Splitting images into their channels is a useful way to edit designs before printing. Under colour removal and tonal adjustments can be made to individual channels once they are split from the image. Image channels can also be converted into spot colour layers by renaming and recolouring them.

N-channel is the term applied to a profile which is made up of more than the 4 standard process colours, such as CMYKOGB (CMYK + orange + green + blue), common in flexo printing. N-channel images (N - meaning number) encapsulate the proofing information for displaying images alongside the separation information and because of this they are becoming more popular in many workflows.

AVA handles profiles of up to 8 colours. To separate to n-channels, choose Separate Menu > With Profile… and choose an n-channel profile. An n-channel image will be added to your file, and will be tagged with the profile you just separated through.

If you click on the disclosure triangle next to the new n-channel image, you will see the n-channels.  The colour of these will depend on the colours used in your n-channel profile.

If you have a separation you want to view with an n-channel profile, select the layers and choose Separate Menu > Layers into N-Channel and select the profile to be used. An n-channel image with an embedded profile will be created which can be used in the same way as any other image.

There are several third party applications which can be used to create n-channel profiles, however if you do not have one and are more interested in the proofing aspect rather than separation, you may like to consider the creation of an AVA custom overprint for your process (in tests we have seen better results using this method). However, there is no need to go for one of these solutions in isolation as the AVA software will happily work with both concurrently. Please contact your AVA Area Commercial Manager for more information on creating a custom overprint for your production output.