Expert: Kevin Stohlmeyer - 12/10/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hello, I need to know how to get my hp Laserjet printer to print the color separations for process graphics. I'm choosing the correct options when the printer preferences dialog box shows up when I'm ready to print, and all 4 pages come out, but they come out in black. I need them to print in their respective colors: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black... and if I have spot colors, I need to be able to print those off too but they come out in black as well. I work from a PC using Windows XP and I work from Illustrator CS4. Is this a PC issue as to why I can't print this properly? Or is there something in Illustrator that I need to adjust? Please help!

ANSWER: Hi Michelle,

The option you are asking for is not possible unless you make this manually. Separations always print in black. It has nothing to do with the printer or software and it is not an error. There is nothing to adjust. If you want your Cyan plate to come out cyan, you will have to create a piece of artwork , color it cyan and print the individual piece of art by itself without separations. This is a very unique request.

Thanks

Kevin


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I don't understand why this would be a unique request? It is one of the options when you go to print a documant in Illustrator in the "output" tab. I would assume Adobe put it there for a reason?

I don't understand why it would have those specific options (to print each separation) and then print them all black when they specify a color. Is there nobody that knows the answer to this?

Please help!  

Answer
Hi Michelle,

Obviously you have never printed commercially before otherwise this would make sense. So let me try to break this down for you...

What is unique about it is that you want your separations in color. It is not physically possible in any application. It is not an error. This function only prints in black. It was never designed to print in color and there is no way around this unless you make the images yourself.

Separations are part of a workflow for commercial printing. Separations are designed to print out as black pages because when they are output it is normally to check alignment, density, and other settings and then it is either printed to film or direct to plate. There is no need for color on the separations, plus it would be impossible to check light yellows, etc. if it were to do this. Printers then use these separations on a printing press to apply the different colors onto paper using inks. But the plates, separations, and everything related outputs as black.

What you are seeing when this outputs is a black representation of that color. The output panel allows you to choose which colors you wish to output, it has nothing to do with the color of the resulting print. So if I wanted to check the yellow and make sure it was knocking out the black beneath it, I would choose yellow and black outputs and uncheck magenta and cyan.

There is no one else that has an answer to this because this is not a problem.

In order to achieve what you are asking, you would need to recreate the separate colors in color and print them one image at a time in color, not using separations. For example if you want a cyan box to print cyan, you would have to create it as cyan and print it on its own page.

I hope this helps, but really its not an issue. Its just something you want it to do that it never will.

Thanks

Kevin