Adobe illustrator 10 Manuale Utente

When trapping two light-colored objects, the trap line may show through the darker of 
the two colors, resulting in an unsightly dark border. For example, if you trap a light yellow 
object into a light blue object, a bright green border is visible where the trap is created.

To prevent the trap line from showing through, you can specify a tint of the trapping color 
(in this example, the yellow color) to create a more pleasing effect. Check with your print 
shop to find out what percentage of tint is most appropriate given the type of press, inks, 
paper stock, and so on being used.

Trapping type can present special problems. Avoid applying mixed process colors or tints 
of process colors to type at small point sizes, because any misregistration can make the 
text difficult to read. Likewise, trapping type at small point sizes can result in hard-to-read 
type. As with tint reduction, check with your print shop before trapping such type. For 
example, if you are printing black type on a colored background, simply overprinting the 
type onto the background may be enough. 

To trap type, you can add the stroke below the fill in the Appearance palette, and set the 
stroke to overprint (or set it to Multiply blending mode).

The Trap command creates traps for simple objects by identifying the lighter artwork—
whether it’s the object or the background—and overprinting (trapping) it into the darker 
artwork.

Function of Trap command 
A. Area of overprint B. Area of knockout C. Background color D. Foreground color

You can apply the Trap command as a Pathfinder command or as an effect. For more infor-
mation on effects, see 

. For instructions on using the Stroke 

palette to create a trap with strokes on individual objects, see 

.

A

B

C

D