May 17, 1998

Converting Colors to Pantone

Before FreeHand 4 (correct me if I'm wrong on this) you were able to create a custom color, then in the color editor, choose Pantone and it would select the closest Pantone equivalent. Well this nice feature was removed and it is now up to you to find the closest Pantone spot color. Well I've come up with a solution for Macintosh users below.

Version: 4 and above (Mac)

 
 


First you must get the PANTONE Color Picker extension from Apple. This is an add-on to the common Apple Color Picker. If your not sure if you have it or not, bring up the Apple Color Picker (via the Label Preferences for example) and check the list of Color models. If you see PANTONE as one of the Color models, then you have it. If not, then follow the below link to download, then install it.

Once you've installed it, you may need to restart your computer.

Once your in FreeHand™, and you want to find the Pantone color equivalent of one of your mixed colors, drop that color in to your Mixer palette. Next click on the little Apple button (FreeHand™ 8's interface shown). This will bring you in to the Apple Color Picker.

 

Once you are in the Apple Color Picker, scroll down until you see the PANTONE Color Model picker. Click on the PANTONE icon and it should automatically choose the closest Pantone color based on the type (Coated, Uncoated or Spot to Process) and the Monitor Profile you have. Remember this number and click Cancel or OK.

 

Back in FreeHand™, choose the Pantone model type (Coated, Uncoated, etc.) under the Options pulldown menu in the Color List palette. Here you type in the Pantone color number and it will jump to that color in the list. Click OK and voila, you now have the Pantone color equivalent in your color list.

Once you have the Pantone color, you can use FreeHand's Graphic Find and Replace method to change all color instances from the old color to the new imported color.

If there is a method to do this for the Windows platform, please notify me so I can add that to this tip page. Thanks.