24. Click on the original file’s title bar to make it active. Choose Select>Color Range. 25. From the Color Range dialog box, use the Eyedropper to choose the yellow in the image. Use the smaller image you recently created. Move the Fuzziness slider so that you pick up the yellow in the yel - low balls and some of the yellow you’ll need in the orange. Since we’re not picking orange as a channel or indexed color, some yellow will have to be included there. (Verify that Sampled Colors is cho - sen from the Select field, Invert is chosen, Selection is chosen, and Selection Preview is None. See Figure 24-8. This holds true for the rest of this project.) Click OK. 26. In the Channels palette, click the Save selection as channel icon. 27. In the Channels palette, click once to select the new channel. 28. Choose Select>Deselect. 29. Double-click on the new channel icon, not the channel title. From the Channel Options dialog box, select Spot Color and change the Solid - ity to 10 percent. 30. Click on the color square in the Channel Options dialog box. 31. Drag the Color Picker away from the duplicate file. 32. Use the Eyedropper to click on the yellow in the duplicate image. Click Color Swatches to choose the closest Pantone color. Click OK and OK again. (You might want to change the name of the chan - nel by clicking on its name and changing the name to Yellow.) 456 Part V / Color Separations Figure 24-8: Pull the yellow and some orange Repeat for Each Channel and Color You’ll need to create a channel for each color. 33. In the Channels palette, click on the composite channel so that the image is showing in full color. Choose Select>Color Range. 34. In the Color Range dialog box, use the Eyedropper to choose the royal blue in the image. Move the Fuzziness slider so that you pick up the blue in the blue balls, plus a little extra. Remember, the pur - ple is created from the blue and the red. (Verify that Sampled Colors is chosen from the Select field, Invert is chosen, Selection is chosen, and Selection Preview is None. This holds true for the rest of this project.) Click OK. 35. In the Channels palette, click the Save selection as channel icon. 36. In the Channels palette, click once to select the new channel. 37. Choose Select>Deselect. 38. Double-click on the new channel. From the Channel Options dialog box, select Spot Color and change the Solidity to 10 percent. 39. Click on the color square in the Channel Options dialog box. 40. Drag the Color Picker away from the duplicate file. 41. Use the Eyedropper to click on the blue in the duplicate image. Click Color Swatches to choose the closest Pantone color. Click OK and OK again. (You might want to change the name of the channel by clicking on its name and changing the name to Blue.) 42. In the Channels palette, click on the composite channel so that the image is showing in full color. Choose Select>Color Range. 43. Repeat these steps for red, teal, black, and white. Figure 24-9 shows the result. To see how the image looks with the colors that you’ve created, use the eye icons in the Channels palette to show the chan - nels that you’ve created. ] Tip: As with process color, you can c hange to Multichannel mode to c hange the order of the channels, add a T-shirt color, and more. Review the end of Chapter 23 for more information on this mode. Chapter 24 / Indexed Color Separations 457 There are two additional files on the companion CD—one called PoolBallsFinal.psd and the other called PoolBallsFinalII.psd. I created both using different colors and techniques. You’ll probably get a different result each time you per form an indexed color separation as well. Now you’re ready to print. For infor mation on printing indexed color separations, read Chapter 29, “Printing Color Separations.” Summary Indexed color separations are great for any image but are easiest to cre - ate for images that ha ve less than 100 or so colors. Indexed colors are created either automatically by Photoshop or by the user choosing cus - tom c olors. In this chapter, you l earned to choose custom colors. With the colors selected and the indexing complete, channels are then created from the selected colors in the same way that spot colors were created in previous chapters. 458 Part V / Color Separations Figure 24-9: Finished product with all channels created Indexed artwork is a very easy and forgiving way to screen print multicolor images onto T-shirts. The dots aren’t halftone dots like in pro - cess prints; instead, they’re randomly placed square dots. Indexing is a great way to ease your shop into more complicated printing, and Photoshop makes it pretty easy to do. Chapter 24 / Indexed Color Separations 459 This page intentionally left blank. Chapter 25 Simulated ProcessSimulated Process Color SeparationsColor Separations Simulated process color separations are used when you need to print a process color print onto a dark-colored shirt. Common images and clients for simulated process color prints include rock bands, fantasy groups, ani- mals, motorcycles, and photographs. You’ll probably print a lot of dark shirts, so it’s important to practice this technique until you get it just right. Simulated process color differs from true process color because these images are not printed using CMYK inks like regular process prints. These images are printed using “regular” colors like red, black, orange, yellow, blue, white, etc., and are printed with all-purpose, general inks. The inks then blend together to create the colors you want. In this chapter, we take an image created for use on a dark shirt, pre - pare the image, and perform the separations. For simulated process color, this requires creating extra plates including an underbase and highlight white. Keep in mind that this chapter only provides an introduction; screen printers have spent years perfecting this art, and getting good at it will require lots of practice! 6 Caution! Make sure you tell your customers that the print isn’t going to look exactly like what they bro ught in. Since you will be printing on dark shirts using gen - eral-purpose inks, the image might be a little muddy and will only be about 75 percent as sharp as the original. 461 Preparations Before performing any simulated process color separations, there are a few items that must be reviewed and checked. For instance, make sure after you perform the separations and output them that your printing department can successfully and accurately mix the inks, align the screens, have and use the correct equipment, and have enough stations on their presses to handle the job. If the printing department can’t meet these minimal requirements, the print won’t come out right at press time. Additionally, check these items: n Make sure the image you are working with is at least 150 dpi. Any - thing between 150 and 200 dpi is reasonable. n Make sure the image is in RGB mode. If you must scan an image, follow the instructions in Chapter 14; to learn more about RGB mode, refer to Chapter 11. n Get the image as perfect as possible before separating it. n Verify that the background in the image is the same color as the shirt. Black backgrounds work great on black shirts. However, if the background of the image is not the same color as the shirt, you’ll have to extract the image, place it on a new layer, and create a back- ground layer that is the correct color. n Verify that someone in your shop has experience with process color separations; if they don’t, consider purchasing videotapes, attending a class, or visiting another screen print shop for pointers. . Note: Although simulated process color is generally reserved for darker shirts, it can be used on lighter ones. However, regular process color is generally eas - ier, so this process is normally not employed under those circumstances. For this chapter, I’ll assume we are all working on a dark shirt. 462 Part V / Color Separations Chapter Project: Simulated Process Color Separations Creating a simulated process color separation has several steps. You have to create an underbase plate, a white highlight plate, and, of course, the color separations for the ink colors that you’ve chosen. The following sections in this chapter take you all the way through the process. Figure 25-1 shows an example of the type of image that we work with when cre - ating simulated process prints and is the image I use throughout this chapter. Chapter 25 / Simulated Process Color Separations 463 Figure 25-1: Simulated process color example Create an Underbase Plate A gray underbase plate (also called a white underbase, an underlay, or simply underbase) is always created for simulated process prints and is used to create the underbase plate. I like to create this plate first. So, let’s begin! 1. Open the file The Palm - with Layers.psd from the Chapter 25 folder on the companion CD or open any file from your own library you’d like to experiment with. Select Update if prompted to update layers. 2. Select the Zoom tool from the toolbox, right-click on the image, and choose Fit On Screen. 3. Choose Layer>Flatten Image. (There are multiple layers in the file used in this example and they must be flattened prior to separating.) 4. Using Image>Duplicate, create a duplicate of the image. 5. For the duplicate image, choose Image>Mode>Grayscale. Click OK to discard color information if prompted. 6. Choose Image>Adjustments>Invert to create the gray underbase plate. 7. Open the Info palette using Window>Info and use the Eyedropper to verify that the white is white. If there are any other colors in the white part of the image, you’ll need to use the Curves tool to get rid of them. Figure 25-2 shows what your image and Info palette should look like. ] Tip: You c an also tweak this from the Curves dialog box by creating an S curve. Doing so will bring out the highlights even more. 464 Part V / Color Separations 8. Save this duplicate file as Underbase Plate. Note that there’s a file in the Chapter 25 folder on the companion CD named Underbase.psd that you can compare with your own. So far, so good. That’s the first step. Leave these files open as they are, and proceed to the next section. Create a Highlight White Plate A highlight white plate is used to bring out the highlights in the image. The image I’m using certainly needs a highlight white plate, and yours likely does too. Highlight white gives the image depth by adding a sense of light. To create a highlight white plate: 9. Duplicate the Underbase Plate file you saved in step 8 of the last exercise. (Use Image>Duplicate.) Chapter 25 / Simulated Process Color Separations 465 Figure 25-2: Create the gray plate [...]... profile Just check ICC Profile before saving Halftone Screens Halftone screens are used to print color separations For a four-color process separation, you create four halftone screens Halftone screens must be created so that a combination of colors (CMYK) can be used to print at the press to simulate the colors in the original image Halftone dots are of a specific shape For screen printing, we use an ellipse... folder (sometimes this is done automatically through an installation script): n For Windows Vista—The profile should install automatically n For Windows XP—Windows\System32\Spool/Drivers\Color n For Windows 2000 and Windows 2000 Server—WINNT or WINNT32\System\Spool\Drivers\Color n For Windows NT—WINNT\System32\Color n For Windows 98—Windows\System\Color n Mac OS 9.x—System Folder/ColorSync Profiles... space descriptions ICC stands for and was defined by the International Color Consortium as a cross-platform color standard Having the ability to cross various platforms allows different hardware to be used to view the same file and allows all viewers to see the file in the same way PCs and Macs also support ICC profiles, so computer users on different platforms can also benefit Photoshop is an ICC-compliant... good equipment, high-mesh screens, specific films, and high-output printers You’ll need good inks too, firm squeegees, and high-tension screens Since you can get dot gain at every step of the printing process, you need to make sure that you are working with the best equipment you can afford It won’t matter how good your original print is if you’re using a low-mesh screen for a highend print, or if... basics for creating a simulated process print for a dark-colored garment Printing on dark garments means you’ll need an underbase plate, a highlight white plate, and additional plates for each color you want to add Unlike regular process color, simulated process color is printed with general-purpose inks, so when creating the separations, you get to choose what colors you’d like to pull This, unfortunately,... leave them alone if you want; Photoshop will bring the RGB image into the CMYK color gamut upon conversion However, you can also choose to tweak the image prior to conversion to bring all colors into the CMYK working space gamut beforehand Chapter 26 / More about Color Separations 477 Note: Technically, Photoshop uses Relative Colorimetric as its standard rendering method Photoshop will dutifully translate... problems is complex First, you must configure dot gain settings in the Color Settings dialog box For custom CMYK, we set dot gain to 35 percent, since that’s what is generally produced For spot color, we set dot gain to 30 percent By configuring dot gain here, we plan for the dot gain and try to compensate for it Tip: If you are sending out your artwork to a service bureau, call first Some shops want... eye icon for all of the other channels except for the composite channel and the original RGB channels listed at the top You can continue to tweak these channels endlessly if you so desire You can delete channels and recreate them You can double-click on the channels and create a new color for them, or choose a Pantone color You can remove the eye icon from specific channels to see if the screen is... numbers for black is a good thing Undercolor Addition (UCA) UCA adds cyan, magenta, and yellow where black or neutral colors are present in a photograph or image UCA gives density to an image and increases ink coverage UCA is not generally desirable in offset printing or screen printing and should be set to 0 percent DCS 2.0 Desktop Color Separations (DCS) format is a version of the standard EPS format... printing from a Mac OS system Do not choose JPEG if you don’t have to JPEGs compress the file by discarding color information n Include Halftone Screen: Check this if you want to include a halftone screen n Include Transfer Function: Check this if you plan to use the Transfer function to compensate for extra dot gain n Include Vector Data: Check this if the file has vector data, such as text, that you’d like . original. 461 Preparations Before performing any simulated process color separations, there are a few items that must be reviewed and checked. For instance, make sure after you perform the separations. color separations are great for any image but are easiest to cre - ate for images that ha ve less than 100 or so colors. Indexed colors are created either automatically by Photoshop or by the user. colors you want. In this chapter, we take an image created for use on a dark shirt, pre - pare the image, and perform the separations. For simulated process color, this requires creating extra