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ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR CS2
User Guide
Preparing artwork for color separating
Before you print color separations from Illustrator, it’s a good idea to perform the following prepress tasks:
• Set up color management, including calibrating your monitor and selecting an Illustrator Color Setting.
• Soft-proof how color will appear on the intended output device.
• If the document is in RGB mode, choose File > Document Color Mode > CMYK Color to convert it to CMYK
Mode.
• If your artwork contains gradients, meshes, and color blends, optimize them so that they print smoothly (without
discrete bands of color).
• If your artwork contains opaque, overlapping colors, set up overprinting and trapping.
• If your artwork contains areas of transparent, overlapping colors, preview which areas will be affected by flattening
and note which flattening options you want to use.
See also
“Printing and exporting transparent artwork” on page 484
“About color management in Adobe applications” on page 200
To print color separations
1 Choose File > Print.
2 Select a printer and PPD file. To print to a file instead of a printer, select Adobe PostScript® File or Adobe PDF.
3 Select Output on the left side of the Print dialog box.
4 For Mode, select either Separations (Host-Based) or In-RIP Separations. (See “Color separation modes” on
page 471.)
5 Specify an emulsion, image exposure, and printer resolution for the separations. (See “Emulsion and image
exposure” on page 471 and “Printer resolution and screen frequency” on page 472.)
6 Set options for the color plates you want to separate:
• To disable printing of a color plate, click the printer icon next to the color in the Document Ink Options list.
Click again to restore printing for the color.
• To convert all spot colors to process colors, so that they are printed as part of the process-color plates rather than
on a separate plate, select Convert All Spot Colors To Process.
• To convert an individual spot color to process colors, click the spot color icon next to the color in the
Document Ink Options list. A four-color process icon appears. Click again to revert the color back to a
spot color.
• To overprint all black ink, select Overprint Black.
• To change the screen frequency, screen angle, and shape of halftone dots for a plate, double-click the ink name.
Alternatively, click the existing setting in the Document Ink Options list, and make the desired changes. Note
however, that the default angles and frequencies are determined by the selected PPD file. Check with your print
shop for the preferred frequency and angle before creating your own halftone screens.
If you create a gradient between two spot colors, you should assign different screen angles to those spot colors. This
is because if two spot colors have the same screen angle, they will overprint each other.
7 Set additional options in the Print dialog box. (See “Print dialog box options” on page 469.)
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