In this article, you will learn
- which prerequisites are required for this Fixup, and
- how to apply this Fixup.
1. Introduction
The Fixup Fill PageBox with Spot Color is available in the Workflow. The purpose of this Fixup is to fill the content of the ImageBox or ImageBox + Bleed with an overprinting Spot Color.
2. General
Use the Fixup Fill PageBox with Spot Color to create an overprinting Spot Color channel in the size of the selected PageBox ImageBox or ImageBox + Bleed.
Use this Fixup for the following purposes:
- Filling a Print Item with a white background color in the size of the ImageBox, if the Print Item should be printed in full luminosity on a transparent Substrate.
- Providing the Print Item with a Primer Channel in the Size of the ImageBox or ImageBox + Bleed in the desired Tonal Value.
- Applying Varnish to the entire Print Item in the desired Tonal Value.
You can find this Fixup on the tab Data Preparation of an Article, Order or Production Job by:
- entering the name of the Fixup in the area Filter,
- selecting the option Color in the area Category,
- selecting the option Add in the area Action,
- selecting the option White, TrimBox, BleedBox, ArtBox, or ImageBox + Bleed in the area Property.
3. Description
This Fixup fills the contents of a selected PageBox with an overprinting Spot Color that is output as a separate separation. The Offset can be used to increase or decrease the size of the separation. The Tonal Value can also be defined.
3.1. Prerequisites and Functionality
For the Fixup to perform as intended, no specific context is needed.
Figure 1: The tabs Basic Settings and Advanced in the dialog Fill PageBox with Spot Color
To fill a PageBox with a Spot Color, the user can refer to the following options:
- Templates [1] – settings selected in the dialog can be saved as a template and applied to other Articles/Print Items, as well as used within Fixup Chains and in the Operations Apply Fixups and Check Print Item and Apply Fixups.
Basic Settings
- PageBox [2] – select the PageBox that should be filled with the Spot Color in the drop-down menu. The following options are available:
- ImageBox – the PageBox on which the ImageBox is placed will be filled with the selected Spot Color.
- ImageBox + Bleed – the PageBox on which the ImageBox is placed and the expected Bleed will be filled with the selected Spot Color.
- Fill Color [3] – use the dropdown menu to select the desired Spot Color to fill the respective box. All system-wide defined Spot Colors that are marked for output as a separation are available for selection.
- Offset [4] – enter the desired offset of the Spot Color to be filled here. + values increase the separation, - values reduce the separation. For Variable Content [6], select the desired placeholder – Database Field or User-defined Field – from which the value for the offset should be retrieved.
- Tonal Value [5] – define the tonal value of the fill color by adjusting the slider or entering the percentage values.
ImageBox and Bleed
Make sure that the ImageBox is aligned with the desired PageBox to avoid unintended results. The Expected Bleed is also applied to the Bleed. Therefore, verify that the expected Bleed matches the actual Bleed.
Advanced
- Layer Name [7] – enter the name of the layer on which the Spot Color separation should be created. If no separate layer should be created, remove the name from the input field. For Variable Content [9], select the desired placeholder – Database Field or User-defined Field – from which the value for the layer name should be retrieved.
- Conformity of Processing Steps according to ISO 19593-1 [8] – a white separation should be created by default according to ISO 19593-1 on the layer White in the group White of the type White. For more information on the ISO standard, refer to the description Processing Steps ISO 15931-1.
3.2. Before/After
To experiment with this function, refer to the example file "Sample_Fill PageBox with Spot Color.pdf". The file size is 100 x 100 mm. The ImageBox was placed on the TrimBox.
After applying Fixup, the file "Sample_Fill PageBox with Spot Color_End.pdf" is created. A white Overprint Separation was created for the page content of the ImageBox. The values from Figure 1 were used for this.
Figure 2: Left: Original file; Right: Edited file in which a white separation has been created for the ImageBox
Article update: Workflow 1.20.1 – 04/2025