[nudepuppy]

Hi all, after years of not printing I am about to set-up shop again. What printers & positive films can people recommend to produce good positives up to A3 (or larger). I recall an epson model being popular 5 years ago. Either inkjet or laser.
Also, what screenprint specific program would anyone suggest for colour separating positives, both spot colour & process.
Thank you in advance,
Steve

 

[ole Jobe]

The Epson 1400 is relatively inexpensive and does a good job. Corel Draw is cheaper than the Adobe programs and easier to learn. I have done process separations from Corel X4 and gotten satisfactory results. Inkscape is a free vector based program, and Gimp, also free, resembles Adobe's Photoshop program for bitmaps. I have never used either but many people do. God Bless.

 

[PositiveDave]

Epson 1400 and Corel works out pretty cheaply and will give you a result.

 

[Nick Rocco]

Pardon the newbie question but I am just exploring screen printing for the first time.

Can you use a standard Epson 1400 printer?

I currently have an HP OfficeJet 8550 and I am not sure if I could use it or not to produce film positives.

Thanks,
NR

 

[in2infinity]

In theory any decent ink-jet will work. You'll need transparency film made specifically for printing film positives. The things to consider when choosing a printer are:

1.) Output size. Your films have to be as big as your print. so and 8.5 x 11 won't work for a 12" x 12" shirt print. 11" x 17" is good, 13" x 19" better.

2.) Output software. If you plan to use a RIP (if you print 1/2 tones or process colors you should) then you'll need to get a printer that's compatible with the RIP you want to use.

3.) Odds and ends ... some printer drivers allow you to adjust black output, others don't. You'll want that feature to get the darkest blacks you can. It's not a must have, but will make your life easier - especially if you're printing fine detail.

 

[Nick Rocco]

How does the use of something like Simple Seps come into play? Do you still need a RIP or does the Simple Seps take it's place?

Also, with the Epson 1400 do you need to replace all of the color cartridges with black? I have seen the BlackMax system; is it necessary?

 

[UniqueInk805]

The Epson 1400 wont allow you to change all the cartridges to black unfortunately.

 

[nudepuppy]

Thanks for the great feedback, hugely appreciated.
In regards to software, I'm quite literate in photoshop & corel draw but am looking more for a specific colour sep proggy, checked out QUICKSEP online, anyone had any experience with this software & if so, can anyone recommend? Cheers,
Steve

 

[Celtic]

Yes, I use QuikSeps Pro and it's an excellent product.
It does spot, simulated, process color, graytones, fleshtones, index, etc....
It's just a great program.
I also run AccuRip. Very happy with this program too.

 

[Nick Rocco]

Do you need both the AccuRip and Seps type software?

I understand what the Quick Seps or Simple Seps programs do but it seems like the AccuRip does the same thing.

 

[nudepuppy]

thank you for the reply, very reassuring re/ quickseps, think i will go with it. Do you need to run AccuRip in conjunction with quickseps or can quickseps do it all? Lokking at using an Epsom 1400. Thanks in advance.

 

[Celtic]

Do you need both the AccuRip and Seps type software?

I understand what the Quick Seps or Simple Seps programs do but it seems like the AccuRip does the same thing.

No, don't do the same thing.
QuikSeps is a color sepp program, but it also does do some RIPS (halftone assignments).

AccuRip is strictly a RIP program. It dictates the size, angle, dots per inch, and dot shape and sends that info to your printer. It does not do any color separation.

 

[Celtic]

thank you for the reply, very reassuring re/ quickseps, think i will go with it. Do you need to run AccuRip in conjunction with quickseps or can quickseps do it all? Lokking at using an Epsom 1400. Thanks in advance.

No, you don't have to run AccuRip in conjuction with QuikSeps. And yes, QuikSeps can do it all for you, however, you won't be able to have as much control with choosing halftone dot shapes, etc. But, cost being a factor, and hey, isn't it?
If I were you, I would go with the QuikSeps Pro and then later, down the road, add the AccuRip.

 

[blackout]

does anyone have Qsep to sell am interest

 

[seoirserob]

I've been using a standard HP inkjet for some time now. most designs will fit within an A4, if they don't I place two together with no loss in quality, and much cheaper than buying an A3 or other. Recently I tried a different standard Inkjet, but could not adjust the amount of ink . . . the resulting prints to acetate were not good enough. Being able to adjust the ink level used is very important in this regard.

 

[talong]

i want to buy color separator software,, pls email me [email protected] / @gmail.com here in laguna philippines,, tnx