Ink Trapping, help.

[surrender]

I usually trap my stuff with what ends up being a really dark color over a really light one... since i usually work with 2 color designs- its easy and i usually dont have to worry about the bottom ink showing through.

since i dont print though...im having trouble sepping something now. if my base color was a Process Cyan... and i covered it with PMS 675 (with the CYAN having about a 2-3pt stroke under it) how much would the Cyan show through, if at all? think it would be really noticeable?

[Shad]

It might pop harder than Amy Winehouse or be covered up like Amy Winehouse in a blanket.

[loco]

Sometime I will print dark to light. I did this with the PJ Harvey artprint I did.
It was 4 different shades of blue. I printed a soild square first then printed
each color on top of the next color



-loco

[bdix]

Pantone 675 looks to require a good amount of transparent base, so I think the trap lines will be noticeable.

Your best bet is to make some color swatch tests. I'd print two cyan swatches, and two 675 swatches. On one I'd print the 675 swatch off to the side and slightly overlapping the Cyan (to more or less represent what the trap will look like).

On the other swatch I'd print the 675 directly over the other Cyan swatch. This will give you a good representation of direct overprinting. If the resulting color doesn't shift too much from the original 675, overprinting may be an option.

If the overprint doesn't work and you have to go with a standard trapping method (and the trap line will be obvious), here's one trick I've done in the past. Let's say you decide to use a 3pt trap... take the last 1pt-1.5pt of the 3pt trap then feather and delete the edges. Apply the highest LPI halftone you can hold (and print) to that feathered edge. As long as you're good at maintaining decent registration, the trap line will be way less noticeable as before.

[Andymac]

mr tricky bdixy.

[surrender]

Is there any kind of semi-accurate way to see what layering would look like digitally in AI. how far-off is using Multiply on the 2nd layer?

Unfortunately im still not printing at home...so id like to have a good sense of what to expect before i send the files off.

[loco]

you get the colors you have as PMS colors and place one on top of the other and then select the Transparent tool and make the color 50% (example)
It's not the best way but at least you wil have kind of an idea



-loco

[bdix]

A quick comp using spot channels in PS. Looking at Pantone 675 being pretty much 50% Rubine Red and 50% Transparent White, I gave it a Solidity of only 75%. It could be as transparent as 50% Solidity.

From top to bottom: Overprint, Trap, Trap with feathered edge

[loco]

Badass Bobby

I never thought about feathering and edge. Makes sense

-loco

[andydiesel]

whats the feathered edge look like without the overprinted color?