Separations Preview in Illustrator CS2
Mintsauce (1004 points) | Sat, 2007-03-10 18:06
One of the things that come in handy when prepping files for print is being able to preview how the printer will separate the artwork to colour plates. This is especially handy when you're working with a combination of spot colours, or a combination of spot and process. Unfortunately Adobe Illustrator does not offer this functionality. Don't give up hope though, help is at hand.
Requirements:
- Adobe Illustrator (duh!)
- Acrobat Distiller
- A multipage PDF Reader (not Illustator)
Step # 1 : Create Artwork
Step # 2 : Print Artwork as Adobe PostScript® file
- Press Command-P (key with the Apple, Mac); CTRL-P (Windows) to open the print dialogue
- Under PRINTER select "Adobe PostScript® File"
- Under PPD select "AdobePDF7.0" (you can use any PPD you want, but this one works fine.)
- Under MARKS & BLEED select "All Printer Marks". You'll need some of this later to create a composite. (If you only want to check the plates, you can leave this step out.)
- Under SEPARATIONS select "Mode : Separations(Host Based)" & "Printer Resolution : 60Ipi / 72dpi". (This second option is up to you. I use these presets since it's an onscreen preview. If you want to print it out, select a higher resolution.)
- You can also select the plates you want to print, but I suggest printing all the colours in the list, especially if you're using spots. This will help you to check whether you've accidently converted any spots to process. (This comes in really handy when you're sending 2 or 3 colour artwork to the printer.)
I suggest oversizing the page you're printing on to provide space for the printer marks.
Step # 3 : Running that sucker through Acrobat Distiller.
- Open Acrobat Distiller and select your Default Settings. I suggest "Press Quality". You can use any you want or experiment.
- Drag the file into Distiller and wait.
Distiller will create a PDF from the PostScript® file and save to the same location as the original. Open it up and voila, you have however many pages that reflect the print plates.
To be Continued : Creating a composite preview from your Separations
Since you can send PostScript® files to a Printing Press, it's nice to know that your composite will print correctly. In the continuation we'll look at how to create a composite from your separations. We'll also provide a Photoshop action that will automate this process for CMYK separations.
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Commenting on this Blog entry is closed.
Can't you just make a PDF and then veiw the separations in Acrobat Professional? I use this technique all the time doing prepress at the printer I work at.
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I agree with imsoper that it's probably easier to use the separations previews in Acrobat Professional.
Another quick way is to place the AI file in InDesign (if you have it) and use its separations palette, which is a really awesome feature that AI should also have. The separatios palette is also a really good tool you're concerned with ink coverage.
Still a nice tip, if you want to see all the plates at the same. That's the one advantage of that method.
Agreed. I still use Quark for my layouts (don't shoot! don't shoot!) and I always check my separations by making a quickie PDF. It takes way less time and is always accurate. I work with some commercial printers who STILL don't trust how InDesign handles seps. I guess that's my excuse for sticking with Quark.
I'm gonna love having that feature in Illustrator, though.
Mara
Yeah, you can open Illustrator in Acrobat natively. No need to save it as something else. I use this a lot at work. Or you can always place the illustrator in an InDesign document and use the seperations thing in there.