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'Simulated process' screen printing

bbeens

bbeens

New Member
Question for anyone using/experienced with 'Simulated process' for screen printing. I have been told using simulated process you must set all spots to the same angle. This sounds to me like a bad idea, although my understanding of simulated process is a bit hazy. I think I understand what the goal is, I just haven't seen any separated files to solidify it in my mind. Anyone know what I am missing here?

Thanks,

Bryan
 
bbeens

bbeens

New Member
No one, eh? I get the feeling the 'Simulated process' is some marketing departments good idea and that is the end of it. The theory makes sense to me, I just can't imagine why all the screens would be produced at the same angle.

Trying to read through Scott Fresener's write up is driving me nuts. And I quote

"Everyone has their favorite screen frequency and angles. I like to use an angle of 25 degrees for ALL the channels. Again, trust me….. "

I don't trust many people. I would rather trust the opinion of many people that make their living off of knowing what they are doing. Any such people willing to chime in?

Bryan
 
W

wildindian

Grumpy
The angles are the same the reason is to prevent moire, I use 22.5 degrees instead of 25 to compensate for the variation in mesh and movement during the meshing process.
 
Mosh

Mosh

New Member
Otherwise your print will look like a 70's suit on TV, moire is a weird effect. What halftones are you using, frequency?
 
bbeens

bbeens

New Member
I am not the end user in question here. A customer call me for support and stated he must print all spots at angle 25. He would not accept 22.5. This confused me. He is printing at 55 LPI using PostScript Screens as the halftoning method.

Not sure how using the same angle would prevent moire. All of my testing ends at the stage of producing the film, I rarely deal with final output. When I think of moire it is visible on film. Anything after film production I have little understanding.

Also, during separation I would guess you need to ensure that no two colors have the same density at the same location - otherwise your dots would land directly on top of each other.

Thanks for the replies. I got the customer working, I am just curious. Feel free to ignore if this is a stupid question.

Bryan
 
vid

vid

New Member
It sounds like the printer has developed a workflow that is consistent for them. ...Their special recipe of perfection, so to speak. orrrrrrrrrrr

bbeens said:
I am not the end user in question here. A customer call me for support and stated he must print all spots at angle 25. He would not accept 22.5. This confused me.
Click to expand...

:ROFLMAO: Don't let that confuse you. If the printer is reading the same Fresner book you are --- and they think Scott is the messiah of screen printing, go with the 25 line screen. Those types typically won't stop drinking the Kool-Aid. It's just a cult thing --- give 'em a bone.



As far as the same angle for the separations, in my experience, the issues I've found with getting a successful print are based more on avoiding a screen mesh moire than one caused by the layers of ink.

Admittedly, it's been a while since I've printed, but the theory at the time was that one would be physically mixing inks on the shirt by printing wet-on-wet. The dot would get mashed and no moire would be visible by the end of the print sequence --- especially if one printed a final highlight white for lots of dot mash.

bbeens said:
...Also, during separation I would guess you need to ensure that no two colors have the same density at the same location - otherwise your dots would land directly on top of each other.
Click to expand...

Personally, I hate shirts that look faded after one washing. IMO, the greater the density the better the result. If there is not much ink density, the fibers of the shirt peek through, and around, sparse halftone dots. This fibrillation makes the garment look old, fast. The more ink, the more it will physically mix on the shirt for a thicker coating of color. ...of course, that's a constraint of the design and based on the number of colors printing.

Because it's simulated process, that implies that it's four our more colors printing and mashing to get the desired look. For simple spot color printing with halftones --- where only a couple colors overlap --- I would be inclined to print with the separations at the more traditional rotations.

Just my .o2
 
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