setting up a rich black file

[dyers78]

I am a bit confused on how this works. I am doing a design in Illy that has a lot a black flood coating along with a few pics. I want it all to print 4c rich black. I understand how to set the flood coat black to rich black but is there anything else I need to do to make sure that all the black the same rich black?

Since I imported my images into Illy from PS as CMYK - blacks would already print rich correct? So I just need to make sure that anything I assign to be black in Illy is set to my rich black percentages?

Am I complicating this or missing a setting somewhere.

[doubting_thomas]

If you haven't already done so you should probably call the place
you're having the piece printed. There can be a pretty wide variation
between the percentages used by printing plants for rich black. You should
make sure that the percentages you set up in file match their prefered
settings.

If I remember right the PS file will bring in a rich black, but you can
sample it to make sure (I do that in Acrobat or InDesign). If it were me
I'd make a rich black swatch (after talking to the service provider), and
use that to color all of the elements. That way you know it's going to
be consistant.

[dyers78]

I already checked and its 30/30/30/100. The swatch is a good idea. How do you sample blacks in ID or Acrobat? I guess I could use my color sample tool ?

[doubting_thomas]

In Acrobat: Advanced > Print Production > Output Preview. Hover the
crosshairs over the area you want to sample.

In InDesign: Window > Output > Separations Preview opens the pallete.
In the drop down menu change "off" to "separations", then hover over the
area you want to sample.

All of my final output goes through Acrobat 8 or InDesign CS3, so I use
these tools constantly.