Screen print — raster + halftones + gradients #

This page is for jobs with photos, gradients, and soft blends.

We can print photorealistic work — if the file is built correctly.

The rule #

Do not send pre-halftoned/bitmapped art.

Send tones as channels. We generate halftones in our RIP so we can control dot gain and generate optimized output.

Preferred file types (when you’re not separated) #

Best → worst: 1) PSD (preferred) 2) TIFF 3) PNG 4) JPEG (last resort)

Resolution #

• 300 DPI (or higher) at print size
• Don’t send tiny art and expect miracles. The print won’t be better than the pixels.

Transparency + cleanup #

• Use transparent backgrounds whenever possible
• Remove “almost invisible” noise
• Watch for stray 1% dots — they can print
• Use the color picker / channel view to confirm true zeros (background should be clean)

Grayscale: use Multichannel #

For grayscale photos:

• Convert to Multichannel (not Bitmap)
• Adjust with curves/levels as needed
• Let our RIP handle the halftone conversion

Color channels (sim process style) #

If you’re building channel seps:

• Keep channels editable (don’t convert to halftones)
• We handle dot gain in the RIP
• If you need unusually high fidelity, call it out before production

Illustrator + Photoshop workflow (recommended) #

If you’re combining raster + vector:

• Put vector elements + spot color labels + reg marks in AI
• Keep the raster channels in a linked PSD in the same zipped folder
• Always place and link -- 8 bit color composite -- single file
• Don’t embed giant raster files into AI

LPI (when to mention it) #

You do not need to specify LPI unless you need higher than 55 LPI.

If you have a special case, tell us in the job notes.

Print order #

If the job needs a specific print order, call it out in job notes, otherwise we’ll use our discretion.

Photos, gradients, and “soft art” are absolutely doable — they just need different handling than spot vector art.

This page covers what we need so it prints the way your proof shows.

Minimum requirements #

• Provide raster art at final print size
• Aim for 300 DPI at size (higher is fine)
• Avoid tiny images scaled up
• Avoid screenshots
• Avoid heavily compressed JPEGs when quality matters

How we prefer to handle raster separations #

If you want clean control over a photo/gradient separation:

• do the separation work in Photoshop (multi-channel workflow)
• place/link into Illustrator for registration marks + labeling + template alignment

The RIP reads the Illustrator file, but we can adjust the tonal curves in Photoshop without rebuilding everything.

If you don’t have this workflow, that’s fine — just send the best source file you have and we’ll guide you.

Halftones #

If your art uses halftones:

• call out the LPI (lines per inch) you want, if it matters
• plan for dot gain (what looks perfect on screen may fill in on press)
• make sure the proof reflects what you want to see printed

Proofs must match reality #

With raster art, the proof matters even more.

If your proof shows detail we cannot physically hold on press, we’ll flag it before production.