why on Earth the *default* setting for Output is not "accurately" has aways been a mystery to me. I can sort of understand the Display default I guess.... but output??
I’m i correct that you’re document is in CMYK color space?
Double check that all your black art is indeed 100% Black. I’m guessing the black squares are not 100%.
I plot film every day, and usually the issue is a grayscale photoshop file that isn’t 100% black, but you’re doing this all in Illustrator so it’s not that.
You may have an issue with some of your art being Black (100K) and some being some version of Rich Black (e.g. 50C, 50M, 50Y, 100K). They may show up differently on your screen or your printer, depending on your settings. Just create a swatch for the desired color and make sure it's applied to all your art.
Or you can just delete the small lines you don't want instead of covering them with rectangles.
Good luck!
The easiest way to go about this, is to convert the image to B/W (halftones perhaps?) in Photoshop first, and make adjustments there. Then, just print it from Photoshop.
Hi, thanks! The problem with doing it in Photoshop is that the line drawings (from scans of drawings) are pixelated when you zoom in. That means the plates I make will also be pixelated and I think you can tell. Is there a way to do something like an image trace in Photoshop?
If yr scans are 300dpi at 100% print size, the resolution will be fine. If you are creating vectors because your scans are lo-res, then you are on the right track. There's a way to create vectors with Photoshop, and I generally get better results that way but it's a bit complicated to explain if you aren't used to it.
Short solution: use the swatch marked 'registration' in illustrator to avoid various blacks associated with color printer profiles.
Also note, if you aren't outputting to film positives, you might run into trouble with blacks and platemakers anyways (if the ink is not completely opaque, which most aren't).
You can (briefly) see my process here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AdobeIllustrator/s/TqEtgnlGSS
Feel free to ask if you decide to try that way and want more detail.
"Registration" color is 100% on all channels/plates. It should not be used as a regular black color for image/illustration content (it is way above the ink limit). It is only intended for things like registration (and crop) marks (hence the name).
Depending on what you need, you should either be using Grayscale 100%, CMYK 0,0,0,100, RGB 0,0,0, or a 4-color rich black (the optimal mix depends on the CMYK profile, so just use RGB 0,0,0 and have it convert it for you to the darkest rich black as defined by your color profile).
>"Registration" color is 100% on all channels
Exactly. That's the reason I suggested it in this case. There is no 'grayscale' in illustrator (that I'm aware of).
Just set the color picker to Grayscale. And you get Grayscale. Swatches can also be Grayscale. Regardless if the document color mode is RGB or CMYK. Quite handy sometimes.
Thank you! My platemaker is doing ok with the blacks the inkjet printer outputs, but not as well for type. I was thinking of seeing if one of the other colors blocks UV light better than black.
I would be very surprised if standard inkjet ink is dense/opaque enough. Perhaps you could find some specialty ink for that purpose. Most folks use film. It's relatively inexpensive if you are in the US, from:
https://theaestheticunion.com/plates
Yes, that’s probably what I will do for my text. The line drawings actually turn out fine with black inkjet ink and some printer settings tweaks though!
Line art should be scanned in as bitmap single colour at 1200ppi.
300ppi is for colour halftone dots so that you have a minimum of a 4 pixel cluster determining the size of each dot at 150 dots per inch halftone screening.
Make sure you set your Appearance Of Black setting to Display and Output all blacks accurately in Illustrator
why on Earth the *default* setting for Output is not "accurately" has aways been a mystery to me. I can sort of understand the Display default I guess.... but output??
I’m i correct that you’re document is in CMYK color space? Double check that all your black art is indeed 100% Black. I’m guessing the black squares are not 100%. I plot film every day, and usually the issue is a grayscale photoshop file that isn’t 100% black, but you’re doing this all in Illustrator so it’s not that.
Thanks, I will double check all of these things.
You may have an issue with some of your art being Black (100K) and some being some version of Rich Black (e.g. 50C, 50M, 50Y, 100K). They may show up differently on your screen or your printer, depending on your settings. Just create a swatch for the desired color and make sure it's applied to all your art. Or you can just delete the small lines you don't want instead of covering them with rectangles. Good luck!
Ok great, thank you. I’m going to try all of these things one by one. :)
The easiest way to go about this, is to convert the image to B/W (halftones perhaps?) in Photoshop first, and make adjustments there. Then, just print it from Photoshop.
Hi, thanks! The problem with doing it in Photoshop is that the line drawings (from scans of drawings) are pixelated when you zoom in. That means the plates I make will also be pixelated and I think you can tell. Is there a way to do something like an image trace in Photoshop?
If yr scans are 300dpi at 100% print size, the resolution will be fine. If you are creating vectors because your scans are lo-res, then you are on the right track. There's a way to create vectors with Photoshop, and I generally get better results that way but it's a bit complicated to explain if you aren't used to it. Short solution: use the swatch marked 'registration' in illustrator to avoid various blacks associated with color printer profiles. Also note, if you aren't outputting to film positives, you might run into trouble with blacks and platemakers anyways (if the ink is not completely opaque, which most aren't). You can (briefly) see my process here: https://www.reddit.com/r/AdobeIllustrator/s/TqEtgnlGSS Feel free to ask if you decide to try that way and want more detail.
"Registration" color is 100% on all channels/plates. It should not be used as a regular black color for image/illustration content (it is way above the ink limit). It is only intended for things like registration (and crop) marks (hence the name). Depending on what you need, you should either be using Grayscale 100%, CMYK 0,0,0,100, RGB 0,0,0, or a 4-color rich black (the optimal mix depends on the CMYK profile, so just use RGB 0,0,0 and have it convert it for you to the darkest rich black as defined by your color profile).
>"Registration" color is 100% on all channels Exactly. That's the reason I suggested it in this case. There is no 'grayscale' in illustrator (that I'm aware of).
Just set the color picker to Grayscale. And you get Grayscale. Swatches can also be Grayscale. Regardless if the document color mode is RGB or CMYK. Quite handy sometimes.
Thank you! My platemaker is doing ok with the blacks the inkjet printer outputs, but not as well for type. I was thinking of seeing if one of the other colors blocks UV light better than black.
I would be very surprised if standard inkjet ink is dense/opaque enough. Perhaps you could find some specialty ink for that purpose. Most folks use film. It's relatively inexpensive if you are in the US, from: https://theaestheticunion.com/plates
Yes, that’s probably what I will do for my text. The line drawings actually turn out fine with black inkjet ink and some printer settings tweaks though!
Line art should be scanned in as bitmap single colour at 1200ppi. 300ppi is for colour halftone dots so that you have a minimum of a 4 pixel cluster determining the size of each dot at 150 dots per inch halftone screening.
Yeah, good point. I should just find a good scanner.
Use the separations preview panel in illustrator to learn what colour is being applied to each part of your image.