Using spot colours with transparency

[JonMiller]

Hi Gang,

As per the title, I am trying to be able to print for example an object with a drop shadow that overlaps an object containing a spot colour fill.
I have attached an example, the 'grey' is mimaki silver.

I am running a CJV30 (white&silver) using Illustrator and sending to Rasterlink 5 (sg pro?)

I would really appreciate any advice/help or links to help/tutorials etc as it is really frustrating having to simplify a graphic in order to print the silver.


Kind Regards,

Jon

 

[GaSouthpaw]

Perhaps if you made the silver your base coat for that area?

 

[JonMiller]

I know in the rip you can select to lay the silver first then colour or vice versa but have tried various settings to no avail, always unexpected results no matter. Silver prints fine but as soon as there is an effect over it, outer glow, drop shadow etc it doesn't print properly.

When using the spot colours I get an error/warning

''When spot colors are used with transparency,changing them to process colors outside of illustrator can generate unexpected results''

There must be something I need to do in order to solve this issue but I am still a novice with printing and Illustrator. A certain way to save or convert or export/import or some setting that I know not of..

Kind Regards,

Jon

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

Did you try flatening your image

 

[GaSouthpaw]

Did you try flatening your image

This, with maybe the spot color as a separate layer on top?

 

[DesireeM]

Did you try flatening your image

This, with maybe the spot color as a separate layer on top?

This - in my experience - is the only way to do it. Rasterize any filtered objects or transparencies and then place your spot color objects on top. It doesn't necessarily have to be on a seperate layer but it keeps things organized.

If anyone has another solution I would love to know it!

 

[JonMiller]

Yeh but that defeats the point of it. If I have the spot colour object on top then I cannot have any drop shadows etc going over it.
I have tried to flatten transparency of the object with the outer glow but that doesn't work.
I think the best way would be to convert the glow in to a halftone fade and then expand that, which does work but now I am uncertain as how to create it as a nice even halftone fade following around the object as opposed to a one directional halftone fade for the whole thing...

 

[vid]

I'll admit, I'm kinda lost with what you are doing from a functional standpoint. I don't know what the capabilities are with the Mimaki or Rasterlink5.

However, from the Illustrator perspective, It sounds like you are trying to overprint one spot color with another spot color. It's a technique to make the individual colors recognizable to an output device for color separations. Whether the printer or RIP will recognize that functionality of Illustrator, I don't know. But, attached is a sample PDF that contains spot colors set to overprint that you can try as a possible solution to the issue. The colors in the file are PMS 123, Black C, and 877 --- I suspect you should change the 877 to your Mimaki Silver.


The first screenshot shows a normal view of what is in the PDF.

This second screenshot shows the Overprint Preview of the PDF --- with Overprint Preview checked in the View pull down menu.

​

The Yellow is set to Overprint.
There is a 0% Black C knock out (not set to overprint by default) below the yellow creating the smiley face.
The drop shadow is a 60% tint of Black C set to overprint the silver. It was built using the drop shadow menu.

Mode:Normal
Opacity: 100%
X Offset: 0
Y Offset: 0
Blur: 12
Color: Black C --- The 60% tint was added in the Color Menu after the drop shadow was created. It's important to note that Opacity and Tint are two separate things. One is a transparency, the other is a percentage tint of a color. You'll see where that was entered in the screenshot. I did that to try and avoid transparency issues as well as adjust the density of the color. (However. it still kicks up the warning you listed when saving.)

I had to expand the effect (Object > Expand Appearance) and then ungroup the yellow from the drop shadow so that I could select the drop shadow only to add the Overprint. That's found as a check box in the Attributes Menu.
​

Annnnnnnnnyway, I'd be curious if this is a workable solution to your plight --- Good Luck!

 

[JonMiller]

Thank very much for taking to respond in such depth
When I get a moment I shall take a look through it and see if I can apply it to my situation, will let you know.


Kind Regards,

Jon

 

[JonMiller]

No joy still..

 

[DesireeM]

No joy still..

Sorry to hear that....If you are willing to send me your work file I would take a shot at making it work and then get back to you. I've run into this problem many times and it's not always the same fix but I'm pretty confident I can figure it out for you.

 

[JonMiller]

Hey DesireeM

That would be awesome of you. Please PM your email to me and I will send it. It will be the file as it was prior to me messing with it trying various things.
(I have also tried printing Vids file and recreating similar but with no joy)


Kind Regards,

Jon