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Separation Software

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MC PRINTING:
I keep hearing people talk about certain software for screen printers. Things such as accurip and something that is a separation software, I am just asking what exactly are these and what do you all prefer to use if you use it at all what would you recommend? Isn't this the same thing as using illustrator or photoshop?

Sbrem:
I think you should sit and watch a ton of youtube videos to start to get an idea of the basics. To try to explain, there is software for creating art, such as Illustrator and Photoshop (Corel Draw is extremely popular on the PC side). After you create the art, it needs to be able to print out separations. In order to print out separations to an inkjet printer, you need a RIP (Raster Image Processor) to tell the printer how to print the separations. If you are creating a simple 2 color design in say Illustrator, you need to assign "spot colors" to the elements of the art. Let's say an American flag on a white shirt, you need to print red and blue. So, you assign a spot red and spot blue, and go the print dialog, choose the necessary settings to print separations, those files go to the RIP which then prints out the separations from the inkjet printer. (there is a lot of detail missing here, it's just an overview) For the complicated work, like Sim Process, I like to think that you should know how to do this in Photoshop, but it's a steep learning curve, and "separation software" does a lot of the footwork for you; there are few, like AccuRIP and Separation Studio and others, again, look them up on youtube. You have come to the right place for help, a lot of really great printers with a lot of free advice. You have a lot to learn yet, so feel free to ask here...

Steve

Andy caught my error above, I mentioned AccuRIP as separation software, and I meant to say UltraSeps. Thanks Andy

MC PRINTING:
Thank you Steve for the input, much appreciated  !!!

JORDANART:
   I've been a screen print artist for over nine years. I use Coreldraw, Illustrator, and Photoshop.
For Simulated Process designs I have always had trouble creating the seps from scratch using Photoshop. About two years ago we bought UltraSeps v2. This program really boosted the quailty of my sim process prints! I highly recommend Ultra Seps for creating Simulated Process prints. You still have to edit the seps by merging colors and adjusting the value using Curves but it has made a world of difference in our production and quality.
   At the beginning of my work week I had some issues with the program booting up and their customer service was very helpful in resolving my problem. They had it corrected with in 30 min of me realizing that I had an issue.
   Steve is right though, youtube is the best resource for gaining knowledge. Other than theshirtboard of course.

JORDANART:
 I also use T-RIP as my rip software. I like it for the most part but I have seen some great halftones come out of accurip. Anyone else have a Rip software they prefer for their separations?

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