MetalFX has become very popular over the last few years and is now burnishing magazine covers, samples, and ads everywhere. MetalFX Technology, a company based in the United Kingdom, created the system that incorporates MetalFX colour palettes, a swatch book, and software plug–ins for Photoshop, Illustrator, Artpro, InDesign, Freehand, and QuarkXPress.
MetalFX has created Custom Photoshop actions to automatically add metallic silver to your masked images. The system also uses ink mixing available in Quark and InDesign as well as manual overprinting for vector artwork.
With the MetalFX system, you may add drama to images, create documents with hundreds of different metallic colours, and incorporate special effects. MetalFX Technology also has three SpecialFX available: LiteFX, HoloFX, and SecurityFX. The effects are created by knocking out metallic ink and using different tints of metallic ink.
1. It is important to combine light clean colours with metallic for best results. Bright red in a document is best left alone, the silver base won’t do it any favours. As such, you will notice that the swatch book doesn’t contain any bright red swatches. So rule number one for designing with MetalFX is to check the swatch book for the colour you want. If your desired colour is not there, run that colour without the metallic ink behind it.
2. The second rule of MetalFX is to remember that white space enhances the silver effect. High quality white paper reflects light, which allows the metallic to pick up the light. In contrast, dark or black backgrounds will absorb light, thus dulling the metallic effect of your piece.
3. Rule number three is to create your design in either InDesign or Quark with placed Illustrator and Photoshop files. MetalFX Photoshop files can be saved as PSD files for InDesign CS2 and Quark 7 or DCS 2.0 EPS files for earlier versions of InDesign and Quark.
When dealing with DCS 2.0 files from Photoshop, they must not be placed in an Illustrator file. The CS2 version of Illustrator will give you a warning if you attempt to place a DCS 2.0 file, but earlier versions of Illustrator will not, and you will likely finish with a low resolution image in your final product.
A simulated preview of your work can be achieved by using the Overprint Preview in Illustrator or the layers options in Photoshop, though these tools should only be used for initial proofing of items. I recommend creating a High Resolution PDF of the complete document and viewing overprints and separations from within Acrobat. Use the Output Preview palette under Print Production in the Tools menu.
4. The fourth rule for working with MetalFX is to always check your file in Acrobat. You can turn your MetalFX base separation on and off to see its effects. Check that there are no other spot colours in your PDF, only C, M, Y, K and MetalFX base. And zoom in on your document to ensure that your images are high resolution.
5. And finally, rule number five: Print separations to your laser printer. Using MetalFX is a process and spot colour job and if you have used any transparency, drop shadows, or opacity in Quark or InDesign, printing to your laser printer will reveal it. Pay special attention to your MetalFX base plate; if transparency is going to disfigure your spot colour it will do so by separating some of your metallic on to the Black plate instead. (Such separation won’t destroy the job, but it will ruin the effects you desire.)
Following the above five rules should make for a successful MetalFX project and will prepare you to work with MetalFX System 2 Gold, which is currently in beta testing. System 2 Gold is to be used as a 5 colour or 6 colour including Silver.
To find printers licensed to print MetalFX, check the advertisements in this issue, or visit www.metal-fx.com for more information.
MetalFX, LiteFX, HoloFX and SecurityFX are all registered trademarks of MetalFX Technologies.
Andrea Mahoney TriBay Enterprise
T: 416.729.9687
E: andrea@autoflowforprepress.ca
www.tribay.ca
