Creating a Four Color Process Separation White Printer in PhotoshopBy: Charles Taublieb
Four Color Process is almost never four colors unless you only have a four-color press. A white plate is often used to liven up colors and create a target area for the colors to print into, as well as make it possible to print on light to medium colored garments without major color shifts. The white plate does not act as an underlay as it does in simulated process work, except for the yellow. By building a white plate that surrounds all the colors and lies under the yellow, it will be possible to print on light blue garments and retain the yellow because it will be sitting on the white. Otherwise the yellow will turn green and the integrity of the color will be lost. If this plate is made correctly, all colored garments will look very similar.
Once you have finished separating your design, it will be necessary to do the following, depending on your priting needs. Simply click the bar that best suites your needs for the proper instructions.
Instructions For No White Plate Under The Yellow Switch from Channels to Layers in the box that has that information on the screen (usually in the lower right side). Then do the following:
Working with the copy, do the following:
Turn off the eyeball on the background layer. Using the Magic Wand, select the background on the image and hit the delete key on your computer. This will give you a clear background (a checkerboard pattern will appear where the background was). Click on the background again to get rid of the moving ants.
Next, do the following:
Adjust the levels so you have strong white where the image needs to be bright, and little or no white where the image needs to be dark. Use your judgment, but make sure you document the changes made. Using the Magic Wand, select the background again.
- Select
- Modify
- Expand—(usually 2 pixels)
Hit the Delete Key on your computer!
This will chock the image so the white does not show if the registration is off by a fraction. Next, go to:
This will give a soft edge to the White plate.
Go to the Channels box and click on the Gray that has been made. Drag it on top of the  CMYK image. A Gray Alpha Channel will appear in the CMYK Channel box. Change it to read White. Although it shows as printing last, it will print first. The Frequency, Shape and Angle of the White will be the same as the other colors.
When printing, do not flash any of the colors including the White or they will not blend the way they are supposed to.
Instructions For Creating A White Plate Under The Yellow Switch from Channels to Layers in the box that has that information on the screen (usually in the lower right side). Then do the following: Working with the copy, do the following:
Turn off the eyeball on the background layer. Using the Magic Wand, select the background on the image and hit the delete key on your computer. This will give you a clear background (a checkerboard pattern will appear where the background was). Click on the background again to get rid of the moving ants. Go back to Channels in the box and select the Yellow. We have to get rid of the Yellow in order to have white appear there, so using you Eraser tool, remove everything from the yellow area. The area should now be white. When you click on CMYK again, the image will be missing the yellow.
Next, do the following:
Adjust the levels so you have strong white where the image needs to be bright, and little or no white where the image needs to be dark. Document the changes made. Using the Magic Wand, select the background again.
Hit the Delete Key on your computer!
This will chock the image so the White does not show if the registration is off by a fraction. Next, go to:
This will give a soft edge to the white plate.
Go to the Channels box and click on the Gray that has been made. Drag it on top of the CMYK image. A Gray Alpha Channel will appear in the CMYK Channel box. Change it to read White. Although it shows as printing last, it will print first. The Frequency, Shape and Angle of the White will be the same as the other colors.
Do not flash any of the colors including the White when printing. Once this procedure has been used several times, it will become easy to do a white that works well.
 Charlie Taublieb has been in the screen printing industry since 1976 and is the owner of Taublieb Consulting
in Englewood, Colorado, a company that specializes in technical
consulting-i.e., evaluating a shops efficiency, designing and laying
out floor plans for new and existing facilities, instituting quality
control programs and working with companies on improving their
technical abilities.
You can visit Charlie Taublieb's website at www.taubliebconsulting.com/
He has been a consultant for 25 years and has worked in shops through out
the US, Latin America, Caribbean, Europe and Asia. He owned Great
American Screen Designs, Ltd., an automated screen printing facility in
Brooklyn, New York and Bullseye Screen Printing Supplies, Inc., a
screen-printing supply company in Denver, Colorado. Currently, Charlie
is Marketing Director for Fassi Equipment, Miami, Florida and continues
to work for Taublieb Consulting Englewood, Colorado. In 2002, he
instituted the new seminar programs at Rutland Plastic Technologies,
Inc., Pineville, North Carolina and oversees them currently.
Charlie
has written numerous articles for many of the industry publications and
writes a monthly column for Impressions Magazine, "Printing with
Charlie". He started the "Hands on Screen-Printing Workshop" conducted
at the Imprinted Sportswear Shows in 1985 where he continues to conduct
seminars as well as the SGIA Shows, the Bobbin Shows in the US, Mexico
and Brazil, the ImageWorld Show in Mexico City, Image Wear Expo and the
DAX shows. He was voted "Top Industry Consultant" the last time the
survey was conducted.
Taublieb
is a graduate of Western Michigan University with a Bachelor of Science
in Fine Art. He majored in painting and had a minor in print making and
drawing. Charlie is a member of CORE New Art Space where he exhibits
his paintings and artwork. Charlie Taublieb is a member of the Academy
Of Screen Printing Technology.
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