Adding Color Names Instead of Color Bars

[MidoSemsem]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a way to save a PDF file with color information, specifically to write separation color names instead of the standard color bar. The typical trim and marks provide a color bar, but I need to add the actual color names in their corresponding colors.

Any help is appreciated!

[m1b]

Hi @MidoSemsem, the best way forward is to post a pdf showing exactly what you ideally would like. Then people can look at that and see if they know a way. Good luck.

- Mark

[MidoSemsem]

Thank you @m1b , 
I want to use the color names as in "Color Names.pdf" file instead of color bar

[jduncan]

I'm, not near a computer but I have an old script that places spot color names on the document for screen printing separations. It may give you some insight in how the process.

https://github.com/joshbduncan/illustrator-scripts/blob/main/jsx/ScreenSepMarks.jsx

[MidoSemsem]

Thanks @jduncan 
Nice script by the way, but I cannot add document color names

[MidoSemsem]

I’ve been working on a script, and this is what I’ve accomplished so far:

var doc = app.activeDocument; // Ensure there is an active document
var newLayer = doc.layers.add();
newLayer.name = "InkNames";

var inkNames = getDocumentInkNames();
var inkNameStrings = inkNames.split(", ");

var artboards = doc.artboards;
for (var i = 0; i < artboards.length; i++) {
    var artboard = artboards[i];
    var artboardRect = artboard.artboardRect;
    
var x = artboardRect[0] + 15;
var y = artboardRect[3] + artboardRect[1] + 15;

for (var i = 0; i < inkNameStrings.length; i++) {
    var inkName = inkNameStrings[i];
    var inkNameText = newLayer.textFrames.add();
    inkNameText.contents = inkName;
    inkNameText.position = [y, x];
        inkNameText.rotate(90, true, true, true, true, Transformation.DOCUMENTORIGIN);

    y += 70; // Adjust spacing between ink names (negative value to move upward)
}
}
function getDocumentInkNames() {
    var inkNames = [];
    var inks = doc.inkList;
    for (var j = 0; j < inks.length; j++) {
        inkNames.push(inks[j].name);
    }
    return inkNames.join(", ");
}

[MidoSemsem]

Currently, the text is filled with black. Is there a way to fill it with the actual corresponding color names?

[jduncan]

My script colors the text with the actual color but it setup to work with only spot colors. You'll need to adjust it to make it work with all color types.

[Kurt Gold]

Hi Josh,

the reason why your script may not colour the text properly is probably a localisation conflict when using non-English Illustrator versions.

I did not test it thoroughly, but as far as I can see in line 352 the default [Registration] swatch is used. In non-English Illustrator versions the name of this swatch varies and therefore it can cause errors.

Just as an example, when using your script in the German version of Illustrator, the default [Registration]  swatch would have to be renamed to [Passermarken]  in order to get the colourised text objects (based on existing spot colours).

[jduncan]

Probably so. That was one of the first scripts I wrote and it's been quite some time since I touched it. I'm no where near a computer but if I remember correctly it only ignores the Registration color so it is not added to the document text. Hopefully the code for writing the text in specific colors is enough for the OP to get an understanding of the process. Cheers!

[Sergey Osokin · Accepted solution]

main();

function main () {
  if (parseFloat(app.version) < 16) {
    alert('Error\nSorry, script only works in Illustrator CS6 and later');
    return;
  }

  if (!documents.length) {
    alert('Error\nOpen a document and try again');
    return;
  }

  var win = new Window("dialog", "Show Ink List v0.2");
      win.alignChildren = ["fill", "top"];
      win.spacing = 10;
      win.margins = 16;

  var fontGrp = win.add("group");
      fontGrp.alignChildren = ["fill", "center"];

  var fontLbl = fontGrp.add("statictext", undefined, "Font Size, pt:");
  var fontInp = fontGrp.add("edittext", undefined, 12);
      fontInp.characters = 10;

  var spGrp = win.add("group");
      spGrp.alignChildren = ["fill", "center"];

  var spLbl = spGrp.add("statictext", undefined, "Spacing, pt:");
  var spInp = spGrp.add("edittext", undefined, 15);
      spInp.characters = 10;

  var isSkipUnused = win.add("checkbox", undefined, "Skip Unused Spot Colors");
      isSkipUnused.value = true;

  var btns = win.add("group");

  var cancel = btns.add("button", undefined, "Cancel", {name: "cancel"});
  var ok = btns.add("button", undefined, "OK", {name: "ok"});

  cancel.onClick = win.close;

  ok.onClick = function () {
    var doc = app.activeDocument;// Ensure there is an active document
    app.executeMenuCommand('deselectall');
  
    try {
      var newLayer = doc.layers.getByName("InkNames");
      newLayer.locked = false;
      newLayer.visible = true;
      newLayer.hasSelectedArtwork = true;
      // Remove previous text labels
      for (var s = app.selection.length - 1;s >= 0;s--) {
        app.selection[s].remove();
      }
    } catch (err) {
      var newLayer = doc.layers.add();
      newLayer.name = "InkNames";
    }

    var font = parseFloat(fontInp.text);
    if (isNaN(font)) font = 12;

    var spacing = parseFloat(spInp.text);
    if (isNaN(spacing)) spacing = 15;

    var artboards = doc.artboards;

    for (var i = 0; i < artboards.length;i++) {
      app.executeMenuCommand('deselectall');
      doc.artboards.setActiveArtboardIndex(i);
      doc.selectObjectsOnActiveArtboard();

      if (!app.selection.length) continue;

      inks = getArtboardInks(app.selection, doc.documentColorSpace, isSkipUnused.value);

      var ab = artboards[i];
      var abRect = ab.artboardRect;
  
      addInkList(doc, inks, abRect[0], abRect[3], spacing, font, newLayer);
    }

    if (!newLayer.pageItems.length) newLayer.remove();

    app.executeMenuCommand('deselectall');
    win.close();
  }

  win.show();
}

function addInkList(doc, inks, left, bottom, spacing, font, target) {
  var x = left - spacing;
  var y = bottom + spacing;

  for (var i = 0; i < inks.length; i++) {
    var inkName = inks[i].name;
    var inkNameText = target.textFrames.add();

    inkNameText.contents = inkName;
    inkNameText.textRange.characterAttributes.size = font;

    var inkNameTextChar = inkNameText.textRange.characterAttributes;

    switch (inks[i].inkInfo.kind) {
      case InkType.CYANINK:
        inkNameTextChar.fillColor = setCMYKColor([100, 0, 0, 0]);
        break;
      case InkType.MAGENTAINK:
        inkNameTextChar.fillColor = setCMYKColor([0, 100, 0, 0]);
        break;
      case InkType.YELLOWINK:
        inkNameTextChar.fillColor = setCMYKColor([0, 0, 100, 0]);
        break;
      case InkType.BLACKINK:
        inkNameTextChar.fillColor = setCMYKColor([0, 0, 0, 100]);
        break;
      case InkType.CUSTOMINK:
        try {
          inkNameTextChar.fillColor = doc.swatches.getByName(inkName).color;
        } catch (err) {}
        break;
    }

    inkNameText.rotate(90, true, true, true, true, Transformation.CENTER);
    inkNameText.position = [x - inkNameText.width, y + inkNameText.height];
    y += inkNameText.height + spacing;
  }
}

function getArtboardInks(items, colorMode, isSkipUnused) {
  var newDoc = app.documents.add(colorMode);
  copyObjectsTo(items, newDoc);
  app.executeMenuCommand('Fit Artboard to artwork bounds');

  var inks = newDoc.inkList;
  var result = [];

  for (var i = 0; i < inks.length; i++) {
    if (!isSkipUnused || inks[i].inkInfo.printingStatus === InkPrintStatus.ENABLEINK) {
      result.push(inks[i]);
    }
  }

  newDoc.close(SaveOptions.DONOTSAVECHANGES);

  return result;
}

function copyObjectsTo(items, doc) {
  if (Object.prototype.toString.call(items) === '[object Array]') {
    for (var i = 0; i < items.length; i++) {
      items[i].duplicate(doc.activeLayer, ElementPlacement.PLACEATEND);
    }
  } else {
    items.duplicate(doc.activeLayer, ElementPlacement.PLACEATBEGINNING);
  }
}

function setCMYKColor(cmyk) {
  var c = new CMYKColor();
  c.cyan = cmyk[0];
  c.magenta = cmyk[1];
  c.yellow = cmyk[2];
  c.black = cmyk[3];
  return c;
}

However, in Illustrator localizations with their own alphabets (Russian, Chinese, Japanese, etc.), there is a problem with getting ink names in the correct encoding. Discussions here: https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/how-to-make-the-script-support-chinese-japane...

Upd v0.2: Added isolated ink list output per artboard if objects are not hidden or locked

[MidoSemsem]

Thank you @Sergey Osokin ,
Perfect script, exactly what I was looking for.

Can it be adjusted to work for each artboard separtely?

[Sergey Osokin]

Check out the updated version v0.2. How do you find ink for an artboard? I took the easy way in my solution. I copy the artboard objects into a new document and get a list of inks in this new document, which I then print into the original document. And so for each artboard

[MidoSemsem]

Nice approach @Sergey Osokin 
This will be slower for complex documents, right?

[Sergey Osokin]

Yes. But the other way would also be slow - going through all the paths on each artboard, all the characters of the editable text frames, looking for Spot swatches or CMYK channels in Fills or Strokes, and then filtering the resulting color list to remove duplicate color names. If the object has a second color applied in the Appearance panel, the script will not be able to access this information in the Appearance panel either.

In fact, there are not many ways in scripts to get quick (!) information about some data about objects on a certain artboard when there will be hundreds or thousands of objects.

[MidoSemsem]

I thought inks were read from output separation preview rather than individual objects or paths. That approach would likely be more straightforward.

[Sergey Osokin]

In the object model, the ink list is for the whole document. But you asked the question to define the ink list in isolation for each artboard 🙂