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Greyscale to Pantone

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makudo

Technical User
Jun 27, 2006
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I have a grayscale vector image in illustrator that I need to convert to a monotone image (specifically Pantone 662 C). So that black is pantone 662 C and white is white, and grey is in between the two... Cant seem to figure it out. Any ideas?

-Tim
 
there is a way to go from color to grayscale easily;
'filters' > 'color' > 'convert to grayscale' but you'd have to be starting from the PMS color you want.

(DISCLAIMER: Self-taught AI user; unorthodox methods w/good results)
'There is no LEASH LAW for the IMAGINATION!'
myspace.com/erixworx
 
Can you add the Pantone to your swatches pallette, double click to get its cmyk values and then double click your black swatch, change it to spot with the Pantone values, rename it Pantone 662 and check the global box?

That should make everything black turn to P662.

Using OSX 10.3.9 on a G4 & G5
 
you can make it a montone - dutone ( i know that sounds funny but go to the duotone option and you can make it anything from a monotone to a quadtone) in photoshop and assign it the pantone # . . . but its better to work with than image in a page layout program like indesign which is optimized to work with both raster images, vector images and typesetting with greater ease and control than illustrator give you

The person who says it cannot be done
should not interrupt the person doing it. . . .
 
Thanks dabob, jmlgalvin and erixworx. Unfortunately I still have the same problem. . :(

If there were only black shapes in the image, then I would just convert black to pantone 662. But the range is from black through grey to white, and I need all the "greys" to be the same pantone, but tinted whiter... Does that make sense?

A bit like... instead of using black ink on all my black and grey objects, I want to use Pantone 662.

I can't use Photoshop because it is a vector image and it needs to stay vector.
 

...one trick i learnt is thus:

...group the objects you want as the spot color...

...on top cover with a box, apply P662 Blue, then send this to back...

...select both the group and the pantone box...

...open the transparency palette...

...from flyout menu choose 'make opacity mask', select the invert option if required...

Andrew


 


...and yes, you could even have a greyscale placed bitmap involved in that too...

...not just vector...

Andrew
 


...do note this might become bit of a problem if you have it on anything other than a white background...

Andrew
 


...if you encounter that scenario, you need to make a copy of the group and convert to white, so it knocks out...

...a bit manual, but has worked for me in the past...

Andrew
 


...the only other alternative is to use pitstop in acrobat (not free)...

or

...do the select same tint (illustrator preferences option) and manually change them all...

Andrew
 

...this situation is why i always use colors to be 'global' colors, in fact, illustrator i think ought to have it as a default, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to be the case...


...with a global color, you could simply drag your spot over the global black swatch (with the alt key pressed) and all would be fine, in one easy move...


Andrew
 


...another one, is to ink alias in indesign ink manager, however you need to have a custom spot black to begin with to alias it to another pantone...

...i have encounter problems with ink aliasing in combination with transparent pdf files placed in indesign, but that is a whole different set of fun and games...

Andrew
 
What makes up the grey? Is it a swatch, a gradient or a blend?

If grey is a swatch, you can do the same change swatch to P662 and then lighten it.

If it's a gradient, you could open that gradient and substitute P662 for black and, if necessary, use lighter P662s for intermediate colors.

If it's a blend, you might try duplicating the file and then do another blend.

Then again, it you have something like a gradient or blend going form P662 to white and you don't know what its composed of, it might be just as easy to just keep the white and P662 and redo any intermediate steps.

Using OSX 10.3.9 on a G4 & G5
 
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