Pantone color save in Photoshop

[Rafael26281653wpvv]

Hello.  how do I save a Photoshop created square as a Pantone color? 

These are for printing.  When I open the jpeg file, it changes it to cmky.  

i need to inport the square into an illustrator file.  

thanks in advance for the help. 

[Rafael26281653wpvv]

Also, is Pantone Black darker than a cmyk black?  I am trying to get a rick black once printed. 

thanks again. 

[c.pfaffenbichler]

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@Rafael26281653wpvv wrote:

Also, is Pantone Black darker than a cmyk black?  I am trying to get a rick black once printed. 

thanks again. 

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»CMYK Black« could, I am afraid, be taken to mean two different things – pure black (0-0-0-100) or a rich black (88-78-65-93 in ISO Coated v2, for example). 

The second is naturally pretty »deep« anyway. 

To make a meaningful comparison I would recommend doing a proper CMYK-proof (in the proper CMYK Color Space) and compare to the physical Pantone Color Book. 

But if you went 5C you could add CMYK colors to the Pantone black, too. 

Just be aware that reliable proofing may be impossible and make sure not to exceed the Total Area Coverage of the print process. 

[Rafael26281653wpvv]

Thanks for both replies.  I am a bit new at this.  I have used cmyk (0-0-0-100) it seems to not be dark enough, like a pale black. you know what I mean?  Pantone Black seems to be better. 

I I import the Pantone image into Illustrator, does it change much, even if then printed to cmyk?  i know it might not be exact match, but would think it's close enough.  Am I wrong?

[c.pfaffenbichler]

0-0-0-100 is not the deepest black as a commercial CMYK process can print and may indeed be noticably lighter than the black in a properly separated photographic image. 

What kind of imagery are we talking about? 

If it’s about intricate linework or thin type 0-0-0-100 black may be a reasonable choice (though it should overprint all other colors). 

For large areas a rich black (50-40-40-100 or whatever) may work out well (at least if there are no registration issues, in which case the areas might get colorful outlines). 

For which printing process are you working? Offset, gravure, flexo, …? 

Are you sure using spot colors would not be cost-prohibitive? 

[Rafael26281653wpvv]

Thanks a bunch for your help!

Offset printing.   So it should be the 4 color cmyk, plus the additional Pantone ink.

The black will be a border about a half in or so.  Then another pantone color, that has been undecided yet, but like a hot pink or neon orange.  The rest will be cmyk inside that second Pantone.  I just want the outter black border to really make the inside, or second pantone to stand out.  Yes, I have noticed that, 0-0-0-100 cmyk is not deep or dark enough for what I usually prefer.    

Question.  If I create the print files in Illustrator, I'm guessing I am combining CMYK and Pantone.  If It's saved or exported as CMYK, does it still print close to the desired Pantone?  Not sure I've asked a clear question about this, or if it's required I ask on Illustrator forum.  

[Rafael26281653wpvv]

Also, I might not be saving this correctly.  What I am saving is just a 5x5 square, only the pantone, but when I try to open the TIFF on Photoshop, it's just a white square.  I tried in Illustrator to import it in the actual file for printer, and it gave me this message...

"Unsupported color mode or depth. Only RGB, CMYK, Grayscale and Bitmap are supported."  

In Photoshop, under mode, it's "Lab Color". 

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Please don’t try to describe the layout in just words, post screenshots! 

Could you please post a screenshot with the pertinent Panels (Toolbar, Layers, Channels, Options Bar, …) visible? 

If you work in Illustrator anyway why are you involving Photoshop to create a line instead of setting up the spot color in Illustrator? 

If It's saved or exported as CMYK, does it still print close to the desired Pantone? 

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If you create a 6C file it is 6C, not CMYK. 

If you convert it to CMYK then why bother with Pantone Colors at all?

And naturally neon colors will not appear as such when printed in CMYK. 

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Create the Spot Channel (»New Spot Channel« from the Channels Panel’s dropdown men) and save in a meaningful file format like psd or tif. 

[Test Screen Name]

There are two kinds of Pantone colour.

1. Pantone spot colours. These can be any colour it's possible to make an ink, including neon colours, and some very special things.

2. Pantone process colours. This is just a book to choose CMYK colours from. It doesn't give yo any more colours that ordinary CMYK, just a handy way to choose them.

So, to start with, which Pantone colour scheme are you trying to work with? If not sure, please give specific Pantone names/codes.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Good catch, I hadn’t even considered that option. 

[Rafael26281653wpvv]

I'm not a pro at this, but I sorta know my way around what I need.  

I know certain Pantones definetly need to remain as such, or they don't print as well if converted to CMYK.  I do use the pantone book and try to switch them to CMYK usually.  

I do most of the creation in Photoshop, because it's easier for photo's etc, but I do the the actual layout for printers in Illustrator, so I import most art in Illustratot, excluding all text, that I create in Illustrator.  Also, I used very old Illustrator (10) and Photoshop (7.0) version until now.  So I am a bit lost with how to save thing and convert things in the newer versions of both.   For the longest time, my biggest issue was black thinking it was 0-0-0-100. 

i just used a Pantone 226 and saved it as CMYK and it turned into 13-100-25-1 from a test print, it was not as close as I'd hope.