User Manual

3.51 Delete Separation

Updated on

Find out in this article,

  • which requirements must be met to carry out this Fixup and
  • how to apply the Fixup.

1. Introduction

The Fixup Delete Separation is available in the Workflow. This Fixup aims to remove selected CMYK separations from the file. RGB objects must first be converted to CMYK so that the selected separations can also be deleted in these objects.

2. General

Use the Fixup Delete Separation to delete selected color separations of objects of any type that are created in CMYK. This means that unused separations can be easily removed from Process Colors. It is not possible to remove a Spot Color with this Fixup!

Use this Fixups if you only want to use

  • the black separation.
  • to delete empty black separations so that no unnecessary clicks are paid or the print speed is increased.
  • to use the black or another separation from the file as a channel for haptic printing.
  • to use the Spot Color separations of a print file.

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 option Color in the Category area,
  • activating the option Delete in the Action area,
  • activating the option CMYK in the Search area.

3. Description

With this Fixup selected process color separations and all objects that are colored with them can be deleted. This means that individual parts or the entire Print Item, excluding all Spot Colors, can be removed. In addition, RGB objects must be converted to CMYK and DeviceN Spot Color constructs must be resolved. The reason is that these objects should not generate any process color separation in the output.

3.1. Requirements and Functionality

For the Fixup to do what it promises, the following requirements must be met:

  • The file contains CMYK separations.
  • Spot Colors can be used, but will not be deleted.

Figure 1: The dialog of the Fixup Delete Separation

To delete separation select from the following options:

  • Templates [1] – settings that are selected in the dialog can be saved as a template and thus applied to other Articles/Print Items.
  • Delete Separations [2] – click on the respective separation to select which Process Color should be deleted. The following options are available:
    • Cyan – the complete Cyan separation with all objects is deleted.
    • Magenta – the complete Magenta separation with all objects is deleted.
    • Yellow – the complete Yellow separation with all objects is deleted.
    • Black  – the complete Black separation with all objects is deleted.
  • Extract Spot Colors from DeviceN [3] – by clicking on this option, all DeviceN Spot Color constructs are separated. This means that the individual object of the CMYK separation can actually be deleted.
  • Convert RGB objects to CMYK [4] – clicking on this option converts all RGB objects to CMYK. This means that RGB objects are first converted to CMYK so that all information of the respective process color separation is deleted.

3.2. Before/After

To experiment with this function, refer to the sample file "Sample_Delete Separation.pdf". The file contains CMYK, RGB, and Spot Color objects. The street was created as the Spot Color "Street", the whitish clouds were created in RGB and the rest of the Print Items were created with CMYK. All separations except for the black channel should be deleted.

After applying the Fixup, the revised file "Sample_Delete Separation_End" is created. All separations except for the black separation were deleted. All RGB objects were converted to CMYK and therefore also deleted. The values from Figure 1 were used.

Figure 2:  Left: initial file; Right: edited file where all separations apart from the Black separation where deleted

Article update: Workflow 1.17.2 – 08/2024

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