Angles for 4 color process

Set it at 61

With full color process, you don't want the angles the same since the colors have to miss each other. The best values I've found are:

22.5 for Yellow
67.5 for Magenta
7.5 for Cyan
37.5 for Black

If you take your mesh and divide it by 4.5 you can get a good screen frequency

Also, you may want to use Elliptical dots

All these combinations should eliminate any type of moire pattern you would normally get.

I've found that a set angle of 22.5 for all screens works great. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was always under the impression that different angles for CMYK was an outdated concept?

Correct. All of mine are set at 61 and I never have moire problems.

boxcar22 said:

I've found that a set angle of 22.5 for all screens works great. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was always under the impression that different angles for CMYK was an outdated concept?

Click to expand...

I was always under the guise of the same angles being for simulated process. I've seen better results with CMYK at different angles.

If you are getting good results with all the same angles, then I wouldn't mess with anything. Typically the reason for different angles is to get rid of moire.

Different angles allow you to achieve a wider variation of colors and subtleties in your image. The same angle dulls colors because they stack up. There is a reason for the rosette pattern, it allows the colors to work in a pattern which layers the edges of dots in a way to mix secondary and tertiary colors.

Conventional offset angles are adjusted in screen printing to help with the reduction of moire patterns.

I use the following:

• cyan = 75°
• magenta = 15°
• yellow = 105°
• black = 45°

I get good results from different angles on each screen. I have done this since the start......

Hello, my name is Ash, new to photoshop CS4, agree with you on screen angles, wandering if you can assist me with talk through on changing my angles in photoshop for 4 col work, I am at present using 77T Mesh and have been using default angles and are having trouble with Moire. Can the 77T Mesh be used or is it better to go to 100T Mesh or higher for the halftonees?
Any help in this matter will be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards
Ash.

TFrazier said:

Different angles allow you to achieve a wider variation of colors and subtleties in your image. The same angle dulls colors because they stack up. There is a reason for the rosette pattern, it allows the colors to work in a pattern which layers the edges of dots in a way to mix secondary and tertiary colors.

Conventional offset angles are adjusted in screen printing to help with the reduction of moire patterns.

Click to expand...

Interesting. I have always used the same angles 27.5
and I have noticed that when I do full color on dark garments with an underbase the prints always come out looking duller. On my next cmyk job I will do the different angles to see if that fixes the problem.

I agree with above poster. Different angles gives you a wider range of color. Most Applications like Photoshop have preset angles and frequency by Adobe or someone else. Huge difference with offset they use the traditional 15,75,0,45 to avoid. In screen printing the idea is to make sure you miss as many of the knuckle's or cross over threads as possible. So elliptical dots and varying angles. Not traditional ones that would potentially hit every knuckle. We print with food color inks and use 255 mesh for 4cp. and they print beautifully. All my Photoshop and Illustrator files are set up then placed into InDesign templates for output and I set my angels/frequencies there then rip.

good luck!

color frq ang
Cyan 55.0 22.5
Magenta 55.0 52.0
Yellow 55.0 82.5
Black 55.0 82.5

denck said:

color frq ang
Cyan 55.0 22.5
Magenta 55.0 52.0
Yellow 55.0 82.5
Black 55.0 82.5

Click to expand...

hi

i've seen lots of different angles used with varying outcomes but i usually go with
15
165
45
45

hi

i am trying to output a jpeg image as 4 colour process in illustrator, we output the films but are getting a bad moire pattern..

for all process jobs we put these on a 120 mesh and i output them as 65lp as this is the lowest setting illustrator allows me.

what screen angles do i need to use, im confused as there is so many.

becki4 said:

hi

i am trying to output a jpeg image as 4 colour process in illustrator, we output the films but are getting a bad moire pattern..

for all process jobs we put these on a 120 mesh and i output them as 65lp as this is the lowest setting illustrator allows me.

what screen angles do i need to use, im confused as there is so many.

Click to expand...

Even though there are various angles listed, many different combinations will work. If you want to simplify it, start with black at 45 degrees. Then go C M Y, adding 30 degrees each time. Black 45, C 75, M 105, Y 135. I listed some earlier in the thread that works as well.

As for your pattern, the reason is you mesh count is way too low. 305 mesh would work better for process colors, then you would divide the number of mesh by 4.5 (some say 4 and some say 5, I like the middle). Then whatever that number is, that is your line screen.

In silkscreen printing you want to avoid the threads and knuckle areas of the mesh as much as possible. I would stay away from angles used in offset any horizontal, vertical, 45's and 90's. More of your dots would land on them limiting your ink lay down. Thus using angles such as
172 Cyan 112 Magenta 8 yellow 52 black and elliptical dots you have better a chance of getting more lay down by missing more of the knuckles. We have tested this and it works. Good luck!

Are you seeing the moire pattern when looking at the film on a light table? All for films being reviewed at once?

OK, we all have our frequency and angle preference.. what about for the white base and for highlight white, what is the best angle to use.... thanks

Just printed 4 cp with offset angles, 100T, came up excellent