The tale of two blacks

[irreality]

Sorry if im posting this in the wrong spot, but i couldnt determine exactly where to place this question.

Here is the scenario:

We have an Indesign File with 2 blacks. (I set it up this way on purpose - the second black is for version B)

Anyways, not being the print house and having to go through approval cycles. It is most likely that the customer is going to want to view a non-priced version and a priced version for approval.

Long story short.

I know i can remove this a couple of ways by exporting the pdf more than once (i really dont want to output PS) by essentially changing the 2nd black to a none swatch.

I also know that after the PDF is made I could potentially reopen in acrobat and re-output PS removing that colour from the separation, and then recombining with Prinergy.

But to me these options are kinda meh. as they dont really preserve the integrity of the file on the second go around (leading to potential issues).

Im at home right now and dont have access to my prinergy box to mess about and see what i can accomplish. I was thinking, is there any way to "remove" the second black via prinergy EVO? Yeah i know i could do it if i was outputting plates (but im not), but i dont recall the ability to remove spots/inks, with a vector PDF output. There has to be a way... right ?

Let me know if you have any ideas.

Thanks.

 

[Stephen Marsh]

Although this can be achieved with two blacks, I would first look into such versioning using layers in InDesign and using the great Page Exporter Utility to create the PDF versions from the base and version layers.

Page Exporter Utility (PEU) 5 Script Updated for CS3 | InDesignSecrets

If you still wish to do this with inks…

You should be able to do this colour plate mapping with Evo, my limited experience is more with the full Connect version.

EDIT: I forgot to add that Adobe Acrobat can alias/map spots to process inks, and Enfocus PitStop Pro has full colour mapping abilities too, such as process to spot.


Stephen Marsh

 

[dabob]

I second the versioned layer approach . .. much easier IMHO

 

[irreality]

Defintely would have been easier, if the development of the documents allowed it.

Unfortunately, this is a database driven document utilizing a third party plugin. That would not support the layer versioning .

I did figure it out though. After messing about in Evo - i can choose to map the 2nd black to either black or to disregard (not output) when creating a process template for outputting a PDF.

Saves me alot of time considering its a 600 page doc. with 4 versions.

Thanks again

EDIT: As for the Page Exporter utility... its a great tool.. I use it all the time, however it does have its drawbacks when trying to do spreads (ive never been able to get it to work properly - Error ! Error ! Error !). Ive been using another tool that helps me out for this called Exportools Pro. While the layer versioning is lacking. The output power is amazing... for my purposes anyways.

 

[rich apollo]

You might take a look at Output Factory from Zevrix.

 

[irreality]

I have looked at it... however from a cost perspective Exportools Pro. Fit the bill a bit better.

If i were to get Output Factory, i would have to get the server version to support hotfolder abilities. Not to mention I would have to haggle with IT to get some processing power, and not sure if it would tie into a standalone version of indesign, or if i would have to utilize the server (which we cant do because of the third party plugins).

If only Exportools had layer versioning support (they kinda do but its not up to snuff-<only either visible or all). It would be perfect for everything - Oh and yeah sometimes it lags with UTC - not activating the fonts asap.