Expert: Amy - 8/9/2007

Question
How do I indicate knockout shapes/text for Press output, or specifically for my current project to be printed on a CD Disc (silver).

Would i just apply a pure White Colour swatch for all the shapes/text to be knocked out? But wouldn't that appear White on coloured paper, or in this case, white on the silver disc surface?

Thank you so much Amy, you're always thorough and prompt with your explanations. :)

Answer
Hi Macrae,

Yes, in the normal press world, coloring objects 0%K in CMYK mode will make them knockout to nothing (as long as the fill is not set to overprint).

Unless your white is a spot color (look for a notch and dot in corner of swatch) that you've created, it will not print as a color - it will knock out. It will be seen as the absence of color.

White won't print white on colored paper because there is no such thing as white ink (when speaking about an inkjet type printer). But I know what you're getting at.

If you want to print white on a silver disc, you'd have to create a spot color like I described above, incidentally. Double click on the white swatch in the swatch window and change Process to Spot. There, now you've made a white spot color. Usually, the CD specs will mention what to do if your design requires white ink or a white underlayment. They may charge extra.

Back to the original question, I guess another way to knock out would be to create a compound path out of the knockout shape and the colored area it's being knocked out of.  The letter "O" is an example of a compound path.

Here's a real simple way to create a compound path.  Create a black-filled square. Now create a white-filled circle (or any color, really) on top of that square.

Select both and hit Ctrl+8 (or Object > Compound Path > Make.

Now you have to apply that simple concept to your design. Your artwork may be more complex than the letter "O" (I  hope) so sometimes it's quite a pain to have to do that.

I hope this helps!
Amy