Batch replace colors (RGB to Pantone)?

[danielbaars]

Hi,

I'm trying to solve the following problem and I was hoping you had some ideas on how to do it:

I have to import 400+ SVGs which all use the same four (RGB) colors and then batch-convert them to AI or PDF files. Before I do that I have to change the four RGB colors in four shades of the same Pantone color (the book which will use these files will be printed in two colors, black and the aforementioned Pantone color). Is this possible in Illustrator 10?

The RGB colors don't show up as swatches in Illustrator so I can't use the Replace Swatches feature :-(. Any ideas?

Another option could be to batch-replace (or remap) the colors in the PDF that I will be sending to the printers... Do you guys know of a program that is capable of remapping RGB colors to shades of a Pantone color?

Any help would be much appreciated!

Regards,


Daniel Baars

 

[blueark]

I don't have Illustrator in front of me, so this is just a guess...

Why not write an action that creates a shape using one of the RGB colors, use select same fill (or stroke), change to pantone, and delete the new shape.

I suspect it won't work quite as easily as that, so some improvisation might be called for. For example, instead of creating a shape, you might have to paste an object from the clipboard onto a new layer, and delete the layer when finished. In this case, just copy another rgb shape each time you run the action.

Like I said, it's only a guess, but let us know how you get on.