Spot colour overprint

Hi, all
I've got a premade PDF file with a spot colour overprint on an image with a white line art logo on top. I want to convert this spot colour to process colour and preserve the overprint in the mean while. I used PDF X, convert colour, it turns out that the overprint is gone and the white logo was shaded to that spot colour, the worse is I even lost the background image. I also tried flatten image in vain.
Is there any solution to convert spot colour to process colour but preserveing the overprint as well?

Hi FanieJansen,
how do you know that the Overprint Preview is wrong?
The only real way to know what the result is of mixing process inks into a solid spot and how the resulting tints will look like, is to print with the actual ink.
If you look how a similar spot color like Pantone 4625C would behave you will see the same greyish preview.

Similar Messages

  • Acrobat 8.1.2 crashes when checking/unchecking spot colour channels

    Hi there, just wondering if this situation is a bug with Acrobat or an issue with my machine/OSX?
    I have created PDFs by distilling and exporting. If I open the resulting PDFs in Acrobat 8.1.2 and open the colour seps panel and turn off colours - particularly spot colours, Acrobat unexpectedly quits. Everytime.
    My system is:
    24" intel iMac 4Gb Ram large HDD
    OSX.5.2
    Is anyone else having similar issues?
    I'm just off to create a new account to see if it still dioes it.
    Many thanks.
    Kind Regards
    Piers Le Sueur

    Thanks Jon,
    I've tried both.. trashing pref AND used IDCS3 - created a standard page added some items with spot colours and exported to PDF/X-1a:2001 as you suggested.
    I'm still getting the same issue.
    Incidentally - when you check seps - overprint automatically comes on by default. I'm not sure if you can view seps AND have overprint off...
    Anything else to try?
    Kind Regards
    Piers Le Sueur

  • I have a 2 x spot colour file in Illustrator CC and need to save it as a PDF for printing in spot colour....

    I have a 2 x spot colour file in Illustrator CC and need to save it as a PDF for printing in spot colour, which option do I choose in the 'save as' menu?
    and how do I check it?
    The overprint panel is open and I can turn off the cmyk ( there are no separations for the cmyk anyway)
    Have looked at the tutorials which tell me to print as PDF7 but that utility is disabled and has been for ages.
    it is a simple need but can find no simple information so think I must be missing something!
    Thanks in advance!

    No magic required. You simply save it as PDF-X from AI. If the spot colors are based on correct swatches and tagged accordingly, they will appear as separate inks/ plates in the PDF, which you can verify in the ink manager in Acrobat. That's pretty much all there is to it and the print facility should handle this file correctly.
    Mylenium

  • RGB image coloured to spot colour

    We have supplied images (jpeg, tiff, wmf) that are RGB Black & White. I want to be able to place the image in a box and set the colour to a spot colour ie PMS 280.
    I can colour them up using Transparency>Lighten having set the background colour of the box. This only works for process colours, not for PMS colours. As soon as you change to a PMS colour the image "disappears". Am I doing something wrong? Is it possible??
    I work with Overprint Preview ON to get a view of how it will output.
    Due to how the customer supplies the files to us and automation involved it has to be done via Indesign.

    Not going to happen.
    You'll either need to make clear to users of the template that they need to supply the correct form of art or do the conversion yourself. I expect it could be scripted to find these images open them in photoshop, run an action, and return them to ID as grayscale. It probably could be set to run on file open.
    http://forums.adobe.com/community/indesign/indesign_scripting

  • Colour management of spot colour channels

    Hello
    I have some single layer images using cmyk (black only) + Pantone Process Blue U that will eventually be printed on a sheetfed offset press. A ballpark estimate would suffice for this low budget book, so I thought I'd give soft proofing a try. I'm therefore interested in understanding Photoshop's implementation of colour management for spot colour channels so as to have a less vague idea of the approximations this workflow involves.
    Moreover, I'm stuck on exporting to pdf to let the client evaluate my conversions of the original rgb scans. Photoshop seems to layer an Euroscale Uncoated v2 overprinting image on top of a spot coloured image whose alternate colour space is "Calibrated RGB". What baffles me is that the pdfs display consistently in Acrobat 8 and 9 but rather differently from the Photoshop document.
    Here come my questions:
    1) Am I right in saying that these programs still don't support colour profiles involving spots? If so, are Adobe people willing to comment on the relevant intricacies?
    2) Which colour profiles and colour conversions do Photoshop and Acrobat use to display such documents?
    3) Which software tools will allow me to convert the Photoshop documents to an output profile for hard proofing?
    4) Short of alternatives, when only K is needed and as long as each spot colour bears a decent resemblance to a cmy primary, how well will the profiling software deal with a cmyk target printed substituting the inks on press?
    Thank you very much for your help.
    Giordano

    As far as I know …
    1) Photoshop uses the Spot setting from your Color Settings (Edit – Color Settings) to display spot channels (and one can use gray-profiles or the K-channel of CMYK-profiles for that); the Solidity one can set manually, but one should bear in mind that even a 100% solid spot channel does not knock out the process channels.
    As for the actual physical properties of the color and its mixing with the other colors I’m afraid Photoshop produces a pretty rough simulation – profiles for more than four colors are considerably more complicated and would, if I’m not mistaken, preclude much of Photoshop’s functionality.
    2) If you pass unprofiled Files between programs they will be displayed using the programs’ respective Color Settings.
    And your screen profile will be employed in the process naturally … but you might want to read up on color management if you want to know more about all that.
    As to why the display differs between Acrobat and Photoshop it would appear that Acrobat use the RGB-setting for displaying spots and not an extra setting like Photoshop.
    3) Photoshop is capable of separating files – but I may not understand what you’re driving at.
    4) Epson-proofers using the latest generation of inks for example have a fairly wide gamut and should be able to simulate a lot of Pantone colors, so you might want to contact your provider to make sure if such a workaround is necessary at all.

  • PDFing Spot Colour Transparencies from Indesign CS2

    Hello!,
    I think this is a common question, but I can't find a definitive answer. I am trying to PDF a file which has an image and then a spot colour transparency over part of it. When I PDF the file at Press Quality the spot colour transparency is white. When I PDF the file at a lower resolution (Standard size PDF) the transparency is fine.
    Is there some way I can resolve this? I need to prepare a Press Quality File. I seem to recall reading or hearing somewhere that Indesign does not deal with spot colour transparency very well. I am currently working in CS2, and am wondering if the issue has been resolved in newer versions of Indesign.
    Many thanks for your help, all,
    Pepi

    > that Indesign does not deal with spot colour transparency very well
    Nonsense.
    Just turn on Overprint Preview in Acrobat.

  • Having problems with Spot Colour gradients

    Hello All,
    I have little experience in dealing with spot colours.  I'm trying to blend two spot colours for a print job.  Unfortunately the spot colour gradient (left image) does not blend like the process colour gradient (right image).  Instead they fade to a lighter colour in the center where they meet.  I'm sure someone out there can help as I think this is more of a technical issue that I am simply unfamiliar with.  Thank you in advance to all comments!
    Hugues

    Hello, i run into this all the time.
    What you can do is actually make one spot color overprint (or darken, or multiply) on top of another one.
    that will work,
    What I see you have is one spot color at one end  and another spot color at the other, where they meet you get the "grey".
    The 4/c gradient is a blend of the C<M<Y<K, inks.
    I usually rant over the fact that Illustrator does not have an Ink Manager, to make a swatch of 2 (or more ) spotcolors.
    As far as color gamut goes, 4/c color printing is so passe, right.
    Till Adobe recognizes that printers print with more than the 4/c color space, hexacolor, opaltone, optimized 7, and 8 we just have to improvise.

  • Soft proofing spot colour build ups?

    Hi all, I need to build up a series of patterns from 2 spot colours.
    The designer has specified 2 PMS colours - one for the lighter regions and one for the darker regions. But in the build up, the dark areas will not knock out the base colour. So I'm trying my best to find a PMS which will match the dark colour when it's overprinting the lighter one.
    Photoshop gives me the option to specify the solidity of the ink in the preview - but I dont really know how opaque the ink will be. In your experience do the previews at 50% solidity preview fairly accurately - or is it best to preview at 0% solidity?
    I'm assuming using a wider colour space when on screen previeing won't help me here either?
    Wet proofs are not an option at this stage. So, Id like to use my on-screen preview to get at least close to the final result. Does anyone have any tips on this?
    Many thanks.
    R

    I hoped someone would know by having hands-on experience of this, clearly. Someone who works with printing inks rather than pixels.
    Photoshop gives me the option to preview at different solidity settings – what's most common? Are darker inks more dense and therefore more opaque (meaning I should preview at a higher solidity). Or is the reverse true.
    From my youth I remember oil paint having wildly different transparency from colour to colour due to the different constituent parts - is this true of PMS colours also?

  • InDesign CS3 and Fluorescent Spot Colours

    I am having a problem with importing Photoshop files into InDesign CS3 and laying them over a fluorescent spot colour.
    The PS file is Greyscale with a transparent background, this is being inported into a picture box in InDesign which in turn is sitting on top of a square with a fluorescent spot colour in it. (Pantone 804c). The problem is that the spot colour is being affected by the photoshop box that contains the greyscale image. Outside of the box the spot colour represents normally, but underneath the photoshop box the fluorescent spot is changing colour to a lighter shade. Has anyone seen this and figured out how to fix it. This occurance has happened only through my local printer and has not yet been printed Litho.
    Thanks.

    If your Transparency Blend Space is CMYK, make sure you check Use Standard Lab Values for Spots and turn on View>Overprint Preview (or turn on Separations in the Separations Preview panel).
    If your output will be offset separations, you'll need to keep the blend space as CMYK in order to keep the grayscale on the black plate (the change in color with Overprint turned off is only a preview problem and will not effect separations). If you are always printing to a composite printer you could also set your blend space to RGB, but in that case the preview won't change and you will not get a correct spot/black separation.
    http://www.zenodesign.com/scripts/Pantone806.png

  • Pantone spot colour and transparency don't work together

    Using indesign CS5, I make a pantone solid spot colour background.
    I import two of the same photos: one a greyscale circular pshop file with transparency surrounding the circle ( the file is not flattened).
    The other is the same photo, but I make a clipping path around the circle and then flatten the file and save as a jpg.
    Both photos are put on top of the pantone solid color background in Indesign.
    I export the indesign file as pdfx 1a using pdf-presets under the file menu.
    If I open the pdf in Acrobat and open the "output preview" panel and turn off the "simulate overprinting" box, the pshop photo disappears, but the jpg with the clipping path is fine. They print as they appear: one disappears (Pshop file)  and one is OK: the jpg.
    If you import the pdfx 1a pdf back into Indesign, you will see that the pshop image has disappeared.
    I understand this happens to others not just me. is there a fix?
    Does it work with all a spot colours and transparency?
    If I save as a higher version of acrobat (say 7). The pdf looks fine and imports back into indesign fine.
    And if I send to the RIP the RIP seems to handle it fine. But if I take that Acrobat 7 file and put on a page and export as pdx-1a, I get the same problem

    Spot colors and Transparency do not play well together, but can be used together if you follow some rules.
    jpg does not support transparency. If you're working within InDesign,  you can, and should save as and use psd or tiff. Tiff supports transparency if toggled during the Save As dialog.
    x1/a pdf does not support transparency, hence it was lost. In my environment, Press Quality PDF has never failed me, but High Quality and x4 have added benefits of Color Management.
    Search for Yucky Discolored Box Syndrome - read the results from InDesign Secrets

  • How do I use mono and 1 spot colour for print, where the spot colour applies to an element, rather than the whole image?

    I am struggling to work with spot colours, using scanned images edited in Photoshop for use in InDesign to then go to print.
    We print to two plates to save money for our publication. In this case magenta and black.
    I could use the spot colour mode but that works with curves and I only want a certain part magenta. Imagine a business card with a gloss finish where I only want to apply it to certain part ie the name of the employee, using a curve would match a certain shade therefore this method would be unsuitable.
    I have also tried using channels, one grayscale and one magenta, but using the file types either InDesign bugs or it comes out in mono.
    It isn't possible to recreate the logo in InDesign, if only it was this easy...
    If someones already discussed this, I can't find it, but if someone could point me in the right direction—I'd be very grateful!
    Using Photoshop CS4, InDesign CS4. Access to Adobe Cloud at home...

    I'm assuming at least some people on here must have experience of the Scintilla control for creating a Notepad++ type application. I'd like to use this control, unfortunately there is very little in the way of documentation or working examples
    around
    >unfortunately there is very little in the way of documentation
    Have you read all of this?
    Scintilla Documentation
    http://www.scintilla.org/ScintillaDoc.html
    >or working examples around
    Have you examined this project in detail?
    SciTE is a SCIntilla based Text Editor.
    http://www.scintilla.org/SciTE.html
    SciTE Documentation
    http://www.scintilla.org/SciTEDoc.html
    - Wayne

  • Is it possible to turn off a spot colour

    Hello
    Probably a dumb question but I will ask anyway. Is it possible to turn off a spot colour in CS4. I can effectively do it by creating a spot white and merging the spot colour I want to delete to the spot white using the ink aliasing. However, this leaves a spot colour in the high res pdf at th end of the job. This then causes a problem as we use an online proofing system which then fails the flightcheck as there is a spot colour in the pdf.
    Cheers
    Beeefcake

    The spot colour is used so that we can perform a find on any text with a fill of the spot colour and delete it. The spot colour is put in for this purpose when the original artwork is created in the US.
    Kathlene - I can't believe I didn't spot that! This would work! We could just convert the swatch to 0% cmyk as you suggest. The majority of the pages in the catalogue are on a white background so the pricing would simply disappear resulting in no spot place when pdf's are made. There are some pages on a coloured background but these are very few and the pricing could be deleted manually.
    Thanks for the help!
    Beefcake

  • PDF and Spot Colours

    I have a problem with Illustrator CC. I have a file with spot colours in it. I have converted these spot colours to CMYK, but I still cannot save the file as a PDF-X. An error message continues to pop up saying I have spot colours somewhere, but I have no idea where. How do I save the file as a PDF-X?

    At first yes, but now no. I had to modify the colours to match some samples I got. And yes the error message reads: Cannot output this document because it contains more than 27 spot colours and uses transparency. Delete some spot colours or convert them to process colours and try again.
    The thing is I did that. I got rid of the colours and transparencies I wasn't using for one of the files but I still get the same message.
    I'm saving it to a PDF/X-3:2002 but no matter what preset I chose it just doesn't want to work.

  • Can anyone tell me how to convert crop marks to registration on a supplied pdf. The pdf also has spot colours which the crop marks need to be in too.

    Can anyone tell me how to convert crop marks to registration on a supplied pdf. The pdf also has spot colours which the crop marks need to be in too.

    Greetings,
    I've never seen this issue, and I handle many iPads, of all versions. WiFi issues are generally local to the WiFi router - they are not all of the same quality, range, immunity to interference, etc. You have distance, building construction, and the biggie - interference.
    At home, I use Apple routers, and have no issues with any of my WiFi enabled devices, computers, mobile devices, etc - even the lowly PeeCees. I have locations where I have Juniper Networks, as well as Aruba, and a few Netgears - all of them work as they should.
    The cheaper routers, Linksys, D-Link, Seimens home units, and many other no name devices have caused issues of various kinds, and even connectivity.
    I have no idea what Starbucks uses, but I always have a good connection, and I go there nearly every morning and get some work done, as well as play.
    You could try changing channels, 2.4 to 5 Gigs, changing locations of the router. I have had to do all of these at one time or another over the many years that I have been a Network Engineer.
    Good Luck - Cheers,
    M.

  • Making a PDF with an image that has both spot colour channel and alpha channel

    Hi I have a logo that was supplied to us as a PSD it has a transparent background, it also has a pantone colour channel. I have made a alpha channel from the transparent background as well.
    The graphic looks fine in InDesign (alpha channel selected in the import options), ie the background is transparent.
    But when we try to make a Hi Res PDF the result is that the graphic is on a solid white background.
    If I go back to the PSD and merge the spot channel with so that it is just CMYK and try again the PDF is fine, but we obviously loose the spot colour.
    How do you make a PDF with a transparent PSD that has a spot colour?

    You know that annoying response from support staff? "We cannot replicate your issue". Well....
    I created a PSD in CS5, with a bunch of process stuff, then loaded a spot color channel and painted in some pawprints using Pantone 172C:
    Saved this as a PSD file, default settings (maximize compatibility on, but it doesn't make any difference in this situation).
    Created a new InDesign document in CS5, added a gradient and some text, then placed the PSD.  ID understands the PSD has an inbuilt background so there's no need to bother with a dedicated alpha mask:
    Exported from ID using the High Quality Print option (PDF/1.4, which keeps the live transparency):
    Re-exported to PDF/X-1a (based on PDF/1.3 which flattens transparency) - looks exactly the same. In all cases the spot channel is intact and the see-through regions of the PSD are maintained.

Maybe you are looking for