Learn how to manage color libraries in Adobe FrameMaker like crayon, DIC, Focoltone, Grays. Also, understand how to work with color definitions.
When you use a color matching system—a color library—you choose from colors defined by a color vendor. Commercial printers can precisely match the formula represented in a vendor swatch book.
Every color from a library is defined as either a spot color or a process color:
A spot color is printed on a printing press with premixed inks by using a single printing plate.
A process color is printed on a press by overlapping dots of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (CMYK) on separate plates.
Before choosing a color from a color library, ask your commercial printer for a list of supported libraries. For best results, choose colors from a swatch book, rather than relying on the onscreen representation of the color.
FrameMaker includes these libraries:
Adobe developed the Crayon library to provide access to common RGB colors using everyday names in alphabetical order. Do not use Crayon colors as spot colors.
The DIC Color Guide provides spot colors. It is used mostly in Japan.
The FOCOLTONE® Color System provides 860 process (CMYK) colors.
The Grays library, developed by Adobe, provides both process and spot shades of gray in 1% increments.
The Munsell System provides colors defined on the RGB model.
The Online color library provides 216 “web-safe” colors that have a consistent appearance on all platforms when viewed with a web browser.
The TOYO Color Finder provides over 1,000 colors based on the most common printing inks in Japan.
The TRUMATCH® 4-Color Selector provides over 2,000 process colors that cover the CMYK visible color spectrum in even steps.