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PMS Ink Number?

Last post 23 Oct 2007 by

carly

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meredith

Help!! What the hell is a PMS Ink Number?

I need to provide a printer with the correct PMS ink # for good color match on some business cards i am sending to print for my boss. I have never heard of PMS Ink, there is only one thing i know associated with PMS... and it is not INK! lol.

In the meantime i will be researching this.

Thank you in advance!

Reply 16 Oct 2007

meredith

Okay so..

PMS stands for Pantone Matching System.. Is there a way i can find this out on my own in photoshop.. or do i need to just eyeball it?

bleh.

Quote 16 Oct 2007

wickedmartin

I know there's a pantone library in illustrator; err... pantone palettes.. like a shitload of 'em.

so check there I'd say.
----
"Through the rise and fall of worlds one greater mind previals,
conjuring new creations as it watches the old ones fail."

Quote 16 Oct 2007

meredith

ooh. awesome, thanks martin :]

Quote 16 Oct 2007

carly

Awwh! This is a tricky one given that whatever you see on screen could be completely different! Though is true for CMYK and RGB anyway so....

If you are really unsure and worried about it, your printer should have PMS books that you can have a look at. I would really recommend doing that, taking note of the colours you want, then making the necessary changes in your file. Otherwise if it's not such a big deal then like Martin says, just pick and chose whatever you think looks okay from the swatch books in Illustrator. It is all depending on the stock you are printing on but you will generally want to pick from the "Pantone Solid ...." something something....I forget because I am typing drunk........ask me again in the morning ;)

Oh......pantone solid coated!! :D

Quote 16 Oct 2007

meredith

Haha. You type very well for being drunk.

& you both are life savers. Well not life savers, you just make me look really smart to my boss lol.

These are being printed in a different city than I am in, so i'm going to pick from the swatches in illustrator. I am going to have the printer make a few proofs from a couple different types of stock, so my boss can go look at them. If he is displeased, then i will just tell him to pick the color he wants from the printers PMS book.

Thanks Again!! I feel incredibly privileged and lucky to have such help at my fingertips :]

Quote 17 Oct 2007

carly

Oh yes yes...good idea. Tell your boss to pick the colour, this way it's his fault if it doesn't look right not yours :]
And make sure he understands the colours will look different on different stocks. Most people have difficulty accepting that..

Quote 17 Oct 2007

edhall

The PMS system is in Photoshop if you click on your color tool box thingy. You will get the usual color picker but to the right is a Color Libraries button. Select that and Photoshop will do the work for you and find the nearest matching color for the library you choose. And if you have a Pantone color if you switch back to the Picker Photoshop will give you the correct CMYK and RGB colors for that Pantone color.
----
Ed
i design things.

Quote 17 Oct 2007

meredith

Awesome, Thank you Ed, that is extremely helpful to me, I really appreciate it! :]

Quote 17 Oct 2007

noir

Keep in mind CMYK conversion will NOT hold true to the actual PMS in many cases. Reds and Blues are the toughest to come close to. In all honesty unless you have a really good reason to do a business card in Photoshop (and I can not think of one), use wither Illustrator or a lyout program like In Design or Quark. I worked in pre press for years and I used to say relaly nasty things about people who did biz cards in Photoshop as it presents color issues as well as font issues ;)

If you do the biz card in Photoshop make it at least 1200dpi (no I am not kidding) as many of your fonts will look anemic and a bit ragged due to the raster conversion.
----
** This space for rent **

Quote 18 Oct 2007

meredith

Thank Shelly & Carly Again, incredibly useful information! I appreciate you sharing your years of experience with me :]

This has answered a lot of questions i have had & problems i have run into in the past have now been made clear.

Quote 19 Oct 2007

visionsofthem

Make sure you load up the right swatch though there are so many swatch's depending on the substraight your printing on, the colour will change.
----
Imagination is more important than knowledge - Albert Einstein

Quote 20 Oct 2007

visionsofthem

Also use ICC profiles for your printer attach them to the finished artwork, accurate printing, they adjust the colours to be accurate for that printer set up, I have print press profiles too if you need them.
----
Imagination is more important than knowledge - Albert Einstein

Quote 20 Oct 2007

meredith

I hope every print job is not a total nightmare from hell like this one :(

Quote 23 Oct 2007

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