Create a cutting line

Creating die-cutting lines in Adobe Illustrator CC

1. Create a new colour swatch “Die Cut”
2. Create a cutting line
3. Set the cutting line to overprinting
4. Export in PDF format

1. Create a spot colour “Die Cut”

First, create a new colour swatch. To do this, in the “Window” menu, select the “Colour” command to open the colour chart. Enter the values C 0 M 100 Y 0 N 0 in the CMYK color list. Then, in the list of functions, select the “Create new swatch…” option and name this swatch “Die Cut”.

Change the color “type” to Spot Colour. Click “OK” to display the color shade you’ve just created in the colour chart. You can find it by opening the “Window” menu, then “Separations preview”.

2. Create a cutting line

Create a cutting line in the label’s final format. To do this, select the “rectangle tool” from the toolbar. Then click on your document.

A window for entering the format opens automatically. Enter the desired format and confirm by clicking OK. The rectangle now appears in the document. To assign the color magenta, select the rectangle with the “Selection tool” (in the toolbar). Colour the cutting line with the “Die Cut” colour from your colour chart. The inside of your rectangle should not be filled. To do this, click on “None” to set no color. Align the cutting line centred on your label using the align panel (Horizontal alignment to center and Vertical alignment to center).

3. Define overprint cutting line

The rectangle you’ve defined in “Die Cut” spot colour now needs to be defined as an overprint. Select this element using the selection tool (in the toolbar) and open Attributes panel under the Window menu, then check the “Overprint contour” box.

The “overprint” option ensures that the areas below the elements to be overprinted are continuous and not omitted during printing.

4. Export in PDF format

To save your file in the correct format, select the “Save as…” option in the toolbar under the “File” tab. This opens a window in which you can name your file and select a saving location.

Under “Format” please select “Adobe PDF (pdf)”.

Then click on the Save button. In the window that opens, under “Adobe PDF preset” please choose the “Illustrator default” option (or PDF/X-1a: 2003 or higher quality).

Under the Bleed & Guides tab on the left-hand side, please check the “Use document bleed settings” box (and if checked, uncheck the “All print guides” box). The 2.5 mm bleed you previously set should be displayed automatically.

Next, check in the Output tab whether the “No conversion” option has been selected under the “Color conversion” tab.

When selecting the “Profile inclusion rule”, please choose “Do not include profiles”. You can now click on the Save as PDF button. Your print-ready PDF file is now at the previously selected location.