Printing color separations
- Display the Color pane of the Print dialog box (File menu).
- Choose Separation from the Mode drop-down menu.
- Choose an option from the Setup drop-down list:
- The Process and Spot option prints plates for process and spot colors used in the layout.
- The Convert to Process option converts all colors in the file to process colors (at print time only) and prints process plates.
- The In-RIP Separations option prints all process and spot color plates and the output is in the composite format. However, the PostScript file to be printed contains separations information.
The In-RIP Separations option must be selected only if you are using a PostScript level 3 device. Note also that the Setup drop-down menu also contains all separations-based output setups listed in the Default Output Setups dialog box (Edit > Output Setups).
- To specify a line frequency other than the default value, enter a lines per inch (lpi) value in the Frequency field, or choose an option from the Frequency drop-down menu.
- The list at the bottom of the Color pane displays the plates used in the layout, as well as the default Halftone, Frequency, Angle, and Function settings. Generally, the default settings in the plate list give you correct printing results. However, you may need to adjust these settings for your particular circumstances. A dash in a column indicates that the column entry is not editable.
- Uncheck any checkmark in the Print column to cancel printing for an individual plate, or select the plate and choose No from the Print column drop-down menu.
- The Plate column lists spot colors and process inks in the document when you choose Separations from the Mode drop-down menu. The Setup drop-down menu at the top of the Color pane specifies which layout plates are listed.
- The Halftone drop-down menu lets you assign a different screen angle to a spot color. The default screen values for spot colors are specified in the Halftone drop-down menu in the Edit Colors dialog box (Edit > Colors > New).
- The Frequency column lists the line screen frequency value. This is the lines per inch (lpi) value that will be applied to each of the color plates. If you do not want to use the default value for a plate, choose Other from the Frequency drop-down menu to display the Frequency/Other dialog box.
- The Angle column lists the screen angle for each color plate. If you do not want to use the default value, choose Other from the Angle drop-down menu to display the Angle/Other dialog box.
- To specify alternate dot shapes in printed screens, choose an option from the Function column drop-down menu.
Parent topic: Printing layouts