Anyone wanna talk Sep software??

[Mr Tees!!]

...So, I have been using Ghostscript/Ghostview for my half tone seps, but lately its been doin some wonky stuff, I tried updating with no luck, so I am thinking it may be time to be a big boy and bring in some real software.

...Some history: I, as right now, have VERY litttle knowledge of how to use raster-manipulation programs. I can do a little level adjusting in Corel Photopaint, but not much at all in PS.....YET. I have the PS for Screenprinters training video (Great Dane Graphics) that I will begin working on, at least to get me started. (Anyone that has learned on one platform knows how daunting a task it is to learn on another.)

...So anyway, to get me by, I have downloaded the trial of Accurip which I can use for two weeks. I would like to explore my options in software so I can at least have something to start learning sim-process sepping with (I have PRINTED simpro stuff before, but not sepped it).

...would anyone like to recommend what might work okay for me? It definitely needs to be able to act as a RIP for halftones, and useable with Corel for now. I got an email for Quickseps Pro at a price that is half the cost of Accurip, and it looks like it does quite a bit more than Accurip.

...I dunno....Im open to suggestion and guidance here. Thanks gang!!!

[jasonl]

I hate to say it, but learn photoshop really well, and then do your own seps, no need for a program.  I have used them all.

[Prosperi-Tees]

QuickSeps is not a RIP, It is a sep program for Photoshop I believe. And Accurip is not a sep program it is just a RIP to print halftone dots thru an inkjet printer.

[Dottonedan]

Yes, it seems you may have a RIP confused with a SEP program.  They do not do the same thing. Once you purchase a RIP (used to print halftones) you will still need to create the separations to print to the RIP. Some do that themselves and some use separation plug ins or programs and others use freelancers to do this.


Separation programs break the colors down to a printable image (or some what). and then you send those files to your RIP so that it breaks it down into halftone dots so ink can be put through the dots to form the image on press.

[Denis Kolar]

I have tried Ultra Seps, I downloaded the 15 days trial and I can tell you that I was pretty impressed with the result. I did separate one CMYK job that came out pretty nice (PS only try was a failure, maybe just because I did not know what I was looking for).
I will be buying it when I save up a bit more extra money that I can use for software.

As far as the RIP, if you are looking for that, I use PS only for halftone conversion.
I might be looking into a Film Maker soon too.

[Frog]

So, if indeed, you mare interested in DIY software to separate colors in CorelDRAW, this program may interest you and was recently discussed here (in the same section to which I have moved this thread)

[Mr Tees!!]

...here is the link, it says that it does act as a RIP, if I am reading correctly:

      http://www.quikseps.com/

...from what I can tell, this is what they were selling before they updated it and renamed it Ultraseps(?)

...anyone familiar with this one? If it can interpret halftones, that alone is worth the dough versus $500 for Accurip (which I like by the way, but hey, times is tough out there , man!!)

[screenxpress]

I believe Steve has a Photoshop (only) RIP as part of the software.  You can also get a free (Photoshop only) RIP from Wilflex Easy Art.  But as far as I know, Ghost is the only free one that can be used for Corel, Illy, and PS.


Oopps, that was about QuickSeps and UltraSeps, both his products.  But I think it has limited settings, like 40, 45, 50, and 55 - not all over the place and not real adjustable.

[tpitman]

I think it's just a Photoshop action that creates bitmap halftones at predetermined line screen frequencies, angles, and shapes that are recommended by the developer. I've got QuikSeps Pro and I usually save the file as a dcs file, then place it into Illustrator, add my registration marks and any other stuff, then save as a .ps file to open in Ghostscript. I've sometimes had iffy results with bitmap halftones, and generally get better results through Ghostscript.

[ZooCity]

what tpitman said.  yes, you can bitmap your colors in photoshop instead of using a rip.  use 600-900 ppi at the conversion and the dots are okay.  I'm sure you can make an action for this but, no, this is not the same as a rip. 

Rips are interfaces between your output program and your printer.  A rip will give you better dots, control over how your printer behaves and save you time.  Sep software has absolutely nothing to do with the rip, they generate channels which the rip outputs at your desired settings. 

[PixelPimp]

quickseps runs an actionscript that basically just turns your
grayscale image into a bitmap, using method halftone screen.

Do you have Adobe Photoshop?

Quickseps and Ultraseps are not stand alone software, they are plugins
for Adobe Photoshop, so you would need Photoshop already in order to
use those.

SimpleSepsRaster also requires you to have CorelDraw (possibly a Corel
bitmap editor as well?)

most of these automated separation software is packaged action scripts
for Adobe photoshop or Corel but there was one that was stand alone...
i can't recall the name tho :/

[Catnhat]

Separation Studio is the one touted as "stand alone".  (but still needs a RIP program) Did the trial, was OK, but didn't care for it.  Almost all adjustments had to be done in Photoshop or Corel/Illy anyway so I was constantly bouncing back & forth.  To be fair, I didn't spend a whole lot of time with it and the couple of jobs we ran using it, did turn out fine.

UltraSeps will let you adjust between a 25 to 60 line count in intervals of 5.  And it does just turn it into a bitmap.  Very similar to what Wilflex EasyArt can do. (we have both)
But it says right in the UltraSeps manual,:
"For those without a RIP, this method does a good job of applying a halftone screen within Photoshop for film output.  It's also a great "go to" in the event of software problems or a new printer or backup printer not being compatible with your software RIP. 
By no means are these intended for replace the use of an actual software RIP program."

Get a good RIP software then learn to do the seps manually.  All the sep software/plugins are gonna require tweaking before output anyway.