Trapping in printing

What is trapping?

Trapping in printing is the compensation for misregistration between printing units on a multicolor press.

This misregistration causes gaps or white-space on the final printed packaging. Trapping files involves creating overlaps (or ‘spreads’) or underlaps (‘chokes’) of objects during prepress to counter misregistration on the press.

Esko has two trapping solutions: interactive trapping and automatic trapping, based on predefined settings.

Interactive trapping

Esko’s interactive trapper is by far the easiest interactive trapping solution on the market. Color trapping becomes a matter of clicking the 2 elements you want to trap. All traps are placed on a separate layer and centerlines are automatically calculated.

Interactive trapping software is available for ArtPro+, ArtPro, PackEdge and as a DeskPack plugin for Adobe® Illustrator®.

Automatic trapping

Trap your files in a matter of seconds! Automatic trapping is done with presets of rules and exceptions to trap the file according to your specifications.

The automatic trapper handles transparencies and blend modes of today’s modern design files flawlessly. This trapping module is completely compliant with packaging needs and knows how to handle special color pairs, opaque inks, varnishes, white plates, rich black trapping...

A separate trapping layer

All calculated trap objects end up in a new separate layer combined with the ability to edit and modify the trap objects with a dedicated trap tool. The trapped artwork is not changed at all.

Trapping graphic design automatically can be done in ArtPro+, ArtPro and PackEdge, but it’s also available as a DeskPack plugin for Adobe® Illustrator® and as Automation Engine functionality.

Trapping software for Illustrator

Professional trapping in Illustrator is possible with two trappers. There are interactive and automatic trapping solutions. These trappers are available as a DeskPack plugin for Adobe® Illustrator®.

Try the trappers for free

Download and try ArtPro+ for free or test trapping in Illustrator.