The trapping techniques above work well for filled paths,but what open paths? After all, you can’t apply two different stroke properties to a single path. Instead, you clone the path and make the width of the clone larger or smaller to achieve the spread or choke you want. One of the strokes overprints; the other line knocks out.
Follow these steps to spread an open path.
- Draw a rectangle. Create a spot color and fill the rectangle with it.
- Draw a path inside the rectangle.Create another spot color and apply it to the path. Do not set this path to overprint.
- Select the path and clone it.
- Press F10 to display the Stroke palette. Increase the stroke weight of the path by twice the amount of spread you need (remember, PostScript strokes grow out f rom their centers) and check the Overprint Stroke option in the Attributes palette to make the stroke overprint.
That’s all there is to it. The original path knocks a hole in the background rectangle, and the clone of the path spreads to just a little bit beyond the edges of the knockout.
To choke the path, follow these steps.
- Draw a rectangle. Create a spot color and fill the rectangle with it.
- Draw a path inside the rectangle. Create another spot color and apply it to the line. Set this path to overprint.
- Select the path and clone it.
- Display the Stroke palette. Decrease the weight of the path by twice the amount of choke you need. Leave the Overprint Stroke option in the Attributes palette turned off.
- Use the Direct Selection tool to select the original path. Press Command-Shift-]/Ctrl-Shift-] to bring it to the front.
This time,the cloned path is narrower than the original, and knocks out an area that’s slightly smaller than the original path, creating a choke.