Expert: Tom Rouze - 4/9/2006

Question
Hi Tom i am running Illustrator 9 on my mac G4
and after many rebuilds of this artwork to be printed I am very confused as to what the answer is, as the printing company keep telling me that my document is opening as a RGB file at there end even though I save it as CMYK and have built it with 100% pantones
So my question is
How do I set up a document in Illustrator 9 where I will be using pantones only for printing?
and is there a way to convert those to CMYK if need be? Hope you can help
Thanks Kel


Answer
Hi Kel,
Forgive me if I state the obvious but it's only because I'm not sure where you're starting from.
What version is the printing company opening the file in?  If it's a later version it's possible that could be the problem.  It sounds like a problem on the printing company side though.
If you are using the swatch library "PANTONE solid coated" or (matte, uncoated) there shouldn't be a conversion problem.  
The fact that you're specifying spot colors shouldn't be a problem for them.
Now as for converting spot to CMYK, here's where some people begin to have problems... Unfortunately in Illustrator 9 and some Illustrator 10 files just clicking on the process converter icon in your color window will not always give you the correct conversion.  A simple way to tell is all conversions from Pantone spot colors to CMYK are whole numbers without decimals.  If you have decimal in any of the values of CMYK then it was not a proper conversion.  Depending on what you're working on it may not be too much of a problem.  If you are working with small percentages of the CMYK colors then you will see a dramatic difference.  It seems that the problem was worked out at some point in AI 10.
The way to be sure of a conversion is to purchase a solid to process guide put out by Pantone.  It comes in very handy when you work with a lot of solid to process conversions.
Hope this helped.  If you have any other questions please let me know.

Thank you,

Tom