Find out in this article,
- which requirements must be met for this Fixup and
- how to apply the Fixup.
1. Introduction
The Fixup Create Spot Color Separation depending on Total Ink Coverage is available in the Workflow. The aim of this Fixup is to create a separation with different opacity depending on the overall ink coverage of the page content.
2. General
The Fixup Create Spot Color Separation depending on Total Ink Coverage can be used, for example, to create a white channel that depends on the overall ink coverage - or any other system-wide defined Spot Color. The separation is created as an image.
Use this Fixup for the following situations:
- Reduction of ink consumption for white ink, as no to little white ink is required in the background if the ink coverage is high in certain areas anyway.
- Reduction of the drying time by limiting the white separation to areas in the PDF file that exceed the total ink coverage.
- Reduction of primer coverage for areas in the print file.
- Creating a gloss effect for certain areas in the print file by adding varnish to lighter or darker areas.
Find the Fixup in the Data Preparation tab of an Article, Order, or Production Job by
- entering the name of the Fixup in the Filter area,
- activating the Object option in the Category area,
- activating the Create options in the Action area,
- activating the Spot Color option in the Search area.
3. Description
This Fixup creates a separation of a selected system-wide defined Spot Color, which is generated depending on the total color application of the page content. The higher the Total Ink Coverage, the lower the percentage value of the Spot Color Separation that should be applied.
3.1. Requirements and Functionality
For the Fixup to do what they promise, no special circumstances are required.
Figure 1: The Basic Settings tab as well as the Advanced tab of the Fixup Create Spot Color Separation depending on Total Ink Coverage
Interpretation of the graph in Figure 1
A Spot Color Separation "White" is created. The Spot Color "White"
- is created with 100% opacity for all areas whose Total Ink Coverage is less than or equal to 50%,
- from a Total Ink Coverage of 51 %, the opacity of the Spot Color is reduced linearly until
- the Total Ink Coverage is 200 %.
- no Spot Color Separation is created for all areas with a Total Ink Coverage greater than 201 %.
Select from the following options to create the Spot Color Separation depending on the Total Ink Coverage:
- Template [1] – Settings that are selected in the dialog can be saved as a template and thus applied to other Articles/Print Items.
Basic Settings
- Spot Color [2] – select the system-wide defined Spot Color for which a new Spot Color Separation will be created from the selection menu.
- Render Resolution [3] – enter the desired resolution in dpi for the separation that should be created. The higher the resolution, the more accurately outlines will be traced, but the longer the execution will take. For the Variable Content [5], select the desired placeholder - Database field or User-defined field - from which the value for the render resolution should be retrieved.
- Tonal Value Curve [4] – the diagram shows the curve that should be applied. This curve is used to create the opacity for the Spot Color Separation depending on the percentage of the Total Ink Coverage.
- Input [6] – enter the percentage of the total coverage here. If, for example, 50 is entered in the input field, the selected Spot Color is created with the opacity specified in the Output field for the pixels for which the Total Ink Coverage amounts from 0 % up to 50 %.
- Output [7] – enter the value for the opacity of the Spot Color Separation here. If, for example, 100 is entered in the output field, a Spot Color Separation with a tone value of 100% is applied to pixels where the Total Ink Coverage is less than the value in the input field.
- Add [8] – add a new point that allows you to change the steepness of the ramp in the curve as required.
- Catmull Rom [9] – determine whether the curve should only consist of corner points or whether the curve should be made up of Bezier curves.
Advanced
- Protect transparent areas [10] – by activating this option, all transparent areas in the Print Item remain transparent. This means that although the total coverage for this area is 0%, no Spot Color is created for these areas.
- Protect transparent and white areas [11] – by activating this option, all transparent and white areas - CMYK 0/0/0/0, RGB 255/255/255 and grayscale 100 % - in the Print Item remain transparent or not printed. This means that although the total coverage for this area is 0 %, no Spot Color is created for this pixel.
- Exclude Spot Colors which has benn defined as "Output as Separation" [12] – by activating this option, all system-wide defined Spot Colors that are created as "Output as Separation" are excluded by the Fixup. Thus, the colors are not considered when determining the Total Ink Coverage.
- Layer Name [14] – enter the name of the Layer on which the Spot Color Separation should be created. When no separate Layer should be created, you must remove the name from the input field. For the Variable Content [15], select the desired placeholder - Database field or User-defined field - from which the value for the layer name should be retrieved.
- Conformity of Processing Steps according to ISO 19593-1 [14] – all objects that are printed with white should be created by default according to ISO 19593-1 on the White layer in the White group of the White type. Further information on the ISO standard can be found in the description Processing Steps ISO 15931-1.
3.2. Before/After
To experiment with this function, refer to the sample file "Sample_Spot Color Separation depending on Total Ink Coverage.pdf". The file was created in CMYK and contains vectors and text.
After applying the Fixups, the file "Sample_Spot Color Separation depending on Total Ink Coverage_End.pdf" is created, where the Spot Color "White" was applied depending on the Total Ink Coverage. Please note that the separation is set to overprinting.
Figure 2: Left: initial file; Center: edited file where the Spot Color Separation was created; Right: the created Spot Color Separation
Article update: Workflow 1.17.2 – 06/2024