Can you trap Spot colors?

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Permalink Reply by Rob W. on December 16, 2009 at 2:13pm

At risk of sounding like a typical prepress guy - are these co-workers Designers? ;)

Yes, trapping of spot colors is not only possible, it's downright necessary if the colors are printing in register. Now, the how of trapping all depends on the tools available. You can do it in Illustrator, although it's not recommended any more. Ours is all done through Prinergy, with the ability to manually adjust traps per job. Leave it up to the printer, since it's usually their discretion how much trap is required & acceptable.

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Permalink Reply by Tracy Flanagan on December 16, 2009 at 2:21pm

Just to clarify my questions - is it possible and or necessory to trap a spot color with a graphic or text built in 4 color process. For example if I have flyer with a background color of PMS 185 and 4 color process product photos throught out the flyer.

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Permalink Reply by Rob W. on December 16, 2009 at 3:44pm

Yep, still necessary. On most digital presses you can get away without conventional trapping, although many shops will still apply it anyway. Some machines like the HP Indigo have their own internal trap settings, theirs is called Adpative Halftoning, mostly to smooth text & eliminate white dropouts between elements.

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Permalink Reply by Eddie Brawner on December 16, 2009 at 5:21pm

Rob and Mardra are "spot" on.
My company does quite a bit of work for 1 client in particular that always uses a PMS metallic type (PMS 8420) knocked out of a heavy coverage of 4/color. LOTS of black.
We use 1mil trap on their work and it looks great. Any more and it begins to look..."chunky" is their word. Any less and even on our XL105 we'll get light leaks.
Good luck.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Jahn on December 17, 2009 at 12:32am

I would say definitely maybe !

Is this being printed heatset offset, and on what stock and on what press ? Is this being printed digitally (where you are simulating the spot color) ?

Your printer will be able to tell you. Will you be trying to do this trap in an Application, in a PDF - or with IRT (In Rip Trapping) ?

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Permalink Reply by brian clancy on February 20, 2010 at 12:29pm

fantastic response i couldn't agree more (another Kodak house)

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Permalink Reply by Mardra Sikora on December 16, 2009 at 3:20pm

Hello Tracy,

I concur with Rob, trapping inks is always necessary on registered print areas, even if it is from 4c/p to spot colors. The amount of trap set does vary depeneding on the kind of inks being run (i.e. metallics tend to spread) as well as the size of the images/text. The trap we utilize is less than 1 pt, but necessary non the less.

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Permalink Reply by Ken Cring on February 19, 2010 at 3:21pm

Rob is spot-on. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

The use of computers to create artwork has obscured some of the necessary steps needed to get a great finished piece. The application of ink to paper can be controlled... to a point. There still has to be the built-in tolerances to accommodate for the imprecise substrates that we print on with the sometimes imprecise machinery that we use to print, cut, fold, etc. If the details are taken care of (bleeds, traps, overprints, bumps, drift, etc.) then the finished piece will look pleasing to the eye.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Jahn on February 19, 2010 at 3:34pm

I never di get an answer to the question "will this be actually printed with 5 colors (CMYK with PMS 185 ) - or is that the 'design' and they are actually printed digitally (that is, they are simulating the Pantone 185)

Without know this, I can't suggest the best workflow or even it is necessary. Some might even re-separate to hexachrome. in some simple''cases, the designer can simply add a frame (or stroke) surrounding the 4 color images and set that to overprint - this would create a small area where the spot color covers the edges (or traps) the image - but honesty - i would simple ask the prepress service provider who they might prefer to have you make the files, as this might create more problems for that if they have a better trapping tool then your designers.

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Permalink Reply by brian clancy on February 20, 2010 at 12:25pm

spot colors have to be trapped

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Permalink Reply by Michael Jahn on February 20, 2010 at 1:00pm

Not sure I will disagree in general terms - but they do not always have to be trapped - only if the boundaries intersect with anything.

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Permalink Reply by brian clancy on February 20, 2010 at 2:50pm

you are correct michael a one color spot job requires no trapping obviously i don't usually work small press one color jobs mostly 6-10 colors based on neutral density and opacity i would decide the trap size and direction i use a prinergy rip and is about 50/50 on trap detail based on common process plans

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