100%CMYK Black Swatch for Adobe??

[TheSellOut]

Is there a way to set a swatch to C=100%, M=100%, Y=100%, K=100% (prue Black) and keep it at those values?!?

I have made my own "user defined" swatch libraries with a black set to those values but when I open that library back up the black is set to just K=100%.

 

[dbenec]

illy or photoshop?

in illy i have a set of colors that i created as a custom library. i know that the library of colors was built as CMYK. if i open a new document in RGB colorspace then convert to CMYK the colors are different than i spec'd.

another option for illy would be to colorize the object 'registration' which will give you 100% of all colors - including spots used in the file.

in photoshop i know it has to do with your CMYK color settings. i have mine set for Black Generation MAX and no undercolor addition ONLY because I want to click on the black swatch and always have it set to 100K only for painting in spot channels for screen printing separations. This is not a setup to use for full color printing - fyi. if i set the CMYK color settings to US Web SWOP for example, and click on the black swatch my build for black comes up as: 75c 68m, 67y, 90k so the Black Generation setup changes what your color builds are made of.

i know this all doesn't exactly answer your question but maybe something to look into

 

[Dot-Tone]

dbenec was half way there.

Once you have your color pallet up, double click on the new color swatch icon next to the trash can, and create the custom color (process black with all of the colors being 100%) and name it (custom rich black) or whatever. It must be different than process black. That name is already taken by default.

Delete all of your existing colors in the color pallet that you have up now except for the registration black and your default process black. You will be saving a new set and using this as your default color pallet.

Once you have created your new black color, you must now save that setting as a custom color pallet. Go to the little black arrow head at the top right side of the color pallet and click the fly out window. Drag down to (SAVE SWATCH LIBRARY). It should automatically take you to the folder where all of the custom pallets will be and save. Give it a nice memorable unique name.

Now, while you still have that same document open, go up to the top menu bar to WINDOW, WORK SPACE…It maybe in another location depending on your version of Illustrator …find that …and save work space. Give that a unique name as well.
DONE.

Try it, Change the work space to DEFAULT. It will pop into the default settings. now go back to your new work space settings. All of your window placements and custom pallets should all be in place. ")


I am freelance artist/color separation specialist for printers and have a custom setting of
Registration
White, aka Computer white, aka process white,
black, aka Process black
CUSTOM Rich Process black
CUSTOM spot color Base white
CUSTOM spot color black
CUSTOM spot color Highlight white

Those are my Illustrator default colors.

 

[SeaWriter]

Just curious, but do you actually intend to print 400% ink?

 

[Dot-Tone]

Just curious, but do you actually intend to print 400% ink?

Good question. I don't. Never do. The thing with creating custom process colors swatches is that we never really print for production with them. You can for spot colors, but thats another part of printing.
I've been told by some print guru's in the industry of a certain sweet spot that the right amount of CMYK is for a RICH process black. I don't know about that being the "all encompassing right black", but it's as good as any. LOL. The funny thing is, that since I never needed it, I forgot the amounts. it was something like…89, 87, 87 and 95 Even at that, it's still close to 400%…and in truth, because of Illustrator or Photoshops default color settings, (if you just hit print),the colors don't actually come out like that due to default dot gain control…or even the lack there of.

Off set printers (from what I hear), use something near a total ink amount of 255-265% Screen printers doing 4 color process (not that it's done that often) use in the area of 260-280% total ink. So, your question is valid but miss placed.

100% in all colors, are typically used when you want to have a heavy black printed to a color print (for a certain look). Maybe the color printer needs calibrated or maybe they want to give the art an embossed feel? In the art department where I worked, we always printed color comps…but meant nothing to the actual output for production. That production "color correction" part was always done at the production facility. Not in our design department. So, The original question was, "how do you create that". I gave a step by step on how to achieve that. For what reasons, is up to him and his situation.

In addition to that, those who are printing to films or plates for production, will have dot gain control. These color settings will override whatever level of pms colors are created with. Your color settings (UCR and GCR, black point, etc) can be adjusted (and saved) for different substrates and can produce different levels of ink combinations…despite what your custom process (rich black) is set up like.

Digital printers would typically also make use of color settings for different substrates as well.

Good questions.

 

[Rooster]

The reason why you see some funky percentages in CMYK rich blacks is because they are using the maximum amount of total ink to create a neutral black based on what's allowed by the icc profile.

Rich or boosted blacks can contain anywhere from 30-60% just cyan or magenta, or be made up from a combination of all four process colors.

I've found that using 55% cyan 40% magenta and 40% yellow with 100% black will provide a sufficiently dark black without testing the limits of what a sheet can handle ink wise. This provides a total ink limit of 235% which is fine for any type of printing or press from newsprint to high end sheet fed as well as digital. Since the process colors without the black produce a neutral gray by themselves there's no chance of inducing a cast into the shadow areas and should you need to use percentages of the color it stays neutral with use below 100%.

Normally though I just spec my blacks as 0,0,0 RGB and let my profiles handle the rest. CMYK is soooo 1990's.