The Overprint Settings controls a large number of colour settings in the software. The status of these settings can have a huge impact on the accuracy of your colour match. It is important that the Overprint Settings are set as recommended (unless you use an advanced set up such as AVA Production Colour Management, which will have particular settings for your output).
Averaging
Choose from On, Off or Best: Changes the way pixels are viewed in the design. Some designs are not affected by these settings because of the type of information in them. Designs which have fine details, textures or line drawings, such as voiles or weaves will change the most. Off, is the fastest setting as the pixels are not averaged out; On, gives a softer look to the design but has a slower screen refresh; while Best gives the best representation of the design but the slowest screen refresh of the three settings. On new computers, the screen refresh should not be significantly different with any of these settings.
Production Ink Database
Users of Production Colour Management will set the tonal database to be used here. Once set, the tonal database is turned on and off in the Overprint Inspector.
c.m.y.k as CMYK Image
Enables you to view CMYK designs as a combined CMYK image or as individual spot layers. When a CMYK image is separated into the four C, M, Y and K layers it is useful to view them in both ways. The combined image allows you to compare the separation to the original, while the individual layers allow you to create colourways.
- To view the design as a combined CMYK image, switch .c.m.y.k as CMYK Image on
- To view the design as CMYK spot layers, switch .c.m.y.k as CMYK Image off
Single as Spot
Allows a single visible CMYK layer to be viewed through the profile. When a single layer is viewed on its own, it is displayed in its chosen layer colour without using the profile, but when two or more CMYK layers are viewed together, they are displayed in their actual colours from the CMYK profile.
Make sure Single as Spot is switched off if you do not want the chosen colours in your colourways to affect the view of the individual layers, and you only want to see the true CMYK colours from the profile.
Note: Single as Spot is only available when .c.m.y.k as CMYK Image is switched on.
Default layer transparency
Sets the transparency of all new layers to the percentage entered. The higher the percentage, the more transparent the layers will be.
Use ICC Profile on RGB and CMYK Images
Setting these options mean, when you have an RGB or CMYK image layer that is not tagged with an ICC profile, a generic ICC profile will be used to colour match them. The advantage of this is to help print consistency within your studio as images not tagged with an ICC profile can print differently from other systems. It can also help ensure that when printing images that white areas print blank. The disadvantage is that the colour of the image will change slightly.
The profile used for RGB image layers is Generic RGB Profile.icc and for CMYK image layers is Generic CMYK Profile.icc. These are controlled by the Mac®OS, it's not a setting users can change.
Note: Although these two settings can be used as a global profile option within AVA, it is more applicable nowadays to apply colour profiles directly to individual files or layers. This gives you more control and flexibility as you are able to easily select from a range of profiles at any time. Refer to the section later in this chapter named Embedding ICC profiles on CMYK and RGB image layers.
Preview single visible Spot Layers in unmanaged black
If users choose this option, any single visible spot layer will be shown in an unmanaged black colour. 'Unmanaged' means there is no soft proofing to the printer or Soft Proof profile and the substrate will be a monitor white rather than your profile's white point. This is very useful for engraving workflows or anyone doing technical separation work as it can show the tonal breakdown of a layer more clearly, making it easier to spot errors.
To use this option:
AVA Settings > Overprint & Colour Management Settings
Tick Preview single visible Spot Layers in unmanaged black
Use the eye icon to preview only the layer you want to see in black. 
In our example below you can see the separation with a single colour managed black.
Below, you can see the same layer with 'Preview single visible Spot Layers in unmanaged black' checked. You can see in the images that it is clearer to see the tonal movement on the spot layer.
