Adobe InDesign CS5 - Manual (Page 491)

485 USING INDESIGN
Color
Last updated 11/16/2011
Mixing inks
Create and edit mixed ink swatches
When you need to achieve the maximum number of printed colors with the fewest number of inks, you can create new
ink swatches by mixing two spot inks or by mixing a spot ink with one or more process inks. Using mixed ink colors
lets you increase the number of colors available without increasing the number of separations used to print the
document.
You can create a single mixed ink swatch or use a mixed ink group to generate multiple swatches at once. A mixed ink
group contains a series of colors created from incremental percentages of different process and spot color inks. For
example, mixing four tints of process cyan (20%, 40%, 60%, and 80%) with five tints of a spot color (10%, 20%, 30%,
40%, and 50%) results in a mixed ink group that contains 20 different swatches.
Swatches panel with mixed ink swatches
A. Parent of mixed ink group B. Child in mixed ink group C. Mixed ink swatch (standalone)
Before you can create a mixed ink swatch or a mixed ink group, you must add at least one spot color to the Swatches
panel.
More Help topics
“ Create color swatches ” on page 471
“ Manage swatches ” on page 472
Create a mixed ink swatch
1 From the Swatches panel menu, choose New Mixed Ink Swatch. (This option is dimmed until you add a spot color
to the Swatches panel.)
2 Type a name for the swatch.
3 To include an ink in the mixed ink swatch, click the empty box next to its name. An ink icon appears. A mixed
ink swatch must contain at least one spot color.
4 Adjust the percentage of each ink included in the swatch by using the slider bar or typing a value in the percentage box.
5 To add the mixed ink to the Swatches panel, click Add or OK.
Colors on a monitor often look different when they print. For best results, ask your commercial printer to output a
sample of any mixed inks you want to print.
Create a mixed ink group
1 From the Swatches panel menu, choose New Mixed Ink Group. (This option is dimmed until you add a spot color
to the Swatches panel.)
2 Type a name for the Mixed Ink Group. Colors in the group will use this name followed by an incremented Swatch
suffix (Swatch 1, Swatch 2, and so on).
B
A
C