Creating Die Lines In Adobe Illustrator
September 26, 2008
At one point in your design career you might need to create a die line or a die-cut in your layout. This is how you do it.
OUTLINE THE SHAPE
A die line or die cut is the area on a layout that will be cut to a specific shape, such as the one below. You will first need to create an outline of the shape to be die cut. The outline will be given a spot color stroke that the printer will use as a guide to make the die cut.
CREATE A DIE LINE “COLOR”
Once the shape is outlined, go to the swatches palette and create a new color swatch. Name this new swatch “Die Line-Do Not Print”, set the color type to “Spot Color” and in the color mode choose any color that you want. I usually make mine 100% magenta. But realize that the color magenta is only used to visually distinguish the die line, and does not pertain to what color ink is printed.
It is important that the color type for this new color is set to “Spot Color”, so that a separate plate is created for the die line.
SET THE DIE LINE ABOVE THE DIE CUT AREA
The die line you’ve created should be positioned over the area that will be die cut. When type is used in the layout, give .125″ to .25″ space between the type and the die line. This is to insure that the type is not cut off if the printed piece shifts during the die cutting process.
SET TO OVERPRINT
The last step, which is important, is to select the die line and go to the Attributes palette and select “Overprint Stroke”. If this is not selected, the die line color will knock out (leave a blank area) on the other color plates and that is not what you want to have happen.
ADD BLEED
Don’t forget to add bleed to your shape, as when the die cut is made you will need to have access color outside of the die line in case the the printed piece shifts during the die cutting process, which can happen when you have a long print run.
Here’s a sample file of the die line I used for this tutorial:
Now that you’ve learned how to create die lines in Illustrator, read my tutorial on creating bleeds in Photoshop.
Thank you for this article. I’m working on something now and the printer sent me a less-than-workable outline for the cuts in some packaging. My design work has basically been web and advertising, so packaging is a bit new for me and finding info on the web has been an exercise in frustration.
You’re quite welcome, CJ.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any other questions.
Joseph
Nice post u have here
Added to my RSS reader
Thanks for posting this article! I am working on my first project to include a die cut and your post answered some questions that I had about the process. Cheers!
really helpful
thank you!
Thank you so much for this information. It was easy to follow and really helped me with creating a cutline for business cards.
Best regards
Thanks so much this is very helpful, you are a gem!
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Sed semel insanivimus omnes
Very helpful!
What about disabling Print from within the Layer Options dialog? (You can double click the layer to access this.) This would leave the ‘die line’ layer visible but prohibit it from printing. A bonus is that you don’t need to set the die line to ‘overprint’ with this technique, although that seems like a good fail-safe regardless.
You can also override this choice later in the Print dialog, by selecting from among the Print Layers options (choose something other than ‘Visible & Printable layers’).
It’d be helpful to know how the ‘die line’ is actually used in the production process. If it’s not printed, how does that information get incorporated into the workflow? (Is it transferred to another type of software program involved in the manufacturing of the die?)