“Did You Know?” – Tip and Tricks for Prinect Users. Topic 2: Coating Editor

This new series of blogs will educate new and veteran users alike on various features of Prinect they may already have access to but didn’t know about and how these features can streamline and maximize the efficiency throughout their print shops. In case you missed the first topic, we covered Hot Folders.

In the second of our “Did You Know” Series for Prinect Users, I will focus on one of the features within Prinect PDF Toolbox, the Coating Editor. What is unique about Coating Editor versus some of the other topics we will cover is that it can be used independently on any PDF file, even outside of the workflow. Additionally, it can be applied automatically during page processing within the workflow.

Coating Editor allows you to create a new coating separation after a designer has already completed a file, and when the PDF is being prepared for printing. You can add coating just to the pages that need it, and it is especially helpful if you need multiple pages coated the same way. Any separation created by Coating Editor can be changed or removed at any time, which makes this tool very flexible to use.

The Coating Editor can be accessed two different ways. The most automated way is in the “Prepare Sequence” with Prinect Prepress Manager.

The Coating Editor is also available as a plug-in for Adobe Acrobat

The Coating Editor, however, isn’t just good for applying flood coats to pages. It is also very easy to create unique, custom effects by using Color Selection. For example, if I set the beginning of my Color Selection to exclude everything below 25%, I get a very interesting coating effect as you can see on the right. (The varnish will only appear green on screen so it can be seen.)

Coating Editor can also be used when applying spot or extended gamut colors to specific parts of your print as well. In the example below, I am printing on clear substrate, and I need white ink behind everything except the background. By setting the Color Selector to 1%, I exclude the background. (The white ink appears in blue on the screen only).

It is also possible to use Coating Editor to create a second hit or bump of color by using Color Selection to isolate a single color you want to bump. You can even use the tool to choke the coating or ink back as shown in the example below.

Coating Editor allows you to quickly create effects that can be very tedious and difficult to produce when done manually. It is just one of many great tools within Prinect PDF Toolbox. I will focus on more features in upcoming blogs.

Click here to see our Prinect “Did You Know” blog on Hotfolders!

Click here to see our Prinect “Did You Know” blog on Creep!

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