Separation Studio: Worth the $$?

[kingscreen]

Pros?  Cons?

[mimosatexas]

I like it, but honestly rarely use it.  It definitely has some cons.  I think brandt uses it in his shop and can probably tell you more about it than I can.

[tonyt79]

I have been asking myself and others the same thing. Currently I use simple seps, and it seems to work pretty good for the most part but shows better on press than on screen. I cant rely on that so constantly changinging stuff around. scary to me and looking for a change. Sorry no help (and a side rant). But interested to hear results

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[Atownsend]

i tried separation studio & didn't like it. I didn't think it was user friendly & I had a hard time tweaking the seps how I wanted. I bought ultra seps last year and use it every day. It plugs into PS and you use the actions panel. It's pretty straight forward and you have a ton of options for tweaking the separations. It gets me 90% there on almost every separation. Apply some curves, merge / subtract channels add reg marks & boom you're done. Haven't had to outsource a separation in a while. And the ultra seps user guide is gold!

[GraphicDisorder]

We like it but we tweak everything in and out of it, not something we can just click a button and go to output.  We are also using another sep program at times (can't remember the name right this second).  Worth the money? I mean depends how you look at it. If you had to have everything sepped coming out of your shop you could pay for Sep studio pretty quickly on that math.  But if your doing it another way, then it may not feel as valuable. 

[Sbrem]

I learned to sep the old fashioned way, but have had different sep programs over the years as they definitely speed up the process. If you want to learn to do that, Mitch Different's offering on separating is quite good. As others mention, the files usually need tweaking, though not bad out of the box. It takes experience to learn to see what's going on at the press to be able to decide how you might tweak your separations. I use UltraSeps here, as it really speeds things up. I also know my way around Photoshop, which doesn't hurt at all. You get and learn to use the tools so you can go ahead and work and get the job done, time will just make you better at it.

Steve

[srabadan]

Hi there!

I work for a large childrenswear manufacturer, not a shop, but I have used it for years. It allows us to do much more intricate work and control the quality much easier than before.

If you find yourself turning away full color jobs now, are not afraid of photoshop, and have experience printing simulated process work it's a great investment. There is a learning curve and I think you will need to edit the results to get the most from it. We typically have to tune up what it gives us or edit the files before using (shift colors to what it's looking for mostly). Once you get the hang of it you can do most of these edits in less than a half hour for tricky files, others take just a few minutes.

It has it's weaknesses (browns, too much highlight white, too much grey) but it's magic when it works.

[lrsbranding]

It's the only separation software I've used so I can't compare to the others, but I do agree with srabadan. Too much highlight white and grey. Also I find myself using shades of colors other than the recommended pms colors to get the look I want.

[Colin]

My first question:

What type of files are you wanting to separate?  Full color art/photographs?  Greyscale art pieces? 

If the answer is yes:  Then buy the sep software of choice.



If you are only separating spot color work:  DO NOT BUY A SEPARATION PROGRAM.



Learn to do the separations yourself.  An out of the box sep program does not do regular spot colors well - AT ALL.  They are designed to generate colors in a different way than you will want.

There are a lot of step by step youtube videos out there that will get you started.



Personally, I do not like any of the automated software available.  But I am too picky and do all my seps myself.