is it possible to make everything "white" overprint?

[cbishop01]

I thought i saw a script on here a while back but i could be wrong. is it possible to make anything with the name "White" overprint? my documents have several pages each. Or if it makes it easier we also have a "White" layer if there's a way to make everything in that layer overprint that would work as well.

Thank you!

[chrisg11235813]

If you don't turn overprint on, the top layer will knockout the below layers.

It is tough to see because the White Spot is coloured white (which is the same colour as the background).

it also seems like the Cyan coloured box is overprinted

[Peter Spier]

If a solid color ink -any solid color ink, is printed on top of anything it is going to cover it, that's what overprint means. Knockout means remove the color beneath, and yes, failure to set overprint for the white will knock out the other stuff, but overprint is not going to let the type and other colors show through a spot ink intended to cover the metallic substrate if it is overprinting that type or other content.

[Peter Spier]

The cyan box is at the bottom of the stack. Black text is overprinting the Cyan, and white overprints it all.

Because I set the paper color to yellow the overprint preview is trying to show what cyan would look like on yellow stock, which might be near correct, but the separations previw of the whit plate clearly shows that overprint preview is incorreect for the white color since it is defined as, essentially, no ink when in reality it is equivalent to solid white paint when it gets on press.

[chrisg11235813]

That's fair.

I suppose that is why I have always just used another colour to represent the "white ink". It makes it easier to see with the overprint preview.

[Peter Spier]

Rob, I see you've set your spot to Lab values, I set mine to 0|0|0|0 CMYK. Don't know if that's why you see something different.

[rob day]

I thought i saw a script on here a while back

This would set fills and strokes of page items (not text) to Overprint if the swatch name is "White"

var doc = app.activeDocument;
var api = doc.allPageItems;
var ws = doc.swatches.itemByName("White")
if (ws.isValid) {
	ws.properties = {model:ColorModel.SPOT}
} 

for (var i = 0; i < api.length; i++){
    try {
        if (api[i].fillColor == ws) {
            api[i].overprintFill = true;
        } 
        if (api[i].strokeColor == ws) {
            api[i].overprintStroke = true;
        } 
    }catch(e) {}  
};   

[Peter Spier]

OK, hang on a minute.

I think I've got this figured out, finally.

You're putting the white on top in the stack order, setting it to overprint so it isn't knocking out anything (nor is it being knocked out where other color is being printed because it's on top of the stack), but on press you are laying the spot white down first, which makes sense, and keeps it from obliteratiing all the stuff that's behind it in the .indd file. In that case the screen mode is perhaps unnecessary, though you may see some differences in color if there are areas of the art that overlap both white and raw metalic substrate.

[chrisg11235813]

In my experience, that is typically what happens.
Although sometimes you want some white to be on top of the CMYK too. This makes the file set up a bit hectic, since you have to use a non spot "white" to force a knockout of the CMYK so the white spot at the bottom shows through.
Our RIP asks which order to put the ink down (ie. White/CMYK, CMYK/White, or CMYK/White/CMYK)

[cbishop01]

I'll try the below methods and see if it will work correctly with our digital press.  Thank you for all your help!