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What happens if by mistake left spot color activated when I want to print in CMYK?

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
February 26, 2024
4 replies
1650 views

Hello,

I would like to ask what happens if by mistake I left the selected "spot color" instead of "process". I want to print in CMYK. (attached a picture)

Understanding that the "spot color selection" means a specific/unique color like Pantone, my doubt is how is possible to make this mistake if I didn't specify any non-process color (?). I'm a bit confused.

Thank you in advance!

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer Brad @ Roaring Mouse

As mentioned, your file is fine. What it comes down to is communication with your print provider about what you want.

What happens depends on the process required. Digital print is a composite workflow, whereas making plates for an offset press is a colour-separated workflow. In a composite workflow, is doesn't matter that you have a spot colour. And since yours is a CMYK mix anyway, the results will be the same.

However, if your are printing offset, and it's expected to be a purely 4-colour process printing, the printer will "deal" with the spot colour... i.e. either by converting it to process at the RIP stage, or asking you if it was intentional as a spot. They aren't going to automatically print your job as 5-colour without confirming that with you.. Unless you came in saying youI have a 5-colour job, they will assume the former. You can even tell them, "oh, by the way, convert any spot colours to process".

Even in a composite workflow, you can leave them as is. They will print the best that output device can do. In fact, there are some benefits to leaving spot colours as is, especially if they are out of gamut like many bright Pantone colours. e.g. I print out large format posters and banners and the inks in my inkjet printer have a much wider gamut and are capable of matching Pantone colours much more successfully than ever possible in CMYK process. In order for it to do this, the colours have to remain spot in the print file. As an example, I do work for a local "big box home store" with a bright orange logo (Pantone 165). If I convert that to process beforehand, it will be a much duller orange colour than if I let my printer's RIP handle it and match it almost exactly.

So, again, talk with your printer.

P

packaging specialist

Inspiring

If you intentionally "by mistake" leave an additional color in the file to separate it into the process color, you will behave inelegantly. Your task is to determine what CMYK components the "corporate blue" color should have. If you leave any doubt here, you will cause trouble for the contractor and ask for the work to be printed incorrectly.

V

VerdegiallastroAuthor

Known Participant

Hello packaging specialist,
I appreciate your point of view which I don't agree with, but since the question is already resolved let me explain the same principle using a different scenario because I am not trying to change your tasks.

If you were in my ski lessons, the first thing I would teach you is how to fall. Although falling is a mistake, it can be considered intentional because the person deliberately practices it to learn a skill.

Intentional mistakes in good faith could be beneficial because they can help avoid psychological distress and build confidence to react better in the event of a fall.

Not to mention that intentional mistakes are one of the great drivers of creativity.

Brad @ Roaring Mouse

Correct answer

Community Expert

As mentioned, your file is fine. What it comes down to is communication with your print provider about what you want.

What happens depends on the process required. Digital print is a composite workflow, whereas making plates for an offset press is a colour-separated workflow. In a composite workflow, is doesn't matter that you have a spot colour. And since yours is a CMYK mix anyway, the results will be the same.

However, if your are printing offset, and it's expected to be a purely 4-colour process printing, the printer will "deal" with the spot colour... i.e. either by converting it to process at the RIP stage, or asking you if it was intentional as a spot. They aren't going to automatically print your job as 5-colour without confirming that with you.. Unless you came in saying youI have a 5-colour job, they will assume the former. You can even tell them, "oh, by the way, convert any spot colours to process".

Even in a composite workflow, you can leave them as is. They will print the best that output device can do. In fact, there are some benefits to leaving spot colours as is, especially if they are out of gamut like many bright Pantone colours. e.g. I print out large format posters and banners and the inks in my inkjet printer have a much wider gamut and are capable of matching Pantone colours much more successfully than ever possible in CMYK process. In order for it to do this, the colours have to remain spot in the print file. As an example, I do work for a local "big box home store" with a bright orange logo (Pantone 165). If I convert that to process beforehand, it will be a much duller orange colour than if I let my printer's RIP handle it and match it almost exactly.

So, again, talk with your printer.

V

VerdegiallastroAuthor

Known Participant

Hello Brad,
Thanks for your feedback and for sharing your knowledge with your "big home store" project, it's great to learn from that experience. If you eventually have a comparison image with the result you named, I will be more than happy to look at it.

If you see the reply to Bobby, I wrote that the printer is a friend of mine and together we tested both the "wrong/spot" and "corrected/processed" files in digital and offset, purposely avoiding the warnings, and the result was identical.
Agreed, as you and Bobby said, although a spot color is defined in the file, which is only associated with a CMYK mix, if the printer profile is set to4-colour process printing there should be no difference.

In an ideal world, I shouldn't have made a mistake and the printer, noticing (not in this case), should have asked me 🙂

Have a nice day.

B

Bobby Henderson

Community Expert

Are you doing large format printing? If so, is the print work being done in-house or are you sending files off to another company to print the graphics?

It probably won't hurt anything to have certain CMYK color combinations named as spot colors when merely printing from a desktop inkjet printer or an office laser printer. The colors get converted automatically to process colors when printed.

In mass print publishing it's very important to have colors specified correctly. Any spot colors require their own printing plate in addition to the CMYK printing plates. Spot colors will add more cost to a print job.

Spot colors are handy in large format printing. We have to apply spot colors to artwork with names like "CutContour" or "Spot1" in order to contour cut around printed artwork or to print layers of white ink. It's common for things like Pantone spot colors to be used in large format printing since since the printers can have extra ink colors such as light magenta and light cyan to extend the gamut range of the stock CMYK colors. Large format RIP applications like Caldera or Onyx Thrive have color look up tables to convert those Pantone spot colors into six color formulas to print. The RIP software will do similar conversions of imagery or graphics with RGB colors (only so much of the RGB range can be printed, even with a 6-color printer). Your CMYK "Corporate Blue" spot color would probably just get rendered as a CMYK color.

If you are sending files to another company to do the print work then, like Monika suggested, it's important to talk to the people at the printing company to make sure your artwork doesn't cause any conflicts.

V

VerdegiallastroAuthor

Known Participant

Hi Bobby,

Thank you for your time, it was very interesting to read your polite clarification and because I found the answer myself, I would like to say that you were right "Spot color would probably just get rendered as a CMYK color"
The printer, a friend of mine, agreed to make a test, avoiding on purpose the warning from the preflight that not a Spot color was defined.
Because it's impossible to print something without profiling it, he left the printer to decide (presetted with Fogra 39). The result looked identical when we instead printed the file by changing the settings in illustrator from Spot to Process. I can't say this will happen every time but it was a case I wanted to figure out empirically because in 20 years I didn't make that mistake, but my friend receives those files now and then. Maybe the illstrator engineers could give a warning in that menu bar 🙂

Thank you and have a productive day.

Monika Gause

Community Expert

What spot color does, depends on the printer/RIP you are using. Is it your desktop printer?

Spot colors are not only Pantone. You can just set them up in whichever color you like and then it depends on what ki d of device you are using whether or not that makes sense.

V

VerdegiallastroAuthor

Known Participant

Hello Monika,

I appreciate your answer. I can't hide that I'm feeling a bit embarrassed with this doubt but I would like to know "what is the result" if I send to the printer -by mistake- (not to my desktop printer) an illustrator file having a spot color as I showed in the picture.

ps. I am aware that I would have had to select "process" 🙂

Monika Gause

Community Expert

So you send open files to your printing service?

If a human controls them then hopefully they will contact you about it.

If they just send them into print, then again it would depend upon how their RIP is set up.

WHen you notice that after sending, then pick up the phone and contact them urgently.

If you do not want to print spot colors, don't set up spot colors. Don't use Pantone spot swatches.

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