ABOUT SPOT COLOR

The Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) file format is used to transfer PostScript language artwork between applications, and is supported by most illustration and page-layout programs. Typically, EPS files represent single illustrations or tables that are placed into your layout, but an EPS file can also represent a complete page.

Because they are based on the PostScript language, EPS files can contain both vector and bitmap graphics. Since PostScript cannot normally be displayed on-screen, In-Design creates a bitmap preview for an EPS file for on-screen display. If you print a page with an EPS file to a non-PostScript printer, only this screen-resolution preview will be printed. In-Design recognizes clipping paths in Photoshop-created EPS files.

When you import an EPS file, any spot colors it contains are added to the Swatches palette in In-Design. EPS allows for prepress-quality resolution, precision, and color. This format includes all of the color and image data required to color-separate DCS images embedded in the EPS graphic. EPS isn’t ideal for online publishing in HTML, but it works well for online publishing in PDF.

ABOUT PROCESS COLOR

A process color is printed using a combination of four standard process inks: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (CMYK). Use process colors when a job requires so many colors that using individual spot inks would be expensive or impractical, as when printing color photographs.

Keep the following guidelines in mind when specifying a process color: For best results in a printed document, specify process colors using CMYK values printed in process color reference charts, such as those available from a commercial printer. The final color values of a process color are its values in CMYK, so if you specify a process color using RGB or LAB, those color values will be converted to CMYK when you print color separations.

These conversions work differently when you turn on color management; they are affected by the profiles you specify. Don’t specify a process color based on how it looks on your monitor, unless you are sure you have set up a color management system properly, and you understand its limitations for previewing color. Avoid using process colors in documents intended for online viewing only, because CMYK has a smaller color gamut than that of a typical monitor.