Quick Complex Masking in Adobe Illustrator

If you work a lot with consumer packaging like I do, it means that you deal with complex colorful graphics printed frequently on foil substrates. In sending out your production design files it is useful to setup your files in a way that indicates colors overprinting the foil substrate. To do so you'll want to mask out certain items so that you can indicate overprints of other items.

Say you have a foil substrate carton that has a face panel that has a logo, an icon and copy that overprint the foil. But you also have some background colors covering the whole panel behind those other items.

First make a rectangular shape covering the whole panel. Then duplicate the shapes of the logo, icon and copy. The copy will need to be vector. With the rectangle as the back most path select it and the other items all at once, then press Command-8 on your keyboard. This will make all selected paths one compound path. This now becomes the path with which you will mask out the areas overprinting the foil. Select your new compound path and all other items that are behind your graphics which will be overprinting the foil.

With all of these items selected press Command-7 on your keyboard. You now have a new masked group.

Now to indicate the overprints, create a layer below the the graphics that has a gray or a foil simulation. This will help in indicating a foil substrate. Make sure to indicate this layer as a 'for position only' layer so that the print vendor does not print it. To visualize the graphics overprinting the foil, select each graphic that will be overprinting and select 'Multiply' in the Transparency panel.

On occassion your compound path may reverse your paths making your positives negative and your negatives positive. In this case select your path and try reversing the direction of your path in the Attributes panel.

Quickly Find the Location of an Open File on a Mac

This Mac tip has been around for ages, but I'm not sure how many people take advantage of it.

This is primarily useful if you've opened a file linked to another file. But it can be used for any file that you have opened, but aren't sure where that file is located.

With the file open, click on the title of the file in the title bar while holding the Command key. This generates a popup menu. The list displayed in this popup menu is the path to the file. Simply choose any item in the list to be taken to a finder window of that location.

Unlocking Multiple Photoshop CS5 Layers in One Shot

It can be a real pain when working with a PSD file in Photoshop CS5 that contains a multitude of layers with a smattering of lock layers throughout. You can hunt down each locked layer, select it, then click the lock icon in the Layers panel to unlock it. Who wants to deal with that? Not me.

Although Photoshop CS5 does not offer an official ‘Unlock All Layers’ command, you can achieve unlocking all layers by taking no action with the ‘Lock All Layers in Group’ command in the Layers menu.

First you will need to group all effected layers. The easiest thing to do is to group ALL layers. Group all layers by selecting them all, then select ‘New Group from Layers’ in either the Layers menu or the Layers panel option menu. Then click on the group folder in the Layers panel and select ‘Lock All Layers in Group…’ from the Layers menu. The dialog box illustrated below will appear. Then, without checking any of the checkboxes, click ‘OK’. This tells Photoshop “Hey, I don't want any lock actions taken in any of the layers in this group.”

This trick will work in Photoshop CS6 as well.

To unlock all layers in group, check nothing and click ‘OK’.

Clicking the Meatball in Adobe Illustrator

What is the ‘Meatball’ in Adobe Illustrator? It is what Adobe developers have christened the little circle to the right of the layer name in the Layers panel (see below). What purpose does this meatball serve? A few very handy ways of selecting and editing objects.

First of all, I highly recommend working with Sub-Layers in the Layers panel. Frequently, it is a much better way of accessing objects or a group of objects in your Illustrator file than clicking directly on the object or group on the artboard. Especially if you have many complex vector objects, groups, masks and linked files.

See the illustration below to see the best way to access your layers and sub-layers in Illustrator. The Layer Panel Options can be accessed under the options menu in the Layers panel by selecting ‘Panel Options...’.

With these options selected you will be able to reveal all layer and sub-layer contents in the Layers panel by un-collapsing the layers by clicking on the arrow to the left of the layer name. I highly recommend naming your layers and sublayers to help keep track of the primary objects or groups in your file. If you have complex graphics comprised of many smaller vector objects, you don't want to name all sub-layers. That would just be insane.

So what can you do with these meatballs? Just a few simply, but handy things.

Clicking on a meatball will select everything on that layer or sub-layer.

With the layer objects or groups selected you can then move, edit, delete, etc., the objects or groups on the layer. If you need to move the selected objects or groups to a different layer, move them by dragging the small colored square to the right of the meatball. Dragging the meatball will do something else. Read on...

What does a solid meatball mean?

A solid meatball means that there is an Appearance applied to the object or group on the layer. If you need to edit the appearance, you can click on the solid meatball, then open the Appearance panel to make edits to the appearance. This is especially handy if you work with a design file you receive from another designer. Sometime you will find that you click directly on an object on the artboard to make an edit, but you can’t access part of the object. This is because there is an appearance applied to the object that is only accessible through the Appearance panel. Click the solid meatball, then open the Appearance panel to make the edits.

How can you put that solid meatball to work?

If you see that solid meatball and like the appearance applied to the object or group on that layer or sub-layer you can quickly put that solid meatball to work to apply its appearance to an object or group on another layer. Click on the solid meatball, then hold down the Option (Mac) or Alt (PC) key and drag the meatball to another layer. This will apply the appearance to the new layer object while keeping the appearance on the source layer. If you want to remove the appearance from the source layer and apply it to the new layer, you just drag the meatball without holding the Option or Alt key.

Saving that Appearance as a Graphic Style.

If you like an appearance applied to an object or group on a particular layer, click on the solid meatball on that layer or sub-layer, open the Graphic Styles window (Window > Graphic Styles), select ‘New Graphic Style...’ from the options drop down menu. Give the style a name and click OK.

The Acrobat Alternative for Bundling File Releases

For most people, Adobe Acrobat is just an app for distributing, viewing and reading standard documents. Acrobat is actually packed with a lot more features than people realize. Among the other features are optical character recognition, presentation features similar to PowerPoint, sharing options, word processing, inclusion of 3D, video, sound & forms, accessibility for the visually impaired...the list literally goes on.

But one handy feature for those producing artwork for release for high-end printing are the options to save with layers and attached files in one PDF. This is a great alternative to compressing a bundle of folders into a ZIP or other compression archive option.

Here’s how it works. Assuming you are using Adobe Illustrator or InDesign, you would Save As or Save a Copy (in Illustrator) or Export (in InDesign). Choose a format for your PDF. You will want to preserve high quality for this PDF, so you will want to choose Illustrator Default, High Quality or one of the PDF/X presets. Check with your print vendor to see what format they require.

To save your layers as they appear in Illustrator or InDesign, just make sure the Create Layers option is selected in the PDF save dialog. It will already be selected with the high end save presets.

If your Illustrator or InDesign file includes linked files you can include them in your PDF by attaching them in the Attachments panel. To access the Attachments panel, open your PDF and click on the paper clip icon at the lower left of the Acrobat workspace. Then click on the little cogwheel icon to open the Attachments menu (see below). You can select Add Attachment... from this menu to navigate to and select your attachments. Alternatively, you can just drag any file directly to the Attachment panel to include it in the PDF.

Attachment menu in Acrobat.

Aside from including files that link to the primary artwork file, you can include any other reference document, such as copy sheet, dieline, legal docs, etc.

This option may be somewhat more versatile than sending a bundle of folders as a compressed archive. Most people will be able to view this PDF, whereas some people may not be able to work with an archived set of files. Also, the PDF may offer better compression that a compression utility.

Making Sense of the World of Pantone

First of all, what or who is Pantone? According to Pantone they are “The worldwide standard for color communication and inspiration since 1963.”

They go on to say, “Over the last 45 years, Pantone has expanded its color matching system concept to other color-critical industries, including digital technology, textiles, plastics, architecture and contract interiors and paint. It continues to develop color communication tools for a variety of industries and aggressively adopts new digital technology to address the color needs of design and production professionals.”

That’s all well and good, but how does that help us in the graphic design industry? For those of us working in the suite of Adobe applications, the Pantone Matching System (PMS) is the salt, pepper, sugar, ketchup, mustard and ever other spice and condiment on the creative dinner table. But how do we keep up with changes and additions to the world of PMS colors?

To keep up with changes and additions to the PMS color libraries you could try perusing the Pantone website. But you may get hopelessly lost. It is a profoundly content heavy site that may lead to nothing but confusion.

THE CURRENT CONFUSION: 

Pantone Matching System v. Pantone Plus Series

The current version of Adobe’s Creative Suite is CS6. But, as things usually go in our industry, most of us are hesitant about adopting the new version until it’s been tried and tested by others...and also have to wait for the corporate budget makers to approve new software purchases. So that means that most of us are still working in CS5...at best.

The problem here is that Pantone has replaced the Pantone Matching System with the Pantone Plus Series. But the Plus Series is not available in Adobe CS5 or earlier apps. Adobe’s CS6 applications have moved on to the Plus Series. This leads to problems when down-saving a CS6 file to an earlier version. For one thing, the Plus Series colors look different in CS5 and earlier. Another problem is that you may get an error message saying something to the effect of ‘the version of your app does not support the color libraries in the file you are attempting to open.’ This leads to another issue.

The Plus Series was released with 1,341 colors. And then they released a supplement to the Plus Series referred to as ‘336’. Pantone says these 336 colors will “Unleash Your Passion”. Really? I think it’s more like they printed thousands of books and guides, then realized they were missing a bunch of pages, so they had to come up with some marketing mumbo-jumbo to sell these additional colors.

So you can buy these new Plus Series printed guides, along with the supplement, but you can’t add the supplement digitally to your version of CS6 without first buying Pantone’s new Color Manager software for $49. I’ve provided the link on the 'cheat sheet’ below.

On the ‘Pantone Cheat Sheet’ below I’ve added a link to a page on Adobe’s site which helps with some of the issues using CS5, CS6 and the new Plus Series.

PANTONE CHEAT SHEET

What I will attempt to do here is provide this Pantone Cheat Sheet providing essential Pantone information that may be useful to graphic designers, production designers and printer reps working with files generated in the suite of Adobe graphic design applications.

Pantone Color Finder

To quickly find a color based on a number you are provided, use this Pantone Color Finder:

http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/colorfinder.aspx

Pantone Numbering System Explained

This is a useful page on the Pantone site that helps to break down all of the color systems and numbering schemes. Take your time and read this page. It really helps.

http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/Pantone.aspx?pg=20051&ca=1

Working with Adobe Applications: Pantone Matching System v. Pantone Plus Series

This is a link to a helpful page on Adobe’s site which assists in making sense of how the earlier Pantone Matching System and the new Pantone Plus Series relate to the version of Adobe apps you are using.

http://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/pantone-plus.html

The Essential Printed Formula Guide (Fanbooks) and Solid Chip Books 

If you need to update just the staple Pantone formula guides and solid chip books that we are all familiar with, these are the links to those guides and solid chip books. If you buy either of these sets of books you are eligible to download the new Pantone Color Manager software for free.

The new Plus Series Coated & Uncoated Formula Guide Fanbooks:

http://www.pantone.com/pages/products/product.aspx?pid=998&ca=1

The new Plus Series Coated & Uncoated Solid Chip Books:

http://www.pantone.com/pages/products/product.aspx?pid=999&ca=1

The new Plus Series Color Bridge Coated & Uncoated Formula Guide Fanbook:

http://www.pantone.com/pages/products/product.aspx?pid=1002&ca=1

Pantone Color Manager Software

There is no more free lunch from Pantone. You used to be able to go to the Pantone site a download the digital library plug-ins for your Adobe Apps. No more. You must buy ($49) the new Pantone Color Manager software to download and install the library updates. And even though Adobe CS6 comes with the new Plus Series libraries, it does not come with the 336 passion unleashing colors. If you want to unleash your passion you must click and buy from the following link.

http://www.pantone.com/pages/products/product.aspx?pid=1017&ca=1

Adobe Community Color Management Discussion Forum

There are a number of issues that arise when working with color in Adobe apps using the Pantone color systems and libraries. This Adobe color management discussion board can be very helpful.

http://forums.adobe.com/community/design_development/color_management

Mobile Apps

I highly recommend downloading the myPANTONE app for either iPhone, iPod Touch or Android. There is also the myPANTONE X-Ref for iPhone and iPod Touch. A really cool feature of these apps is that you can click a photo of anything and the app will give you a set of PMS colors that match colors in the image. 

Read more about these apps at the following links:

myPANTONE 2.0 for iPhone and iPod touch: 

http://www.pantone.com/pages/products/product.aspx?pid=980&ca=86

myPANTONE for Android: 

http://www.pantone.com/pages/products/product.aspx?pid=1150&ca=86

myPANTONE X-Ref for iPhone and iPod Touch:

http://www.pantone.com/pages/products/product.aspx?pid=997&ca=86

Design/Production Team Structure & Production File Terminology

Design/Production Team Structure:

It is important for any design/production team to understand the nature of the files that exist throughout the duration of any project. From the genesis of a design concept to the final release of a file for print or on-line there can be assumptions that lead to confusion about the function and usefulness of some files.

Part of the challenge is to understand the structure of your team. Clarify roles and responsibilities and what is expected of the files on which each person works. The best case scenario is that you are the client who has their own in-house design and production team with direct relationships with print vendors. Team structure and communication should be less of a challenge in that case. The worst case scenario is that you are the client working with multiple design agencies, studios and print vendors. In that case, you need to clearly layout expectations in a concise manner and educate all involved parties. If you are just one of the cogs in the wheel of this client/agency/studio machine, make sure to ask what is expected of you...if you haven’t already been told.

The most important information to clarify is to find out from the individuals receiving the files from you what they need to successfully accomplish their tasks.

What I am attempting with this posting is to delineate these design and production files with terminology that I've grown accustomed to throughout the years.

Production File Terminology:

DESIGN CONCEPT - This is as it states...a design concept based on the project creative brief. This can take any form from pencil sketch to a polished layout. Design Concepts can be delivered as laser or ink jet prints, presentation boards, PowerPoint/Keynote presentations, PDFs, etc. When dealing with packaging, these are usually just principle display panels (front panels). These files do not go to the printer. But you may want to share with your printer or production team for input on what is possible to achieve in printing.

MYTH: Do not share design concepts with print vendors or production personnel as they will stifle your creativity. 

NOT TRUE! I’ve heard this a few times throughout the years. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Yes, you may get the occasional production naysayer who will discourage you from attempting certain design challenges in print. But more often printers and production personnel can and will suggest techniques that a designer may not be aware of, and in the end, the creativity will be enhanced.

DESIGN PRESENTATION -  After the initial concept phase has passed and more polished designs have been worked on you will start generating design presentation files. These are more polished layouts that will be delivered as laser or ink jet prints, presentation boards, PowerPoint/Keynote presentations, PDFs, etc. These files do not go to the printer but you may want to start sharing them with printers or production personnel.

FINAL DESIGN - After a number of Design Presentations, the Final Design file will start to be built out. The Final Design file will contain more final content, such as final copy and final photos and illustrations. In the case of packaging, all panels will be fleshed out during this phase. (HEY DESIGNERS! Remember to add some extra image for bleeds.) The Final Design will, most likely, go for a number of approval rounds before it is FINAL Final. Once this Final Design is approved it will go to the Production Design team. The Final Design will not go to the printer, unless there is an arrangement with a printer that they create the Production Design file.

PRODUCTION DESIGN - This is the file that goes to the separator or printer (they are usually one and the same). This is usually the file that causes the most confusion. This file is created from the Final Design file. The Production Design file is what used to be called the Mechanical or Camera Ready Art. It is not a file that can be directly separated into print plates. It is the file that the printer uses to create a file that can be separated to the various print plates. The Production Design file is just a file that assembles all design elements and color specifications into an easily digestible format that makes the task of creating print separations a bit less arduous. This file is usually CMYK with a few spot colors added. Sometimes the Production Designer will create spot color channels in the Photoshop PSD file, but will most likely generate their own spot color channels using the Production Design file channels only as reference. The most important aspects of this file are organized graphic elements, clear design intent and precise color specifications.

DIGITAL SEPARATIONS - This file can used to generate printing plates. All colors have been properly tagged and separated out for easy generation of plates. The printer/separator who created this file can use it themselves to go to press or they can send it to third party printers for plate generation and print runs.