Changing a Spot Color Swatch with a script

I have about 150 files where I need to replace a Pantone color with another.
So far I've been able to rename the old color, delete it and add the right one. But I cant find any info on how to change an existing color without messing up the existing art work (if I rename it, it converts the spot color to CMYK).
For example I could rename it:
i if ( app.documents.length > 0 &&
i app.activeDocument.swatches.length > 0 ) {
i var lastIndex = app.activeDocument.swatches.length - 1;
i var lastSwatch = app.activeDocument.swatches[lastIndex];
i lastSwatch.name = "Pantone 414 C";
i }
But that doesn't change it to 414 C. If you have any idea, I would be very grateful...
Regards Simon

Why not change it in Illustrator?
Since you're using Creative Cloud you should be aware that the new
applications will not install on Windows XP. The minimum configuration
is Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8.
Bob

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I would report this as a bug, you can use the slider to set it to 100%, but not enter that value by typing. Strange.
Adobe - Feature Request/Bug Report Form

Renaming a Swatch with a script

I was wondering if it is possible to rename a swatch with a script. In an open document I would like the script to run and do the following:
If swatch Pantone 032 is in the document change the swatch name to 032 (Red).
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I have done the exact same process as what you are looking for. I got this working:
var SW = app.activeDocument.swatches;
if (SW.length > 0) {
    for (i=0; i < SW.length; i++){
        changeName(SW[i]);
function changeName(swatchObject){
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In this instance, it changed 10 YELLOW and 12 YELLOW to a lowercase name. You would need to go in and type in a conditional statement for each swatch you are wanting to rename.
When the script is ran, it doesnt appear to update the swatch name. However, if you double click on one of the swatches, the name that is showed will be the changed value, and when you hit cancle on that pop-up dialogue, all the others will switch to the new name.
Anybody know if there is a way to update the swatch palette within the script to show the new names automatically?

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Use spot colors | Adobe Illustrator CC tutorials
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Spot color swatches in AICS6 and AICC do not match color in design

Hello,
Some of the lighter, saturated colors in the PANTONE+ swatches library appear to be a different color in the swatch list than they are when applied to a design.
Please, see below for screen shots.
i can duplicate this situation on calibrated NEC MultiSync monitors and uncalibrated laptops. We are running on Mac OS X.8x and above.
Designers are complaining about not being able to pick a color from the Swatch Library in AICS6 or AICC.
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Technology Support
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pantone 361 is pantone 361 no matter how it appears on screen--that said--creating a design and 'then' appying a color can have 'different' results depending on what 'effects' were applied to the design--any transparent effects can cause a color shift--and--in my experience--many designers don't realise that when they use an 'effect' on an object (drop shadow, multiply, etc) and then create another object--the effect is also being applied (27 years in prepress verifies this)
as far as your screen shots are concerned--they appear identical on my monitor.
try this test with one of your designers--have them create an illustrator document with a rectangle filled with a spot color--save it as an .ai file---then have them place that file in Indesign and create a rectangle there--load the same color in the indesign pallette and draw/fill a rectangle before placing the .ai file--then see if they match

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Hi there,
Using Applescript, I’m trying to spot an audio file to the playhead of the open multitrack document. Although I’m struggling, it’s probably very simple. I've tried doing it in Soundtrack Pro then saving as an Applescript, but for some reason the option is grayed out. I’m wondering, what is the script for this?
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tell application "Soundtrack Pro"
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Ah, I see. Yes, maybe a misunderstanding.
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I wrote a script that did the trick in another audio program but the program has no Applescript dictionary so, using system events for commands, my computer is untouchable for 10-20 minutes at a time for each track generated!
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Please, can I with help of Javascript change spot color values? for example by my color VARNISH with c:0,m:10,y:15,k:0 to make change to c:0,m:0,y:0,k:0? thank you

Please, can I with help of Javascript change specific spot color values? for example, I have color named VARNISH with values c:0,m:10,y:15,k:0 and it would help me to make change to c:0,m:0,y:0,k:0 as a part of an action. Is it possible? Thank you

Hi Kon Verter,
you can change the values of your spot swatch, but you have to check many things before.
e.g. you can do something like this:
var Vcolor = app.activeDocument.swatches.getByName("Varnish");
if (Vcolor.color.spot.colorType == ColorModel.SPOT && Vcolor.color.spot.spotKind == SpotColorKind.SPOTCMYK) {
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This will change the black value of the cmyk spot color with name Varnish to 0
Have fun

Should the print company I use be able to change a file to spot color for me?

I recently sent a document in to a major print company to have a folder printed. The document was created in Illustrator using only two colors. They said they could not print it because it was still more than two colors and that I needed to change it to a two color document using Pantone Spot Color.
I've never had to do that for a print company before but I've also never had a two color project before. I opened the file back up and selected my objects and "recolored" the work and deleted all the swatches aside from the two colors I needed that were now Pantone Spot Color (HSB). It literally took me 2 minutes.
The reason I am asking is because they pretty much said that I don't know what I'm doing, which to a designer is completely insulting. We all do new things from time to time but that is an insult. Shouldn't they, a large print company with years of experience, know how to do this for me? They had the original design file.. Maybe they don't know what they are doing?
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...which to a designer is completely insulting...
What's so special about "a designer"?
Prior to the mid 1980s, designers could get away with prima Donna attitudes, because they (or their employers) were paying pre-press "color houses" around $350 per hour to tweak colors to sooth their oh-so-erudite discernment and hyper-developed color sensitivities, and to gain reimbursement for the $100 per plate lunches on proof-check days.
That all changed when designers (and their employers) got tired of paying those fees and took on the responsibility for the technical side of assembling their designs into something printable. That was the so-called "desktop revolution" and "revolution" was not a bad word for it. It turned a huge industry on its head. Color houses which didn't adopt PostScript devices and workflows were soon dropping like flies--and so were designers who didn't climb down off their lofty pedestals and buckle down to learning the technical realities of what they were doing.
Don't be insulted, but the simple fact is, you still don't know what you're doing if you think converting any given process color job to a two-spot job is "just a couple of minutes' work." Only in the very simplest designs would it be as simple as re-defining a couple of process Swatches as spot color Swatches.
In Illustrator in particular, doing so won't even work if the original Swatches were not originally defined as Global Swatches.
If those two process Swatches were used in any Blends, converting them to spot will likely not update the intermediate steps of the Blend. In earlier versions of Illustrator, the same problem applied to grads.
You can often get away with not having properly trapped the file with process swatches, because there are potentially four component inks which may be shared between adjacent different-color objects. Spot inks are not so forgiving. Trapping is essential if the two spot colors touch.
So you really expect a printer to just have a policy to do that for you? And thereby bear responsibility for anything they may misinterpret or overlook that may cause a registration sliver on press and thereby loose every bit of profit on the printing (which these days is cut-throat competitive)?
No. It's your responsibility to build the file correctly. The printing houses I use know better. They know I would have a coniption fit if I ever caught them modifying one of my files. They know they are to return any problem file to me for correction.
JET

How to make a spot swatch with specific name by using AppleScript?

Hi there,
I am trying to create a script in AppleScript to make a new spot color swatch that must be the COLOR TYPE : SPOT (with specific values). I've got it to make a global process color but can't seem to make a spot swatch. I'm using the script below :
tell application "Adobe Illustrator"
    set docColorSpace to color space of document 1
    if (docColorSpace is CMYK) then
        set SpotColor to {cyan:100.0, magenta:0, yellow:0.0, black:0.0}
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        set SpotColor to {red:0.0, green:174.0, blue:239.0}
    end if
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end tell
I did find an entry in an old forum that did this using javascript, however, I am not experienced with this at all and have no idea what or how to use it on a mac platform. This script is listed below.
#target illustrator
var docRef = app.activeDocument;
var newCMYK = new CMYKColor();
newCMYK.cyan = 100;
newCMYK.magenta = 0;
newCMYK.yellow = 0;
newCMYK.black = 0;
var thisSpot = docRef.spots.add();
thisSpot.name = 'ADHESIVE';
thisSpot.color = newCMYK;
thisSpot.colorType = ColorModel.SPOT;
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!

You are close but missing the last property listed in the JavaScript… It translates to… 'color type:spot color'
tell application "Adobe Illustrator"
set docColorSpace to color space of document 1
if (docColorSpace is CMYK) then
set SpotColor to {cyan:100.0, magenta:0, yellow:0.0, black:0.0}
else
set SpotColor to {red:0.0, green:174.0, blue:239.0}
end if
make new spot in document 1 with properties {name:"ADHESIVE", color:SpotColor, color type:spot color}
end tell
BTW… The use of JavaScript in the CS apps is more common because of its 'platform independence' There is a toolkit supplied along with the CS install.

Change Spot Color to CMYK?

Is there a way in 8.1.4 Professional to change a spot color to another color space? I know colors can be convert in Print Production > Convert Colors but what I'm trying to do is change colors in a PDF from 0AA0 ( 100 magenta, 100 yellow) to 0A50 (100 magenta, 50 yellow).

Now you can convert CMYK values to another pantone inside Acrobat 9 but not the other way around. Saying that, if you know if there's a pantone which has an alternative colour space of 100M and 50Y then you can remap it to that. Advanced / Preflight.
You can also achieve this with Enfocus Pitstop (www.enfocus.com) when you have complete control over either single or global changes of object properties including colours.
Hope this helps?
Jon

Problems with spots colors and printing

Hello everyone,
I am currently working on a business card for a client. The design calls for white text with an inner shadow to sit above a bar with a gradient. One of the colors in the gradient is reflex blue. When I export the file to a pdf and try to print it the text box fills with white and the graident bar changes colors and a portion of it becomes solid. I can fix the problem by printing the pdf as an image or removing the reflex blue and substituing it for another dark blue. However there really isn't a close match in cymk to Reflex Blue C. Is there a way I could continue using reflex blue ( incidentally that is one of the company colors) without these short of issues? If it helps I am using Indesign cs5, Acrobat X, Mac OS 10.6.8, using Creo Rip Software and Printing on a Xerox 700 digital press.

I tried putting the text on another layer but it didn't change anything. The only solution that has worked so far is changing the spot color, reflex blue, to a cmyk color. Here is a screen shot of the problem and some of my export options
Hopfully that helps. In a realted issue, is there a way of lowering the transperancy of a graphic that uses spot colors without changing the color? Once again the problem is reflex blue. When I lower the transparacy the color turns purplish. Thanks for the help

Color conversion : special behavior with Spot Color "All"

Hello,
I have a document with printmarks which have a spot color "All". While I convert the page using the "Color conversion" to Gray 1.8 with Adobe Acrobat X the spot color "All" are still present (with the alternate color space DeviceGray).
Using Adobe Acrobat 9.x all objects have a DeviceGray color.
Is it a bug or a new behavior? Moreover the SDK method doesn't convert the spot color but keep the name (but I know this is not the right place to post it - it's just for information).
Regards,
Joe

I sense you may not understand the difference between sopt and process colors in the printing process.
When you use process inks you build all color representations by combining dots of varying sizes from each of the four process colors, cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. Because the dots are two small to be seen individually your brain is fooled into thinking it sees other colors. Process color printing requires four printing plates to produce the full range of colors possible, but that range is limited compared to what you can see in real life or capture in RGB.
Spot colors, in contrast, are similar to paint. Each color is mixed individually, and every spot color requires its own plate on the printing press (and you must use a press -- toner and inkjet printers use cmyk inksets and cannot print real spot colors). Because of the expense of these plates, the use of spot colors is usually limited to one or two colors in any print job, and if the job has other color (like photographs) that requires process inks, converting the spot colors to the closest process simulation is often employed if the spot colors can be simulated "close enough" to satisfy the client and the budget is tight.
I would avoid using process colors for type in small sizes or for very thin strokes, especially in lighter colors, as you are likely to see ragged edges.
So, how many spot color swatches did you use? More than two? More than four? Do you have a huge budget to produce the work? This may be a project that really should be designed from the ground up as process, or process and one spot for that hard to print bright accent color.

Issue with Gaussian Blur and Spot Colors

Wondering if anyone has a solution to this issue.
Setup: We are using CS4 + CS5 Illustrator on Mac OS 10.5.X and 10.6.X
We created a spot color radial gradient filled circle over a background of the same spot color. The gradient went from 100% of the color down to 2%. We then applied a gaussian blur set to 50 pixels so that we had a nice smooth transition from the circle blurring outwards over the background with the blur blending into the spot color background.
The problem arises when we select "Retain Spot Colors" on the blur. It fills the gradient circle with 100% solid color (but at the 2% range of the gradient so it appears white) and deletes the blur effect. If we don't select "Retain Spot Colors", it converts the blur to process and we get a banding on our printouts where the spot background and CMYK gaussian meet.
We tried the gaussian blur set at 5 pixels all the way up to 55 in 10 pixel increments but nothing worked. We tried different spot colors, same issue. We know we can do the background in Photoshop and import it into Illustrator as a workaround, but we are constantly editing and changing files and would like to keep everything in Illustrator.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to solve this or if there is even a solution. We have not tried Illustrator 5.5 and do not want to invest the money in the upgrade yet. We would prefer to stay with both CS4 and CS5.
Thank you for any input.

Hi Mike,
Okay, I have some new information that changes things. I misunderstood what the issue was from the designer. My apologies in advance for the confusion. There are actually two issues but they are somewhat related.
Issue 1:
We are concerned with banding on the outside of a spot color gradient with a gaussian blur over a patterned background of the same spot color. We do not know if this is becasue of the number of pixels on the blur, the version of Illustrator, the blending of the blur into the patterned background, etc... While the banding looks slight on screen it is more pronounced when printed. There are many variables and we have tried everything we can think of to create a smooth transition but we keep getting some banding.
The first image shows what happens when the Preserve Spot Colors in the Raster Effects Settings (found under the Effect menu) is unchecked. We believe that the spot color is being treated as CMYK and causing the blur to be a slightly different color than the spot color background thus causing the banding.
The second image shows what happens when we select Preserve Spot Colors. We lose the blur.
The third image is what we are trying to achieve over a over a patterned background of the same spot color. This was achieved with the Preserve Spot Colors unchecked and also unchecking Overprint Preview in the Separations Preview Palette. However, this brings us right back to the issue with the Preserve Spot Color being unchecked.
Issue 2:
The issue is that we want to print a spot color gradient with a gaussian blur (over 50 pixels). In order to preview the blur effect correctly we have to uncheck the Preserve Spot Colors in the Raster Effects Settings (found under the Effect menu). However, we have recently found out that this will not work with the software our printers use to do separations. If we check the Preserve Spot Color for the separator, it turns the blur into a large square of color (see screensnap below). We have played around with the Add: x Around Object setting in Raster Effects but it has not helped.
3. If we do not select "Preserve Spot Color", the blur looks correct but it is no longer a spot color but CMYK when separated.
I hope that isn't too confusing and makes sense. Again, apologies for the mixup on my part originally. Thanks again for any help.

Changing a Spot Color Swatch with a script

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