How to create a Cut Contour in Adobe Illustrator?

Contour filling involves using vector contours in an EPS/PDF file to create special color separations, such as white, varnish, or metallic finishes. This process requires the preparation of the contours in a vector application like Adobe Illustrator, similar to contour cutting workflows.

Although contour filling has limitations, such as fixed color density within the contours, it can be a simpler alternative to creating spot colors. This tutorial will guide you through the steps to create effective contour fillings, ensuring your designs are optimized for high-quality printing.

About fill and stroke in Illustrator

Before creating a contour filling, it is essential to differentiate between fill and stroke:

• Fill: The interior color or pattern of a shape. It occupies the space within the boundaries of the object.
• Stroke: The outline or border of a shape. It defines the shape's perimeter and can vary in width and color.

Step 1: Prepare the file

The information in this chapter can also be consulted directly on Adobe's official documentation.

1. Open Your File: Launch Adobe Illustrator and open your document. If you do not have an existing file, create a new document as you would for a standard print job.
2. Create a Vector Object: Draw a vector shape (e.g., a square or Bezier curve) and set the following attributes:
   
   
   • Fill: Disabled.
   • Stroke: Use a spot color named "WhiteContour" (or any name starting with "WhiteContour", see next point) with a weight of at least 0.1 points to prevent double cuts, and set the opacity to 100%. It is also recommended to avoid special effects on the stroke and to center it if you are using Illustrator.
     
     • Create the Spot Color: To create the spot color, select a predefined color swatch, double-click it, and change its name to "WhiteContour," setting its type to Spot Color, or create one from scratch. Learn more.
       

         Warning

       Choose CMYK values that are not used by any other vector elements in the file, as Caldera software relies on exact CMYK values to detect contours during printing accurately.

Considerations

• This process is not limited to white ink; it also applies to other special inks such as fluorescent, primer, varnish, gloss, transparent, silver, and metallic. In these cases, you only have to name the contours accordingly.
• The "[Color]Contour" convention helps avoid confusion with standard spot colors and ensures compatibility with Caldera software.
• You can create multiple "[Color]Contour" strokes, but they will be treated as a single set for filling purposes.
• For filling using a hole (e.g., a thick ring), create a vector object with two paths, group them, and use the "Exclude overlapping shape areas" option in the Pathfinder palette. Learn more.
• Convert any text to vectors by selecting the text block, right-clicking, and choosing "Create Outlines". Then, apply the stroke attributes as described above. Learn more.
• Do not apply the "Overprint" attribute to the contours.

Step 2: Export the File

1. Once your design is complete, you have the following options:
   
   • Save as Illustrator EPS: Go to File > Save As... and choose the EPS format.
   • Export as Illustrator PDF: Go to File > Export > Export As... and choose the PDF format.

Step 3: Import the file to CalderaRIP

1. Open CalderaRIP.
2. Open the FileManager and select your file. A new option box will appear, listing all detected spot colors. Your "WhiteContour" spot color should be listed, but remain unchecked to avoid printing the contours:
   
3. Click the Open button to add the file to the ImageBar.
4. (Optional) If you need to check your file promptly, drag it to the Info module and verify the content under the Spot color and Contours tabs.

 About multi-page PDF files

Recent versions of CalderaRIP enable the processing of multi-page PDF files with different cut contours for each page. This improvement allows for greater flexibility compared to older versions, which required uniform cut contours, streamlining the management of complex print jobs, and ensuring precise cutting for each design.

CalderaRIP V15.1 or later CalderaRIP V15 or before

You can submit multi-page PDF files with different cut contours on each page:

Cut contours with different shapes and the same names	Cut contours with different shapes and different names

 

Thus, you can regroup different projects into one PDF file.

You can submit multi-page PDF files with the same cut contour on each page:

Cut contours with the same shape and name

 

When the cut contours are different on each page, you have to print each page separately or create a Compose document.

Multi-page PDF file limitations

• It is not possible to print a multi-page PDF when the pages have different formats. You can find a workaround here.

    Info

  Activating cropping areas in the FileMan module, Setup window, then RIP parameters tab, can give you the same issue, as it may generate different page formats depending on the data, so:

  • You should not crop pages by using the PDF box if the PDF boxes don't have the same format. Avoid the Use PDF box feature set up to Crop. We recommend setting it up to Media.
  • Do not enable Automatic cropping of the ink area if the ink areas have different sizes.
• It is not possible to apply a ContourNesting to a multi-page PDF that includes different cut contours.

Step 4: Print the file with CalderaRIP

1. Drop the imported file into the Print module of your printer.
2. Open the Page Setup window:
   
3. Navigate to the White tab and enable separation.
4. If the file was imported into CalderaRIP successfully, the software will automatically select the appropriate special ink separation method (“Fill a contour”). If this is not the case, or if the method is different, make the necessary changes or check that your contour is in the Available sources.
5. Specify the density for filling the contours (between 0% and 100%) and proceed to Print.

     Info

   It is advisable to keep the "Do not print the contour" option activated, except for testing purposes. Also, please note that you can only specify a global density for all the contours. If this does not fit your production requirements, you must prepare your file following these steps.

Troubleshooting

If the contours do not appear in the software, there may be a file import issue. Try the following:

• Ensure the "Extract all named contours" option is selected in FileMan > Setup.
• If contours are still not detected, select "Extract all contours" and reload the file.
• If contours appear with cryptic names, such as C000M100Y100K000,  it indicates that the "WhiteContour" (for example) was set as a Process color instead of a Spot color.
• If issues persist, revisit the stroke attributes in Adobe Illustrator or contact Caldera support for assistance.