# Separating Artwork in Adobe Illustrator



## PositiveDave

Most established screen shops will generally have a RIP-based workflow for separating artwork and printing positives. A lot of newbies, without the software, have been struggling with the process.
This is a How-To for dummies.

You will need a copy of Adobe Illustrator (though the priciple is common to CorelDraw and Open-Source software) and a pdf printer. I've used Adobe Acrobat (not the reader) but you can use free utilities like CutePDF and PDFCreator, beware the browser toolbars that these freebies try to install, choose the Custom option and untick the 'please can we hijack your browser?' box.

Take my new logo idea (which might need some more work  ) It's two spot colours which I need to separate. This will work with CMYK (no halftones - you need Ghostscript) or any number of spots.










I've set the blue outline to overprint to make printing a bit easier.

Let's try to print that:
If I choose a non-postscript printer the Separations drop-down remains greyed-out.











If I choose a Postscript printer then I have the option to use Separations (Host-based). The trick is that pdf = postscript.










I can then add registration marks.










Choose a page size and press print.










There is a pdf attached which has been produced by this method, note the lettering will slightly overlap the pink.


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## gmcj2011

Thanks. That really helped!


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## digitizewedo

Great thanks


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## dream2010

nice one!!!


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## PDTee

Thanks  Since i dont have a PS printer, i think its OK to output to PDF and then print it to my regular printer with Acrobat... just wondering if i could use this technique to do more complex design and more color jobs... THX again


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## PositiveDave

PDTee said:


> Thanks  Since i dont have a PS printer, i think its OK to output to PDF and then print it to my regular printer with Acrobat... just wondering if i could use this technique to do more complex design and more color jobs... THX again


PDF is PS (with modifications) 
Illustrator or Corel don't know or care how complex your jobs are, they just separate any colours you have to their own plates. It's a lot easier to let the programme do the separations, it will allow trapping and will pick up any process colours left in the design by accident.


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## BoydRiver

I appreciate that this is a very old post buy I wanted to say thanks to PositiveDave for the info shared here.


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## sthomasapparel

super helpful!!!!


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## PositiveDave

one tries


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## Kellywillman

Great! That's helpful


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## EarlHarr

That's a really cool guide, thanks a lot.


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