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Michael Plemmons
9,393 PointsIllustrator color separation
I know the explanations for this course are meant for doing graphics for the web, but I do have 1 question that hasn't been covered that's not really related. Maybe I missed it or it's coming soon. I manage the web site for the souvenir shop I work at. We also screen print our own shirts. I was wondering about color separations in Illustrator for screen printing. If I missed the video, please let me know, but I assumed it would be in the colors area of the videos. Most of these have been different techniques for drawing and coloring. Thanks
7 Answers
Caleb Kleveter
Treehouse Moderator 37,862 PointsYou might want to google something like 'separating colors in illustrator for screen printing'.
Jaclyn Adams
399 PointsI think you can do something exactly what he did in the video. Select the color you want then go to select/same fill color. I would copy and paste the color into a new layer and do that for the rest of the colors in different layers....I am so new to this so it might not be the best way.
Francesco Belvedere
15,206 PointsThis tutorial sums it up pretty nicely.
I would also be sure to consult your screen printer for advice before proceeding. Printers usually have very specific printing specs they want designers to adhere to.
Caleb Kleveter
Treehouse Moderator 37,862 PointsI'm not sure what you mean, but are you talking about colors you can't print?
Michael Plemmons
9,393 Pointsno, if a design has 4 colors for instance red, green, white and purple in the graphic design. I need to just pull out all the spots that have red, save it in a file, all the parts that have green, save it in a file, etc. They get printed out on a clear plastic sheet of paper so I'd have 4 sheets, which if you stack them on top of each other, would create the original image. Then line those up on the machine (4 sections) so you can press the paint on the shirts one color at a time.
That's just a quick overview of the process. I just need to know how to pull the colors apart from the original design.
Thanks
Michael Plemmons
9,393 Pointsawesome, I appreciate the replies. A lot of it has to do with a certain ppi and screen mesh sizes. It's a co worker that does the printing and he has a graphic artist do the designs, then he sends off to someone else to separate the colors for screen printing. Since I'm the most computer literate person with the company, it would save us some money if I could do it myself. From my understanding, it's separated in illustrator. I think Jaclyn's advice would be the way to go. I'll revisit the video on that. I'll also check out the tutorial Francesco mentioned.
Francesco Belvedere
15,206 PointsYour printer can definitely help out with what screen mesh to use. That doesnt affect the color seps process but more it affects the resolution of the print.
The more detail you have in the illustration the higher the mesh needs to be.
fac ga
Python Web Development Techdegree Student 9,097 PointsI'm not sure but magic wand tool let you select paths with same fill, maybe we can copy all those selected paths, copy them to a new layer, seeing all layers at them same time so you can fit the path to the original one. And do the same thing for other colors.