[sg613]

I had a little problem with this. I know you can do it just before you print but I would like to add bigger reg-marks where i want them. How do i get the mark on each layer in the exact same spot? Is there a way to do this. Thanks.

 

[sg613]

Also does anyone know where I can gt a free vector of a registration mark? Thanks again.

 

[Smokestack]

Its really not as difficult as it may seem.. Go ahead and grab your circle tool, make a circle as the main part of your reg mark.. make it as big or small as you want it to be.. then grab your line tool and make 2 or 3 or 4 or however many lines you want to make crossed over that circle you just made.. and bingo... u got a custom reg mark.. make sure that you dont color the fill.. only color the stroke (outline).. go ahead and group all those lines and circle together. Be sure to make a set of reg marks to go one on top of another for each spot color you are going to print.. In othe words, if you are printing 4 colors (films) you want a set of reg marks colored for each one of your films.. all reg marks stack directly on top of each other and make sure before you print your films, you select all of your reg marks you made, all at once and go to your attributes pallet and select overprint stroke.. otherwise they wont all print on the films...

How i just showed you may be a little overkill because i know that if you look in you swatches pallet you will see a swatch for registration color.. It actually looks like a registration mark, but honestlyl, i am kind of ashamed to say i never bothered figuring that out..

 

[Smokestack]

after re reading your question, i realized i prolly didnt help too much.. Once you make that first reg mark... select the whole mark and go to object /group.. then edit/copy/edit/paste in front (while that first mark is still selected.. ) Now you have just pasted a copy directly on top of the first one.. I would make 3 other copies of that first reg mark, and place all 4 on the artboard where you want them, then select them all and object /group now every time you just select one of the reg marks, they all get selected.. then go ahead and do your edit/copy edit/paset in front how ever many times for how ever many colors you need them to print on.. Be sure to color each set as you paste them down before you go nuts pasting all over the place then trying to figure out how to ge to each to color them..

UGh.. i'm sorry.. you're probably more confused now after my explanations. Hope i helped

 

[sg613]

Is there any way i can copy and paste the mark to each layer in the exact same spot without having to use the ruler and flip through each layer to see if they line up??

 

[sg613]

I found a registration mark as well in a jpg. Im just gonna do a trace of it and use that.

 

[Smokestack]

got this straight from illustrator help file


Print an object on all plates

If you want to print an object on all plates in the printing process, including spot-color plates, you can convert it to a registration color. Registration marks, trim marks, and page information are automatically assigned registration colors.

Select the object.
In the Swatches panel, click the Registration color swatch , located in the first row of swatches, by default.
To change the on‑screen appearance of the registration color from the default black, use the Color panel. The color you specify will be used for representing registration-colored objects on the screen. These objects will always print as gray on composites and as an equal tint of all inks in separations.

 

[sg613]

Wicked. Thanks again. Ill try it tomorrow.

 

[smutek]

to get your reg marks, in illustrator set up a blank document, like 5" x 5", or whatever, it doesn't really matter. Draw a square or something inside of it. You have to have something on the page because you are going to print to a PDF.

Choose file/print and in the box where you choose your printer choose adobe PDF from the list. Also, in the print dialogue box, in the "marks and bleed" section choose "all printers marks", now press print. (note that this is completely different than saving as a PDF)

this will "print" a PDF file to your desktop, or wherever you save it. open this file in illustrator and you have all vector printers marks.

i took the ones i use, reg marks and center marks, expanded them into compound shapes and saved them as a template. any time i need them now i just choose file/new from template and there they are, ready to go.

 

[Greatzky]

is there a way in illustrator to just go through the print menu and seperate your films that way. I usually get my image ready... seperate the colors on different layers.. make sure they are all black.. then hide all layers but the one I want to print. I print each one individually while leaving my registration mark layer on for all of them.

Are there other ways to do this? I hear about process plates and spot color seperations and everything, but this is the only way I know to print the films.

 

[professaurus]

Set each different element as a different spot color, in the print dialogue click on the output button and where it says output mode change it from composite to separations
For the registration mark just make your own and assign it the registration swatch and it will print on each film

 

[Greatzky]

thx, but how do you set the elements to spot colors. Is this different from just clicking the element and clicking a color?
I don't have the ability to switch the setting from composite to separations.

I barely get by with Illustrator. I'm sure I don't even use 5% of it's functions.

 

[professaurus]

the best method is to use pantone colors.
Using Pantone swatches in Illustrator

 

[Greatzky]

thx for the link.. I set each element to a pantone spot color, but the print dialogue doesn't allow me to switch out of composite. that box is grey and can't be changed..

Maybe i'm doing something wrong from the start when i create a new file??

 

[professaurus]

What do you have as your printer and ppd settings? You might need to download a pdf printer and print to that then print the pdf it creates

 

[Greatzky]

my printer is set to my epson 1400. Not sure what the PPD settings are.
Sorry for sounding ignorant about this topic. I have never really been trained in design work. I learned how to use Illustrator just so I could make some sharper designs for my screens, but only learned enough to get by so far.
I have a lot to learn still.

I have a pdf printer. I'm trying out PDFtypewriter at the moment.

 

[professaurus]

try printing to PDFtypewriter instead and you might get get the option to print separations

 

[Greatzky]

ok cool. that lets me do seperations.. I have an image that has 2 colors on top with an underbase underneath. For some reason it will print 3 pages, but the page with the underbase will print just the registration marks. does this have something to do with overprint features???