Hey Doug - The AccuRIP doesn't really care what program you use. It just wants to tell the printer to lay down more ink and to print halftone dots when it sees dots.
That said, most custom screen printers do spot color work and lettering effects for their customers. That means most commonly using CorelDraw, or to a lesser extent Illustrator. Both do the job and it comes down to what you're most comfortable with.
PhotoShop is generally a second program for photographic reproduction, and not likely what you'll be doing as a new printer. The bread and butter of this business is 1-3 color spot color graphics.
Student version, yes buy it if you can. Any student or teacher can buy any of these programs for about 1/2 of regular price.
Be happy to answer any other questions. Best of luck!
That said, most custom screen printers do spot color work and lettering effects for their customers. That means most commonly using CorelDraw, or to a lesser extent Illustrator. Both do the job and it comes down to what you're most comfortable with.
PhotoShop is generally a second program for photographic reproduction, and not likely what you'll be doing as a new printer. The bread and butter of this business is 1-3 color spot color graphics.
Student version, yes buy it if you can. Any student or teacher can buy any of these programs for about 1/2 of regular price.
Be happy to answer any other questions. Best of luck!
