Show Pantone Colours in Separations

[Lavitas Macutis]

Dear community, 

how to have pantone colours show in the separations panel? 

Thanks!

[Frans v.d. Geest · Accepted solution]

If they are spot colours they are listed in the seperations panel. But if they are (converted to) PMS process colours of course you  wil just see CMYK.

[Lavitas Macutis]

Yes, makes sense, thanks. (My printer demands pantone colours for silk screen, but since there doesn’t seem to exist a full black in pantone+ solid uncoated, I went for pantone+ cmyk uncoated, which, as you expain correctly, doesn’t show since in fact it is simply K. Well. I was hoping that in separations, it would still be displayed as PANTONE P Process Black U, and accordingly in the separations my printer would see when looking into the file, but well. Hope it’ll work anyhow.)

[davecourtemanche]

Not sure what you mean by a "full black" in Pantone+ solid uncoated. My library has Pantone Black U. It's definitely not a "rich black", but that's just a rendering thing. All that matters to a printer is that the file separates into its proper colors, not what the onscreen preview looks like.

[Lavitas Macutis]

Hello Dave,

yes, you are right, “full black” is an expression very much wanting in precision. I initially looked into the Pantone+ Solid Uncoated library, yet according to the Swatch Options panel when set to Lab, Pantone P Process Black U is L17, a4, b8, whereas the blackest blacks from the Pantone+ solid uncoated library seem to be  Neutral Black U with L31 (!), a 1, b2, actually a darkish grey, and  Pantone Black 6 U with an even lighter L33, a1, b-5. 

I was surprised that the entire Pantone uncoated library shouldn’t contain any actual black, but so it seems. And since in fact I would love to employ an even darker black, maybe some high pigment black, I went for the nearest thing I could find, being Pantone P Process Black U, being actually K with a different name. It may very well be though that I get something wrong here. Did I?

[davecourtemanche]

If you're needing a "rich black" for viewing (keeping in mind that the printer just wants a spot separation & they will print with whatever black they're using), you can create your own color "Rich Spot Black". I typically use C60 / M40 / Y40 / K100 and define it as a spot color in Indesign. This will give you the preview you want and print as a separation for the vendor.

[Lavitas Macutis]

Yes, good idea. I failed to mention that the silk screen printer I’m looking to work with demands a Pantone colour, but your second hint—that in fact he will print whatever he likes to pour into his machine—is helpful, too.