Separate spot colors as process, Create an ink alias for a spot color, Display or output spot colors using lab values – Adobe InDesign CS5 User Manual
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USING INDESIGN
Color separations
Last updated 11/16/2011
Separate spot colors as process
Using the Ink Manager, you can convert spot colors to process colors. When spot colors are converted to process color
equivalents, they are printed as separations rather than on a single plate. Converting a spot color is useful if you’ve
accidentally added a spot color to a process color document, or if the document contains more spot colors than are
practical to print.
1 In the Ink Manager, do one of the following:
•
To separate individual spot colors, click the ink-type icon to the left of the spot color or aliased spot color. A process
color icon appears. To change the color back to spot, click the icon again.
•
To separate all spot colors, select All Spots To Process. The icons to the left of the spot colors change to process
color icons. To restore the spot colors, deselect All Spots To Process.
Note: Selecting All Spots To Process removes any ink aliases you’ve set up in the Ink Manager and can also affect
overprinting and trapping settings in the document.
2 (InDesign only) To use the Lab values of a spot color rather than CMYK definitions, choose Use Standard Lab
Values For Spots.
Create an ink alias for a spot color
You can map a spot color to a different spot or process color by creating an alias. An alias is useful if a document
contains two similar spot colors when only one is required, or if it contains too many spot colors. You can see the
effects of ink aliasing in the printed output, and you see the effects on-screen if Overprint Preview mode is on.
1 In the Ink Manager, select the spot color ink you want to create an alias for.
2 Choose an option in the Ink Alias menu. The ink type icon and ink description change accordingly.
Display or output spot colors using Lab values
Some predefined spot colors, such as colors from the TOYO, PANTONE, DIC, and HKS libraries, are defined using
Lab values. For backward compatibility with previous versions of InDesign, colors from these libraries also include
CMYK definitions. Lab values, when used in conjunction with the correct device profiles, give you the most accurate
output across all devices. If color management is critical to your project, you might prefer to display, export, and print
spot colors using their Lab values. The Ink Manager option Use Standard Lab Values For Spots lets you control which
color mode InDesign uses for these predefined spot colors: Lab or CMYK. If you need the output to match earlier
versions of InDesign, you should use the CMYK equivalent values.
Note: To improve on-screen accuracy, InDesign uses the Lab values automatically if Overprint Preview is on. It also uses
Lab values when printing or exporting if you’ve selected Simulate Overprint in the Output area of either the Print or
Export Adobe PDF dialog box.
1 Choose Ink Manager in the Separations Preview panel menu.
2 Do one of the following:
•
For Lab values, select Use Standard Lab Values For Spots.
•
For CMYK values, deselect Use Standard Lab Values For Spots.
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