What is the difference between pantone solid and not solid?

[Laurent Alebarde]

Hi, I am a beginner. I am looking at Pantone color charts. I understand the need to have a different one for different materials : coated, uncoated, textils, but I could not find explanations for solid:

• Solid Coated & Solid Uncoated
• Color Bridge Set Coated + Uncoated
• Textile - Fashion, Home + Interiors FHI Color Guide

So what 'Solids' means here? Does 'Solid' mean printing on some material? As opposite to on screen?
Then why are there distinct Solid charts and bridge charts ?

Besides, my understanding of the right process is:

1. Choose the material on which to print
2. Select the right color chart for this material
3. Choose the design colors in this chart
4. Use the bridge chart for this material to get RGB computer colors or alternatively load the right pantone palette in the CAD software
   
5. Actualy design
6. Provide all color layers of the design to the printer, either CMYB or pantone

Is it correct?

 

[mantman]

Solid means no tints on paper substrate
Color bridge is used for conversion from solid to CMYK tints in paper again
Cant help with textile

 

[Laurent Alebarde]

Could you elaborate please, possibly with a drawing?

 

[mantman]

Err i dont think there is something to draw.
Solid=100%
Tint=99% till 1%
color bridge example Reflex blue solid to CMYK= 100% cyan/90% magenta/0% yellow/5% black -not exactly the recipe per se for reflex blue in cmyk-
and there is solid print in pantone and print with cmyk to compare your result. Usually it is used when you want to avoid a spot color in a 5 or more color job to 4 color cmyk

 

[Laurent Alebarde]

I am afraid it is obvious for colors professionals, but I am still lost, even after long searches on the web. I still don't understand what a "solid" chart means.

 

[jwheeler]

Could you elaborate please, possibly with a drawing?

See the graphic below. Pantone solid colors are similar to going to a hardware store to buy paint for your house. You pick out the swatch and take it to the paint mixing counter, and they use a pre-set formula to mix that color of paint. We do the same thing in printing. There is a book of standard ink colors called the Pantone Matching System. Any client can say to a printer that they want Pantone Red 185 and we can all look at the formula and mix it ourselves, or buy a can of it pre-mixed. In the chart below, printing the Red 185 at its full solid color is show on the far left. In a design program, you can tell it to print at lighter tints such as 75%, 50% and so on. Therefore, the color will be lighter as shown. The coated vs uncoated solid books show how that same ink would look on a coated paper vs uncoated paper. The ink tends to sit on the surfaced of a coated sheet, and therefore looks more vibrant. Ink will soak into an uncoated sheet making it look a bit more de-saturated. Same ink, just different paper. Same as painting on a wall that has been primered vs painting directly onto the drywall.

As @mantman already indicated, the Bridge set of colors is showing how we can achieve the solid colors using a CMYK press instead. It will not always be an exact match to the 'solid' version since we are using a different method of producing the color, but it should come out pretty close. A CMYK press will use tiny dots of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink overlapping eachother to achieve a color.

Lastly, textile is to show how colors will look on textiles...this is used for fabrics (clothing, furniture, etc). If you're not printing on fabrics, don't worry about this.

 

[Laurent Alebarde]

Thank you very much jwheeler for your very clear explanation.

 

[mantman]

Jwheeler`s explanation is...spot on. Usually there is a small icon saying that the color is achievable in cmyk or not. Beware that some colors will NEVER look like the Pantone