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This article is from January 23, 2002, and is no longer current.

QuarkXPress How-To: Importing Spot Colors with Adobe Photoshop Images

When you import EPS vector graphics from Adobe Illustrator into QuarkXPress, any spot colors used to colorize the art are automatically imported into the document’s Colors palette. It’s not quite as easy to import spot colors from link Photoshop into QuarkXPress, but it can be done.

Using the Photoshop image shown in Figure 1 as an example, we’ll first show you how to select the spot colors you’ll use to color your own Photoshop image. Next, we’ll show you how to create a new spot channel for each spot color you’ll use, which you need to do before you can use them to color your image. Then, we’ll show you how to color your image with the spot colors you’ve selected. Finally, we’ll show you how to save your image so that the spot colors import into QuarkXPress along with the image.

Figure 1: In this article, we’ll show you how we were able to import this Photoshop image and the two spot colors used to color it into QuarkXPress.

Picking Spot Colors in Photoshop
First, open the Photoshop image you’ll color with spot colors and make sure it’s in CMYK Color mode. Next, you’ll add the spot colors you’ll use to colorize the image to the Swatches palette.

To add spot colors to the Swatches palette, choose New Color from the Swatches palette’s pop-up menu. Click on the color box in the resulting dialog box. Next, click the Custom button to open the Custom Colors dialog box. Choose a color library from the Book pop-up menu and select a spot color, as shown in Figure 2. Make note of the spot color’s exact name and then click OK. Finally, name the swatch with the exact name you just noted and then click OK. Create any other spot colors you’d like using the same process.

Figure 2: Select the spot colors you’ll use to color your image from the various color libraries.

Note: Make sure to select spot colors from a color library that QuarkXPress also features. Otherwise, the spot colors you choose in Photoshop won’t import properly into QuarkXPress.

Creating New Spot Channels
Before you color your image, you need to add a new spot channel for each spot color you just added to the Swatches palette. To do so, choose New Spot Channel from the Channels palette’s pop-up menu and click on the Color box in the Ink Characteristics area of the New Spot Channel dialog box, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Create a new spot channel for each spot color you’ll use to color your image.

In the resulting dialog box, click the Custom button to open the Custom Colors dialog box again. Next, choose the appropriate color library from the Book pop-up menu and locate and select the same spot color you just added to your Swatches palette.

Once you’ve done this, click OK. The appropriate name for the spot color is automatically entered in the Name text box in the New Spot Channel dialog box. If you like, you can specify a different ink density by entering a numeric value in the Solidity text box. Then, click OK.

Create a new spot channel this way for each spot color you intend to use on your image. The Channels palette lists the spot channels you create for your spot colors, along with the standard process color channels, as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4: The spot channels you create are added to the Channels palette with the standard process color channels.

Color Your Image
With the spot colors added to the Swatches palette and the new spot channels added to the Channels palette, now you can colorize your image. First, select the appropriate spot channel in the Channels palette and spot color in the Swatches palette. Then, begin to color your image using the various tools Photoshop provides.

Since this is similar to masking a selection, you’ll notice that the foreground color looks gray in the upper color selection box in the Toolbox. However, the color will display properly onscreen and also print correctly.

Save Your Image
Once you’re finished coloring your image, choose File > Save As. Save your image in the resulting dialog box as a Photoshop DCS 2.0 (*.EPS) file. Make sure the Spot Colors check box remains selected in the Save As dialog box. Then, click OK and close the file.

Placing the Image and Spot Colors
Now, open your QuarkXPress document and use the Get Picture command in the File menu to place your image in a picture box. Once the image imports into your document, the spot colors you assigned to spot channels also automatically import into the Colors palette, as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5: All it takes are spot channels and the right file format to import spot colors from Photoshop to QuarkXPress.

To Make a Long Story Short…
We can’t explain why it’s more complicated to import spot colors into QuarkXPress from Photoshop than it is to do from Illustrator. It does seem like a lot of extra work to achieve the same thing. But at least you now know how to ensure all the colors in your Photoshop images import into your QuarkXPress documents.


This story is taken from “Inside QuarkXPress” (Element K Journals).

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