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PRESSTIME-How do I convert a Photoshop 7 file to an Illustrator 10 file
I built a logo and brochure in photoshop 7. The client does not like the CYMK blue and red. The printer wants me to build everything in Illustrator so he can run the job in 4 color process and two spot colors. Because the brochure contains pictures it is a 4 color job. Without redoing everything in Illustrator is there a way to convert my photoshop file to an Illustrator file? Apparently Photoshop does no work well with spot colors or pantones. Thanks in advance,
Camogr3 -
1 Reply
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If you save the file out as a PDF or EPS, you can try opening it into Illustator, and anything that’s type or vector, you can able to color with the correct spot colors in Illustrator – it can be a little tricky because of the way Photoshop handles fills in EPS files. Instead of a simple shape filled with color, it sends raster data (like a Photoshop layer) and uses the shape as a clipping mask. So there will be a lot of extra junk in the file you’ll have to get rid of.
Also if there’s any raster data (photographic elements, glows, drop shadows, etc), you won’t be able to color those items in Illustrator.
Might be easier to stay in Photoshop can work with Spot and Pantone colors, but it’s a fairly complex process to get the files set up properly if you’ve never done it before (you have to make the file Multi-Channel, then get all the information you want printed in Red more or less pasted into one channel, and all the information you want printed in Blue pasted into the other channel). It’s kind of a pain in the butt.
That being said, one trick that production artists use for 2-color Photoshop jobs is to set the file up as CMYK, then only use 2 of the channels. Use Cyan for anything you want to be Spot Blue, and Magenta for anything you want to be spot red. Make sure the Yellow and Black channels are empty. Then instruct your printer to use your specific spot blue in place of Cyan and your red in place of Magenta.
Ultimately, a channel or separation is just a greyscale image – there’s no color data tied into it. It’s up to the pressman to use the ink specified. So this method is fine as long as you communicate with your print shop, and show swatches to your client so they’re not confused.
Last option – if it’s crunch time, find out how much your print shop’s prepress dept will charge you to set the job up as 2-color.
– Kim
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