and they seem OK. We're not currently having any other color problems printing with any other Creative Suite files with this printer. Colors are accurate all the way around.
I read the forum and saw a lot of posting about Pantone colors, so I will try some of the suggestions related to Pantone issues. At the moment, I'm not at the location with the problem printer and can't try the suggestions until next week.
When I was at the location yesterday, we tried printing Pantone 5615 from Quark 7.5 and the color printed fine. Obviously, we don't want to use Quark on an ongoing basis for this project. It seems likely that it isn't a printer hardware problem since the Pantone color prints out fine from the Quark file. There seems to be a setting somewhere in Creative Suite that the printer at our one location doesn't like, or there is some setting on the printer that is different than the other printer. I don't think it's a network problem with the one printer versus the other printer because I would think Quark would then run into the same problem.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Jason

I have the same issue with my 44" Z3100ps GP Photo, but it is when I print from Photoshop CS5. I am running OSX 10.68 and since the last Apple/HP printer driver update this last Summer my printer will not print solid black strokes or borders around an image, yet the image prints perfectly.
I tried to roll back the drivers with no success. If I make a solid black rectangler file and try print it nothing at all prints. If I scribble in Photoshop with white paint brush in the middle of that same file the printer skips the left edge of the black rectangle and then prints the middle scribbnle and right egde of the rectangle folowing the contour of the scribble on the left.
Had me baffled and still does, the printheads are in good working order. I print large canvas photos with 1.5" black borders used to cover the sides of stretched canvases. The only way I have found around this issue is to add an inch or so to the canvas size all the way around in photoshop and make it white. That seems to fool the printer into printing the file with the full black border. Still this is not a real fix, but at least it keeps my printer running.
Let me know if you find a solution to this. HP support doesn't help as they only give support to in warranty printers. Maybe Apple could help with the drivers?
Lucas

I want to print or export (PDF) a design with a indication of the used pantone colors without the separations so that our customer can see them (not CMYK)

Before i used CS illustrator i was able to indicate the used pantone colors on a print or PDF with coreldraw.
Can anyone tell me how to make such a print with CS6.
My clients have to see the used Pantone colors in the design (not CMYK)

Add your spot colors to your swatches panel (Window> Swatch Library> Color Books> Pantone+ Solid Coated>)
In the fly-out menu on the swatches panel, select all unused swatches and delete. Also delete any unused swatch groups.
File> Document set-up> make the bleed .5".
Use the type tool to indicate the spot colors on the outside edge of the bleed area, make the type color match the indicated spot color.
Save as PDF. This PDF printed with bleed will show the spot colors. Alternately, you could select "add crop marks and color bar" in the print settings, which should also indicate the spot colors.
In InDesign you can add a Slug area to your page, where the spot colors would typically be added.

I am using pantone color codes, but my printer is not getting a close color match. What can I do to get a close color match?

Is there settings in CS5 Illustrator version 15.0.0 that I can set to get a closer match on the pantone color codes?

Tara,
What happens if you save the file to PDF and print from Acrobat/Reader?
Is there a PostScript (emulation) printer driver for the printer, and if so, what happens if you use that?
If you print a CMYK document through a non PostScript driver, you will have a conversion from CMYK to RGB and then a conversion from RGB to CMYK, so you may expect any colour to be off.

Can I easily match Pantone colors using Illustrator?

Hi all,
I run a small invitation supply company.
Our primary design tool up until now has been Photoshop Elements.
We recently purchased a $6000 printer from Xerox which is the 'gold standard' for graphic arts and Pantone approved.
We also have a pantone color bridge. When I print a color using the hex code, the color looks NOTHING like the pantone swatch.
I contacted Xerox and they told me that because Elements has a very low degree of color management that we will never be able to easily color match our pantone swatches and that they aren't surprised the color is way off.
I suppose I naively figured that spending $6000 on a printer would get us easy and flawless color matching. Xerox says- not so.
They suggested investing in Illustrator and they are convinced that it will be much more likely to get us to the point that we want. Ultimately I want to be able to pick a color from the pantone deck, enter the code, and feel confident that the print will come out 100% the corresponding color.
Am I living a pipe dream?
I would like some feedback before proceeding.
On top of the financial investment, obviously there is a lot of time that my partner and I will have to spend learning Illustrator.
Any input would be great.
Thanks,
Aaron

Am I living a pipe dream?
Yes.
More precisely, you are just failing to understand the fundamental difference between spot color and process color.
I want to be able to pick a color from the pantone deck, enter the code, and feel confident that the print will come out 100% the corresponding color.
Not gonna happen, even if you do all the tedious color management setup you can.
The above assumes you are, in fact, talking about matching Pantone spot colors. (Pantone does not just publish spot color swatches, but that is the usual sense in which beginners refer to Pantone.)
A spot color is, by definition, an actual, physical, single ink which is loaded into a press. The only way to achieve your 100% pipedream is to load that actual, physical, single ink into your $6000 printer.
But that's how a printing press works, not how your $6000 printer works. It works by printing four "primary colors" of inks and then arranging tiny dots of them in proximity to each other in order to "trick" the eye into seeing them as a mixture of colors on the page in proportions which try to approximate the spot color as best it can.
But physical inks are simply not accurate enough to actually do that. There are many, many spot colors which simply cannot be replicated by mixing arrays of primary colors of inks. That's what all this "gamut" talk is about. That's one reason why spot color inks exist.
The Pantone spot color matching system is a means by which to consistently communicate proportional mixtures of actual, real, physical inks of known specific colors. All anyone (including Pantone) can do with the CMYK inks (or dyes) in a desktop printer is try to recommend percentages of those CMYK inks to best approximate a match to an actual, physical spot color ink.
It gets worse. Your monitor cannot actually match a spot color ink swatch, either. Your monitor glows. Ink doesn't. Even on tediously calibrated systems, there is more to perceived "color" than just numerical values of CMYK or RGB or HSL or Lab. There is chroma. There is reflectance. There is opacity. There is grain.
Then there's the whole matter of the incredibly context-sensitive adaptabability of human vision.
So if you are selling the output of your $6000 printer as the final product, you should not use Pantone spot color swatches as any kind of contract color specification, because your printer cannot actually print spot color inks. If you're doing color-critical work that the customer will refuse when specified colors don't match, you and your customer must specify colors which your device can actually produce.
JET

Illustrator CS4, new Pantone color books, color channel issue

Since I installed the new Pantone color books, I've been running in a major issue which will affect our whole production line.
If an Illustrator CS4 file contains a Photoshop CS4 image which is using an "old" Pantone color in a color channel, it cannot be opened and I get an error message "File is unreadable". If I replace the "old" Pantone colour with its new equivalent in the color channel in Photoshop, the file can be opened normally.
In our work environment, this means going through all our images to check which one is using a color channel. A painful and time wasting procedure. Furthermore, if one of our suppliers doesn't have the new color books, they won't be able to open any of the files, both Photoshop and Illustrator, so they have no way to revert back to the old Pantone.
Is there another way to fix this?
Thank you

More on the Pantone PLUS saga, hoping to get some input from the users of this forum. I find their silence deafening, to say the least. This is a serious issue, that will cost our agency hours and hours of work if it isn't addressed. And we've already wasted hours of troubleshooting and discussions on how we could resolve it.
We're actually testing a workaround: using both the old and the new libraries in Illustrator. After consulting our suppliers, we've learned that this is what they also do. For them, it's a one shot to get the file to print. For us, it means cheating with files that will get edited again in the future. And the Pantone installer removes the old Pantone books from the Adobe folders for a reason which is mentioned on the download page:
The reason that the PANTONE Color Libraries that had been built into Illustrator need to be removed and replaced with the PANTONE PLUS Color Libraries is that, in Illustrator, a PANTONE Color can only have one data point with which it is associated. In the short term, in order to benefit from the new colors and data associated in PLUS, the PANTONE Libraries that are installed with Adobe Illustrator are removed and replaced with the new PLUS Libraries.
http://www.pantone.com/pages/Pantone/Pantone.aspx?pg=20721&ca=1
I worry this may lead to another bunch of issue, knowing how easily AI files get corrupted. What I need to know is:
What is the exact meaning of the Pantone warning about the "one data point per color?
What are the long term implications of using both Pantone libraries in an Adobe file? Or in the Adobe app?

Illustrator CS6 / CC and previous Pantone color books

Hi all, I've understood that Illustrator CS6 / CC has the new Pantone+ color books, those color books doesn't have CMYK values so the default of rIllustrator CS6 / CC is to use the Lab values when I add a Pantone swatches to my document. One of my customers, that is a print industry, need to have the old Pantone with CMYK values to maintain the same color rendition on old and continuative jobs. Adobe says that I can load the old Pantone color books from CS5 and change the swatches option so that Illustrator use the CMYK values: http://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/pantone-plus.html The problem is that this doesn't work for me and for my customer, even if I change the swatches option Illustrator continue to load only the Lab values from the older CS5 Pantone color books... anyone of you has a solution?

I am running into the same issue. Both links suggested did not work for me. In a document I created in CS4 (the old document) and opened in CC there is a square with the color Pantone 519U in which it converts to C:67% M:100% Y:30% K:10%. These are the numbers to be expected. If I copy the square that is 519U in the old document and paste it in the same old document the color remains the same.
I create a new document in CC (the new document). From the old document I copy the Pantone 519U square and paste it in the new document. The resulting square in the new document is a washed out purple. The new document square converts to C:57.27% M:68.83% Y:35.06% K:13.06%.
Again I followed Workaround 1 in the link. I obtained the old Pantone Libraries from my CS4 machine so it is not a library issue. I have also created a new Document Profile where I set the Spot Color to be "Use CMYK values from the manufacturer's process books". I am seeing the same problem before and after the workaround.

Indesign CS3 - Changing file from all black to a pantone color

Is there an easy way to change an all black file to a specific pantone color in Indesign CS3? I've ran into this plenty of times after setting up an all black job and then the customer decides they want to see on the laser printer what it would look like in a specific pantone color. I've always had to go into each photo and text block separately to do this.

One way is to build jobs like this using a custom black ink defined as CMYK 0,0,0,100 and then all you should have to do for all elements created in IND is delete the black spot and substitute with your new spot.
Check with your printer, but in general they'll almost certainly prefer a black file to a "spot" file. So if this is just one page you can always kick out a quick PDF, rasterize in PS and place into IND, painted as the new spot. I've never been burned with this workflow, but understand that the client signs off on a proof that is a couple steps away from the file that will go to press.
I'm sure you can also export to PDF and use Acrobat's convert color utility to get what you want, but I wouldn't know how to go about it. [ed] And fiddled, and still couldn't figure it out.
J

Same logo printing different colors for different file formats?

I created a logo for a client who will be using it for some printed materials. I provided the logo in 3 different file formats: EPS, JPEG and Tiff.
In INDesign and MS Word, the logo is printing a different color for the EPS vs the Jpeg/Tiff file types. Is there something I'm missing?
I've even tried changing the color to something completely different and we are getting the same result. There is STiLL a considerable difference between the Eps file and the other two files.

No the logo was created for print and I originally had used a pantone color but converted to CMYK. The actual value is C69 M7 Y0 K0. When my client inserts the eps file into her InDesign layout, it prints a bright aqua color and if she uses either the jpeg or tiff, it is a much different blue. We've tried other colors because I was thinking it might just be the fact that it's a blue color... but the same thing happens to other colors. I am wondering if there is some sort of color management setting that is causing the eps to be different?

Two files, same pantone color...Onscreen looks like two different colors?

Recently we have been having this issue at work, We have a line of packaging that uses the same pantone color (375 C). When we go to create a new document and use that same pantone the color onscreen looks more saturated then its predecessor. The only think I can think of is that I've upgrade to the pantone plus system but have since uninstalled and reinstalled the old color books. Both documents are in CMYK color space and both use the same ICC profile. Any thoughts? I know it wont appear this way when printed but we make a lot of PDFs for approvals and the colors come out more saturated in the PDF as well. See sample image below. Thanks for your help!

Try copying a sample of 375C from Document A into document B. If the Doc A swatch magically changes color to match the doc B swatch the you have a document with either a modified or old color that uses the same EXACT SAME name. This happens when someone modifies the CMYK values PANTONE 375 C does not change the name of the color. What Illustrator does is the AUTOMATICALLY changes the color mode of Doc A swatch from CMYK to Book color, when you paste an item having the same swatch name. You do not even get a about to merge color warning. For that reason if I ever tweak a color to get a better laser print, I change the name (eg: PANTONE 375C (Mod)
Though I feel one of Wade's 2 suggestions may be right, this also can cause color difference.

What exactly are Pantone colors?

Hello: Level: New Newbie OS: Win 7 64bit
I came across something today while familiarizing myself with Illustrator and Photoshop and I have tried to Google but I'm not so good with Keywords.
I would like to know exactly what Pantone colors are and if they are for web use or are they for projects that are intended for printing only.
Thank you for your time
Kara

You are welcome, Kara, apologizing for the slightly woolly way of explaining (not only as substitutes referring to the CMYK values amidst three disturbingly similar references to Pantone spot colours).
I'll start a new thread though ... hope to see you there
I am looking forward to it, but since it is midnight in half an hour over here I shall have to attend to other duties just about as soon.

Pantone Color Changes

I have a series of Illustrator documents created over 2 - 3 years. They are artwork for labels of multiple sizes of the same product. It is important that the colour is consistent. In the period concerned I will have used CS5, CS5.5 and CS6.
I have just added to the range and the client came back to me saying that the "blue has changed”. Sure enough it has. When I compare, Pantone 652 on one it is darker than Pantone 652 on a newer one. Apparently it prints differently as well. When I copy and paste blue items from one document to another (either way) they change colour. In other words PMS 652 is not consistent from one document to another.
When I check the CMYK numbers on the two documents they are very different: 50/25/0/10 and 47/24/7/0.
I have read that Pantone wished to 'improve' some things, and I know I can change the colour book in CS6, or just work some projects in older Illustrator versions. But they all seem to me to be cumbersome work arounds. Surely Pantone 652 should always be Pantone 652.
What am I missing?

Dear Monika:
I wanted to clarify part of the issue here.
PANTONE 652 is a color that was added to the PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM back in 1991, one of a palette of 'light, dirty shades' that was introduced at that time. As a solid ink, the color and formulation have not changed at all since the color was introduced.
What has changed over the years are the paper stock on which the colors are printed, as well as the CMYK simulation data contained first in the PANTONE solid to process guide, and later in PANTONE Color Bridge.
The current version of PANTONE COLOR BRIDGE, launched in May 2010 as part of the PANTONE PLUS SERIES, was re-engineered with a globally-compatible, G7-based workflow to produce a single version applicable worldwide, in replacement of the previous North American and European versions with separate workflow and CMYK values. This in part explains the change in CMYK data. However, in most cases, confusion about CMYK values occurs because users typically access the colors from the PANTONE solid color libraries, and 'convert' to CMYK which provides conversion data which vary from the explicit data contained within the PANTONE COLOR BRIDGE libraries. It should be noted that the PANTONE PLUS SERIES products include a license for PANTONE Color Manager, allowing users to update the digital PANTONE libraries within their Adobe applications with libraries consistent with the PANTONE PLUS SERIES products.
Best regards,
John Stanzione
Manager - Technical Support
Pantone, LLC

Mesh tool and pantone colors.

Hello,
I'm trying to make a logo using the mesh tool. I have to use pantone colors, since it will be used on a bussinesscard.
Now, I'm experiencing the following problem: I select a darker color on the bottom part of the object, and the gradient is going from dark, to light, to normal.
Why is this happening? Is it because I'm using pantones? it just looks icky.
Thank you!
Image:
[IMG]http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b338/Aetza/drop.png[/IMG]
I clicked three times, so I have three horizontal and three vertical lines. The light part is happening between two lines.

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Also, I have no knowledge of printstuff.
And because of that, others here are trying to help you avoid getting yourself into trouble. Before anyone actually starts charging money for doing design or prep work for commercial print, they really should consider it their responsibilty to (what a concept!) actually be at least familiar with the printing process. Otherwise, if you present yourself as a for-print designer, you really are defrauding the customer.
Take a course at the local tech school; work part time in a press room for peanuts, just to learn. At the very least, get someone to give you a functional tour of a press room whenever you can.
It's not rocket science; it's mostly just simple mehanics. But it is also not just a simple matter of re-purposing your RGB web work. (In fact, that's backward; usually you should design for print first and then repurpose for web.)
As soon as you start talking about real ink-on-paper, you're talking about real labor and materials and real time on some really expensive equipment. Commercial offset printing is very competitive. Printing houses by necessity quote jobs according to the assumtion that jobs incomming from external preparers are built right, i.e.; that the external designer knows what he's doing. You can't expect a printing house to eat the costs involved in fixing your file-preparation mistakes.
In short, the printing world is chock-full of very bad relationships between angry designers who think they know what they're doing (often these days just because they've been doing some design work for the web) and printing houses who know they don't. Trust me: You don't need that stigma. A print designer should consider it a matter of necessity to develop very strong relationships with printing houses, based on mutual professional respect. Without that, you really won't be competitive, no matter how artfully talented you consider yourself.
function(){return A.apply(null,[this].concat($A(arguments)))}
But it really is a pantone
There is no such thing as "a pantone". Pantone is a brand; it's a company. The various Pantone libraries are just sets of standardized spot color or process color specs published by Pantone, and used to communicate colors to printing houses. Pantone is not the only set of spot colors, but it is the most commonly-recognized in offset lithography printing; it predates graphics computers by decades.
When designing a file intended for color-separation (i.e.; mass printing), your concern is whether it will be printed in spot color or process color (or, in some cases, a combination of both). In order for your file to color-separate correctly, you have to build it correctly.
And color separation is not the only issue; there are other issues that affect whether the job prints correctly, such as trapping and total ink density. For example, spot color is by its nature less forgiving when you neglect the matter of trapping.
All printing is a matter of production economy. In the matter of process vs. spot color, several practical factors come into play, including the paper type, the specific press which will run the job, and even the nature of the artwork itself (ex: line-art vs. continuous-tone, tightness of the color registration, and others).
When designing for color-separated print, don't think in terms of "colors"; think in terms of real-world, physical inks. Basically, Your job is to deliver to the printing house a file which contains one image per ink--especially with spot color (i.e.; what far too many people think of as synonomous with "Pantone"). Don't think of a spot color as a "color"; think of it as an ink.
Offset presses have a separate ink well for each ink that will be printed. Each ink hits the paper at a different time as the sheet passes through the press. At the typical small-to-medium printing house, bread & butter jobs like business cards are usually run on smallish presses. Those are seldom more than 4-color presses, and are often 2-color presses. If, in your artwork, the number of separation colors exceeds then number of ink wells on the specific press, the job cannot be printed in one pass; the paper has to be re-run to apply the full number of inks and that entails another press set-up operation--which you pay for.
So if (as it sounds) you take the admonition to "use Pantone colors" to simply mean 'make sure all the colors you use are selected from the Pantone Swatch Library', you are already in trouble. Each time you add a color from a spot color library to your file, you are necessitating another ink well on the press.
If you've read and seriously considered the above, you'll understand that, by and large, it is rarely practical (cost efficient) to design a piece containing more than three spot colors. As soon as you need more than three colors, you should be considering 4-color (CMYK) process.
(Higher-end printing is frequently done involving more than four inks; it is not uncommon for sheetfed work to be process-plus-1 or process-plus-2 spot inks. Multi-pass jobs can involve foils, metallic inks, and varnishes. But such "glitzy" printing is knowingly extravagant and is still carefully prepared for to maximize economy within the requirements. Although it certainly can be, such extravagance is not usually the kind of thing used for the typical business card project.)
JET

Printing Pantone Colors

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