Re: 2 color PDF from FM 5.5.6 to Press via PDF--best way?

[Thomas Neuburger <thomasn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Sean,

Having read all the discussion on this...

I would, first, certainly deliver what your press people ask for.

However, if they are uncertain, the sure method is to define the blue as a 
spot color and make two plates. At that point, Frame color becomes 
meaningless, since color will come only from the ink used at press time. 
All Frame has to know internally is that the color you use for the heading 
is the same color you define as "spot" when you output separations at 
Frame's print time. (If that's confusing, think about what color 
separations are in a plate printing process. The color is not in the 
separations; the separations are used to make plates that are inked with 
color, any color you choose.)


Printing spot color separations from Frame is fairly simple, if rarely 
done. The procedure is starts on page 399 of my book. It's fairly detailed 
there. I believe the online help also has some info on the subject, though 
I haven't checked lately.

The procedure in general is to pick or create a color in Frame to be used 
as your accent color, and then use it in the doc.

When you're ready to create separations, open the Print dialog box and make 
appropriate settings, including making sure Spot Color as Black/White is Off.

Then click the Separations Setup button and put Black and Blue (or whatever 
your accent color is) in the Print as Spot column, and everything else in 
the Don't Print column. Then Print.

You'll get two pages (if you print to paper), both in black, that could be 
used as camera-ready art for plate-making. If you print to file and 
distill, you'll get the electronic equivalent.

Again, don't let the black in the separations fool you -- the actual blue 
comes from the ink on the printing press.

Hope this helps,

Tom Neuburger

The Masters Series: FrameMaker 6
ISBN 1-930597-01-0
20% discount at http://www.bn.com


Sean Brierley wrote:

>I understand if you have a CMYK color and Framemaker,
>unless the CMYK is in an EPS file, the CMYK will be
>converted to RGB. I understand this is true for TIFFs
>and other graphics formats, as well as colors applied
>in FrameMaker itself because FrameMaker creates
>PostScript using the Windows GDI.
>
>So, let's say I want blue headings from FrameMaker for
>Windows to be printed from a PDF sent to press. What
>is the best way?
>
>Can I create the blue as a spot color, and create
>separations in FrameMaker, and print the separations
>to PDF?
>
>Should I create the blue as CMYK?
>
>Or, is there a better route?
>
>Cheers,
>
>Sean


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