Color Separation Screen Printing Software
23.01.2020by admin
Color Separation Screen Printing Software Rating: 8,0/10 8062 reviews
Every piece of software below comes with its own set of challenges. Each tool has a different learning curve. In the end, it's up to you to learn the programs so you can print better shirts.We'll discuss the different types of software (art and design, color separation, shop administration, and shipping) according to price, difficulty, who it's best for and whether they're for Mac or PC.Art & Design Software For Screen PrintingThe first step in every shop’s printing process? Getting the art dialed in.Whether you have a dedicated design team on staff – or you’re just starting out and burning screens in your garage – finding the right art software is crucial to creating an awesome customer experience.If you’re on a shoestring budget, there’s always a service like. They offer low-cost vector creation, and will turn even low-quality JPEGs into flexible vector graphics. Be advised: using an art creation service over the long-term is very costly.
Adobe IllustratorPrice: $240 annually. Available on a monthly basis for $21.Difficulty: Hard. Steep learning curve.Best for: Professional artists & designers. Creating vectors.Available for: Mac & PCWebsite:Adobe Illustrator is the industry's leading vector generation software.
It's powerful and widely used.Illustrator has a steep learning curve for beginners. But if you're serious about screen printing, there's a rich collection of videos and other resources available to learn Illustrator.You'll have to take the time to learn Illustrator like a true expert. The basics can be learned in a fairly short time. You don't need to be an expert to take advantage of Illustrator's vector capabilities to make better screens.How To Understand Vector vs.
RasterThe most common image format is a raster image.Raster images are specific arrangements of differently colored pixels. This means that as you zoom in or manipulate the image, you lose quality: the pixels become visible.Vector images don't use pixels. The image is encoded as the mathematical relationship between the shapes the image is made of. It's not made of the location and color of specific pixels.Images from.Because of how well they can be manipulated, vector images are ideal for screen printing. Your screens will have well-defined lines and sharp edges, instead of pixels.
It's important to note that you can use high-resolution rasters for printing.Adobe PhotoshopPrice: $240 annually. Available on a monthly basis for $21.Difficulty: Moderate to high. Challenging learning curve.Best for: Professional artists & designers, shop owners, image manipulation, rasters.Available for Mac & PCWebsite:Photoshop is how Adobe made its name. It's so well-known that it's become a verb: 'She just photoshopped that.' There's a rich library of resources available for learning Photoshop. It's taught at colleges & universities and has been around for years as the internet's #1 photo editing suite.Photoshop is most powerful for raster images.
It can create text and drawn shapes as vector elements as well. You can easily edit logos, photographs and colors with Photoshop.What makes Photoshop powerful for screen printers is the ability to separate artwork into different screens for printing. You can separate by color, adjust color channels, utilize halftones to plan for gradients, and precisely edit images for your prints.Anticipate that many customers will give you.PSD files, Photoshop's native file format.
Free Cmyk Color Separation Software
It's worth the cost for that reason alone. Corel DrawPrice: $500, or available for a $200 annual subscription.Difficulty: Moderate to high. Short learning curve to proficiency.Best for: artists, novices, simple color separations, vectorsAvailable on PC onlyWebsite:Corel Draw is the vector illustration tool from the larger CorelDraw Graphics Suite.Corel nonetheless offers interesting features and a for spot color printing. Its incompatibility with Mac can be a deal-breaker for artists, though.The separation process in CorelDraw is extremely simple: check one box (Print Separations) in the program’s Print options and jump straight into printing.Its price point is high, but you’re purchasing a robust package. You have to pay for upgrades ($200 each) unless you subscribe to their yearly update program.
There’s no monthly subscription available. Some users of CorelDraw argue that it’s a more complete package than Photoshop or Illustrator, making it ideal for smaller businesses.Corel's software is highly regarded by its users, and there’s a robust community that backs it. If you’re not convinced by Adobe’s offerings, you should spend some time with Corel’s suite and see if it’s for you. Affinity Photo and Affinity DesignerPrice: $50 for Mac, $50 for PC and $20 for iOS (for each version, i.e. $50 for Photo and $50 for Designer)Difficulty: Moderate to high. Flexible and powerful.Best for: artists, novices, basic color separations, vectorsAvailable on Mac, PC, iOSWebsite:A fairly new competitor to Adobe's publishing suite, Affinity has introduced a low-cost, single-payment pricing model to a subscription service.Affinity has a solid reputation for providing the necessary tools for screen printing art design. Their Photo product is ideal for raster editing, while their Design tool seamlessly edits raster images.
The mobile app is a nice touch, as well, though we don't see many professional designers giving up their mouse and desktop anytime soon.Separations are simple with Affinity.With an active team that's providing updates based on customer feedback, Affinity is emerging as a serious image editing suite. If you're looking for an alternative with an enticing pricing model – but a limited real-world track record – check out Affinity's offerings.Open Source Art Software OptionsYou don't have to spend money to get a lot of value. Open source image editing software is still a viable option – provided you've got time to invest in learning new software.There's no paid support staff, so you're on your own if problems arise. Both of these programs do have a significant learning curve, with some users arguing they're harder to learn. There's also not as many people using these programs, despite how well-developed they are.If you don't want to pay for Photoshop, Illustrator or Corel then check out these two powerful and free image editing suites: GIMPLong the golden-standard for free image manipulation software, GIMP has a rabid community and thousands of plugins & extensions to make it infinitely customizable. It's powerful and well-known. Additionally, GIMP is compatible with hundreds of standard and non-standard image file types.
GIMP is a raster editor. InkScapeA set of tools for editing and creating vector images, InkScape is designed with illustrators and artists in mind. It has an and represents a true alternative to Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw.
Like GIMP, it has a large community that is enthusiastic about providing support and developing more features.Color Separation Software For Screen PrintingUnless you want to print one color until the end of time (and plenty of shops have made a killing doing this), you’ll want to invest in software that can help you with color separations.Every color means another screen. These tools will “rip” your artwork and separate it into the constituent parts for a simpler screen burning process.If you’re doing simulated spot color, or 4 color process (CMYK) printing – you will have to spend the time & money to find the right color separation software for your needs. Freehand Separation Studio 4Price: $200 annually.
Also offer an Advanced tier at $490 annually.Difficulty: Simple. Short learning curve.Best for: Screen printers, planning complex prints, instant color separationsAvailable for PC & MacWebsite:Described by Freehand as a “fast, easy and accurate way to instantly color separate and manage vector-style PDF format graphics,” Separation Studio is the screen printing industry’s leader for color separation.It’s not designed as an art creation program, but as a print planning tool – so it’s integrated with both Adobe and Corel platforms.Separation Studio is specifically designed for screen printing, which means power and flexibility specific to printing needs. You can carefully regiment designs according to ink types, the number of screens you’d like to use, and underbasing requirements.For example: you can reduce an over-designed logo with 19 colors into a simpler design that.Additionally, Separation Studio has a strong support system in case you run into issues with their software or need guidance with handling your artwork-to-print process.
Color Separation Software Free Trial
UltraSepsPrice: UltraSeps v2 $300, one-time purchase.