[Kim Mackenzie]

Oops, duh 🙂

The way I described will more or less work in Photoshop, too.

Make the layer mask active.

Select the Rectangle Shape tool

In the options bar, be sure the Paths button is pushed in, instead of the Shape Layers button (2nd from the left – looks like a rectangular path and a pen). Otherwise, the next step will create a new layer, instead of adding a path to the existing vector mask.

Also in the options bar, make sure Exclude Overlapping Path Areas button is active (the button all the way on the right)

Draw a path that extends to the edges of your document.

That should invert what is hidden/revealed.

k

[Kim Mackenzie]

You need to create a “doughnut”-esque shape that corresponds to the area you want masked–Pathfinder will do it.

Create a shape that reaches to the outer bounds of the area you want to show (the bounds of your document?).

Then create a second shape which corresponds to the section in the middle that you want hidden (I guess that would be the shape you originally made, that you wanted to “inverse”).

Select these two shapes, bring up the Pathfinder palette and hit the button for “Exclude Overlapping Shape Areas” (top right button).

Select your newly pathfinded shape, and the thing(s) you want masked and go to Object>Clipping Mask > Make.

Let me know if you need clarification or it doesn’t work.

[Kim Mackenzie]

You need to create a “doughnut”-esque shape that corresponds to the area you want masked–Pathfinder will do it.

Create a shape that reaches to the outer bounds of the area you want to show (the bounds of your document?).

Then create a second shape which corresponds to the section in the middle that you want hidden (I guess that would be the shape you originally made, that you wanted to “inverse”).

Select these two shapes, bring up the Pathfinder palette and hit the button for “Exclude Overlapping Shape Areas” (top right button).

Select your newly pathfinded shape, and the thing(s) you want masked and go to Object>Clipping Mask > Make.

Let me know if you need clarification or it doesn’t work.

[Kim Mackenzie]

A standard rich black setting is 40/30/30/100. 40% Cyan, 30% Magenta, 30% Yellow, and 100% black. This produces a “cool” rich black, as it’s heavier on the cyan. I’ve heard of people using 40% for the magenta instead, to produce a “warm” rich black, but I always use the first formula above.

Note that rich blacks are used for large areas of color, but shouldn’t be used for small type and thin strokes.

Here’s a good article that explains it further:

https://designorati.com/dtp/graphics-and-pre-press-4/2006/some-blacks-are-blacker-than-others/

[Kim Mackenzie]

You’ll want to create a mask with a gradient applied – if you search in the help under Opacity Mask, you should find what you need.

[Kim Mackenzie]

In Photoshop, set the top layer’s blending mode to Multiply in the Layers palette.

In Illustrator, select the top object, bring up the Transparency palette (Window > Transparency) and set the mode to Multiply.

[Kim Mackenzie]

You’re looking for File > Automate > Batch. Once your action is recorded, this is the way to apply it to an entire folder worth of files.

The settings will vary depending on your needs, but you’ll have to play with the desintion (i.e., save and close, or save to another folder). One thing that trips people up is the “Ignore Action Open” and “Ignore Save As” – basically, if your script includes opening the original file, you need to check “Ignore Action Open” – otherwise, the script will run on the same file over and over. If your script included you saving the file, check “Ignore Save As.” That way, if part of your script was to save as a different format, it will retail the format change part of teh action, but it won’t use the same filename over and over.

It’ll make more sense when you try it. I always back up my files first before running a big batch. If you get stuck, you can look in the help for Batch.

[Kim Mackenzie]

I’d take a look at it, but I get an FTP Error: user anonymous cannot log in.

[Kim Mackenzie]

[HAWLEYJ] “I notice my red actually shows up in both the Magenta and Yellow channels. Should I still just do the Magenta thing and tell them about it?

Red = magenta plus yellow, which is why you’re seeing the stuff on both channels. If your red was set up as 100% magenta plus 100% yellow (and shades thereof), then just deleting the data in the yellow channel (or telling the printer not to image that channel) will do you fine – anything that was 100% of your red will now be 100% magenta, etc. But it’d probably be better to actually make the objects the magenta – if, say, you had a shape that you expected to be 50% of the red, then set it to be 50% magenta instead. For raster or photographic layers, see below.

[HAWLEYJ]Also, how do I “redefine those items as 100% black instead.”??”

Bring up your color picker and manually type in 0% for Cyan, Magenta and Yellow and 100% for black. For vector or type layers, all you have to do is hit alt or option delete, and it will fill the shapes/text with 100% black.

For non vector layers, it’ll a little tricker – here’s a quick and dirty way (make a backup of your file first). Hide any of your red layers so you don’t mess them up, and hide the black vector or type layers. Merge the remaining layers together, so you have one layer with all your greyscale photographic stuff. Select all and copy merged.

Then make the Cyan channel active (either in the channels palette, or by hitting control-1 or command-1). Clear the channel by selecting all and deleting. Do the same thing on the Magenta and Yellow channels (Cntrl/Cmd 2 and Cntrl/Cmd 3). Switch to the black channel (Cntrl/Cmd 4). You’ll see your image, but it’s lost all the midtones, because those were being taken care of by the CMY channels which you deleted. Select all and paste – you just pasted the composite CMYK image into just the black channel. Go back to your composite view (Cntrl/Cmd tilda) and adjust the levels a bit to get it looking how you want it (usually you’ll want to boost the darks). Now your greyscale stuff is only in the black channel.

You can do the same thing with your red photographic layers – with only red layers showing (agan, hide the black layers, and hide any red vector or type layers – you can take care of those manually). Select all and copy merged. Then delete everything from the Cyan, Yellow, and Black channels. Switch to the magenta channel and paste.

Let me know if something doesn’t make sense. It’s a lot all at once….

[Kim Mackenzie]

The easiest thing to do at this point would be to set your job up in Photoshop in CMYK, but only use black and magenta channels – anywhere you’d use a “varying shade of red,” use a varying shade of magenta. Make sure the yellow and cyan channels are empty. Then when you send the files to the printer, tell them to use, e.g., PMS 185 for magenta and not to image the cyan and yellow plates.

All you really need are two separations, two channels. What those channels are called is irrelevent – it’s up to the press operator to put the right ink in the press. So as long as you communicate with your printer, all should be well. I’ve used this method for up to 4-color spot jobs in situations where the job was set up incorrectly as CMYK to begin with.

Your current black items are probably set up as a rich black – a mix of cyan, magenta, yellow and black, which is Photoshop’s default black when you’re in CMYK mode. So you’ll want to redefine those items as 100% black instead.

And by the way, there’s nothing wrong with converting your text to shapes.

Good luck!