Separation Help.

[srabadan]

I have to separate a few print tiles based on the Northern Lights. I always have a terrible time with these blendy ones. Can one of you Jedis tell me how to approach this and keep all the soft gradients and saturated color in it?

[3Deep]

Not a jedi here, but I did a quick sep in photoshop and that is a good route to go...if you got a autosep program if your not verse at hand sepping and tweeting it.   The art looks harder than it really is, simprocess might produce the more vibrant colors for you, but your right the jedi's on here can point you down the road like a rocket, some really good sep guys here.

[Sbrem]

I might try an auto sep as Darryl suggests, but as an old-time separator from before those programs were around (fantastic time savers) I would remove the black first so I could have pure color to pull, Photoshop. Then back to the original, make a duplicate to work on, go to Image/Adjustments/Black and White, you can change the red and yellow/green to white, leaving you with a black and white image (the file has to be RGB) which you can invert for the stars, or use as is if you're printing on white shirts. The black removal is a bit tedious, but I have video on my desktop that I saved a couple of years ago from another poster, quite brilliant I thought, which was his opinion too, but we'll leave that alone. Let me know if you'd like to see that, and I can send it to you. It's too big to put here.

Steve

Hmmm, hey Andy, is it OK for me to share a video that was formerly available at multiple sites before the owner took it down? I wouldn't want to infringe on his work...

[screenxpress]

Tiles?  Screenprinting?

Photoshop?

Certainly not a Jedi, but trying to understand the job requirements. 

[srabadan]

This is getting sublimated. Having a sep allows us to use spot colors. I think I might have watched the video you’re referencing, the green beer bottle? I had my best result with that technique.

I normally use a photoshop script called YRGBK that has similar function to separation studio. Those programs seem to have trouble with art like this. I’ve asked the printer to give us a digital print using just process inks. We will see if the designers can live with it.

I’m out of the country for a few days so I won’t be able to work on it again for a minute. Thanks for your help. I’ll try to include a photo of the solution.

[Sbrem]

That's the one, the green beer bottle...

Steve

[screenxpress]

When I see 'sublimated', I assume it's going on a substrate other than fabric.  Yes, No?

I'm also assuming he's describing a CYMK (or CMYK) planned process.   Yes, No?

Either way, Ultraseps output this on a CMYK sep.  No white is produced so would be on a white substrate or whatever.

[Jay Kay]

To remove the black from the image

Duplicate the layer on top of the original
Invert the duplicate layer
Image>adjustments>black and white>maximum black
Set the layer to linear dodge (add)
ctrl+alt+shift+e will then stamp all visible into its own layer
You will now have just a layer with all the colors and no black and you can use this for separating colors.

[Sbrem]

Very nice, Jay!

Steve

[Prince Art]

Yes, Jay, thanks! For the procedure... but I did not know about "stamp visible." I've been doing the same thing in several more steps. This is much better.