Adobe Photoshop - Spot Color Separation - Screen Printing

[nooobie1]

haha clumble

[melissaleroy]

Thanks so much!

[FreehandGraphics]

Spot Process Separation Studio!!

[001JURIZ]

DUDE! this is the best and cheapest color separation technique there is! THANKS A LOT!

[phillychronicles]

Can you direct me to you video on how to do shade and gradient printing. Thanks very much.

[candidsniperdotcom]

could you do a tutorial in illustrator showing us how to seperate?

[MentinkiZM]

@Designing5 All artwork is printed on your transfer with black in anyways. You would need to tell your printer what colors you wanted regardless. How about naming the channels the color you want them? Lol

[candidsniperdotcom]

thats great and sounds easy but how do you do it on something advanced like say a picture of your cat???

[MentinkiZM]

@candidsniperdotcom It depends. You would need to use a filter to make your cat only say "5 colors" or so. Best way to do that would be Illustrator. Then yes, you could.

[jaypongs]

tim.. i dont know about t-shirt printing but i know to color seperate.. i can teach u how to color seperate.. i think mine is so much easier pm me....

[mzpoke1]

Great tutorial! I love it when a tutorial is straight to the point and informative. Thumbs up!

[MentinkiZM]

@mzpoke1 Thanks. :-)

[ibrisson]

Oh my god - thank you, you just saved me hours!

[MentinkiZM]

@ibrisson Glad it helped!

[devonmale69]

um ah ... um .. um .. ah ummmmm ... um umm....

[MentinkiZM]

@devonmale69 I dont know if this is good or bad. But I will say thanks anyways. Heh. :-)

[Karribu]

Thanks for this! Been looking for ages and you made it seem so easy. Well done.

[MentinkiZM]

@Karribu No problem! :-)

[templar555]

you are amazing, it's so easy, thank you so much ^_^

[MentinkiZM]

@templar555 Anytime! :-)

[jg15203]

Thanks for the video.

:o)

[MentinkiZM]

@jg15203 Np. Thanks for the comment. :-)

[savageheathens]

OH my Lanta... .i was actually doing what u were sayin as is... Hands DOwn ...

Easy Easy Easy.. .I watched this and picked it up the first time......

You Rock ....

[MentinkiZM]

@savageheathens Thanks for the support!

[Chamath5]

can you do it with a photo please answer

[MentinkiZM]

@Chamath5 As I said in a few previous post's, you would need to scale down the colors in illustrator first. But it can be done. If you guys need a video on this, let me know.

[codemiesterbeats]

I thank you sir... this was very helpful.

[MentinkiZM]

@codemiesterbeats Np Sir. :-)

[danfilk]

This is great. Thanks!

[MentinkiZM]

@danfilk Welcome!

[bullet101ANDSUM]

Great vid

[MentinkiZM]

@bullet101ANDSUM Ty!

[blacksodomia187]

Excellent please post more tutorials

[MentinkiZM]

@blacksodomia187 Like? Give me ideas on what you would like to see!

[Mogz]

Great tutorial for solid colour - useless if you have gradients =D

[oliveeue]

EXCELLENT... TUTORIAL FOR HOW TO MAKE A WHITE BASE WOULD ROCK!

[MentinkiZM]

@oliveeue OoooOooOo.... I can do that! If you truly want one, shoot me a PM and ill make one for you.

[MentinkiZM]

@Mogz If you have gradients its not spot color anymore. Hence why I named this vid "spot color separation" :-)

[millertime786]

holy shit get to the fn point dude

[MentinkiZM]

@millertime786 Sorry the video wasn't as strait forward as you would have liked. Ill work on that. Lol

[anthonyontherocks]

At the end, arent we supposed to delete/erase the "white" background after we've separated each color into the channel? How would it look if we print each channel? will the white background appear?

[MentinkiZM]

@anthonyontherocks No. Printers dont print white. So nothing gets printed if the background is white. 

[brenttheskateeeeeee]

Wonderful video

My only problem, is how do you save it so that when my screen printer opens the file they only see the separated colours ?

Cheers

[anthonyontherocks]

Once you've separated the colors on the same file, click save. You dont save each individual color in its individual file. You save them all in 1 file. When your screen printer opens the file, he/she will click on each layer and print it out..I hope this helps understand the process.

[MentinkiZM]

@anthonyontherocks Yep. Or you can do this. Depending on how your screen printer wants the files. I know some dont want to deal with PSD's and will ask specifically for high rez png's or jpeg's. All up to you and your printer. Thanks for the answer anthony!

[MentinkiZM]

@brenttheskateeeeeee You hide all the channels except the color your saving. So if you have a 3 color print. You hide all but color 1. Save. All but Color 2. Save. All but color 3. Save. Then those 3 files are what you will give to your printer.

[SerendipiTeeApparel]

You, sir, are a genius.

[MentinkiZM]

@SerendipiTeeApparel Thanks! :-)

[robx8370]

Very useful! thank you so much for sharing this technique!!!! :)

[boyjust4u]

thank you so much!!!!!!! it really help me allat

[notapr0gamer]

Plain and simple. Been doing a harder way before you saved me a lot of work and time

[MentinkiZM]

@notapr0gamer Glad I could help!

[LAndreaCarvajal]

WOW!!! Thank you!

Question: DO you print directly from PS? because I try to save the channels but is saveing the whole artwork.

[MentinkiZM]

@LAndreaCarvajal I print right from photoshop, yes.

[Rzo3000]

Man, I have been looking all over for this info for several weeks. Thanks!!!!!

[AlexzandraGeyer]

Awesome tutorial! I'm a beginner and this was just what I was looking for to get started. Thanks!!! :)

[babyshotgun19]

how can i save it as a layer??? thanks.reply please

[taylored85]

Very Helpful thank you

[lilymarlenster]

MentinkiZM, great tutorial, tnx anyway, but..what if you need to separate 6 colors for completely full color, photo for example?? What about the gradient, shade?? I really need help, anyone? Is that possible?

[MentinkiZM]

@lilymarlenster I can post a video on how to do shade and gradient if people are having this much of an issue with it. Let me know.

[Karribu]

@MentinkiZM Yes please, a tut on gradients/halftones would be much appreciated.

[TrailBlazersInc]

if i have a black and white image do i still have to seperate the black and white before printing onto my vellum or film .??

[MentinkiZM]

@TrailBlazersInc Yes. If your actualy PRINTING black and white ink on the shirt. You do need to separate both the black, and the white.

[angquest]

Great Tutorial! I am a self taught screen printer through the internet and this helps a lot!! Thanks again!!

[anthonyontherocks]

Nice class but this doesnt seem to work well when you're separating more detailed artwork like halftones. Do you have a technique?

[albinomacanang]

awesome tutorial

[brown55061]

Seriously, this video is a golden nugget of wonderfulness! I haven't been that forum in a while but there are a lot of really helpful people on there. Thanks for the video, I know I'm not the only one who saved a lot of time with your method.

[MrMatt92sikead]

this tutorial was a life saver man. thanks for posting

[threefoldutopia]

Yay! Fantastic. I agree w/Hafen. Now I need to see a halftones tutorial. :D Thank you so much. I knew how to separate in illustrator, but I just got hired as an assistant (fashion) designer at a company and my new boss was asking if I knew how to do separations so I could help out the graphics team. Now, I do!

[Hafen01]

Very nice job. Very simple and to the point. I also would like to see halftones tutorial

[bamzki831]

dude great video, but how do i save the separations now? so that i can print them individually??? :(

[basherti]

@bamzki831 ...I have the same question here. I cant find the way how to save these channels separably in order to print them for screen printing ?????

[bamzKid]

@basherti I found only one thing that helped. I make sure that i have my design the size that i am going to print on the shirt and make the seperations and just turn on each channel one at a time and hit print. I havent gotten any responses on how to save the separations so i'm doing it this way for now and if i somehow lose the print i just take my design into photoshop and since the process is so easy i do these steps again. Hope this helps, it has been working for me.

[PBRthehipstersbrew]

how do you know what the actually size of the print will look like on the shirt? This has bothered me. I would like to see an actual reading , like in inches?

[threefoldutopia]

@PBRthehipstersbrew You should be working on an image that is 300dpi in the actual dimensions of the artwork you want to print. If you're looking for sizing, you need to print out a copy of your artwork in actual size. (It can be b/w, low quality, whatever - just get it on paper) Now, hold the actual size artwork up to your t-shirt. Does it fit? Does it look good from across the room? Is it too big? Re-size your actual artwork accordingly. You can do this digitally, but I prefer manually.

[1907marko]

you are genious, thank you!

[tomwphm]

Dude...awesome job! Thanks you so much. They wanted to charge me $75 per design to do this. Insane.

[partyzonebouncers]

Thank you so much for the great video....It really help me!!!!!!

[chohdhryji]

brother u done a really grate job but u can also use color range command for spot color sepration....

[phupha1970]

training4free.co.cc/Basic%20tr­aining/Basic%20training.html

visit for photoshop step by step tutorials

[saltfan2]

but what about a photo?

[dirtyredfox13]

does this video contain all steps in separating colors?? or are there any more steps ? thanks btw ur a life saver.

[jpwoosnam]

Great job, so easy to do, but is there a way to do this process using Photoshop Elements 8?! Please say there is, though it will probably take more steps to do it, there MUST be a way, right?

[MentinkiZM]

@jpwoosnam

There must be a way. There is always a way. I unfortunately have no used Elements 8 all that much so I dont know a way. Keep searching, you will find one im sure.

[jpwoosnam]

Great job, so easy to do, but is there a way to do this process using Photoshop Elements 8?! Please say there is, though it will probably take more steps to get there.....

[honda125]

how do you add reg marks after this..

[MentinkiZM]

@honda125

There are a couple ways, it just depends on whats the easiest for you.I make duplicate reg marks of each color, so they get selected with each layer. If its a 4 color, I just duplicate 4 reg marks in the top left making them the same 4 colors that im using. U turn them all black later so it doesn't really matter.

[MentinkiZM]

@honda125

Another way would be making a reg mark that is a separate color then anything else, then selecting that color with 1 of your other colors every time. Example, if you have a red, blue, green shirt. I would make the reg mark black and with each layer select it as well. Red+Black,New Layer. Blue+Black,New Layer. Green+Black, New Layer. THen ur reg mark would show up on all the new layers.

[tempster]

Thanks for the tutorial.

PS: It's contiguous, not continuous.

[MentinkiZM]

@tempster

Np.

PS, Thanks Webster. Heh

[dabear806n]

Thank you i have just started screen printing about six months agao i didnt expect to get this so quickly, im sure there is other ways of doing this but your tutorial is by far the fastest, THANK YOU!! And to anyone who says other wise shold shut up and make their own tutorial.

[diverbrent]

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

[genius139]

thanks a lot Sir!!!

[Mudkipkiller]

I did everything you did and all my layers turned out pink... Maybe it's because my photoshop is portable, but I don't know. Damnit.

[nicaat30]

i need to log-in to you tube to say Thank You, Very Much for your tutorial lots of help!!!

[TheDengue123]

great tutorial dude. thanks for making it so simple and effective. it helps me alot :D

[TheMandirigma69]

thank you dude!!!

[jeffshavnphun]

I have the t-shirts w/P.S. DVD set, I watched it agian tonight. Your tutorial is done just as well as that one is. GREAT job!!!

[senchele]

Thank you so much! I just started, and I soiled myself when I saw how much they want for software!! I knew there had to be an easy way to do it in photoshop, but didn't know how!

[marcosrlafarga]

RAD!!! Just what I needed

[BAYAREAism]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH

[pdxcharles]

Great Job explaining!!!

[mikeflr07]

Gracias mi amigo 

[PajProduction]

When I first saw the length of the video, I wondered how long this process would actually take me, It's a 7 min video. I'm glad it should only take a minute. I guess you had to spend most of the video convincing people how easy it was / convince them to use the magic wand tool. Over all, great video and I plan on using this process when I send the design to a screen printer to screen print over 40 shirts.

[deadking10]

what if your separating a full color image photo real illustration? Magic wand wont work. So how do you do it?

[jimmyjiv]

RIGHT ON!!! COOL!!!

[mohanasanga]

Greeattt!!!

[mohanasanga]

Million Tnx for save my money & Time

[MrJason2025]

man you are god, you have saved my life. thanks you so much for doing this.

[gabrielsanchezcano]

thank you so much,, u made so simple and easy,, you just save my life money and time!! ;) God Bless you!!

[billmeyer]

Great! This worked for me, even with some gradient colors. Critical how you set the tolerane number though, so colors don't overlap. Thanks for simplifying this process!

[darticus1]

This is great! I'm new to this but it seems like once you get the 4 colors on separate channels you can print each separately. I have got to try this on a sample like you did. Thanks for your time in doing this.

[BSLandSP]

Thanks so much. I'm just getting into screen printing and this helped a lot...

[tuberidersim]

they quoted that much... you should post their phone number and we can all crank call the pricks

ps. now i can do this i only charge $3000. lol.

thanks for the vid. legend

[XMENU10]

the tuts is great for a flat color, but using image with some color fading it is not applicable..

[5A1G3isGL3N]

so dam helpful! top bloke ;)

[mojistudio1]

Hi. loved your post, Thank you.I have a question. Can you color seperate an colored imaged that has been scanned? I appreciate your comments on that and how its done.

[sfwpm415]

how do you un click continuous in CS3?

[JillLeak]

You rock, now I can handle this like a boss!

[LambCloak]

THANK YOU!!!!! I'm a lil new to graphic design and I had people quote me random prices to separate my colors. and your HOW TO vide was a blessing.

[kazuyamochu]

what about antialiased edges of the shape? did you just work with no soft brush? or can you ignore it because of the high resolution?

[ThatGirlFromCali]

Thank you sooooo much for this tutorial,I needed this. God Bless!

[waxinfluence]

Great vid... But how do you add registration in Photoshop?

[idriveymca]

Youre the man dude! THANKS SO MUCH!!!!!!!

[waxinfluence]

Thanks for the help... 

[ExitiumVids]

Incredible! You just saved me a ton of time. Excellent video!!

[invade81]

thank you. 

[dementedjuan]

thanx man!!!

[ronniebrock]

How do i print the different channels? when i print it prints in color.....HELP

[MentinkiZM]

@ronniebrock

You have to save each channel separately as a file. I show at the end of the video. Hide all but one, save as, blah. do the same for the rest of your colors. Hope this helps.

[LaRezNar]

you rule man

[MentinkiZM]

@LaRezNar

:-) Thanks.

[GeorgiaBoi70]

You should put some consideration into making more videos. Very enlightening.

[rockdat]

WHAT IF ITS A PHOTO??

[MentinkiZM]

@rockdat

If its a photo you probably dont want to screen print it. You would only screen print 1-5 colors for the most part. if you want the photo to keep all its colors I would do a transfer or look into DTG printing.

If you need to screen print it, you will nee to edit your image and make it less colors for a screen printer to print it.

[sinephil]

thats great, cheers. I just need to figure out hot to do it with gradients now.

[MentinkiZM]

@sinephil

Those are tricky. :-) Ill post a new video sometime about the best way to do it with gradients. There is no sure fire way to do it, but i know some trick that may help you.

[Elyzophie]

Thank you, thank you, thank you this is sOOOO helpful!!

[MentinkiZM]

@Elyzophie

Thanks. :-)

[albunooo]

great tutorial.

[MentinkiZM]

@albunooo

Thank you. :-)

[MrGoldsoldier]

this is the best tutorial in color separation that i"ve watched... cool!

[lanno137]

Awesome, I cant believe you've made this soooo simple!!!

[MentinkiZM]

@lanno137

:-) Thanks so much. Glad I could help.

[julianandabi]

thank you so much man ive been killing myself over how to do this

[pegpyles]

Thanks so much for the help!!! You have eased my mind a LOT on working with photoshop!

[eliseo530]

seriously man thank you, when i opened photoshop i got intimidated really bad, but now i can start messing with it, keep sharing

[gregbolby]

fuck yeah

[princeljunior]

thanks 

[ThePlasma074]

i just wanna ask you guys how to make a image like this in photoshop ?

img156(dot)imageshack(dot)us/i­/barlb(dot)png/ pls help

[GLOCK50]

BRA FUCKING VO!!!

[LegionOfDub]

Awesome tutorial man. Thanks for the heads up. Peace.

[kateafshar]

feeew thank yoooou

[WRATHSOL1]

gago ka wala naman

[mumpump]

thanks dude, you just saved us a lot of aggrivation!!!!

[64255246]

Nice! Is it alright though that there is a small white like when you show all the layers like at 6:42, between the different layers there is a line separating them. Will that affect the printing and show up on the shirt?

[Sarianna00]

your the fucking man!

[DREWKILLUM]

Thanks Metinkizm!

Drew, (DrewBoogie on t-shirt forums)

[daydaydollable]

That's amazing! you are awesome! thanks so much for sharing to save everyone's money and time, you are great!!! :)

[briandrum1]

Honestly man....You fucking rule!!!!!!!! I've tried using in layers, magic wand, select-modify-expand by 1-2 pixels, and it never lined up properly. Well, I followed your tutorial to the "t", printed off my films, and it it worked PERFECTLY!! Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you for this!!!!

[AwesomeArtistLLC]

Thanks man! Great post.

[onlinerandy]

This is the first time I've been able to understand and grasp everything that was said...thank you!

[neotzc]

Fan-freakin-tastic dude.

Thank you so much

[bamzki831]

Oh yeah Im a Graphic design Major too! how is that going on for u?

[bamzki831]

dude you're like a GOD! hahaha great video bro thanks so much! I know that many of these big silkscreening "pros" over price this type of work! I just finished my own 4 color 1 station press and only spent about $100 saved about $600, probably even more. But anyways, as you mention about that program many of them just confuse you and leave you broke! Thanks againg for the info man its really going to help me a lot!

[jazwhat]

Good job!

[silumantai]

how bout half tone colors??

[bigsuede225]

im glad i didnt buy fast films ...thanks for the info....

[bcgtechnet]

Ur the best man this tutorial is great!!! thank you keep it up!!

[maust65]

Man that's what I'm talking about. Simple instructions to a complex matter. Awesome you need to teach this. Totally got it first time! Thanks-Rhino09

[CRTSHCTR]

great vidoe that's easy, i want to start silk screening as a hobbie, any information would be of great help.