1/24/2018. Charlie Taublieb FOUR COLOR PROCESS FOR TEXTILES. Introduction. Overview

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1 Charlie Taublieb Taublieb Consulting Greenwood Village, Colorado The most difficult type of work to do in textile screen printing. FOUR COLOR PROCESS FOR TEXTILES Introduction Printing Four Color Process on textiles has been a difficult task for as long as I have been in the industry. The biggest reason is the lack of programs written for this process on Textiles. Photoshop is the program to use, but it is setup for paper printing. By changing the parameter of Photoshop, we can get results that work well on textiles Overview This presentation will take you step by step through the changes necessary to get the desired results. Some of the information might require going through the version of Photoshop you are using if you cannot find it where shown as Photoshop moves information around and sometimes eliminates information as they change versions. 1

2 Resolution of Artwork Most artists want to use very high resolution, but if too high, you will loose information when making screens and printing. Resolution should be times the LPI that will be used. 45 LPI= DPI 65 LPI= DPI Artwork Original artwork should be in RGB Mode Duplicate original artwork, reduce size, and move to a corner. This duplicate will be used to judge if modifications are moving in the correct direction. Original Image in RGB Mode 1 Start in RGB Mode sized to 100% of size with the resolution chosen. 2

3 Image E 2 Image>Adjust>Selective Colors In Neutrals; Normal adjustment is between 3% and 8%. This adjustment removes extra gray data and eliminates white noise. +8% Neutrals 3 Image>Adjust>Hue/Saturations Increase Saturation to the + side. Each image is different so the amount will vary but start around +25 and go from there. The colors in the image will start to become vivid. +5% Saturation 4 Image>Adjust>Brightness/Contrast Leave Brightness ay 0. Increase the Contrast just a little bit to around +5 just to add a little more contrast. +5% Contrast 3

4 5 Image>Adjust>Levels Setting the Black and White points. Find the blackest area of your image. Hold your ALT key and slide the Black Slider, usually on the left side, until the area becomes black again. Do the same with the White side. This step adds depth to the image. Levels Adjusted 6 Image>Adjust>Lab Colors Open Channels window, if not already open, select the Lightness Channel, usually the second on down, then Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask Adjust the amount to be around 85% to 90%, but it can be higher if needed. Leave the Radius: 1.0 pixels Change the Threshold: 3 levels This step sharpens the image so you can see a lot more detail. Image>Mode>RGB Color to return your image back to RGB or you can return it to CMYK. 4

5 Sharpen 90%, RGB Mode Separation Modifications Change to CMYK Mode Making adjustments so the image will have a little more life is done as follows: Image Adjust Brightness/Contrast +5% Brightness, +5% Contrast 5

6 Separation Modifications We are now ready to adjust each of the colors and compress the dot range so it is suitable for screen printing. It will be necessary to take the information that is less than 15% and more than 80% and compress them towards the center to our usable range. We will still have information that is less than 15% and more than 80%, but the bulk of that information will sit where we can use it. The reason we do this is because holding dots that are less than 15% for most printers is difficult. Dots of over 80% will probably print as a solid area due to dot gain or dot spread. By compressing the range, we will have a very usable set of separations. Image Adjust Curves Separation Modifications Do not make adjustments with the CMYK showing. Go to the arrow at the right and choose the Yellow. Take the bottom of the diagonal line and move it to the right until you see 15%. Now take the top of the diagonal and pull it down until it reads 85%. Do the same to the Magenta and Cyan. There are times when less of an adjustment will be needed and it will be up to each artist to make that decision. Next, we have to make adjustments on the black, which is the K. Because the black is very strong, it wills over power the other colors unless we make a more dramatic adjustment. We also only want black in the darkest shadow areas so choose the Black and slide the bottom of the diagonal up to 30% and pull the top of the diagonal up to 70%. If you feel you have lost too much information, back off the amount of compression. Separation Modifications When the Preview button is hit, you will be able to see how much of an adjustment was made. If you are unhappy with the results, go into the history and delete that which you are unhappy with and make new adjustments. CMYK adjusted in Curves 6

7 Dot Size, Angles & Shape I have done a lot of experimenting and this is what I use for all half tone images: LPI 61 Degree Angle all colors Elliptical Dots Mesh Counts 45 LPI 230 Mesh (90cm) 56 LPI 305 Mesh (120cm) Squeegees Medium to Medium/Hard for all colors 75/90/75 Triple Durometer 75 Durometer 65/90/65 Triple Durometer where strong color is needed. 7

8 Color Order Yellow Magenta Cyan Black Charlie Taublieb Taublieb Consulting Greenwood Village, Colorado Cell Phone Fax Skype drprint2001 Chairman Academy of Screen & Digital Printing Technologies 8