jfiscus said:
Got my fresh new computer up and running, got all of my programs settled in. Today I went to create some artwork in Illustrator using Pantone spot colors. The libraries are gone/replaced. Read up on the issue between the software companies, looked at the subscription based plugin. Only see bad reviews. Does it work ok for anyone here?
Here's one solution that works
without having to buy a $180 per year subscription to Pantone Connect:
Install the previous version of Illustrator. Open up the Creative Cloud Desktop app, bring up the All Apps tab, at the Adobe Illustrator listing click on the three dots icon next to the "open" button. It will display a fly-out menu showing options, including "other versions." It lists all the previous v27 and v26 builds. I think v27.1.1 and earlier will include the Pantone spot color books.
Once you've installed an earlier version of Illustrator locate the ACB color book files related to Pantone. On the Windows platform the path is: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator\Presets\en_US\Swatches\Color Books. Make copies of those ACB files for safe keeping. Then place copies of those ACB files into the corresponding folder in the current version of Illustrator.
There's a couple drawbacks with this approach. One is you'll still get pestered by the application with warnings about Pantone colors when opening art with Pantone spot color fills. But they'll at least display in their proper color. The second drawback is any newer spot colors that aren't included in those existing ACB color book files won't be supported. They'll probably display in black.
I have a feeling Pantone will have to reverse course on this ploy with Adobe applications. So many people using Pantone spot color fills do so in more than just Adobe-branded applications. Pantone apparently doesn't have any solutions regarding that.