Separation Help / Anyone Available?

[Get Shirts]

This might be asking a bit much, but would any of the separation pros on the board here be willing to spend a minute with me looking at an image and discussing a few separation options?  We do a fair amount of 4CP printing but always seem to fall just short of great looking prints.

Thanks in advance!

Greg

[mimosatexas]

Not to jump on the bandwagon here, but I'd be interested in any tips as well.  I have just started cmyk and complex sim process stuff now that I have the proper equipment and getting good seps is still pretty time consuming for not the best results at the moment...

[myseps]

Let me know how I can help

[Rockers]

Not to jump on the bandwagon here, but I'd be interested in any tips as well.  I have just started cmyk and complex sim process stuff now that I have the proper equipment and getting good seps is still pretty time consuming for not the best results at the moment...

Check  Ben`s blog or website, there is some good stuff available.
A 45 minutes walk through incl. the actual art file for download
http://risingsungraphics.com/
http://risingsungraphics.com/simulated-process-color-seprations-tutorial/

[Dottonedan]

What you do now, (if just looking for some tips for you to do it), is to post up the image. I and many will be glad to offer some suggestions. If looking for a quote, send a jpg or art file to one of us or all interested to get a quote with options.


Yes, Ben has some good tips on vids. He does it a tad different that I do and prob so does Myseps, but you get a little different from each one prob. All that produce good results is a good way. Their prob is no "best way".


Sent to art@designsbydottone.com


Thanks
Dan

[mimosatexas]

Thanks for the tips and the links.  I'll upload something within the next few days once my client finalizes the details on the design.  I am definitely fine with paying for separations as well, but I would like to "watch" and learn as much as possible about how the final product is created so I can do the simpler jobs myself.  I definitely see why there are people who specialize in this area and don't see myself trying to handle the more complex work on my own in the future, but right now I barely ever get these jobs and would love to start learning the printing side of it without scaring away clients with the additional expense of hiring out the seps.

[Get Shirts]

Thanks Dan, I'll do that. 

I'm sure someone has posted this before, but I found this article extremely helpful for setting the stage of a successful 4cp print... At least in theory http://printwearmag.com/article/screen-printing/separations-for-four-color-process-printing.

I see the value in outsourcing complicated seps, just as I see value in an accountant doing my taxes. However, in the ongoing effort to make my shop better/stronger/smarter I (we) need to understand what works and why.

So I'll post the image and hopefully the discussion will help others too.

Thanks guys.

[Get Shirts]

Okay, so here are two designs that we're setting up for production.  Hopefully these are common questions with regards to 4CP & Sim Process prints and any answers will help some others too.  We have had moderate success with our 10 or so Simulated Process jobs that we have printed, better each time, but one issue I run into doing the seps are rough transitions.  Instead of smooth transitions they almost seems to become grouped together into varying opacities of a color.  We're doing this in PS via color range.  Tricks?

The first (on black background) we'll run as a Sim Process.  I am thinking 5C:  Base, Hi-White, Light Blue, Darker Blue, Grey.  Pretty straight forward, but any advice on the seps, print order, or otherwise would be great.

The second image is going to be 4CP and will print on both dark and light shirts and the colors will need to be pretty spot on.  We're using Union 4CP inks and we'll need to keep the image consistent regardless of shirt color.  Note:  The image is EXTREMELY pixelated by design. 

These are my questions:
-     Assuming the fabric can be discharged, should we use a Discharge White + Hi-White (plasticol)? 
-     With so much Black Ink being laid down we want to avoid basing the Black, right?
-     If so, could someone help me through creating the base for the remaining CMY?

Thanks guys!

[blue moon]

the black shirt one is easy, sim process as low as three colors (gray ubase, blue and hiwhite) as many as five. should print fine no matter what you do as long as you remember to keep the white highlight at more than 10% coverage (to avoid banding).

the bb team I would not do in 4CP. In my opinion, it is a no go on the manual and to dial the colors in right on an auto you will have to really know what's going on. Additionally, everything will shift as the garment color changes and you might even have to burn new screens to overcome the garment color peaking through and shifting hues. Even with sim process, the color will come through and impact the final outcome, but it will be slightly easier to control and might even be close enough to run without messing around.

what kind of press and screens is this going on?

pierre

[Get Shirts]

Thanks for the response.  I agree, the black shirt is going to be cake.  Could you expand on your white highlight / 10% comment? 

We'll be running both of the jobs on our 8/10 Sporty, 305's Shurloc frames w/ consistent tension.  With the way the customer has submitted the art I'm concerned that we'll loose some of the finer tones as a sim process print.  That, and with only 8 heads we're limited. 

In the past we have had some success with a p/f/p underbase, but it's too heavy.  I was hoping to bypass the hand by either (ideally) using a DC base or a DC + Plasticol base to keep it thin-ish.