I need help with this one, not new to printing at all. but new to full/simulated color printing. I have this design which I want to print on white shirts I wanted to use 4 colors for this. (Black, Green, and 2 shades of blue) From what I read simulated process would be the best solution. I dont have any color separation software and couldnt find any companies that offer this. Maybe someone can point me in the right direction or help me out. I know this can be done with photoshop and I am fairly handy with PS but could not find a decent explanation that didnt require extra software/plugins.
Please let me know, willing to compensate for the help on the artwork if a lot of work is required. Thanks
For a white garment, your color choices are correct. You should post this in the graphic design section and someone will provide a link to learn separations. You only need PS to sep this design. Oh, and maybe a layout program to corral your seps but not totally necessary depending on your set-up.
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if its only going on white shirts, is cmyk printng not an option?ive tried to separate it using cmyk with 55lpi..here's the photoshop mockup of the separation (reduced the image to be able to upload it quickly).
As long as the printer is set-up to do really good cmyk printing, I don't see why not. The problem I see is that the image is mainly Blue. Using cmyk, it'll be really easy to sway that color either too Cyan or too Purple. Also, the green is going to be made of Cyan and Yellow. While fiddling to get perfect Blue clouds, your green will be affected. I'd rather go direct colors rather than process since the plate count is the same.
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Weigh the world and pry asunder all things to their inmost core.
You will find them made of wonder, everything is something more.
I think 5 max if you want to print White on White. Also, Index would be the last choice IMO for this job. The constant fade outs to garment are going to look hella' janky unless your running heavy handed on the noise or doing the hybrid indexed halftone rigamarole. For the smoothest transitions to the garment, I believe a standard halftone is the best bet.
__________________
Weigh the world and pry asunder all things to their inmost core.
You will find them made of wonder, everything is something more.
I think 5 max if you want to print White on White. Also, Index would be the last choice IMO for this job. The constant fade outs to garment are going to look hella' janky unless your running heavy handed on the noise or doing the hybrid indexed halftone rigamarole. For the smoothest transitions to the garment, I believe a standard halftone is the best bet.
"Index is another method of combining multiple colors to create different shades and tones. The difference between halftone and index is all in the 'dot size'. Halftone uses different sized dots to create gradations where as Index uses squares that are all the same size (like a computer monitor... think old video game images)
here's a good article that describes it well FAQ -=> Artwork
you'll also find an explanation of simulated process and spot color jobs on that site.
... Halftones would give you a smooth gradation into the garment background while the indexing can simplify the amount of colors needed and give good detail in the over design."
Thanks everyone for the help!. I ended up outsourcing it due to to time constraints, but am reading all these articles because it is something I should know how to do.
Thanks everyone for the help!. I ended up outsourcing it due to to time constraints, but am reading all these articles because it is something I should know how to do.
Uhh.... not sure what is the meaning of your response, jsf but thank you for the explanation of the difference between Index and Halftone. However, I am deeply familiar with both processes having used them since the early 90's.
Also, IME for any given design, Halftones and Index use the same # of colors. One separation process does not hold an advantage over the other concerning plate counts.
nickbarry, reading is nice and all, but nothing compares to having a go at it. You'll probably ruin some film, ruin some screens and ruin some shirts(pellons) but you'll begin to see how things correlate from computer screen to printed garment.
__________________
Weigh the world and pry asunder all things to their inmost core.
You will find them made of wonder, everything is something more.
(edit sp) Use 3 colors on white. Yes, 4 is better, but you can get away with 3, the dark blue can be mixed between the light and the black. Give it 5 minutes and you're done. 10 if you're still learning to use it . And don't index.
nice shameless plug.
Last edited by Girlzndollz; October 7th, 2009 at 08:56 PM.
Reason: edit self promotion and member name.
I agree with JSF. I would do Index with halftones for the fading. If the art was setup correctly using a transparent background then this would take only a couple extra steps to achieve and very little time and give a very good result. Not everyone realizes this but you can use halftones in an index sep to achieve smooth gradients.
Hi guys... working hard trying to keep up with them. Sorry for the delay in coming across these, sometimes it takes time. Sometimes, we don't see them at all if we aren't signed on at the right time, or in that section.
Any help by hitting the "Report Bad Post" button would be greatly appreciated, more than I can really express.
Please, please think about hitting the RBP button, just say "boo" as the explanation, we'll get it! And thank you graciously for any help.
Help with color sep for screenprinting 
