RE: How to identify a Pantone color

[1tice2001]

I have a client who sent me an Illustrator file with a message that told me it's some kind of Pantone color, but he didn't know which. Is there a way in Illustrator (CS4) to sample the color and have Illustrator search out the color library and then find and reveal the exact Pantone color?

Probably a no brainer, but for some reason I can't figure it out.

Thanks,

Tice

[Mylenium · Accepted solution]

I don't think so. If the swatches have not been properly embedded and the colors converted, there is no way to exactly determine what Pantone color they were. The only way to somewhat guess the color is to use the Color Guide in CS3/ CS4. When you sample the color and then load a color book, it will match the colors in the palette to the ones in the book. Still, I rarely do print stuff, so someone may have an better idea. I also guess, since you get a warning, it could be merely a mismatch of your color profile and print settings, not something with the color itself.

Mylenium

[1tice2001]

Actually, since your reply was the closest to what I had eventually accepted as the truth, I'm choosing you to inform you of my discovery. There is indeed a way to identify Pantone colors in a document. Thanks to a Lynda.com video I came upon the answer the other day.

Choose Document Info and click the flyout wheel to select spot color objects.

This, at least, applies to CS4. Earlier versions may be different.

[Mordy_Golding]

For a video tutorial on how to do this, you might try reading this: http://rwillustrator.blogspot.com/2007/08/getting-pantone-support-with-kuler.html

Mordy

[Wade_Zimmerman1]

That technique might seem correct to you but from the info you gave us it appeared you no longer had a swatch for the pms color in the swatches panel.
Which would have given you the pms number anyway.

If there are no swatches then the document info will not give you pms colors. The color guide will not either, the only way I know that exist in Illustrator if there are no swatches is to use the recolor art and select a pms spot color book swatch library as the color definition.

Otherwise all you would have to do is simply select the AI file fro the bridge and look at the metadata and that will give you the pms colors if there were swatches, no swatches no definition in any form the only way I know is to redefine the colors and the only way is the Live Color.

[Guest]

Hello

You may write values of picked color then open Photoshop then click on color square in tool palette to define color from Illustrator. Then click onto color libraries select PANTONE Solid coated (It may be selected) and Photoshop will pick the closest matching PANTONE to your picked color. But sometimes PS pick is not the best, comparing to printed values vs Pantone book. I'm highly recommending to confirm this pantone pick with the customer. I hope this help somehow.

eRychu

[Steve Fairbairn]

If there is no trace of a Pantone colour in your Illy file - no swatches or anything - your best bet is probably to have a Pantone Solid to Process guide at hand. If the colour is at full strength somewhere in your file, you should be able to find the nearest match in your guide. Use Select Same Fill (or Stroke) to select everything that has the same colour. Make a swatch of the CMYK colour, double-click on the swatch and convert it to a spot colour. Give it exactly the same Pantone name as in the guide and make sure that the CMYK readout corresponds exactly to the values in the guide. Check again that you have fished up everything that should be in the Pantone colour - if there's something that hasn't been converted to spot, use Select Same ... again and colour it by clicking on the Pantone swatch. This method is easier than having to scroll through swatch libraries in your computer.

[Guest]

I picked up this method from a Wade Zimmerman post in April 08.

(Of course this only gives you the closest possible match if there is not an exact one).

In Illustrator CS3 select the objects you want to get the nearest spot color match.

Then go to Edit > Edit Color > Recolor Art. In the center bottom right of the color
sliders there is a swatch icon you can select any swatch library you have in the
swatches folder including color books for say Pantone.

That will do it. You can save it as a group or can have it recolor the art or both.

[Mylenium]

Tom Usrey wrote:

In Illustrator CS3 select the objects you want to get the nearest spot color match.

Then go to Edit > Edit Color > Recolor Art

Yepp, what I said (in less simple and elegant words) 😉

Mylenium

[Harron_K_Appleman]

(Nobody reads post #1.)

[Wade_Zimmerman1]

Mylenium and Harron

Tom meant well but many users are not familiar with the ins and outs of the Live Color feature and the Color Guides being a part of this is perhaps stil unclear to many users how they relate.

It is not that Tom misread post 1 just that the live Color feature needs to be more in the front and be more apparent then it is.

I am hoping they will upgrade the feature and bring it to the front in the next version. It is a little mysterious to most.

However the method that Tom poster offers a far much more easy approach for find the Panatone color and for all the art work at one time.

The Color guides are really for not defining what you have but to offer more of what you want to change it to.

So it is not really a duplicate post. The recolor art dialog is a really powerful feature which you kind o should go to even if you first go to the color guides.