[Separation Studio 3.0 Serial 300
Sharolyn Uriegas
I need a little help with converting a design to a vector with all separate color layers. I have managed to get away with it for a while but I want to learn the real way. Most designs work fine if you do the "High Fidelity" or one of the colors traces (3,6,16) and then select each color and separate it in color layers. This doesn't work however on very detailed designs where there is gradient textures and shadows. If I do it the way I've been doing it there would literally be 1000 layers because each color is slightly different. So how exactly would you go about doing an image like this?
I have a cloud subscription so the latest one. And I need all separate colour layers so the t-shirt place can print it. I'm assuming they are screen printing it which is why every colour needs to be separate.
Yes they need all separated colours, I have done work with them before. I can usually manage without because most places nowadays can print from a JPG file or a vector file like when I do High Fidelity, but they need it all separate. I'm just wondering how people do it.
"All" is relative. There are thousands of unique colors in the image. The T-Shirt company is not going to print "thousands" of colors. Ask them how many colors they can print. If cost is a factor the more colors the more expensive.
Thanks for that video. I actually have Separation Studio but it doesn't look like that video. I have the newest version, that looks like an older one. I don't really understand how to get it all ready for print though. I import my image but then it gives me options of Black, Yellow, Magenta, Cyan with shapes and sizes. Not sure what to do at this point.
You are completely mixing up things. No, they don't need separated colors because nobody in their right mind woulkd even attempt to print this with traditional silkscreen printing or other solid color methods. This is stuff that would be printed with inkjets directly or using indirect transfer methods. In that case AI would ever only be involved in creating a path for the die cut/ underprint outline and you'd prep the image in Photoshop to best accomodate the custom print profile regarding ink density, color profiles, overprint and what have you.
If they want to print a reduced color version based on vectors with a limited set of colors, regardless, then that's a completely different story and you need to talk to them which (spot) colors they intend to use and how many within the alloted budget and time, as obviously a standard CMYK spearation isn't going to do much here. If they don't support such a workflow, find another facility.
And on a general note: Talk to them! Getting stuff printed is at least 50% about communication and only the other 50% are about the technicalities. Randomly posting questions in forums when you even don't know exactly what they need and what their printing process is wastes everyone's time, no offense.
Artwork for screen printing does need to be color separated. But that usually means opaque spot color separations, not translucent process color separations. And again, for best results, those color separations should be solid line art (not course halftone or tint screens).
There is no "conversion" of raster images to vector paths. It's not a "conversion." It's just a tracing. It's not called auto-tracing for nothing. There is only re-drawing the design, whether done intelligently or by an automated algorithm that has absolutely no idea of what it is drawing.
Thinking of auto-tracing as a means by which to magically get the advantages of vector-based artwork out of raster-based artwork is like thinking tracing a watercolor painting with oil paint will give you the advantages of oil paint. They are two different mediums, with their own strengths and weaknesses. That's why they both exist.
It's the same with raster- versus vector-based electronic art. Raster-based artwork is by its nature appropriate for high "texture" detail. Vector-based artwork is by its nature all about sharp, accurate edges and smooth fills.
When delivering highly textured "distressed" artwork for screen printing, it is best done by building in a raster imaging program capable of displaying multi-channel artwork as spot colors. (Photoshop, PhotoPaint, etc.)
1. With your image open in Photoshop, go to Image > Adjustments > Posterize. Use the slider to limit colors. If you go to 4 colors, you'll see why it might just be better to use the 4 inks in process color to reproduce more colors. You can set it for however many color levels, but you might try 6 because, well, it looks better and there's a setting in Image Trace for 6 colors.
2. Another way to limit the colors would be to take the original image in Photoshop and go to File > Export > Save for Web (Legacy). Use the Legacy one to set it to Gif and reduce the number of colors. You can play around with the settings to see which yields the results closest to what you want, but here are a couple of tips: Diffusion will use dots to make transitions between colors (which may or may not be what you want), and you can alter the Color Table to make a Custom setting. In the Color Table, you can select and delete similar colors and/or select a color and double-click it to change it.
Color separation software is an indispensable tool in the arsenal of screen printers, allowing them to transform full-color images into distinct color channels for individual printing. This process is pivotal in achieving precision and excellence in prints.
I use a program called Separation Studio to separate raster images into spot colors. I then open up a new Illustrator file, click file -> place -> select the eps file created from Separation Studio, and the image that is placed is blank. This was not an issue with any versions of Illustrator. In previous versions, you were able to see the image that was placed and even change/alter the spot colors that were brought in. In this new version, CC18, the spot colors come in with the image when it's placed, but even if you change the spot color, nothing changes about the image, it is just blank. This is a crucial part of our business and I need help quickly, if possible. I am reinstalling CC17 in the meantime to get by.
We have a fix and is available in the pre-release build. Please visit and get the latest build for version 22.1.
While the build is prerelease this build is of production quality. Please feel free to use / recommend it for your day to day activity.
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EPS DCS file format is meant for separation workflows, DCS file composed of low res proxy (for displaying on screen), color/gray composite of medium resolution for proof printing and High res separation plate information of each ink for press output. For press output workflows you can choose Host-Based Separation for printing to RIP or high end systems, this results in each plate printed in high-res.
Placing a DCS EPS file in Illustrator will don't display the spot colours in overprint view, nor will it display in Acrobat if saved as a PDF. This bug has only come up in CC 2018. Works fine in previous versions (CC 2017 CS6 etc). PLEASE get this fixed Adobe!!
DCS files are not displayed in the illustrator. You can see it by selecting the option "use low resolution proxy for linked eps", but you can only see because after saving the work with a linked DCS file as a pdf file, it turns out that there is no graphic that was in the DCS file.
I'm scared to help out what to do to get out the production file that will contain the DSC file.
1. Open existing .eps in Photoshop (if you're a screenprinter, likely from SepStudio)
2. Write down exact pixel dimensions and DPI (usually 300)
3. Create new CMYK Photoshop document to pixel dimenions and Dpi of .eps file, plus transparency as the background. All of this is in the new document dialogue.
4. Put both windows side by side (drag out of main bar)
5. Command + Shift click the channels in .eps and drag over to new document artboard.
6. Save as a CMYK Photoshop document
7. Open Photoshop document in Illustrator, keeping all the elements as layers (do not flat)
8. Delete the CMYK image layer, keeping each channel layer intact.
9. The channel layers are sublayers on a single layer. To get each channel onto it's own layer: drag channel one down past the last channel and drop it. It's now on it's own layer. Do that to all of the other channels in order.
10. When all of the channels are on their own layer, delete the original layer.
11. Open Swatches
12. Select each channel separately and color with their appropriate swatch.
13. Lock all channel layers.
14. Create a new top layer.
15. Add registration marks and any "do not print" elements on top layer.
I hope this helps someone else. you might not need to drag each channel to it's own layer, but I like to keep clean files and to be able to turn channels off and on with layers. This is one benefit to using the psd technique that you don't get from Placing an .eps file.
Professional screen printer and graphic artist / color separation artist here. I'm using a workaround but it adds tons of time to my workflow. Illustrator is the greatest. Can't wait until the repair comes through and 2018 treats .eps files the same way it treated them in 2017.
There is a workaround to Adobe's issue however it does take some extra attention by the end user. We can bring back all the abilities they took from us with the 2018 update by re-saving a DCS2 file in either an RGB or CMYK mode "with" spot color channels as a PSD or PDF. This brings back the preview with or without the Proxy Preview pref on (good), delivers a quality "live" preview that will display edits to spot colors when converting white colors to color so they can be seen during preview (good), and makes the Separation Preview feature work again (great). Super great is that these formats also support transparency in Illustrator during layout. The downside is that the preview now introduces CMYK colors thinking the user wants to print the preview as well because it is no longer a preview built from the imported (PLACED) DCS2 separations. It's a trade off, but great value is delivered. Watch what you print. Don't fall asleep at the wheel or you will freak when you produce 4 extra CMYK films. With practice you will discipline yourself until Adobe repairs the new issue. :)
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