john_mcclung

John,

I have a Photoshop file that is for a 2-color job, set in CMYK mode with a spot color channel. The cyan, magenta, and yellow channels are empty. How do I need to save this file out of Photoshop 6 and place into Illustrator 10 to get a press-ready file?
Some of the discussions have said to convert the file to Multichannel and save as DCS 2.0 and others have said just saving as an EPS.
Saving as an EPS out of Photoshop, I don't get the spot plate image, only the black plate image. And when I save as a DCS 2.0 and place the file, the best I can get is screen display for a composite.

Any help would be great.

John

john_kallios

Your PSD file is not a duotone.

A true duotone probaly will not work for your artwork.(just a guess)

As to saving to dcs, dcs images are a preseparated format. They only print at full resolution when output as separations.

Workarounds to achieve a composite raster file with spot data.

In InDesign 2:

In Photoshop
Separate the cmyk data and save as 1 file.
Save the spot data as grayscale or bitmap depending on your needs (variant is to save as monotone)

In InDesign

Place the cmyk file in a newly created do***ent the same size as the image centered on the page.

Place the spot color file centered on the page above the cmyk.

Use direct select and colorize the image to the desired spot color. (not needed if monotone variant is used)

Multiply the top image in the transparency pallet.

Export as an eps or pdf. (note: only the eps will work if needed to place into xpress)

This eps will now work in either composite or separated workflows.

In Illustrator:

In Photoshop
Separate the cmyk data and save as 1 file.
Save the spot data as grayscale or bitmap depending on your needs.

Place the cmyk file, place the spot file over it.

If bitmap, select the bitmap and colorize to desired spot color.

If grayscale, use this action on the image. <http://share.studio.adobe.com/axAssetDetailSubmit.asp?aID=9951&back=http%3A%2F%2 Fshare%2Estudio%2Eadobe%2Ecom%2FaxBrowseSubmit%2Ea sp%3Fc%3D105>

Save to eps and it now will work in a composite workflow.

It is easier to use the InDesign workaround.

Like I posted in the InDesign thread, if you deal with spot raster a lot, then the CS upgrades would be benefitial to you.