In Navigator 12 you had three options for printing a separation: Yes, No, or Not Blank. These were pretty self explanatory.
But we'll explain anyway. "Yes" means always make a separation, "no" means don't make a separation, and "not blank" means make the separation only if there is print data on it.
Navigator 13 offered more options, but changed the naming of the options, leaving everyone a bit confused. The new options are: Render, Knockouts Only, and Not Blank (Ignore and Emulate are also options for spot colors).
A key to the new options are:
Render – This is the same as “Yes” in the Navigator 12 RIP. You are telling the RIP to produce this separation no matter what data is sent. The samples below have all the separations set to Render. In the second example there is no Magenta within the file, but the RIP still produces a Magenta separation.
PDF File RIP Result Separations Made
PDF File RIP Result Separations Made
Knockouts Only – This will not produce the separation but will still “cookie cutter” where it was (depending on overprint and transparency settings). The sample below has the Cyan separation set to Knockouts Only (all other colors still set to Render).
PDF File RIP Result Separations Made
Not Blank – This will only produce separations if there is any color data for this separation in the file. In the sample below, I changed the artwork to remove the Magenta band on the page. No Magenta separation was produced. If Magenta was set to Render, it would still produce a Magenta “blank” separation.
PDF File RIP Result Separations Made
Ignore (spot colors only) – This will completely ignore the color and effects of the spot color within the page. In the sample below, the orange X was set to knockout within the PDF file itself. When rendered, it removed all effects of the spot color, including the area it was knocking out of the CMYK colors.
PDF File RIP Result Separations Made
Emulate (spot colors only) – This will automatically convert your spot colors into a CMYK build. The sample below shows the spot orange color is now screened as a CMYK build.
PDF File RIP Result Separations Made