Adobe ACROBAT 3D Manual page 621

Previewing color separations
You can preview separation plates and ink coverage to ensure that the printed piece meets
your requirements. Total Area Coverage specifies the total percentage of all inks used. For
example, 280 means 280% ink coverage, which could be accomplished with 60C, 60M,
60Y, and 100K. Too much ink can saturate paper and cause drying problems or change
the expected color characteristics of the document. Ask your prepress service provider for
the maximum ink coverage of the press you will be printing on. You can then preview the
document to identify areas where total ink coverage exceeds the press's limit.
Although previewing separations on your monitor can help you detect problems without
the expense of printing separations, it does not let you preview trapping, emulsion options,
printer marks, and halftone screens and resolution. Those settings are best verified with
your prepress service provider using integral or overlay proofs.
Note: Objects on hidden layers are not included in an on-screen preview.
To preview one or more separation plates:
1. In the Output Preview dialog box, choose Separations from the Preview menu.
2. Do any of the following:
To view one or more separations, select the empty box to the left of each separation name.
Each separation appears in its assigned color.
To hide one or more separations, deselect the box to the left of each separation name.
To view all process or spot plates at once, select Process Plates or Spot Plates.
Note: A single process or spot plate appear as a black plate.
To check ink coverage for a specific area:
1. In the Output Preview dialog box, choose Separations from the Preview menu.
2. In the document window, use the pointer to hover over that area in the document window.
Ink coverage percentages appear in the ink list of the Output Preview dialog box next to
each ink name.
You can adjust ink coverage by converting some spot colors to process colors. (See
About separating spot colors as process.)