80

Technique
  

InDesign, Illustrator and

Photoshop CS3 or later
Master
special
finishes
Tony Harmer draws
on simple techniques for
adding spot colours,
varnishes and special
finishes to your layouts
Spot colours, varnishes and UVs can add a new
dimension to a printed piece by highlighting graphic elements.
They enhance the appearance of certain areas within an image or
even bump up the appearance of colours that aren’t as bright as
desired because of the limitations of the CMYK process.
Using the cover image of Computer Arts issue 161 (May
2009), designed by João Oliveira, as its basis, this tutorial uses the
scenario of preparing a piece of artwork using one spot colour (in
the multicoloured triangle at the top of the page), a UV varnish (on
the triangle elements) and a textured spot UV varnish (shown as
bright magenta in the tutorial graphic). You’ll see how other CS
Design Premium applications work with InDesign to prepare the
graphics for print.

01 We aren’t able show you the varnish applied to the triangle elements
running across the middle of the page, as this is not visible in print, so these elements
appear here as a grey colour; we’ll come back to them at the end. For now, we’ll start
off in Photoshop with the Final.jpg image, which you’ll find on the disc.

Tony Harmer Time needed Skills

An Adobe- 1-2 hours Add or create
certified instructor spot colours
holding over 40 Create
certifications, and On the disc clipping masks
chapter leader for The file Create a
the London and accompanying this frame from a
tutorial can be
Cardiff InDesign
User Groups, Tony’s located on the disc in
clipping mask
Use the
02 The triangular elements are going to be varnished, and we’re going to apply
4T podcast is DiscContents\ Separations that in InDesign later. Firstly we need to create a path around the object, adjusting
available on iTunes Resources\Finishes Preview where necessary with the Direct Selection tool. If you want to develop your confidence
and at his site, www. with the Pen tool, there’s a podcast available on my blog at http://www.tonyharmer.co.
tonyharmer.co.uk uk/wordpress/?p=31

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ART167.tut_indesign 80 4/9/09 2:46:44 pm

 81

03 Now to save the path. Go to your Paths panel and

click the Panel menu at the top right. Choose the Save Path 04 Go back to the Paths panel menu. This time, select Clipping Path. Path 1
option and give it a name if you like (although the default ‘Path should already be selected (unless you’ve drawn other paths too.) You can leave the
1’ will do here.) Flatness field empty. Save the file and import it into your InDesign layout.

05 Copy the image and ‘Paste in 06 Now to make a placeholder

Place’ so it sits directly on top of the first
image, then Right/Ctrl+click to select
‘Convert Clipping Path to Frame’. Access
the Direct Selection tool (double-click
from the Selection Tool to get it
immediately) and select the image, then
delete it. You’ll be left with a frame that’s
exactly the same as your clipping path.
colour for the varnish. In the Swatches
panel menu, choose New Colour Swatch.
You can mix any colour you like here, as
long as you change the Colour Type to
‘Spot’. Give it a name – I’ve chosen
‘Placeholder’. Try to avoid using Pantone
colours as placeholder colours, as they
can cause confusion at the printers.
07 Apply your placeholder colour to the fill of your
frame. You can also ‘trap’ the varnish by adding a stroke using
the same colour. You can then either use the Attributes panel
and set the Fill and Stroke to ‘Overprint’ or, as I have done here,
use the Effects panel and set the Blend mode for both to
‘Multiply’, which has the same effect with a spot colour.

08 The triangle was created in
Illustrator and must be prepared using
the correct method when using spot
colours. In Illustrator, access the
Pantone Color Book via the Swatch
Libraries icon on the Swatches panel.
09 Now type your colour value in the Find Field. Open
the Attributes panel and make sure it isn’t set to Overprint, as
we need this colour to ‘knock out’. We can now import this
element into InDesign using the process in Steps 5 and 6, or
choose to refine it in Photoshop. For more on importing spot
values, see http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/325/325905.html.
10 A similar method should be
used for elements made in Photoshop,
as spot values here differ to InDesign’s.
I’ve taken the triangle into Photoshop
and used a hit of green to brighten it up
using the Color Range option.

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 82 Technique
Master special finishes

11 Once you’ve got a selection you’re happy with, choose
New Spot Channel from the Channels panel menu. The
selection should load into it straight away, and you’ll see a
dialog box asking you to specify a colour.
12 Click on the Color square and the picker will appear; click the Color Libraries
button and type the colour number you used earlier (I’ll be typing 354). There isn’t a
field to type into – just type, making sure you’re specifying exactly the same colour as
before, otherwise you’ll add another plate. As this is to be semi-opaque, set the
Solidity to a much lower value.

14 Open Window>Output>Separations Preview and

13 Back in InDesign, import the triangle and repeat the process from Steps 5
and 6 to create a new placeholder for the raised varnish over the triangular elements,
then apply it to the text graphic and set it to Overprint (go to View>Overprint Preview,
and if it disappears then it’s all good.) This will have a nice raised texture and, if used
well, can be really striking.
select Separations from the View drop-down menu. Check
that everything is as it should be: look at the CMYK plates and
be sure that only the things you want to be ‘knocked out’ are
being so, and that the overprinting spot colours have
information where you would expect to see it. If not, make
the necessary changes.

15 Here’s the finished piece in

Overprint Preview (Shift+Alt+Ctrl+Y/
Spot colour prep Shift+Opt+Cmd+Y). It’s now ready to
It’s imperative to prepare be turned into a PDF for the printer –
spot colours in the correct way, as don’t forget to ask yours how they
spot inks appear and separate prefer to receive the artwork, as
differently in Photoshop, Illustrator
some still like the source files. There
and InDesign. For a best-practise
method for preparing spot colours are many finishes out there, so check
correctly in Creative Suite out companies such as Celloglas, or
applications, see http://kb2.adobe. the feature ‘The Finishing Line’ in
com/cps/325/325905.html Computer Arts issue 163 (July 2009),
to find out more.

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