Overprinting Colors

Overprinting is a technique that allows you to set the color of one object to mix with any colors underneath. For instance, without overprinting, a yellow object placed over a blue background knocks out the blue and prints as yellow. But with overprinting turned on, the yellow object mixes with the blue background to create green.

To set a fill or stroke to overprint:

1.	Select the object.
2.	If the Attributes palette is not visible, choose Window > Attributes to open the palette . Use the Attributes palette to set an object to overprint. or If the Attributes palette is behind other palettes, click the Attributes palette tab.
3.	Check Overprint Fill to set the object's fill color to overprint.
4.	Check Overprint Stroke to set the object's stroke color to overprint.
5.	Check Overprint Gap to set the color of the gap applied to stroke effects to overprint (see page 157 for how to apply a gap color to strokes). Tip Check Nonprinting in the Attributes palette to set an object not to print. This is helpful if you want to add comments for production use that aren't meant to be seen in the finished piece.

In the past, the only way to see the effects of setting an object to overprint was to wait until the object was separated and printed by a commercial printer. InDesign lets you see a simulation of overprinting onscreen.

To turn on the overprint preview:

• Choose View > Overprint Preview. InDesign shows the effects of those colors set to overprint .
  
  

  Turn on the Overprint Preview command to see the effects of overprinting onscreen.