Color Shift After Applying Spot Colors in Flexi RIP — Sai RIP Issues (Part 4) ARTJET 2026

1. Symptom: Colors changed after applying Varnish Spot

• Spot 1 (White) and Spot 2 (Varnish) were set up correctly in the Ai file.
• The RIP software is Flexi RIP.
• As shown on the left in the image below, the [SSAT] text should print in White.
• However, once Spot 1 and Spot 2 — White and Varnish — are applied together, the [SSAT] text no longer prints White and the overall colors become dull.

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2. Identifying the cause: One of three areas is likely responsible.

• Hypothesis 1: Is the printer program printing incorrectly?
• Hypothesis 2: Is something wrong inside the RIP software causing the color shift?
• Hypothesis 3: Is a specific setting in the Ai file causing the problem?

3. First place to check: [Output Channel Preview] in the RIP software

• When a color problem appears — especially after applying Spot colors —
• the easiest place to start is the [Output Channel Preview] in Flexi RIP.
• This lets you visually confirm whether each color channel is rendering correctly before printing.
• After enabling all color channels — C, M, Y, K, Lc, Lm — the [SSAT] text showed a color other than White.

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4. Narrowing down the cause: A mismatch between Flexi RIP and the Ai file

• The printer program simply prints what the RIP outputs — so the printer itself is not the problem.
• The issue was a mismatch between the RIP software and the Ai file.
• Color shifts in RIP software are normally caused by an ICC profile or a curve adjustment —
• but when White prints as a completely different color, like in this case, the Ai file itself has to be investigated.

Applying Spot 1 and Spot 2 — White and Varnish — causes the colors to shift.

We started investigating the Ai file.

1. Print the color layer only — Result: Normal

• Deleted Spot 1 and Spot 2 layers from the Ai file and saved.
• Printed using Flexi RIP’s [Spot Color Mode], which automatically generates the White spot — both color and White printed correctly.

2. Print White and Varnish Spot layers only — Result: Normal

• Deleted the color layer from the Ai file, saved with only Spot 1 and Spot 2, then printed.
• Both White and Varnish printed correctly.
• The image below shows Varnish printed on top of White.

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3. Results of Test 1 and Test 2 — Forming a hypothesis

• Color only = normal. White and Varnish only = normal.
• But when color is printed together with Spot 1 and Spot 2, the output is abnormal.
• This brought to mind the fact that if [Overprint Fill] is not checked on the White Spot layer, only White prints and the color layer underneath is suppressed.
• “Could it be that [Overprint Fill] is checked on the color layer — causing it to mix with the Spot 1 and Spot 2 layers and produce the wrong color?”
• Following that logic, we selected only the color layer and checked — and [Overprint Fill] was indeed checked.

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4. Fix

• With the color layer selected, we unchecked [Overprint Fill], then saved the file with color, Spot 1, and Spot 2 layers together.
• Reopening the file in Flexi RIP’s [Channel Color Preview] confirmed that [SSAT] was now correctly assigned to Spot 1 — White.
• The print output was also correct.
• The root cause was [Overprint Fill] being checked on the color layer, which caused the Spot layer colors to blend into the color output and shift the result.
• If this problem occurs: open Illustrator → select the color layer → check whether [Overprint Fill] is checked → if it is, uncheck it.

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