Remove everything but dieline

[lnivin]

I've been looking for a way to choose everything but die line color. Then with this chosen, delete it. Leaving only the die line.

For us, this would be a great Action.

 

[prepressdork]

Hi Inivin, the action list commands are:

Select all
Select spot color <Name of Spot Color>
AND
NOT
Remove selection

Hope this helps!
pd

 

[lnivin]

Worked perfectly! Thank you!

 

[Stephen Marsh]

Thank you for the post prepressdork, I am still learning, so I hesitate to comment. Another workable alternative could be:

Select spot color <Name of Spot Color>
NOT
Remove selection


The NOT operator excludes, so in this case it acts as an inverse to the Die colour selection (select die colour, inverse selection). In other words select everything except the die colour. NOT only applies to the immediately preceeding item in the list of selections.

A good introduction to PitStop Pro Action Lists can be found in the recent Enfocus Virtual Safari recordings – PITSTOP TECH SUPPORT SAFARI:

Enfocus Virtual Safari


Stephen Marsh

 

[abc]

Yep agree with Stephan, the AND is not necessary as you only have one selection (Select spot color)

 

[Stephen Marsh]

Thanks for the reply Andrew, extending the original question I am still kicking around how to remove everything except the die AND the registration or page marks.

It is probably “select objects inside/outside region” to exclude the trim/page marks, or perhaps selecting using registration colour – however I am not getting the desired result.

EDIT: The key was the OR operator.

Select all (optional step)
Select objects outside region <trim box>
Select spot color <name of spot color>
OR
NOT
Remove selection


Stephen Marsh

 

[bhennig]

Hi Inivin, the action list commands are:

Select all
Select spot color <Name of Spot Color>
AND
NOT
Remove selection

Is it possible to select two or three different spot colors at the same time and then delete everything else?

 

[chevalier]

Yes. You might also look at this solution http://printplanet.com/forums/enfocus/33918-covert-fills-0-5pt-strokes-esko-automationengine

 

[abc]

Is it possible to select two or three different spot colors at the same time and then delete everything else?

Yes it is, you can contact me off forum if you want and we can go through it. [email protected]

 

[abc]

Thanks for the reply Andrew, extending the original question I am still kicking around how to remove everything except the die AND the registration or page marks.

It is probably “select objects inside/outside region” to exclude the trim/page marks, or perhaps selecting using registration colour – however I am not getting the desired result.

EDIT: The key was the OR operator.

Select all (optional step)
Select objects outside region <trim box>
Select spot color <name of spot color>
OR
NOT
Remove selection


Stephen Marsh

Hi Stephen, just saw this one. Drop me an email and we can go through it

 

[Stephen Marsh]

Is it possible to select two or three different spot colors at the same time and then delete everything else?

Yes, it is a variation on the previous listed steps:

Select all
Select all spot colours
NOT
Remove selection

(In other words select and remove everything which is NOT a spot colour).

That being said, this is a “simple” list, for example if an object had a spot stroke AND a CMYK fill, it would retain the object with the CMYK fill as it also had a spot colour applied.

I would take up Andrew’s offer, you will have to give him the exact requirements, as illustrated above it may or may not be so simple.

Also keep in mind that if you have PDF workflow software such as Kodak Prinergy, one can also omit spots or retain spots and omit CMYK etc.


Stephen Marsh

 

[Glenn McDowall]

I'd also be interested in an Action List to delete everything except Dieline and Trim marks from imposed pdf.
Also could I adapt it to delete everything except SpotUV and trim marks. To use it on the Spot UV separation I need to also retain any masks affecting the Spot UV separation.

I'm running Prinergy but there are problems associated with imposed pdf of a single separation, because such files are destined for output or manipulation outside of Prinergy we have to clean them before sending them on. Essentially the pdf of the single sep contains the whole composite content coloured up as "None" so 1st problem is that the file size is a lot bigger than necessary and often way to big for email. 2nd problem I used to see a lot was that early versions of Acrobat (reader) would restore some of this "hidden" content (particularly from the Colour Bar) when printing which would waste a lot of ink-jet film.

 

[Stephen Marsh]

I'd also be interested in an Action List to delete everything except Dieline and Trim marks from imposed pdf.
Also could I adapt it to delete everything except SpotUV and trim marks. To use it on the Spot UV separation I need to also retain any masks affecting the Spot UV separation.

I'm running Prinergy but there are problems associated with imposed pdf of a single separation, because such files are destined for output or manipulation outside of Prinergy we have to clean them before sending them on. Essentially the pdf of the single sep contains the whole composite content coloured up as "None" so 1st problem is that the file size is a lot bigger than necessary and often way to big for email. 2nd problem I used to see a lot was that early versions of Acrobat (reader) would restore some of this "hidden" content (particularly from the Colour Bar) when printing which would waste a lot of ink-jet film.

For a simple job from InDesign that has a correct trim box set and also includes a die:

Select objects outside region <trim box>
Select spot color <Dieline>
OR
NOT
Remove selection


However it is not that simple in all cases, for example from Illustrator one may need to do the following:

Select spot color <Dieline>
Select spot color <All>
OR
NOT
Remove selection

Of the two, I prefer the second using the spot colour all rather than trim box info.

Simply change “Dieline” to be the exact name of your knife’s spot colour or the Spot UV plate name. Now adding a clipping mask to the exclusion list:

Select All
Select spot color <All>
Select clipping objects
OR
Select spot color <Spot UV>
OR
NOT
Remove selection


If spot colour naming is not consistent from one job to the next, then one would have to build in multiple redundant selections to hopefully pick up common variations (Dieline, Dieshape, Die, Cutter, Cut, Knife etc). This would change the above steps slightly, as below for 3 different dieshape names:

(I have colour coded these into related groups to make the related steps stand out, the logical operator “OR” directly follows the selection)

Select All
Select spot color <All>
Select clipping objects
OR
Select spot color <Dieline>
OR
Select spot color <Dieshape>
OR
Select spot color <Die>
OR
NOT
Remove selection


Hope this helps. If it does not work, post a sample PDF.

Stephen Marsh

 

[Stephen Marsh]

Hi Stephen, just saw this one. Drop me an email and we can go through it

Thanks Andrew, I think that I worked it out, please see my previous reply. Thanks for the offer, I’ll take a raincheck on that one if I may!


Stephen Marsh

 

[Glenn McDowall]

Thanks Stephen will give these a go next week.