Illustrator color separations — the easy way, no plugins

You don't need a separation plugin for Illustrator

Illustrator is a fantastic drawing tool, but it was never built to pull production color separations for a press. Getting simulated process, a proper white underbase, and halftone screens out of it usually means a paid plugin, a Photoshop hand-off, or a lot of manual channel work. There's a simpler path:

• Design in Illustrator like you always do.
• Export to PDF or PNG — one click, no flattening rituals.
• Separate in AI Separations — it reads the exact flat colors from vector/PDF art and turns them into clean, buyable spot plates (no k-means guessing on crisp vector logos), or full simulated process for photographic art.

Illustrator + AI Separations vs. doing it all in Illustrator

	Illustrator → AI Separations	Separating inside Illustrator
Simulated process	Yes — halftoned at proper angles/LPI	Not really its job
White underbase & highlight white	Automatic	Manual / plugin
Reads exact vector spot colors	Yes, from PDF	Yes (but no screening)
Registration marks + film per color	Built into export	Manual setup
Ongoing cost	$179 one-time (keeps Illustrator for design)	Adobe subscription + any plugin
Learning curve	AI advisor sets it up	Steep for production seps

You keep Illustrator for what it's great at — drawing. AI Separations just handles the prepress.

Great for crisp vector logos and flat spot art

Because it reads the flat colors straight from your exported PDF, vector logos come out as clean, solid spot plates — exactly the colors you drew, matched to real inks with Pantone names. For gradients and photographic art, switch to simulated process and it screens the whole thing for you.

Work in CorelDRAW too? See CorelDRAW color separations, or read color separation without Photoshop and what a white underbase is.