Wato

Hi forum-

I hope you can help me in this last minute act of desperation!!

I have an invitation (front) which consists of white text, gold framed images, and a swooping "X" in gold. I've had a lot of problems with this file, and now the commercial printer has asked that i provide the file as 2 color, black and magenta, so she can bring it into Illustrator.

The swooping "X" is supposed to be gold. I've created a spot channel for it, but since it continues to come out as yellow (i've designated it as pantone 124 which is yellow, but since gold does not exist for CMYK, i've assigned it that number as reference).

The printer wants me to assign the "X" as a magenta color (it comes up as the gold we want, but prints out in yellow...go figure) and assign the framed image (also in gold) to a magenta color, but to keep the file in CMYK.

Because I don't have Photoshop in front of me and i feel like i'm going to pull my hair out, I was hoping someone could look at the snippet of the file provided and provide me with a solution??

thanks so much! |

Rantin Al

Hiya Jennifer, I thought this was done and dusted a long time ago.

I'll have a look at it and see what I can figure.

Your 'Illustrator' person should have been able to do this, he/she knows what she wants.

So basically what you want is the Black separated from the image and the rest combined into a single Magenta channel?

Al.

Wato

hey again! i can't believe that you remembered this file!

well, we changed printers....one who knows photoshop better since, at that time, it was the only program.

the "new" printer does not know PS but knows Illustrator!

(it's a never-ending saga!)

anyway, she told me that i need to keep it in CMYK, but the background needs to be a solid black, to change the "X" to magenta, and change the images to magenta. so i'm not sure if this requires the black to be separated and the rest combined into a single magenta channel...

the images (4 of them) are on separate layers. the X is on a separate layer and on a spot channel (so would i just change that to a magenta pantone color?).

i don't need to do anything to the white text....

basically, the gold color we are going for all comes from the image itself. in the beginning, i copied the gold color from the image and used that as the X font color.

your thoughts??

(thanks!)

Rantin Al

[bustagut] Jennifer! How could I forget it?

Ok.

Open a copy, and in the channels palette:
Delete (fill with white) the C,M & Y channels.

In another copy:
Delete (fill with white) the black channel and then do a channel merge of the other CMY plus the spot 'Gold'.

Copy the new merged channel and paste into the Magenta channel of the first copy.

That should give C=0, M=merged, Y=0, K=original.

Now stick to simple jobs in future.
(If this doen't work I'm leaving the country. [bustagut])

Al.

Wato

thanks a million! i will try it out and get back to you.


if it doesn't work, i'm leaving the country, too...right after a martini!

8}

Rantin Al

Jennifer, Hang on till I see if I can simplify this a bit more. [confused]

I'll be back!

Al.

Rantin Al

Jennifer,

OK! Use a copy file for this.
Open the channels palette. Hide the Spot channel. See Fig.1.
Convert the file to Greyscale, Image > Mode > Greyscale.
The palette will now show a Grey channel plus an extra channel. See Fig.2.

The Grey channel will become the K channel.
The extra channel will become the 'Magenta Spot' channel.

Create a New CMYK Document, the exact size of the original.

In the modified file, with just the Grey channel showing, Select > All > Copy.
Go to the New Document and select the K channel.
Edit > Paste. The K channel should now fill with the paste.

In the modified file, hide the Black, show the other channel.
Select > All > Copy.
In the New Document, select the Magenta channel.
Edit > Paste. The M channel should now fill with the original Spot. See Fig.3.

That's it! The image will obviously show as Black and Magenta, but that's what the printer wants.

Rantin Al

Here is the before and after.
As I said, the spot gold will now show as Magenta.

The black channel should not have anything in it where the magenta (gold) appears.

*Edit*
It might depend on which channels you have to merge, I worked the best I could from a converted RGB file, but the technique is just the same.
You might just copy the black and merge everything else.
as I say it will depend on your original file.

Hope this gets the job out your hair once and for all.

Al.

Al for president!

Great explanation and very detailed! [righton]

Gotta love this board, because there are so many people like you who are willing to put the time and effort into it to help others!

Bravo! :}

Rantin Al

Thanks Gaussian, but I prefer being among the bods, skinning the fingers and getting the grime under the fingernails.

Al.