PRINTING Separations & HALFTONES*

[Seth_Shelman@adobeforums.com]

My name is Seth,
I use illustrator 10, on Windows XP.
Here's the deal.... I create images for t-shirts to be silk screened, and I print on a Xante Accel-a-writer. I always have been selecting my shapes I create, and turn them black to print my color separations(and delete or turn everything white)... Then Ctrl Z back to the original document and then repeat the process for the next color, and so on, and so on.... I have always figured there was another way!!(an easier way)... Then I go into print setup to try and figure out how to work in the color seps. window and it asks me to open a PPD file. Cant find it anywhere, it is foreign to me.
In lies the the subject of the question....NOR do I know how to print half-tones... I don't even know how to set it up. I have tried the effect/pixelate...doesn't work--it gives me huge circles. nothing that would compare to a 45deg. angle and 60dpi....PLEASE HELP....

[Timothy_Foolery®@adobeforums.com]

60dpi




Do you mean LPI?

I work in DieSub printing and I do the artwork for the screen printing (but we send the work out as we're too busy with sublimation). I use a Roland SJ-740 (retro fitted with diesub inks) and a HP Designjet plotter for my filmwork (that then goes to the printers who use a clamshell with 1.2m x 1.6m screens, kind of a bigger version of what you're doing)

If you want to add anotations, custom regos, etc. and want to put them where you want them then the method you are using is fine. I like doing my seps manually, others don't. I do it quite differently than you, but that doesn't matter.

To get your halftones you'll need to make a Rider file (Filter/Other/Make Riders) and save it to your Plugins folder. Check it out and then come back when you get stuck.

PS. 60 LPI is very fine, 35 is a bit more realistic.

[LenHewitt@adobeforums.com]

Seth,

Every Postscript output device should ship with a PPD - PostScript Printer
Description file. This is a plain text file that defines what the particular
printer features are, such as media sizes, screen angles, lpi frequencies
and so on.

The printer manufacturer is responsible for providing the PPD.

[Jacob_Bugge@adobeforums.com]

Seth,

This may be an easier way to separate: copy each shape/colour to a separate layer (if all the artwork is in the same layer you may duplicate once for each and delete the other parts, otherwise CtrlC and CtrlF) and name each layer after the shape/colour for individual print jobs. With this you can just turn the artwork in each layer black (lock the original artwork for safety and hide the others until it is their turn), and you can keep track of what you are doing.

Is this a silly way, Timothy and Len?

[Timothy_Foolery®@adobeforums.com]

It's not a bad way at all. I print to rolls of film on a plotter so it all goes through at once, my way won't work for everybody. A lot of people seem to still be taping bits of film together...

Locking the original and the seperations you aren't currently working on is a good idea because then you can use "Select/Same/Fill Color", etc. when you're knocking out colours.

[Brian]

I think the problem is that you have not installed the Xante as a
PostScript printer on your system. The Accel-a-writer is indeed a
PostScript printer (we have one here, much to my dismay - it doesn't
compare to an HP), and if you install it as such you should be able to
print seps from Illustrator.

The manual should tell you how to do this, and the necessary files
(installer, PPD, etc. should be on the CD-ROM). If not you can download
a PostScript driver installer from Adobe, and a PPD from Xante, and
install it that way.