Back to General Enhancements

Spot Color Catalog

Starting in version 12.7.1, the INI supports definition of lists of a color values to allow the user to select from a predetermined catalog. If you provide these definitions in the shared INI for a workspace, then all users will have the ability to pick from the defined lists when defining spot colors.

  • <SpotColorCatalogs>
  • Catalog = Name of Catalog

Multiple catalog names may be defined under the SpotColorCatalogs group. Each catalog name will point to the list of color values to be shown in that catalog grouping.

The name of your color catalog may be any descriptive word or text up to 64 characters in length.

Example defining multiple catalogs:

  • <SpotColorCatalogs>
  • Catalog = Special Colors
  • Catalog = New Colors
  • Catalog = Odd Colors

For each Catalog= defined under the SpotColorCatalogs grouping will be combined with a “Catalog:” prefix to locate the associated colors list.

A color definition begins with a descriptive name - up to 64 characters - on the left side of the equal sign. The right side must define 4 color combinations: CIELab, CIEXYZ, CMYK, and RGB.

CIELab and CIEXYZ color definitions allow for fractional numbers. In the INI definition you multiplied these values by 100. For example, if the color is defined as (85.44, 25.11, -2.78), then the INI definition for this color should be designated as (8544, 2511, -278).

CMYK color definitions are normally represented as percentages between 0 to 100. These values should also be multiplied by 100 for the CMYK color. For example, if the CYMK color is (78, 11, 22, 55), then the INI definition for this color should be designated as (7800, 1100, 2200, 5500).

RGB colors are represented with value between 0 and 255 and are to be designated as such.

Each color combination needs to be defined within parenthesis and a comma between each value and color combination.

Example color catalogs

Examples of color catalogs definition using the names defined above.

  • <SpotColorCatalogs>
  • Catalog = Special Colors
  • Catalog = New Colors
  • Catalog = Odd Colors
  • <Catalog:Special Colors>
  • one = (7436,2461,574),(5477,4727,3485),(0,3800,2300,0),(225,166,173)
  • two = (5980,3214,-2867),(3565,2791,4175),(3300,5500,0,0),(178,123,196)
  • <Catalog:New Colors>
  • XYZ = (4688,-6912,3198),(635,1593,461),(10000,100,10000,700),(0,137,47)
  • ABC = (3022,3218,1375),(956,633,296),(2400,8400,6400,4900),(116,46,52)
  • <Catalog:Odd Colors>
  • A Color B = (1881,1161,-2412),(326,270,614),(9200,9200,1600,5200),(47,41,81)
  • C Color D = (7980,-3780,-318),4071,5632,4922),(5300,0,3300,0),(105,219,200)
  • E Color F = (5968,-5459,5041),(1546,2777,530),(6900,0,10000,0),(31,168,36)

The Catalog names will appear in the Spot Color definition dialog.

Selecting the Color catalog in Studio

Once the user selects a color catalog, the name list will fill with the available choices.

Selecting the Color name in Studio