The ability to check the tracking of your separations before going to production is priceless. The Tracking Checker Palette Button is available from the downloads page, and can be edited to suit your needs.

Prior to running a Palette in AVA

Before your start, it is advisable to lock the current history item in your History Window prior to running any Palette Button. This is because Palettes run a series of tasks, and each is logged in your History. Therefore, if you wish to undo the effects applied by the Palette, you will have several steps to undo.  In some cases (when using your more complex Palettes) these steps may exceed the maximum number of steps the History Window is set up to record (Window Menu > History > Set Maximum). To lock a History Item:

1. Go to Window Menu > History.
2. Click on the icon which looks like an outline of a padlock. The icon will changes once it is clicked on.

Locking the most recent history item means will will not get overwritten, even if you exceed the maximum number of history items you have set up. The lock will remain in place until you unlock it (by clicking the lock icon again), or until you close the file.

Running the Tracking Checker Palette

1. Open the separated file you want to check.
2. Download the Functions Palette from our Downloads Page. There is a link to this in the Related Articles section at the bottom of this article.
3. Press the Tracking Checker button once, and note all layers get nudged to simulate mis-registration in production.

Original separation:

Separation after running the Tracking Checker:

Editing the Palette to make it simulate what happens in your production

This Palette systematically nudges each layer in the design by a specific amount, and in a specific direction. Which layer is nudged is determined by a 'Select Layers' command in the editor of the Palette. The amount it is nudged, and in which direction is determined by the 'Nudge' command in the editor. We expect the user to need to change the Nudge amount to match how much the registration is off for each layer.

1. Hold down ⌥ (option key) on the keyboard and click on the title of the Tracking Checker button to open its editor. 
   
   
2. Open the editor for the first Nudge command in the Palette by clicking on the spanner icon.
   
   
3. Change the Across and Down values accordingly.  Across moves the selected layer to the right, and Down moves the selected layer downwards. To move a layer to the left, you need to enter a negative number in the Across field. Similarly, if you want to move a layer up, you need to enter a negative number in the Down field. 
4. Repeat this for each Nudge command in the Palette.

Editing the Palette to make it simulate what happens in your production 5.9+

This Palette systematically nudges each layer in the design by a specific amount, and in a specific direction. Which layer is nudged is determined by a 'Select Layers' command in the editor of the Palette. The amount it is nudged, and in which direction is determined by the 'Nudge' command in the editor. We expect the user to need to change the Nudge amount to match how much the registration is off for each layer.

1. Open the group list in the Palette window 
   
2. Open the item editor for the first Nudge command in the Palette by clicking on the settings icon.
   
3. Change the Across and Down values accordingly.  Across moves the selected layer to the right, and Down moves the selected layer downwards. To move a layer to the left, you need to enter a negative number in the Across field. Similarly, if you want to move a layer up, you need to enter a negative number in the Down field. 
4. Repeat this for each Nudge command in the Palette.