How To Set Your UV Layer or Print in Adobe Illustrator

Adding a Spot UV effect or 3D texture to your prints can significantly elevate your designs. Here is a straightforward, step-by-step guide to setting up your files correctly in Adobe Illustrator.

Identify and Prepare

  • Identify Spot UV Areas: Decide which parts of your design you want to highlight with the Spot UV effect, such as logos, text, or images.

  • Prepare Your Artwork: Ensure your main base artwork is fully designed and ready.

  • Target Varnish Areas: Prepare the specific objects or shapes that you want to apply the varnish to.

  • Target 3D Textures: Prepare the objects or shapes that you want to extrude to make a 3D bump or texture.

Duplicate and Align

  • Duplicate Elements for Spot UV: Copy the specific elements you have chosen for the Spot UV effect from your main design.

  • Paste and Align: Paste these copied elements into a designated “Spot UV” layer, taking care to align them exactly with their originals in the main design.

Understand Layer Stacking

  • It is crucial to organize your layers properly to ensure the printer reads the effects in the correct order.

  • As shown in the graphic example, base foundation layers (labeled 1, 2, and 3) should stack below your main “Artwork” layer, while top-level effects (labeled 4) sit above the artwork.

Duplicate and Align

  • Duplicate Elements for Spot UV: Copy the specific elements you have chosen for the Spot UV effect from your main design.

  • Paste and Align: Paste these copied elements into a designated “Spot UV” layer, taking care to align them exactly with their originals in the main design.

Ink Coverage on the Print Layer

The UV layer only tells us where the varnish goes. The print layer underneath is a normal CMYK file and still has to obey the ink limit.

Keep the four ink values on that layer adding up to 240% or less. Illustrator has no ink-limit preview, so read the values off your swatches, or check the exported PDF in Acrobat Pro under Print Production > Output Preview > Total Area Coverage. For dark areas sitting under gloss, C60 M40 Y40 K100 gives you a solid black without going over. See our RGB vs CMYK guide.