[whynot1983]

Hello people in the T-Shirt Forum world!

This is my first post to your lovely community here! I wanted to share some work I've done recently and get some feedback on it.

I've been doing simulated process seps since Jan 2010, so I'm pretty new to the idea. It was my first time working with Photoshop and heavy half-tone work. We usually print spot color jobs that include a few half-tone areas to get a wider range of color, but nothing this intense! Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

I also was wondering about freelance work. I've seen that some people charge up to $75/color and was thinking that $35 seemed more then fair for this kind of work. Any tips on how to network or get my work/name out there?

I didn't do any of the artwork or printing for these jobs. All of these seps were pulled in Photoshop, with no extra software. I output all sim pro at 65 or 70lpi and we expose them on 305 - 355 mesh. I usually get a 300dpi .jpg that is sized and ready to be printed, then pull my seps in Photoshop from there.

Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance,
Anthony.

[media]http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad53/whynot1983/01.jpg[/media]
[media]http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad53/whynot1983/02.jpg[/media]
[media]http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad53/whynot1983/03.jpg[/media]
[media]http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad53/whynot1983/04.jpg[/media]
[media]http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad53/whynot1983/05.jpg[/media]
[media]http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad53/whynot1983/08.jpg[/media]

 

[ShirlandDesign]

Awesome work!
If you've done index seps, how do the two compare? Also there have been folks doing channel seps, I've only found light info on these, any links to a "how to" on these bad boys?

 

[whynot1983]

Awesome work!
If you've done index seps, how do the two compare? Also there have been folks doing channel seps, I've only found light info on these, any links to a "how to" on these bad boys?

Thanks! Index seps are limited by the amount of colors you can fit on a press. They hold great detail, but since you're not mixing any colors, you have to have an index for every color you want to print. In simulated process, you can cheat a little bit. I can explain more if you are not familiar with the process, but again, I'm still new to all of this.

As far as channel seps go, that's what I use every time. There are a few ways to go about getting your colors into the channels but the most prominent is to use the eye dropped tool, select the color you want to pull, go up into the menu --> Select --> Color Range. This will get you a slider that you can manipulate. The whole idea of the color range is that, the more you apply, the more it grabs, 'like' colors to add to the selection. After you click, 'ok' you get a outlined area of 'matching ants'. Go into your channels with this still outlined and fill it with black. Rinse and repeat.

After that, there is a lot of tweaking with the 'Curves' tool (menu --> Image --> Adjust --> Curves). If you want more detailed info about something specific, let me know.

I have found a few tuts online, but nothing special. Just go to youtube and google and do a basic search. They are everywhere, but without practice and testing, you will never learn this process at all. I had a lot of trial and error, but the last 5 or 6 simulated process jobs have made it to the press with no revisions. Which is really nice! Learning what percentages print well is a BIGGIE, if you want your seps to turn out well.

Thanks again,
Anthony.

 

[ShirlandDesign]

I have a six color press and run my separations through Screen print Separator. Needles to say this kind of limits the design process. What I've done until I can afford to upgrade is make a backlit vacuum platen and will print the complex designs as transfers, a bit time consuming but at this point I have more time than money.

So, you don't do your sim. proc. seps. through a program (like) S. P. S.? I know channels from doing channel maskes but have never color sepe'd that way. Also have used color replace to tweak images before indexing them to get a better sep.

You said that you can get more range in Sim. Proc. i.e. less screens for the same image?

You definitely have me intrigued, oh Jedi of the screen print process.

 

[macmiller]

this post oughta get you some business, great work!

 

[foot print]

i've always said you are only as good as your seps...whynot1983 your seps make you king..!! i have been screen printing for a long time, but just recently started learning PS and AI and when i grow up i want to make seps just like you.

 

[whynot1983]

Yea, the whole idea of sim pro is to simulate the idea behind CMYK, to achieve photo realistic prints on dark garments, where CMYK doesn't work. Your results with sim pro are predictable, no matter what color garment you print it on.

I was limited to 8 screen total on all my sep jobs. I will give you a break down of how many colors are in each of these prints.

8 screens - James Otto
5 screens - Rhino
8 screens - Quest for Arcadian Treasure
5 screens - The Wilson
5 screens - Red
5 screens - Freedom Concerts

And remember that each of these designs require a base, so really, most of these are 4 colors printed on a white base.

I pull all of my seps through Photoshop and the channels. Here are a few articles that I enjoyed when I was learning:

So Real: The Art & Science of Simulated Process

Simulated Process Color Separations and Photoshop

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u4aai8jjl4[/media]


Those should get you started in a good direction.

And let me say 1 more thing. The simulated process that I'm talking about is with photo tee's and high detailed artwork, that is not in vector format. Something like this:

http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad53/whynot1983/picture114.jpg

is in vector format and is 3 colors; yellow, pink and blue. But, the ink itself mixes and you get a purple and orange effect. That, technically is simulated process.. and with that idea, you can tweak your designs to achieve these kinds of results and save yourself money.

I think REAL simulated process is when you can take a picture of anything and get it down to 6-12 colors and make it print like it's 100's.

 

[whynot1983]

this post oughta get you some business, great work!

Thank you very much! I was recently laid off (because the company went out of business) and I want to be able to freelance and spend time with my kids.

Hopefully this all works out! lol!

 

[whynot1983]

i've always said you are only as good as your seps...whynot1983 your seps make you king..!! i have been screen printing for a long time, but just recently started learning PS and AI and when i grow up i want to make seps just like you.

Well, thank you! If you ever need anything let me know.

 

[ShirlandDesign]

You rule Ynot,
If I am ever in a position to be of service, just ask.

 

[mikelmorgan]

We have been doing index and sim seps for some time. We quit doing simulated a couple of years ago. Index is a really good way to sep art and is much easier once you get the hang of what your doing. Look into it and see what you think.

 

[yufirst]

Those are great seps. I've been playing with a hybrid technique lately. I like the ease of index seps, but I also like the smooth blends with sim pro seps. So here is what I am trying. I'm doing an index sep on my image at really high dpi (1200). Pulling my channels from the resulting image. Once I have my channels of square dots at 1200 dpi set, I convert the image back to rgb. Then I use the image size command to reduce the image back down to 200-300 dpi. What this does is blurs the sqaure dots so that you have grayscale channels that mix correctly. Instant sim pro. Give it a try and keep up the good work.

 

[whynot1983]

Those are great seps. I've been playing with a hybrid technique lately. I like the ease of index seps, but I also like the smooth blends with sim pro seps. So here is what I am trying. I'm doing an index sep on my image at really high dpi (1200). Pulling my channels from the resulting image. Once I have my channels of square dots at 1200 dpi set, I convert the image back to rgb. Then I use the image size command to reduce the image back down to 200-300 dpi. What this does is blurs the sqaure dots so that you have grayscale channels that mix correctly. Instant sim pro. Give it a try and keep up the good work.

Nice! I'll have to check that out!

Thanks for the tip,
Anthony.