Spot UV from photoshop to illustrator

[4eyes]

I need a few areas of spot uv on my illustrator formatted packaging, it will be covering the product shots. i made a spot uv channel in photoshop, using the product image outline as my shape so the register will be exact. i cannot seem to import it into illustrator though -- any tips on what i should do to remedy this?

also, do i need to make the spot uv mask slightly bigger to take into account the possibility of mis-registration? if so, would 0.5 to to 1.0mm expansion be sufficient?

Thanks in advance.

 

[chevalier]

This is my work around and how I typically handle this.

1. Command select the mask or spot color channel (Create one if it doesn't exist already)
2. Open paths panel
3. Select the drop down menu on the upper right of the paths panel
4. Choose "make work path…"
5. Use 0.5 pixels
6. Hit OK
7. A work path in italic will show up on the paths panel
8. Double click it and a window to name the path will appear
9. Name it or leave it as "path 1", "path 2", whatever…
10. You'll notice it is now not italicized
11. Click File > Export > Paths to illustrator
12. You can choose to export that one path or many (your choice)
13. Hit OK
14. Open that Ai file in Illustrator
15. Manipulate it as you see fit and/or copy into your other Illustrator file (order of this step is unimportant)

ALways save a copy of the Photoshop file with the path(s) so that you can revert if need be.

If you get hung up let me know. I'll record my screen of these steps if you need it. If you have Illustrator CC I highly recommend using the highly improved path smoothing tool and simplify path functions to get smooth lines. Spot coatings look terrible if you use raster images for them or "jagged" vector paths.

 

[eekabob]

I need a few areas of spot uv on my illustrator formatted packaging, it will be covering the product shots. i made a spot uv channel in photoshop, using the product image outline as my shape so the register will be exact. i cannot seem to import it into illustrator though -- any tips on what i should do to remedy this?

also, do i need to make the spot uv mask slightly bigger to take into account the possibility of mis-registration? if so, would 0.5 to to 1.0mm expansion be sufficient?

Thanks in advance.

What version of Illustrator are you using? Older versions did not support spot channels…..

 

[cmccue]

Channels and image format

Channels and image format

What you're describing should work...

1. When you create the spot channel in Photoshop, make sure you choose New Spot Channel in the Channels panel menu (not just "New Channel"). Populate that channel with the spot UV shape (I always make it bright green so it's easy to identify).

2. Save the image as a Photoshop PSD.

3. In Illustrator, choose File > Place and bring in the image. You'll see that your spot color is added to the Swatches panel, and everything should image as you intended.

Hope this helps!

--Claudia

I need a few areas of spot uv on my illustrator formatted packaging, it will be covering the product shots. i made a spot uv channel in photoshop, using the product image outline as my shape so the register will be exact. i cannot seem to import it into illustrator though -- any tips on what i should do to remedy this?

also, do i need to make the spot uv mask slightly bigger to take into account the possibility of mis-registration? if so, would 0.5 to to 1.0mm expansion be sufficient?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Sherbert]

After a quick Google anything after CS2...

 

[4eyes]

thanks for the replies. i figured out what was wrong - i had deleted all layers from the photoshop file thinking only a spot channel was necessary for importing to illustrator. once i added a layer and saved as psd everything was fine.