Illustrator CS4 - separation names

[him up north]

If you're using a Mac, find the following file:

/Applications/Adobe Illustrator CS4/Adobe Illustrator.app/Contents/Frameworks/AdobeAGM.framework/Versions/A/AdobeAGM

Make a backup copy of the file

Using a hex file editor (TextEdit may work - it seems to preserve unedited portions of binary files)

Change every instance of the following:

SamePositionOnAllPlates{tab character}false

to:

SamePositionOnAllPlates{tab character}true{space}

The space at the end is important - if you omit it you will shift the position of most of the file's data.

There are six instances in my file - I'm not sure which ones actually makes the difference because I changed them all at once. If you are using Windows, the file path will be completely different, and may be in \Program Files\Common Files or nested somewhere in \Documents and Settings\{Your user name or "All Users"}\Application Data or \Documents and Settings\{Your user name or "All Users"}\Local Settings\Application Data or it may not exist at all. I just now tried this, so there may be bad consequences, but the test file I output appears correct.

If you need help editing the file, I can give you my email address. Alternatively, you could print to/save as a PDF without marks as a composite and print your seps from Acrobat. If you choose "QuarkXPress" as the mark type there, the sep names are all in the same place.

Sir, you are a genius. Many thanks.

[claude72]

Dear Claude, I do not want to convince anybody that Illustrator is the best choice for packaging, but since I work in the packaging market I have always handled the majority of my jobs with illustrator in the artwork process and artpro in the repro.

Up to you!!!

Each time I made a box, I made it with InDesign... (but it's a kind of joke, as I made very few boxes... it's not my speciality)...

... anyway, even if it's not my job, I get some news about how packaging work in France, and last news said that InDesign begins slowly to replace Illustrator and is more and more used.