CMYK/PMS gradients

[Frank_Anthonsen@adobeforums.com]

Hello folks!

I have a logo with gradients in it in Illustr. 10.0. The gradient is defined in a CMYK value. Is there an easy way to make this a spot-color gradient that prints correct..?

Thanks...

[jonf@adobeforums.com]

Are you asking if there's a way to get Illustrator to convert your cmyk color to the closest PMS match? I don't think so. But wait until the power users weigh in. To my knowledge the best you can do is open the Pantone swatch library and redefine the gradient by eye.

[Dee Holmes]

I have to agree with jonf. You can convert the other way easy enough (spot to cmyk) but not the other way around, as far as I know.

You would have to do it manually. Go to each gradient and (what I call swoosh the color in).

[Dave_Rioux@adobeforums.com]

If you have Photoshop there is a way to get close (it is near impossible to get perfect matches going from CMYK to PMS or vice versa). I have not been able to find the equivalent in Illustrator. So if you have PS, read on.

A side note of warning. If you have a CMYK gradient that is going down to white. Don't just assign the spot to the dark points, make sure the 'white' end of the gradient is filled with 0% of the spot color and not 0,0,0,0. Otherwise it will default the whole gradient to CMYK, instead of spot.

Double-click on the Foreground/Fill swatch at the bottom of your toolbar to open the Color Picker menu . Enter in the CMYK mix of your color (if it is not already there), Notice under the OK/Cancel buttons at top that there is the "Custom" selection (this button is missing in all Illustrator versions). Click that, and it will automatically take you to the closest Pantone or Spot match from a list of pull-down swatch libraries. Again, I have not found the equivalent, but it seems as though it would be easy enough to add into Illustrator as it already exists. If someone else knows otherwise I would love to know!

[Toby_Lischko@adobeforums.com]

I have tiff files that I would like to add to my swatches to use them in my designs. Is there a way to do this?

I have Illustrator 10.0 Mac version