Screen Printing Software

[shaunmorrell]

Hi guys

When it comes to screen-printing tools and features like half-tone screens, color-trapping and bleeds etc. what are the main gripes people have with their current software (not necessarily VMP as it is very limited in this area) or things you’d really like to be available for screen-printing in your software?

 

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

no gripes with any software- only with some due to our inexperience in new areas!

 

[Fred Weiss]

Speaking as an owner and user of both Omega and Flexisign, I can state that both applications are less than perfect in the issue of chokes and spreads. Flexi being more reliable than Omega in this area. Bleeds and halftones are not an issue with either. I rarely use traps.


Reliable chokes and spreads is a feature that would be very helpful and could be persuasive in adding VMP to anyone's software lineup.

I would not limit my thinking to screen printers. Anyone who does multi-color layered vinyl or prints with spot colors .... like Gerber Edge owners .... would be very interested in improving in this area.

The only software I know of that claims to have a good automated solution in this regard is Co-Cut Pro. The problem, for me, is the demo they provide doesn't allow you to examine the results of this routine and I'm not willing to purchase the software to find out firsthand.

 

[anubis11001]

Sign-making Noobie

I'm hoping that someone somewhere can at least point me in the right direction as to what I need to do with my current project.
Basically, we're getting into screen printing. We have the following programs that we're moderately functional with, Signlab, and Photoshop, and have just recently aquired Flexisign, which we don't know very well at all.
We have a simple gradient that we want to transfer over to a screen for screen printing. We need to convert the colors to halftone, or something (as I said, me particularly, very green on all this)... We're unsure how to go about that with the programs we have. Can anyone offer any suggestions on how we should proceed with this? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Fred Weiss]

You've posted your question in a forum about Vinyl Master Pro software. It would be much better posted as a new thread in the Screen Printing forum.

When you post the new thread, it would be helpful to know more details such as it this a single spot color gradient on is it multi-color requiring either multiple spot colors or 4 color process printing.

 

[Jen Goodwin]

The question is not about your software, Photoshop will definately print the halftone that you need, the question is....will your printer print a halftone? You need a postscript printer or some sort of imagesetter that will print a proper halftone. We use an Epson 1280 - prints a nice halftone and also prints 11" x 17". We print to Accuart film and use that to burn a screen. We also use our Edge to print on Edge Positive for making separations - nice and black using Jet Black Foil.
A really nice pc. of software to have is Wilflex Easy Art. Which is really just a bunch of different actions that you can run in Photoshop that will give you the line screen and print it at the correct angles to keep you from getting a moire pattern on your screen. But, still you need a printer that will print a halftone.

BTW, There is also a bunch of other actions with Wilflex Easy Art to do other things...make line drawings of photos & break down artwork into spot colors to name just a few.

 

[Rick]

I use a HP 8100 laser printer on vellum. My main software is Illustrator or Quark to make the seperations. Anything complex I like 4 color printing, I usually sub it out since my equipment has no micro registration, and the photo stuff is an art in itself.

 

[iSign]

since anubis11001 mentions "a simple gradient" & also mentions being pretty new to all this... let me suggest an interesting alternative to complex software gradient halftones, film printer requirements, and possible multiple screens required for multi-color or 4-color process gradients...

a simple solid shape burned into a screen can be printed with 2 or more inks lined up next to each other (possibly pre-blended slightly where they meet) & squeegeed carefully several times to achieve somewhat random & not identical, but often very cool gradients. The first few may not blend as nice & test prints should be dome before committing an expensive or important substrate or garment. Also after several prints the blends will get nicer untill they may start getting muddy at a certain point.

 

[Jen Goodwin]

We have a way cool poster of John Lennon here from a Screen Printing show that was done that way. I was always amazed with that technique and always wanted to try it...nobody else here was that adventurous.
Let me know how it works if you try it!

 

[iSign]

it works great! I have tried it a number of times, & seen it done many other times.
I designed a t-shirt for a contest in my Architecture class 20 years ago & when my design was chosen I had to set up the artwork for a local screenprinter. It was an architectural rendering of a polynesian style structure nestled into a lush Hawaiian coastline overlooking an ocean sunset on a black sand beach with a lava field in the foreground. I only seperated the artwork into 2 screens (hand drawn ink on acetate) One plate had the building & the sand/lava... the other had the foilage & ocean. The first screen blended brown into black & the other blended green into blue... for the simplicity (& lower cost) of 2 color printing it looked better then a 4 color design in a lot of ways. The uncontrolled irregularity of the natural ink blends worked well with the organic subject matter.

 

[Jen Goodwin]

I'll have to try it!

 

[anubis11001]

Thanks everyone! And I'm sorry I didn't start a new thread on this.
My deal is, I have only a decent functionality on the computer, mostly just tinkering around on my own. And I have a boss that's kind of ... well not kind of... IS a disorganized idiot, and he managed to talk me into working here, even though I explained to him I had no idea what I was doing... he said he'd train me on all this stuff, which he hasn't cause he only kind of knows what he's doing. So he has me going nuts trying to figure this stuff out for him...
I passed along the suggestions you guys made, and he dismissed them... so while now it's starting to make more sense to me from what you guys have told me... He probably won't let me check into it or try it...
Cause Oh NO! we might waste some worthless scrap of media that we'd never use for anything else again anyway...
Thank you everyone for your input and suggestions.