What program do you suggest for Seperations?

[Dottonedan]

Side note. I just got back to this test film as seen in figure 2 and that is a 55lpi using Film Maker3 XL RIP.
Printer was a 4800. 1440 SD HS. Variable for 2/90%. Chromoline AccuInk.

This film is great and density of the dots are solid. The dot or math user to plot the ink spatter is lacking as you get tighter in the lower dot range.  Mechanically, it would be no wonder why people can't hold a 3% dot in a 55lpi.

[easyrider1340]

I use Ultraseps and Accurip.   Like them both. 

[blue moon]

Side note. I just got back to this test film as seen in figure 2 and that is a 55lpi using Film Maker3 XL RIP.
Printer was a 4800. 1440 SD HS. Variable for 2/90%. Chromoline AccuInk.

This film is great and density of the dots are solid. The dot or math user to plot the ink spatter is lacking as you get tighter in the lower dot range.  Mechanically, it would be no wonder why people can't hold a 3% dot in a 55lpi.

SD HS indicates bidirectional printing which produces inferior results. For anybody caring about the 3% or lower dot, switching to one direction will solve this. Also, going to higher resolution makes a significant difference.

see here:
http://www.theshirtboard.com/index.php/topic,8018.msg80980.html#msg80980

pierre

[ABuffington]

About halftone range, no matter what rip or image device you use:

It is almost impossible to image a dot below 4%.  The threads will eventually block some of the tones completely.  This results in Vignette moire or a striped pattern in a sky print that fades to shirt color. Some of the threads block the very small dots, some can be imaged in the open area.  True image setters using processed film have a significant halftone quality that ink jet cannot come close to, no matter how well the machine is working, the edge of a halftone from and imagesetter is flawlessly sharp, while an ink jet halftone is a collection of pico liter dots that do not land together to form much of a dot at all.  The older or more used the ink jet machine is the more scattered the halftone dot.

For this reason I prefer to curve the output from Photoshop to the RIP.  I eliminate the dots below 4% as well as those from 96% on up.  They simply cannot be imaged on the screen completely due to mesh threads blocking the small openings or halftone dots.

Linearization is the next step to better halftones, a method to control dot gain on film that is available in RIP's like Wasatch.  Finally you can also punch contrast and apply curves to enhance the halftone output that helps keep the higher line counts open and the lower line counts printing completely at the tonal value you see in Photoshop. 

Al

[mk162]

pierre, have you switched to uni-directional printing?

[blue moon]

pierre, have you switched to uni-directional printing?

Only for the competition level prints, which we have not done in a year or so now . . .

pierre

[Logoman]

Do ultra seps and T seps work the same?

[screenxpress]

I think 'similar' is the best answer.

That's about like asking if QuickSeps, Ultraseps, SimpleSeps, SeparationStudio, FastFilms, Tseps (and more that I can't think of right now) work the same?

The are all similar in that they try to produce simulated process separations.  If you ask which one is best, it would be like asking what car brand is best.  Everyone will have an opinion, usually on the one they have.  I've used QuickSeps and now UltraSeps.  Is it the best?  Don't know.  Haven't tried all the ones on the market, but I'm fairly content.

Not trying to be difficult, but you're going to have to try the ones that have evaluation periods and draw your own conclusions, to a point.

[Dottonedan]

Good answer ScreenXpress.

[Logoman]

I have T-Sep but have never been able to get it work well for me. I may not understand the in's and out's of it

[screenxpress]

I downloaded the manual and looks similar to a lot of the others.  Some file basics to start -

A.In RGB mode. (Check by going to Image/Mode)
B.Flattened with ONLY a Background layer (the easiest way to ensure this is to save the files in .JPG format
–Photoshop will automatically flatten the visible layers.)
C.Have NO additional channels other than RGB: Red, Green, Blue

and then turn it loose and tweak the channels it created.

Here's the PDF for the Reference Manual
http://t-biznetwork.com/download/T-Seps20-EnglishManual-UPDATED.pdf

And a little promo from Scott himself -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxW-QfbVV04

Hope something there helps.

[lemorris]

Ultraseps

[tonypep]

Gets my vote

[Sbrem]

Ultraseps 2 and AccuRIP here, happy with both. Ultraseps is good start, but I have been separating for a long time, so I usually make tweaks to the channels based on my experience. You can't beat knocking out multiple channels in a few minutes to cut the processing time way down. a few base whites, a few highlight whites, 3 blacks to choose from, and if you don't like your options, you're already in Photoshop and can make any custom channel you could need...

Steve

[Maxie]

Has anyone used Ultraseps and Seperation Studio?
How do they compare?