Convert color to spot color (if it exists)

Hi
I have a script I've cobbled together (apologies if it looks cumbersome!), which searches for black fills/strokes and text, and converts them to a spot color. I need to adapt it so that if it doesn't find an object matching the criteria, then it carries on, rather than stopping with an error:
tell application "Adobe Illustrator"
          set mydoc to document 1
--make spot color, name it apple red
          if not (exists swatch "Black Plate Change" in mydoc) then
                    make new spot in mydoc with properties {color type:spot color, color:{cyan:0, magenta:0, yellow:0, black:100}, name:"Black Plate Change"}
          end if
end tell
tell application "Adobe Illustrator"
          tell application "Adobe Illustrator"
                    do script "Ungroup" from "Default Actions" without dialogs
          end tell
          set fill color of every path item of document 1 whose fill color is {class:spot color info, tint:100.0, spot:spot "[Registration]" of document 1} to {class:spot color info, tint:100.0, spot:spot "Black Plate Change" of mydoc}
          set fill color of every path item of mydoc whose fill color is {cyan:0, magenta:0, yellow:0, black:100} to {class:spot color info, tint:100.0, spot:spot "Black Plate Change" of mydoc}
          set fill color of every path item of mydoc whose fill color is {cyan:0, magenta:0, yellow:0, black:40} to {class:spot color info, tint:40.0, spot:spot "Black Plate Change" of mydoc}
          set stroke color of every path item of mydoc whose stroke color is {cyan:0, magenta:0, yellow:0, black:100} to {class:spot color info, tint:100.0, spot:spot "Black Plate Change" of mydoc}
          set fill color of words of every text frame of mydoc whose fill color is {cyan:0, magenta:0, yellow:0, black:100} to {class:spot color info, tint:100.0, spot:spot "Black Plate Change" of mydoc}
          set fill color of words of every text frame of mydoc whose fill color is {class:spot color info, tint:100.0, spot:spot "[Registration]" of document 1} to {class:spot color info, tint:100.0, spot:spot "Black Plate Change" of mydoc}
end tell
Appreciate any help.

Use "Adjust Color" from the "Tools" menu and move the "Saturation" slider all the way to the left.

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Converting CYMK to spot color?

Alright, i just read the 'how to get help quickly', and will attempt to not let my panic show through too much:
I designed graphics to go into my college's literary magazine. I used only two colors: brown and green (8dc63f and 603913). However, last week he informed us (the magazine production people) that RGB wasn't acceptable, since he was going to print in something called 'spot color'. Never heard of it before, but after reasearching, I think I have a vague grasp on it: basically instead of CYMK printing process, he's just going to have two plates, one with each color, and stamp them on the pages (like screen printing). That's fine, but I don't understand how it relates to my files. So we sent the psd files to the printer's "photoshop specialist" and then yesterday I was informed that there was no way to seperate the colors into pantone plates, and that either the book was now going to be blank (thankfully the cover is going to be printed seperately in CYMK so that's fine), or we could use clipart (!!thanks for discrediting a semester of my work), or I could learn to use illustrator and redesign the whole book by monday.
I panic, obviuosly, because after downloading the trial version of illustrator I realized that it's actually nothing like working in photoshop (where's my tablet sensitivity? this is NOTHING like 'illustrating'), and at the end of last night's terror, this is all i could produce: http://img576.imageshack.us/img576/2993/illustrator.jpg
Now for reference, the image I originally made in photoshop looks like this (when placed on a brown background to simulate paper): http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/7015/photoshopf.jpg
I am very confused, because I don't understand why the printing company can seperate the illustrator file into two color plates, but not the photoshop file. Both use the same colors (Pantone 375 and Pantone 161 C, I've learned). I have no clue how to save ANYTHING in 'spot format', the only difference between photoshop and illustrator is that I can click on the pantone swatch in illustrator.
Obviously I'm ignorant and confused, and I appologise for that, since it only makes this situation worse (who knows if I'm using the right terminology).
tl;dr:
I have a whole bunch of psd files that need to be converted to something called 'spot color format'
the images are graphics to be placed in an indesign file, not to be printed on their own, so really, they have to be in the spot color format.
Is there any way in reality to maintain the quality of these images and convert them into 'spot color format'?
I'm still trying to understand illustrator (I'm really a painter, not a designer -- wtf is a vector), but would love to convert the psd files I already have into something usable. the printer people didn't know how, I don't know how (or even understand the issue), but maybe you will?

I tried this with the image you posted, so I can describe in detail the steps.
From the image menu choose Duplicate to keep the original for reference.
From the Image menu choose Mode > CMYK Color.
In the Channels palette, delete (by dragging to the trash there) all channels except the Yellow and Black channels.
Double click the icon of the Black channel and in the window that opens click on the color swatch, then in the next window that opens click the Color Libraries button, and when the next window opens type quickly on your keyboard 161, make sure the desired color is picked and press OK on this and previous window to apply.
Repeat the same for the Yellow channel but choose 375.
Select the 161 channel (former Black) and press Ctrl + L to open Levels. Drag the middle arrow of Input Levels referring to the original to get similar darkness (to me around 0.30 looks similar shade). Press OK to apply and close.
Hold Ctrl and click on the icon of the 375 (former Yellow) channel to load its shading as a selection, and press Ctrl + Shift + I to invert the selection.
Make sure the 161 (former Black) channel is selected and press Ctrl + L to open Levels again. Move the right (white) arrow of the Output Levels (at the bottom) until the background matches in brightness the background of the original (to me 150 looks similar).
That's basically it based on my quick try with your image. This example should help you understand the basic idea and from there if you like, you can further play with the image if you feel you can make it any better with these two colors.
Regarding Spot colors, the idea is that a printing press uses 4 color plates (in Photoshop represented as the four CMYK channels when the image is in CMYK color mode) to print all possible process colors by mixing these four colors (inks). Spot colors are pure inks in cans and each spot color (ink) requires its own plate. Sometimes people print 4 process color plus an additional spot color for achieving a special effect like gold ink or pure corporate color to ensure color consistency which may not be as good when using the four colors mix. But very often, spot colors are used for printing with less than 4 plates to save money and sometimes for artistic effect with special inks.
Following the above example converts the CMYK document to Multichannel Color mode and you have only a few file formats available for saving in the Save As options. From these, practical ones are DCS and PSD files. Both are OK for printing but you may want to confirm with your printer. However if you want to place Multichannel image in programs like Illustrator or inDesign you have to use DCS.

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kat,
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I am ashamed to say I am a teacher in a vocational high school that doesn't know much about
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You don’t say what version of Illustrator, but regardless if you already have vector art I’d stay away from converting a rasterized image to vector. There are relatively easy ways of doing what you want with a vector image with the merge swatch feature, but that depends on what sort of vector image you have. Presumably the vector wreath you are working with is made up of a number of rgb or cmyk values.
1         OK, so you are starting with a vector image, that’s a good start. Are you positive it is vector? In Illustrator can you see all the points when you select the object, and not just one big square?
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3 See below:
Delete all the swatches from you pallet. Drag a 185 & 348 swatch from the pantone pallet to your swatch pallet.
Set the Magic Wand to a useful value (double click on the wand to bring up the dialog box). The lower the value the more work you’ll have to do, but you’ll wind up with more shades of red and green).
Click on the most saturated area of red with the Magic Wand Tool. Click on your 185 red swatch. Hide the newly minted resulting 185 red (Ctrl-3).
Click on the next most saturated area of red with the Magic Want Tool. Click on your 185 red swatch. On your color pallet, reduce the pantone 185 red to less than 100% to taste. Hide the result with the Ctrl-3 command again.
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Select the print command and print to a postscript device. (A .pdf output will work if you are not hooked up to a postscript printer). In the resulting print dialog box click on the “Output” command in the upper left corner. Under the Mode select “Separations” Hopefully if all went well, under the Document Ink Colors only 185 Red and 348 Green will have a little printer icon next to them.
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Convert color to spot color (if it exists)

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