How do I make a halftone on a one color design to give it contrast?

[Mark @ Hurricane Printing]

I am using coreldraw x5

I have a school design (mascot and text) I had to re-create. it is a one color job (navy blue)....the mascot face (a bluejay) is behind the text of the school name.

It is all one color and the face is blending in with the text...I need to keep it all one color.

Isn't there a way to make the bluejay face a halftoned/pixel effect to make it a appear a lighter blue?

I am looking thru youtube for such a process and i recall seeing one years ago doing the exact thing I need to get done and i can't locate the vid as of yet..I figured i'd ask here...it's a rush job and i need to get the artwork done today.

[Prosperi-Tees]

Is the bluejay face a separate piece of the image or is it all welded together?

[Sbrem]

If I were doing what you're describing in Photoshop,  would select the Blue Jay part and lighten it there, with either Levels or Curves. Since I can't see your picture, it's a little hard to go into further detail. Your working in X5, so is it vectors? If so, you probably need to cut it out of the rest of the design if it's not separate already...

Steve

[larryk]

I would give the mascot a 30% fill of the color used on the text and print it all at 45 dpi. I would also give text about a 4 pt. white outline to make it stand out a little more.

[Prosperi-Tees]

I would give the mascot a 30% fill of the color used on the text and print it all at 45 dpi. I would also give text about a 4 pt. white outline to make it stand out a little more.

This! You can use a transparent outline or the shirt color as the outline to keep it at 1 color.

[Sbrem]

I would give the mascot a 30% fill of the color used on the text and print it all at 45 dpi. I would also give text about a 4 pt. white outline to make it stand out a little more.

This! Always add a stroke to the outside of the text if it's against a halftone "ghost". It just looks so much cleaner, and easier to read.

Steve

I need to edit; sometimes, the stroke is clear, say in a one color print...

[Mark @ Hurricane Printing]

thanks everyone....while waiting for a response i figured out the transparency tool....and also how to pick the pantone color and use the slider to make the color lighter...right now i have the slider at 45.


BUT..I did not know about adding the 1 point stroke to make the text stand out...good idea!!

And to answer another question: the bluejay head is a separate part of the image.

[larryk]

You might want a little more than a 1 pt stroke for your outline and when you assign the size you should also check the "Behind Fill" and "Scale with image" boxes. I have found those to be good habits to use.

[Mark @ Hurricane Printing]

here is the design....going on grey sweater.

Which would you recommend?

I have the halftone set to 35%..I may go to 30%

110 mesh with freq at 35, angle at 25

or

156 mesh with freq at 45, angle at 25

[Frog]

For more control and consistency,I would probably be (manually) printing that with two colors, especially on fleece.
And what's with the white outline? Is that another color, or was it supposed to just be shirt color there?
Also, have you got a handle on what to expect for dot gain?  Between output and actual printing, 20% gain is not far-fetched.

[cbjamel]

remember when doing the transparency tool does it different than doing a percentage of a color. I try not to do transparence tool.  Seems like it chokes the size halftones. Proof wise transparency, but printwise do percentage. But thats me.
SHane

[Frog]

here is the design....going on grey sweater.

Which would you recommend?

I have the halftone set to 35%..I may go to 30%

110 mesh with freq at 35, angle at 25

or

156 mesh with freq at 45, angle at 25

 I just noticed that these numbers greatly run the risk of moire interference patterns.We usually shoot for 4.5 times the line frequency to establish mesh count. That means that for 156 it would be no higher than 35 and for the 110, 25. Sometimes we do all right with a factor of 4, but never as low as you are proposing.

http://murakamiscreen.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/HalftoneAnglestopreventmoire.pdf

https://internationalcoatings.wordpress.com/2013/06/15/screen-printing-tip-of-the-week-preventing-moire-patterns/

[cbjamel]

I do 45lpi at 25degrees no problem on 156 yellow mesh, I also do some 55lpi/25d for the most part no problem. Those a great guides.

But thats me.

Shane

[Grumpy Ole Artist]

Although initially mandated by my inexplicable loss of higher halftone functions in my Corel 12, In the interest of giving custy's the most accurate proofs possible. I tend to place separate tiff files into my documents for haltones...If you have photoshop, (for a simple deal like this) it only takes a minute...Create a Grayscale doc in p-shop the same physical size as your corel doc at 300 lpi. select entire area (ctrlA) and fill with either a gradient to your liking, or in this case, using the "fill" tool, a percentage of Black. ( I would go about 40%) convert to TIFF, set halftones angle/dpi to your liking...save it where you can find it, and import into corel. Whew! Still with me? Almost there! with tiff selected, set your fill to nothing, & your OUTLINE to whatever named pantone color you want...using power clipping, paste the tiff into the outline of your bkgd mascot shape, et, Voila! You will have an exact depiction of how it will print on a shirt (Less possible dot gain, but average custy will never notice...

Edit: Sorry, forgot...the coolest by-product of doing it this way (at least with muliti-color jobs) is that your dots will "nestle" in perfect "butt" registration with a second color...An end result (AFAIK) that is  impossible using standard higher halftone output options through Corel...dots won't nestle, they stack...

2nd edit: Sorry, one last thing...resulting field of dots will look "grainy" & rough, fear not, this is merely Corel's preview of a tiff, dots will print out nice & crisp on seps!

[Mark @ Hurricane Printing]

For more control and consistency,I would probably be (manually) printing that with two colors, especially on fleece.
And what's with the white outline? Is that another color, or was it supposed to just be shirt color there?
Also, have you got a handle on what to expect for dot gain?  Between output and actual printing, 20% gain is not far-fetched.

I am manually printing

and the white outline was supposed to be the color of the shirt....i need to make that change before i print it out.