Using Pantone/spot colors and TikZ together

Question

This question led to a new package:
xspotcolor

I came to the end of writing book in LaTeX. Thanks to this great community I have succeeded to apply designer's wishes into document and I thought that my work is finally over. However I just came across the last difficult barrier:

The printer company requires that Pantone/spot colours are used in the final PDF document.

EDIT: to clarify written above: PDF file should point to black and one Pantone/spot colour and not point to black and one CMYK colour (to save printing costs, book was designed in two colors).

I know which Pantone colour to use, I just don't know how to apply it. There was discussion on the thread Is it possible to use spot colors in TikZ graphics?, which concluded that tikz and spotcolor cannot be used together.

I would like to ask you, if there is any other way / package that allows this problem to be solved. This is potentially great hurdle, as many printer companies work only with Pantone/spot colours.

Could you point out why your question isn’t a duplicate of the question you linked?! — Tobi, Oct 29 '13 at 09:30
@Tobi The linked question asks "Is it possible?" to which the accepted answer was "Probably." but without giving any details on implementation. Pygmalion actually wants to do this so I advised opening a follow-up question. — Andrew Stacey, Oct 29 '13 at 09:49
If you only need two colors (black and one spot) wouldn’t it be possible to use one of the CMY colors as spot color. I guess cyan+black could be converted to black+spot, couldn’t it? — Tobi, Oct 29 '13 at 10:28
@Tobi No, that is exactly the point. If you give PDF to printing machine and PDF uses two colours CMYK=0,0,0,0 and CMYK=1,0.7,0.5,0, then machine makes color print using C M Y and K colors. However, if PDF uses K and Patone 3035 colour, then machine makes two colour print. — Pygmalion, Oct 29 '13 at 11:08
@Pygmalion: I know that (1,0.7,0.5,0) can’t be converted to the Pantone color, but if you use (1,0,0,0) instead the color separation will use two colors, cyan and black. Then the cyan can be printed as Pantone by filling the Pantone color in the cyan tank (but a digital conversion should be possible too: jus a PDF program and replace all cyan colors by the pantone color you like) — Tobi, Oct 29 '13 at 11:11
@Tobi OK, thas sounds reasonable. I'll ask printing company if this is OK. — Pygmalion, Oct 29 '13 at 11:14
If need be, you can post-process the file using a tool such as Enfocus PitStop to re-map the colours to a desired spot colour. — WillAdams, Nov 05 '13 at 18:34
@WillAdams I was exploring other options like Adobe Pro and pdfToolbox. I was not able to put a specific Pantone color instead of, say, CMYK=1,0,0,0 using these expensive tools. Maybe I'll have more luck with PitStop... — Pygmalion, Nov 05 '13 at 19:00
One option would be that a pdf geek write a small tool to change all instances of CMYK=x,0,0,0 in PDF to a arbitrary Pantone color. I am guessing this should be easily done so much so to make it freely available. But until then bi-color LaTeX production means serious trouble. That is why I persist with this question even the solution will most probably be found after I need it. — Pygmalion, Nov 05 '13 at 19:06
The traditional thing to do is as Tobi noted, only put colour on one plate, then tell the printer to discard the other two process plates, and to use PANTONE when printing the colour plate. — WillAdams, Nov 05 '13 at 19:18
@WillAdams I am not sure I understand your answer. AFAIK, the idea of creating two-colour document is using different and cheaper two-colour printing machines and creating only two plates for page instead of four. — Pygmalion, Nov 05 '13 at 19:37
Printing is done from plates, one plate per ink. The traditional 4-colour process printing is done using CMYK, cyan, magenta, black and yellow inks. The work-around is to limit colour to appear only one one plate, so where one wants 100% of (say) PANTONE 301, one puts 100% magenta (or cyan), similarly, tints appear only on the plate which will be used for the substitution. One tells the printer to ignore the un-used / empty plates and to use the desired PANTONE ink instead of the process ink. — WillAdams, Nov 05 '13 at 20:02
@WillAdams: I made an inquiry. The printing company has explicitely stated they want black plus one Pantone colour and not black plus one of C M Y K. Again: cyan + black is not OK. — Pygmalion, Nov 06 '13 at 11:41
Posted an answer. If the project is non-profit/opensource, contact me and I'll process and convert it at work pro bono. — WillAdams, Nov 06 '13 at 12:09

score 34 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:35

Based on the neccessary patches to make spotcolor, xcolor and tikz work together, I wrote a small package xspotcolor which combines and stitches spotcolor and xspotcolor together. At the moment it is sitting on the TEX-SX repository waiting to be tested, but hopefully it can go to CTAN soon.

See this test file:

\documentclass[a4paper]{article}

\usepackage[margin=15mm]{geometry}
\usepackage[pantone,autodefine]{xspotcolor}
\usepackage{tikz}

% Some tints of one color.

\definecolor{PANTONEBlue072PC-10}{spotcolor}{PANTONEBlue072PC,.1}
\definecolor{PANTONEBlue072PC-20}{spotcolor}{PANTONEBlue072PC,.2}
\definecolor{PANTONEBlue072PC-30}{spotcolor}{PANTONEBlue072PC,.3}
\definecolor{PANTONEBlue072PC-40}{spotcolor}{PANTONEBlue072PC,.4}
\definecolor{PANTONEBlue072PC-50}{spotcolor}{PANTONEBlue072PC,.5}
\definecolor{PANTONEBlue072PC-60}{spotcolor}{PANTONEBlue072PC,.6}
\definecolor{PANTONEBlue072PC-70}{spotcolor}{PANTONEBlue072PC,.7}
\definecolor{PANTONEBlue072PC-80}{spotcolor}{PANTONEBlue072PC,.8}
\definecolor{PANTONEBlue072PC-90}{spotcolor}{PANTONEBlue072PC,.9}

\pagestyle{empty}

\begin{document}

% Setup color space.

\SetPageColorSpace{PANTONE}

% Example from Tom Bombadil.

\begin{tikzpicture}
    \foreach \x [count=\c] in {PANTONEBlue072PC-10,PANTONEBlue072PC-20,PANTONEBlue072PC-30,PANTONEBlue072PC-40,PANTONEBlue072PC-50,PANTONEBlue072PC-60,PANTONEBlue072PC-70,PANTONEBlue072PC-80,PANTONEBlue072PC-90,PANTONE100PC, PANTONE101PC,
      PANTONE102PC, PANTONE103PC, PANTONE104PC, PANTONE105PC,
      PANTONE106PC, PANTONE107PC, PANTONE108PC, PANTONE109PC,
      PANTONE110PC, PANTONE111PC, PANTONE112PC, PANTONE113PC,
      PANTONE114PC, PANTONE115PC, PANTONE116PC, PANTONE117PC,
      PANTONE118PC, PANTONE119PC, PANTONE120PC, PANTONE121PC,
      PANTONE122PC, PANTONE123PC, PANTONE124PC, PANTONE125PC,
      PANTONE126PC, PANTONE127PC, PANTONE128PC, PANTONE129PC,
      PANTONE130PC, PANTONE131PC, PANTONE132PC, PANTONE133PC,
      PANTONE134PC, PANTONE135PC, PANTONE136PC, PANTONE137PC,
      PANTONE138PC, PANTONE139PC, PANTONE140PC, PANTONE141PC,
      PANTONE142PC, PANTONE143PC, PANTONE144PC, PANTONE145PC,
      PANTONE146PC, PANTONE147PC, PANTONE148PC, PANTONE149PC,
      PANTONE150PC, PANTONE151PC, PANTONE152PC, PANTONE153PC,
      PANTONE154PC, PANTONE155PC, PANTONE156PC, PANTONE157PC,
      PANTONE158PC, PANTONE159PC, PANTONE160PC, PANTONE161PC,
      PANTONE162PC, PANTONE163PC, PANTONE164PC, PANTONE165PC,
      PANTONE166PC, PANTONE167PC, PANTONE168PC, PANTONE169PC,
      PANTONE170PC, PANTONE171PC, PANTONE172PC, PANTONE173PC,
      PANTONE174PC, PANTONE175PC, PANTONE176PC, PANTONE177PC,
      PANTONE178PC, PANTONE179PC, PANTONE180PC, PANTONE181PC,
      PANTONE182PC, PANTONE183PC, PANTONE184PC, PANTONE185PC,
      PANTONE186PC, PANTONE187PC, PANTONE188PC, PANTONE189PC,
      PANTONE190PC, PANTONE191PC, PANTONE192PC, PANTONE193PC,
      PANTONE194PC, PANTONE195PC, PANTONE196PC, PANTONE197PC,
      PANTONE198PC, PANTONE199PC, PANTONE200PC, PANTONE201PC,
      PANTONE202PC, PANTONE203PC, PANTONE204PC, PANTONE205PC,
      PANTONE206PC, PANTONE207PC, PANTONE208PC, PANTONE209PC,
      PANTONE210PC, PANTONE211PC, PANTONE212PC, PANTONE213PC,
      PANTONE214PC, PANTONE215PC, PANTONE216PC, PANTONE217PC,
      PANTONE218PC, PANTONE219PC, PANTONE220PC, PANTONE221PC,
      PANTONE222PC, PANTONE223PC, PANTONE224PC, PANTONE225PC,
      PANTONE226PC, PANTONE227PC, PANTONE228PC, PANTONE229PC,
      PANTONE230PC, PANTONE231PC, PANTONE232PC, PANTONE233PC,
      PANTONE234PC, PANTONE235PC, PANTONE236PC, PANTONE237PC,
      PANTONE238PC, PANTONE239PC, PANTONE240PC, PANTONE241PC,
      PANTONE242PC, PANTONE243PC, PANTONE244PC, PANTONE245PC,
      PANTONE246PC, PANTONE247PC, PANTONE248PC, PANTONE249PC,
      PANTONE250PC, PANTONE251PC, PANTONE252PC, PANTONE253PC,
      PANTONE254PC, PANTONE255PC, PANTONE256PC, PANTONE257PC,
      PANTONE258PC, PANTONE259PC, PANTONE260PC, PANTONE261PC,
      PANTONE262PC, PANTONE263PC, PANTONE264PC, PANTONE265PC,
      PANTONE266PC, PANTONE267PC, PANTONE268PC, PANTONE269PC,
      PANTONE270PC, PANTONE271PC, PANTONE272PC, PANTONE273PC,
      PANTONE274PC, PANTONE275PC, PANTONE276PC, PANTONE277PC,
      PANTONE278PC, PANTONE279PC, PANTONE280PC, PANTONE281PC,
      PANTONE282PC, PANTONE283PC, PANTONE284PC, PANTONE285PC,
      PANTONE286PC, PANTONE287PC, PANTONE288PC, PANTONE289PC,
      PANTONE290PC, PANTONE291PC, PANTONE292PC, PANTONE293PC,
      PANTONE294PC, PANTONE295PC, PANTONE296PC, PANTONE297PC,
      PANTONE298PC, PANTONE299PC, PANTONE300PC, PANTONE301PC,
      PANTONE302PC, PANTONE303PC, PANTONE304PC, PANTONE305PC,
      PANTONE306PC, PANTONE307PC, PANTONE308PC, PANTONE309PC,
      PANTONE310PC, PANTONE311PC, PANTONE312PC, PANTONE313PC,
      PANTONE314PC, PANTONE315PC, PANTONE316PC, PANTONE317PC,
      PANTONE318PC, PANTONE319PC, PANTONE320PC, PANTONE321PC,
      PANTONE322PC, PANTONE323PC, PANTONE324PC, PANTONE325PC,
      PANTONE326PC, PANTONE327PC, PANTONE328PC, PANTONE329PC,
      PANTONE330PC, PANTONE331PC, PANTONE332PC, PANTONE333PC,
      PANTONE334PC, PANTONE335PC, PANTONE336PC, PANTONE337PC,
      PANTONE338PC, PANTONE339PC, PANTONE340PC, PANTONE341PC,
      PANTONE342PC, PANTONE343PC, PANTONE344PC, PANTONE345PC,
      PANTONE346PC, PANTONE347PC, PANTONE348PC, PANTONE349PC,
      PANTONE350PC, PANTONE351PC, PANTONE352PC, PANTONE353PC,
      PANTONE354PC, PANTONE355PC, PANTONE356PC, PANTONE357PC,
      PANTONE358PC, PANTONE359PC, PANTONE360PC, PANTONE361PC,
      PANTONE362PC, PANTONE363PC, PANTONE364PC, PANTONE365PC,
      PANTONE366PC, PANTONE367PC, PANTONE368PC, PANTONE369PC,
      PANTONE370PC, PANTONE371PC, PANTONE372PC, PANTONE373PC,
      PANTONE374PC, PANTONE375PC, PANTONE376PC, PANTONE377PC,
      PANTONE378PC, PANTONE379PC, PANTONE380PC, PANTONE381PC,
      PANTONE382PC, PANTONE383PC, PANTONE384PC, PANTONE385PC,
      PANTONE386PC, PANTONE387PC, PANTONE388PC, PANTONE389PC,
      PANTONE390PC, PANTONE391PC, PANTONE392PC, PANTONE393PC,
      PANTONE394PC, PANTONE395PC, PANTONE396PC, PANTONE397PC,
      PANTONE398PC, PANTONE399PC, PANTONE400PC, PANTONE401PC,
      PANTONE402PC, PANTONE403PC, PANTONE404PC, PANTONE405PC,
      PANTONE406PC, PANTONE407PC, PANTONE408PC, PANTONE409PC,
      PANTONE410PC, PANTONE411PC, PANTONE412PC, PANTONE413PC,
      PANTONE414PC, PANTONE415PC, PANTONE416PC, PANTONE417PC,
      PANTONE418PC, PANTONE419PC, PANTONE420PC, PANTONE421PC,
      PANTONE422PC, PANTONE423PC, PANTONE424PC, PANTONE425PC,
      PANTONE426PC, PANTONE427PC, PANTONE428PC, PANTONE429PC,
      PANTONE430PC, PANTONE431PC, PANTONE432PC, PANTONE433PC,
      PANTONE434PC, PANTONE435PC, PANTONE436PC, PANTONE437PC,
      PANTONE438PC, PANTONE439PC, PANTONE440PC, PANTONE441PC,
      PANTONE442PC, PANTONE443PC, PANTONE444PC, PANTONE445PC,
      PANTONE446PC, PANTONE447PC, PANTONE448PC, PANTONE449PC,
      PANTONE450PC, PANTONE451PC, PANTONE452PC, PANTONE453PC,
      PANTONE454PC, PANTONE455PC, PANTONE456PC, PANTONE457PC,
      PANTONE458PC, PANTONE459PC, PANTONE460PC, PANTONE461PC,
      PANTONE462PC, PANTONE463PC, PANTONE464PC, PANTONE465PC,
      PANTONE466PC, PANTONE467PC, PANTONE468PC, PANTONE469PC,
      PANTONE470PC, PANTONE471PC, PANTONE472PC, PANTONE473PC,
      PANTONE474PC, PANTONE475PC, PANTONE476PC, PANTONE477PC,
      PANTONE478PC, PANTONE479PC, PANTONE480PC, PANTONE481PC,
      PANTONE482PC, PANTONE483PC, PANTONE484PC, PANTONE485PC,
      PANTONE486PC, PANTONE487PC, PANTONE488PC, PANTONE489PC,
      PANTONE490PC, PANTONE491PC, PANTONE492PC, PANTONE493PC,
      PANTONE494PC, PANTONE495PC, PANTONE496PC, PANTONE497PC,
      PANTONE498PC, PANTONE499PC, PANTONE500PC, PANTONE501PC,
      PANTONE502PC, PANTONE503PC, PANTONE504PC, PANTONE505PC,
      PANTONE506PC, PANTONE507PC, PANTONE508PC, PANTONE509PC,
      PANTONE510PC, PANTONE511PC, PANTONE512PC, PANTONE513PC,
      PANTONE514PC, PANTONE515PC, PANTONE516PC, PANTONE517PC,
      PANTONE518PC, PANTONE519PC, PANTONE520PC, PANTONE521PC,
      PANTONE522PC, PANTONE523PC, PANTONE524PC, PANTONE525PC,
      PANTONE526PC, PANTONE527PC, PANTONE528PC, PANTONE529PC,
      PANTONE530PC, PANTONE531PC, PANTONE532PC, PANTONE533PC,
      PANTONE534PC, PANTONE535PC, PANTONE536PC, PANTONE537PC,
      PANTONE538PC, PANTONE539PC, PANTONE540PC, PANTONE541PC,
      PANTONE542PC, PANTONE543PC, PANTONE544PC, PANTONE545PC,
      PANTONE546PC, PANTONE547PC, PANTONE548PC, PANTONE549PC,
      PANTONE550PC, PANTONE551PC, PANTONE552PC, PANTONE553PC,
      PANTONE554PC, PANTONE555PC, PANTONE556PC, PANTONE557PC,
      PANTONE558PC, PANTONE559PC, PANTONE560PC, PANTONE561PC,
      PANTONE562PC, PANTONE563PC, PANTONE564PC, PANTONE565PC,
      PANTONE566PC, PANTONE567PC, PANTONE568PC, PANTONE569PC,
      PANTONE570PC, PANTONE571PC, PANTONE572PC, PANTONE573PC,
      PANTONE574PC, PANTONE575PC, PANTONE576PC, PANTONE577PC,
      PANTONE578PC, PANTONE579PC, PANTONE580PC, PANTONE581PC,
      PANTONE582PC, PANTONE583PC, PANTONE584PC, PANTONE585PC,
      PANTONE586PC, PANTONE587PC, PANTONE600PC, PANTONE601PC,
      PANTONE602PC, PANTONE603PC, PANTONE604PC, PANTONE605PC,
      PANTONE606PC, PANTONE607PC, PANTONE608PC, PANTONE609PC,
      PANTONE610PC, PANTONE611PC, PANTONE612PC, PANTONE613PC,
      PANTONE614PC, PANTONE615PC, PANTONE616PC, PANTONE617PC,
      PANTONE618PC, PANTONE619PC, PANTONE620PC, PANTONE621PC,
      PANTONE622PC, PANTONE623PC, PANTONE624PC, PANTONE625PC,
      PANTONE626PC, PANTONE627PC, PANTONE628PC, PANTONE629PC,
      PANTONE630PC, PANTONE631PC, PANTONE632PC, PANTONE633PC,
      PANTONE634PC, PANTONE635PC, PANTONE636PC, PANTONE637PC,
      PANTONE638PC, PANTONE639PC, PANTONE640PC, PANTONE641PC,
      PANTONE642PC, PANTONE643PC, PANTONE644PC, PANTONE645PC,
      PANTONE646PC, PANTONE647PC, PANTONE648PC, PANTONE649PC,
      PANTONE650PC, PANTONE651PC, PANTONE652PC, PANTONE653PC,
      PANTONE654PC, PANTONE655PC, PANTONE656PC, PANTONE657PC,
      PANTONE658PC, PANTONE659PC, PANTONE660PC, PANTONE661PC,
      PANTONE662PC, PANTONE663PC, PANTONE664PC, PANTONE665PC,
      PANTONE666PC, PANTONE667PC, PANTONE668PC, PANTONE669PC,
      PANTONE670PC, PANTONE671PC, PANTONE672PC, PANTONE673PC,
      PANTONE674PC, PANTONE675PC, PANTONE676PC, PANTONE677PC,
      PANTONE678PC, PANTONE679PC, PANTONE680PC, PANTONE681PC,
      PANTONE682PC, PANTONE683PC, PANTONE684PC, PANTONE685PC,
      PANTONE686PC, PANTONE687PC, PANTONE688PC, PANTONE689PC,
      PANTONE690PC, PANTONE691PC, PANTONE692PC, PANTONE693PC,
      PANTONE694PC, PANTONE695PC, PANTONE696PC, PANTONE697PC,
      PANTONE698PC, PANTONE699PC, PANTONE700PC, PANTONE701PC,
      PANTONE702PC, PANTONE703PC, PANTONE704PC, PANTONE705PC,
      PANTONE706PC, PANTONE707PC, PANTONE708PC, PANTONE709PC,
      PANTONE710PC, PANTONE711PC, PANTONE712PC, PANTONE713PC,
      PANTONE714PC, PANTONE715PC, PANTONE716PC, PANTONE717PC,
      PANTONE718PC, PANTONE719PC, PANTONE720PC, PANTONE721PC,
      PANTONE722PC, PANTONE723PC, PANTONE724PC, PANTONE725PC,
      PANTONE726PC, PANTONE727PC, PANTONE728PC, PANTONE729PC,
      PANTONE730PC, PANTONE731PC, PANTONE732PC, PANTONE1205PC,
      PANTONE1215PC, PANTONE1225PC, PANTONE1235PC, PANTONE1245PC,
      PANTONE1255PC, PANTONE1265PC, PANTONE1345PC, PANTONE1355PC,
      PANTONE1365PC, PANTONE1375PC, PANTONE1385PC, PANTONE1395PC,
      PANTONE1405PC, PANTONE1485PC, PANTONE1495PC, PANTONE1505PC,
      PANTONE1525PC, PANTONE1535PC, PANTONE1545PC, PANTONE1555PC,
      PANTONE1565PC, PANTONE1575PC, PANTONE1585PC, PANTONE1595PC,
      PANTONE1605PC, PANTONE1615PC, PANTONE1625PC, PANTONE1635PC,
      PANTONE1645PC, PANTONE1655PC, PANTONE1665PC, PANTONE1675PC,
      PANTONE1685PC, PANTONE1765PC, PANTONE1767PC, PANTONE1775PC,
      PANTONE1777PC, PANTONE1785PC, PANTONE1787PC, PANTONE1788PC,
      PANTONE1795PC, PANTONE1797PC, PANTONE1805PC, PANTONE1807PC,
      PANTONE1815PC, PANTONE1817PC, PANTONE1895PC, PANTONE1905PC,
      PANTONE1915PC, PANTONE1925PC, PANTONE1935PC, PANTONE1945PC,
      PANTONE1955PC, PANTONE2365PC, PANTONE2375PC, PANTONE2385PC,
      PANTONE2395PC, PANTONE2405PC, PANTONE2415PC, PANTONE2425PC,
      PANTONE2562PC, PANTONE2563PC, PANTONE2567PC, PANTONE2572PC,
      PANTONE2573PC, PANTONE2577PC, PANTONE2582PC, PANTONE2583PC,
      PANTONE2587PC, PANTONE2592PC, PANTONE2593PC, PANTONE2597PC,
      PANTONE2602PC, PANTONE2603PC, PANTONE2607PC, PANTONE2612PC,
      PANTONE2613PC, PANTONE2617PC, PANTONE2622PC, PANTONE2623PC,
      PANTONE2627PC, PANTONE2635PC, PANTONE2645PC, PANTONE2655PC,
      PANTONE2665PC, PANTONE2685PC, PANTONE2695PC, PANTONE2705PC,
      PANTONE2706PC, PANTONE2707PC, PANTONE2708PC, PANTONE2715PC,
      PANTONE2716PC, PANTONE2717PC, PANTONE2718PC, PANTONE2725PC,
      PANTONE2726PC, PANTONE2727PC, PANTONE2728PC, PANTONE2735PC,
      PANTONE2736PC, PANTONE2738PC, PANTONE2745PC, PANTONE2746PC,
      PANTONE2747PC, PANTONE2748PC, PANTONE2755PC, PANTONE2756PC,
      PANTONE2757PC, PANTONE2758PC, PANTONE2765PC, PANTONE2766PC,
      PANTONE2767PC, PANTONE2768PC, PANTONE2905PC, PANTONE2915PC,
      PANTONE2925PC, PANTONE2935PC, PANTONE2945PC, PANTONE2955PC,
      PANTONE2965PC, PANTONE2975PC, PANTONE2985PC, PANTONE2995PC,
      PANTONE3005PC, PANTONE3015PC, PANTONE3025PC, PANTONE3035PC,
      PANTONE3105PC, PANTONE3115PC, PANTONE3125PC, PANTONE3135PC,
      PANTONE3145PC, PANTONE3155PC, PANTONE3165PC, PANTONE3242PC,
      PANTONE3245PC, PANTONE3248PC, PANTONE3252PC, PANTONE3255PC,
      PANTONE3258PC, PANTONE3262PC, PANTONE3265PC, PANTONE3268PC,
      PANTONE3272PC, PANTONE3275PC, PANTONE3278PC, PANTONE3282PC,
      PANTONE3285PC, PANTONE3288PC, PANTONE3292PC, PANTONE3295PC,
      PANTONE3298PC, PANTONE3302PC, PANTONE3305PC, PANTONE3308PC,
      PANTONE3375PC, PANTONE3385PC, PANTONE3395PC, PANTONE3405PC,
      PANTONE3415PC, PANTONE3425PC, PANTONE3435PC, PANTONE3935PC,
      PANTONE3945PC, PANTONE3955PC, PANTONE3965PC, PANTONE3975PC,
      PANTONE3985PC, PANTONE3995PC, PANTONE4485PC, PANTONE4495PC,
      PANTONE4505PC, PANTONE4515PC, PANTONE4525PC, PANTONE4535PC,
      PANTONE4545PC, PANTONE4625PC, PANTONE4635PC, PANTONE4645PC,
      PANTONE4655PC, PANTONE4665PC, PANTONE4675PC, PANTONE4685PC,
      PANTONE4695PC, PANTONE4705PC, PANTONE4715PC, PANTONE4725PC,
      PANTONE4735PC, PANTONE4745PC, PANTONE4755PC, PANTONE4975PC,
      PANTONE4985PC, PANTONE4995PC, PANTONE5005PC, PANTONE5015PC,
      PANTONE5025PC, PANTONE5035PC, PANTONE5115PC, PANTONE5125PC,
      PANTONE5135PC, PANTONE5145PC, PANTONE5155PC, PANTONE5165PC,
      PANTONE5175PC, PANTONE5185PC, PANTONE5195PC, PANTONE5205PC,
      PANTONE5215PC, PANTONE5225PC, PANTONE5235PC, PANTONE5245PC,
      PANTONE5255PC, PANTONE5265PC, PANTONE5275PC, PANTONE5285PC,
      PANTONE5295PC, PANTONE5305PC, PANTONE5315PC, PANTONE5395PC,
      PANTONE5405PC, PANTONE5415PC, PANTONE5425PC, PANTONE5435PC,
      PANTONE5445PC, PANTONE5455PC, PANTONE5463PC, PANTONE5467PC,
      PANTONE5473PC, PANTONE5477PC, PANTONE5483PC, PANTONE5487PC,
      PANTONE5493PC, PANTONE5497PC, PANTONE5503PC, PANTONE5507PC,
      PANTONE5513PC, PANTONE5517PC, PANTONE5523PC, PANTONE5527PC,
      PANTONE5535PC, PANTONE5545PC, PANTONE5555PC, PANTONE5565PC,
      PANTONE5575PC, PANTONE5585PC, PANTONE5595PC, PANTONE5605PC,
      PANTONE5615PC, PANTONE5625PC, PANTONE5635PC, PANTONE5645PC,
      PANTONE5655PC, PANTONE5665PC, PANTONE5743PC, PANTONE5747PC,
      PANTONE5753PC, PANTONE5757PC, PANTONE5763PC, PANTONE5767PC,
      PANTONE5773PC, PANTONE5777PC, PANTONE5783PC, PANTONE5787PC,
      PANTONE5793PC, PANTONE5797PC, PANTONE5803PC, PANTONE5807PC,
      PANTONE5815PC, PANTONE5825PC, PANTONE5835PC, PANTONE5845PC,
      PANTONE5855PC, PANTONE5865PC, PANTONE5875PC, PANTONE7401PC,
      PANTONE7402PC, PANTONE7403PC, PANTONE7404PC, PANTONE7405PC,
      PANTONE7406PC, PANTONE7407PC, PANTONE7408PC, PANTONE7409PC,
      PANTONE7410PC, PANTONE7411PC, PANTONE7412PC, PANTONE7413PC,
      PANTONE7414PC, PANTONE7415PC, PANTONE7416PC, PANTONE7417PC,
      PANTONE7418PC, PANTONE7419PC, PANTONE7420PC, PANTONE7421PC,
      PANTONE7422PC, PANTONE7423PC, PANTONE7424PC, PANTONE7425PC,
      PANTONE7426PC, PANTONE7427PC, PANTONE7428PC, PANTONE7429PC,
      PANTONE7430PC, PANTONE7431PC, PANTONE7432PC, PANTONE7433PC,
      PANTONE7434PC, PANTONE7435PC, PANTONE7436PC, PANTONE7437PC,
      PANTONE7438PC, PANTONE7439PC, PANTONE7440PC, PANTONE7441PC,
      PANTONE7442PC, PANTONE7443PC, PANTONE7444PC, PANTONE7445PC,
      PANTONE7446PC, PANTONE7447PC, PANTONE7448PC, PANTONE7449PC,
      PANTONE7450PC, PANTONE7451PC, PANTONE7452PC, PANTONE7453PC,
      PANTONE7454PC, PANTONE7455PC, PANTONE7456PC, PANTONE7457PC,
      PANTONE7458PC, PANTONE7459PC, PANTONE7460PC, PANTONE7461PC,
      PANTONE7462PC, PANTONE7463PC, PANTONE7464PC, PANTONE7465PC,
      PANTONE7466PC, PANTONE7467PC, PANTONE7468PC, PANTONE7469PC,
      PANTONE7470PC, PANTONE7471PC, PANTONE7472PC, PANTONE7473PC,
      PANTONE7474PC, PANTONE7475PC, PANTONE7476PC, PANTONE7477PC,
      PANTONE7478PC, PANTONE7479PC, PANTONE7480PC, PANTONE7481PC,
      PANTONE7482PC, PANTONE7483PC, PANTONE7484PC, PANTONE7485PC,
      PANTONE7486PC, PANTONE7487PC, PANTONE7488PC, PANTONE7489PC,
      PANTONE7490PC, PANTONE7491PC, PANTONE7492PC, PANTONE7493PC,
      PANTONE7494PC, PANTONE7495PC, PANTONE7496PC, PANTONE7497PC,
      PANTONE7498PC, PANTONE7499PC, PANTONE7500PC, PANTONE7501PC,
      PANTONE7502PC, PANTONE7503PC, PANTONE7504PC, PANTONE7505PC,
      PANTONE7506PC, PANTONE7507PC, PANTONE7508PC, PANTONE7509PC,
      PANTONE7510PC, PANTONE7511PC, PANTONE7512PC, PANTONE7513PC,
      PANTONE7514PC, PANTONE7515PC, PANTONE7516PC, PANTONE7517PC,
      PANTONE7518PC, PANTONE7519PC, PANTONE7520PC, PANTONE7521PC,
      PANTONE7522PC, PANTONE7523PC, PANTONE7524PC, PANTONE7525PC,
      PANTONE7526PC, PANTONE7527PC, PANTONE7528PC, PANTONE7529PC,
      PANTONE7530PC, PANTONE7531PC, PANTONE7532PC, PANTONE7533PC,
      PANTONE7534PC, PANTONE7535PC, PANTONE7536PC, PANTONE7537PC,
      PANTONE7538PC, PANTONE7539PC, PANTONE7540PC, PANTONE7541PC,
      PANTONE7542PC, PANTONE7543PC, PANTONE7544PC, PANTONE7545PC,
      PANTONE7546PC, PANTONE7547PC, PANTONEBlack2PC, PANTONEBlack3PC,
      PANTONEBlack4PC, PANTONEBlack5PC, PANTONEBlack6PC,
      PANTONEBlack7PC, PANTONEBlackPC, PANTONEBlue072PC,
      PANTONECoolGray1PC, PANTONECoolGray2PC, PANTONECoolGray3PC,
      PANTONECoolGray4PC, PANTONECoolGray5PC, PANTONECoolGray6PC,
      PANTONECoolGray7PC, PANTONECoolGray8PC, PANTONECoolGray9PC,
      PANTONECoolGray10PC, PANTONECoolGray11PC, PANTONEGreenPC,
      PANTONEOrange021PC, PANTONEProc.BlackPC, PANTONEProc.BluePC,
      PANTONEProc.CyanPC, PANTONEProc.Magen.PC, PANTONEProc.YellowPC,
      PANTONEPurplePC, PANTONERed032PC, PANTONERef.BluePC,
      PANTONERhod.RedPC, PANTONERub.RedPC, PANTONEVioletPC,
      PANTONEWarmGray1PC, PANTONEWarmGray2PC, PANTONEWarmGray3PC,
      PANTONEWarmGray4PC, PANTONEWarmGray5PC, PANTONEWarmGray6PC,
      PANTONEWarmGray7PC, PANTONEWarmGray8PC, PANTONEWarmGray9PC,
      PANTONEWarmGray10PC, PANTONEWarmGray11PC, PANTONEWarmRedPC,
      PANTONEYellowPC%
    }
        {   \fill[color=\x] ({mod(\c-1,27)*0.65},{div(\c-1,27)*0.65}) rectangle ++(0.4,0.4);
    }
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

test output

Note: I'm getting complaints from Acrobat Professional when trying to do a color separation from this file, because of "too complex data" or whatever. Well it's reasonable that having more than a handful of spot colors in one document makes no sense.

I tried to just copy some color definitions from spotcolorpantone.tex and reduce the example accordingly, and then color separation went smoothly. So to be safe, you should only define those colors you are actually using in a document.

Here is a (slightly modified) test file provided by user Pygmalion which demonstrates using black together with one spot color:

\documentclass[a4paper]{article}

\usepackage[margin=15mm]{geometry}
\usepackage[autodefine]{xspotcolor}
\usepackage{tikz}

\NewSpotColorSpace{PANTONE}
\AddSpotColor{PANTONE} {PANTONE3035PC} {PANTONE\SpotSpace 3035\SpotSpace PC} {1 0 0.05 0.72}
\definecolor{PANTONE3035PCA}{spotcolor}{PANTONE3035PC,.5}

\definecolor{grey}{gray}{0.5}


\begin{document}

\SetPageColorSpace{PANTONE}


The idea is that the main text is Black, if possible.

I really need only four colors:

\begin{itemize}
\item this text is not Pantone
\item \tikz[>=stealth,baseline=-0.5ex]{\draw[->,very thick,color=PANTONE3035PC] (0,0) -- (-1cm,0);} dark blue
\item \tikz[>=stealth,baseline=-0.5ex]{\draw[->,very thick,color=PANTONE3035PCA] (0,0) -- (-1cm,0);} light blue
\item \tikz[>=stealth,baseline=-0.5ex]{\draw[->,very thick] (0,0) -- (-1cm,0);} default should be black
\item \tikz[>=stealth,baseline=-0.5ex]{\draw[->,very
    thick,color=black] (0,0) -- (-1cm,0);} also black
\item \tikz[>=stealth,baseline=-0.5ex]{\draw[->,very thick,color=grey] (0,0) -- (-1cm,0);} gray
\end{itemize}

\end{document}

With Acrobat Professional, I get a clean color separation:

enter image description here

Congratulations! Very good work! This code should be included in TikZ/PGF... — Paul Gaborit, Nov 15 '13 at 12:22
For a real integration this should probably be made cleaner. For instance, it just occurred to me that a color name which is once internally labeled "spot color" will never get changed back. So a bit more of testing is probably neccessary to get this good to go in. I don't really feel entitled as I'm far from an expert in TikZ or xcolor (just went by \tracingall), but I encourage anyone in charge to contact me for questions (email in profile). — Stephan Lehmke, Nov 15 '13 at 12:52
Very, very cool. Overworks the spot color palette in Acrobat --- can't list all of them (remember folks, this many spot colors is only suited for a technological demo or for on-screen or files printed w/ a laserprinter or inkjet (higher-end printers can use an internal lookup so as to get a better representation of spot colours) but a printing press has a limited number of stations --- check w/ your printer). Works nicely in luatex as well as pdftex, but unfortunately, doesn't in xetex --- could it be adapted? — WillAdams, Nov 15 '13 at 15:19
@WillAdams The basic question is whether the spotcolor package works (which is not by me) as it relies on \pdfliteral and suchlike. My own contribution is only a bit of hackery to make it work in TikZ. — Stephan Lehmke, Nov 15 '13 at 16:05
It indeed works. Where have you been when my bounty was still alive? :) Of course there are things that still remain open to convert my whole document to Pantone: (a) I can no longer draw black - default colour seems to be changed to the last used Pantone color (b) is it possible to make document full Panthone, e.g. convert all text from the page one to Pantone black? IMHO (a) is essential to complete the answer. — Pygmalion, Nov 15 '13 at 17:22
@Pygmalion Will look into it. Could you provide some code (as part of your question perhaps) which doesn't work as expected? — Stephan Lehmke, Nov 15 '13 at 17:27
Comming back to this question in 2021, this still seems to be the only working option to use tikz with spot colors. Any plans to move that package to CTAN? — Dschoni, Jul 14 '21 at 12:51

Javier Bezos · Answer 2 · 2015-06-08T14:41:25.903

8

I've just written a new package for spot colors. It's named colorspace and as its name suggests the goal is to provide tools related to PDF color spaces. Currently you can define spot colors (including tints with the ! notation) as well as mixed inks (up to 4, so shades, ie, a spot color with black, are now possible). For example:

\definespotcolor{bluish}{PANTONE 3035 PC}{1, 0, 0.05, 0.72}

It can also assign ICC profiles to the default CMYK, RGB and Gray spaces. More features are on the way (including support for XeTeX, because it works only with pdftex/luatex), but I would like some feedback.

edited Jun 08 '15 at 14:41

answered Jun 08 '15 at 13:44

Javier Bezos

10,003

1

Thanks for the effort. My book is already published, but when I need that again, I shall check out and let you know about results. – Pygmalion Jun 12 '15 at 07:52
Hi @Javier Bezos I just tried to use you package and most ting work great, but there’s a tiny snag and I’d really appreciate if you could take a look at https://tex.stackexchange.com/q/375318/4918 I found nothing about your preferred way for bug reports in the manual so I hope you don’t mind pinging you here on TeX.SX. – Tobi Jun 16 '17 at 18:22
I'll have a look at it, but I'm not surprised at all :-). I'll try to find a solution. Thanks. – Javier Bezos Jun 17 '17 at 11:31

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 06 '13 at 12:09

1

Without explicit support for this in TikZ, the only options are to switch tools (ConTeXt has support for this w/ MetaPost) or to post-process the file using a tool such as Enfocus PitStop which has an example script for doing this.

answered Nov 06 '13 at 12:09

WillAdams

7,187

I succeeded to turn all red color shades to 100% Pantone color using PitStop. But this is useless! 50% red should be turned into 50% Pantone red and not 100% Pantone red. – Pygmalion Nov 06 '13 at 19:02
The sample script only goes so far --- one has to adapt it to one's specific needs and process the file so as to preserve tints. – WillAdams Nov 06 '13 at 19:17
In fact, pdfToolbox can do better. It transfer particular CMYK color (e.g. cyan) shades into Pantone red shades. You cannot pick Pantone colour though. But pdfToolbox is not free, so neither pdfToolbox nor PitStop are solutions to the problem. There should be some free and easier way to transform one particular CMYK shades into Pantone shades. This is a classical problem of creating two-colour book. ConTeXt drawbacks are just to heavy to switch just for a simple colour change! – Pygmalion Nov 06 '13 at 20:27
Enfocus PitStop can change an arbitrary set of colour definitions into a set of tints of a single PANTONE spot colour --- I do this all the time, and if you've ever seen the maps in the kitbag of an airline pilot who is flying to a U.S. airport, you've seen files which have been so modified. – WillAdams Nov 06 '13 at 20:36
Never been to US... :) Nevertheless, this is not a free solution. I was using heavily completely free LaTeX for two years writing a non-profit book for students. Buying Adobe Pro + PitStop or pdfToolbox just to change shades of a particular CMYK colour into shades of particular Pantone colour is from my perspective total waste of money. – Pygmalion Nov 06 '13 at 20:47
1

Take it up with your printer --- they're the ones who're gumming up the works by refusing to accept a traditional work-around and not having in place a mechanism to address this w/o using expensive commercial tools. PitStop does work for this though, and it's unfair for you to run it down by claiming it's not a solution --- it does work for this. I offered in a previous comment to process the files for you if this is a non-profit or opensource project --- contact me at will.adams@frycomm.com if that's the case. – WillAdams Nov 06 '13 at 20:54
1

Thank you very much for your offer. This time I will solve my problem myself using pdfToolbox (I still have 5 days of trial period). Still, I am keeping this question alive because I want to see some systematic and possibly relatively cheap solution. Maybe someone else will need it, maybe I will need it for my next book project, who knows? – Pygmalion Nov 06 '13 at 20:59

Using Pantone/spot colors and TikZ together

3 Answers3

Linked