In this fast paced business of deadlines and tight margins, speed really counts.
The most remarkable thing about Screenprint Separator is the speed at which even the first time user can complete a complex design.
A full blown design, complete with postscript type can be separated in under 20 minutes.
Using input from a file, a scan,or a digital camera, an image is made into separations and a color proof is created for client approval.
Once the color proof is approved, the film can be printed in minutes from an image setter, laser printer or a postscript ink jet
printer, using specially coated film.
Having an in-house separation capability makes production go much more smoothly.
Apart from last minute client changes you will find that these separations print so reliably, that having to tear down a design for a redo, is a thing of the past.
Our clients report that press checks are no longer required on the majority of designs.
Imagine the cost savings per year if you get a production run out of every single set up.
If you are a designer wishing to have high resolution film positives printed by a third party such as a service bureau with an image setter, you may already know that service bureaus do not like to print channels from Photoshop. Photoshop has only a basic print engine that simply centers the image and hopes for the best. This is why the professionals use Quark, Pagemaker, Indesign and Illustrator to print to Postscript device such as a Linotronic. The good news for SPS users is that the separations are created as one file complete with base plate in Postscript and are easily printed by service bureaus.
Sps is a favorite among creators of t-shirt designs in particular because once you use the system to design an image, it is already separated! This is because our system divides a graphic into 2 categories, those parts best rendered in pixels (continuous tones) and those best rendered in postscript ( type, borders, and line art)
Postscript is a graphic description language that is industry standard for professional graphic designers and printers. Make no mistake about it, Postscript is the only way to go when it comes to producing separations. No matter what some industry "Guru" tells you - if you don't use postscript - you are at a great disadvantage to those that do - please yourself. Postscript allows you to have sharper more accurate images that print faster and more reliably than anything else.
With any business time is money. In the t-shirt business, tight deadlines are standard fare. Being able to produce film quickly means feeding the press and maintaining production. There is absolutely no faster or simpler way to produce top notch color separations than Screenprint Separator. Film is ready to print right after the graphic is created. No channels, no masks, no screen angles, and no hassles.
Unlike programs that use channels and overly complicated actions to produce enormous 100 to 200 megabyte files, Screen print separator files are only in the 7 to 16 megabyte range for a large t-shirt graphic. This means that your old computer can handle the task required. Bulky files mean slow print times and big storage problems. Our files can be compressed down to one tenth of their original size for easy archiving.
If you are a designer, then you will have heard of PDF files. SPS files can be saved into PDF separation files directly from Illustrator and sent on disk or via the web for use on any Mac or PC. You can even lock their ability to print separations using a code to ensure that you get paid upon approval. The client can print an exact color print for approval purposes but will be unable to print film until you provide the code!
If you have ever tried to add those 3pt trademark or licensing copyrights to an image in Photoshop, then you will know how pixels can turn them into unreadable gibberish. With SPS you can add postscript logos and copyright information to the image using Illustrator's vector and type tools. All of the print order and color identification information is automatically added to each positive in the same way.
Have you ever tried to charge a customer for a moiré pattern? When regularly spaced half tone dots hit the mesh with a regular collision pattern that's a Moiré. Moiré is one of the most annoying problems faced by screen printers. The random square dots will not create a Moiré - just smooth blends every time.
When you print an image in spot color - color shifts are a thing of the past. Instead of trying to simulate a color - with SPS you can just print the real color. Spot color custom inks are the best way to ensure accurate color. The entire run will be very consistent from the first print to the last. Even our opaque 6 color process is able to simulate up to 10 thousand colors - many outside of the regular CMYK gamut.
Screenprint Separator uses the side by side square dot and a unique print order sequence to control dot gain. No more bright red faces and ugly black prints. The color and print order information is printed on each film positive.
The average SPS file uses 3 to 4 million equal sized square dots printed side by side in one soft layer to recreate an image. There are no spaces between the dots for ink to squeeze into. This means that all of the ink leaves with the shirt and stopping the press every hundred shirts or so is no longer required.
Now you can print images rendered from 3d programs and use those great 3d filters from Alien Skin that create raised lettering. Print images than have depth or appear to float above the shirt.
Now you can use your ink jet printer to adjust the colors and proof the image. Have you ever had a client ask for endless color adjustments to a design already set up on press-they get you to change the dark blue to a lighter blue only to want it changed back after being disappointed with the effect of the change - what a waste of time. With SPS all the ink adjustments can be worked out in Illustrator before going to press. The client is presented with a proof showing exactly what they are going to have printed on their shirt. All you have to do is match the ink to the color bars.
