Creating a halftone screen

Started by rickself, March 25, 2019, 08:24:37 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

rickself

Hey all -
We have a couple of small presses in back that we print stationary, NCR, envelopes - small 1 and 2 color print shop stuff. The plant that I was with some years back had halftone screen overlays for burning to film to created the halftone but we don't have that here. I'm trying to find the best (maybe not easiest) method for creating a flat halftone - 20% - 40% - 60% (not a gradient) in Illustrator or Photoshop. I'm finding there are plug ins like Phantasm that can do the trick but I got to wondering. If I run a file through the RIP software with output file as pdf or tiff that saves to a file, will it not generate a halftone for me?
Rick Self, Prepress Oldie
Mac Mini M1   G5 Quad-Core Intel Sierra  HP DesignJet Z6 44in   RICOH Pro C5200S
Fiery BCE5  Xitron Navigator v.13   Screen 8000II   Azura Plates   Komori L640

DigiCorn

Not sure I understand the question.

Why can't you go into Illy or Photoshop and make a solid swatch, and then create a screen of that swatch?

Why can't you make a 100% solid, send it to the RIP, and then create a curve that outputs 100% at 20, 40 or 60% output?
"There's been a lot of research recently on how hard it is to dislodge an impression once it's been implanted in someone's mind. (This is why political attack ads don't have to be true to be effective. The other side can point out their inaccuracies, but the voter's mind privileges the memory of the original accusation, which was juicier than any counterargument ever could be.)"
― Johnny Carson

"Selling my soul would be a lot easier if I could just find it."
– Nikki Sixx

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."
― Ernest Hemingway

rickself

I can make a screen or tint at 60% in Illustrator but it only outputs a continuous gray tone on the laser printer or HP proofer that we use to shoot the film from. I need to have output with halftone dots like the old days. Sounds pretty clumsy but on these old presses, there is no rip...it's just down and dirty printing.
Thankfully I'm kinda slow right now so had so time to mess with the rip.
I set up a configuration on the Navigator RIP to output the rip file to a tiff at 100 line screen. It appears to have worked but looks like I have some tweaking
Rick Self, Prepress Oldie
Mac Mini M1   G5 Quad-Core Intel Sierra  HP DesignJet Z6 44in   RICOH Pro C5200S
Fiery BCE5  Xitron Navigator v.13   Screen 8000II   Azura Plates   Komori L640

DigiCorn

What happens if you try to print to your device like this (with your device in place of the Acrobat settings I put in there...)?

see screenshot

"There's been a lot of research recently on how hard it is to dislodge an impression once it's been implanted in someone's mind. (This is why political attack ads don't have to be true to be effective. The other side can point out their inaccuracies, but the voter's mind privileges the memory of the original accusation, which was juicier than any counterargument ever could be.)"
― Johnny Carson

"Selling my soul would be a lot easier if I could just find it."
– Nikki Sixx

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."
― Ernest Hemingway

rickself

I was hoping it would be that easy. It should be.
I now know I can accomplish it on the rip with some work but, yep, it would be slick to do it with the driver.
Rick Self, Prepress Oldie
Mac Mini M1   G5 Quad-Core Intel Sierra  HP DesignJet Z6 44in   RICOH Pro C5200S
Fiery BCE5  Xitron Navigator v.13   Screen 8000II   Azura Plates   Komori L640

born2print

I may be too late, but what about Photoshop/Filter/ pixelate/color halftone ?
How will I laugh tomorrow...
when I can't even smile today?

born2print

see attached.
I hope I'm not man-splaining...
How will I laugh tomorrow...
when I can't even smile today?

rickself

Ya, it works but it's not accurate as I was hoping to achieve. The client wants a 60% and an 80% screen of black and both Photoshop and Illustrator are really hit and miss. Ripping the file and saving as a tiff is working but the output file is a bitmap image.
Remember the old days with Freehand? You told it what screen angle, with percent of tint, dpi. and there you had it. The one of only a few features I'd give a thumbs up for Freehand.
I'll have to see if I have an old version of Freehand around!
Thanks guys for all the input.
Rick Self, Prepress Oldie
Mac Mini M1   G5 Quad-Core Intel Sierra  HP DesignJet Z6 44in   RICOH Pro C5200S
Fiery BCE5  Xitron Navigator v.13   Screen 8000II   Azura Plates   Komori L640

rickself

Finally got what I was looking for. I know it took longer than I needed to put into it but I'm like a grizzly bear - I wan't about to give in. All the tools were here and today I had the time.
Thanks again for the help and support!!
Rick Self, Prepress Oldie
Mac Mini M1   G5 Quad-Core Intel Sierra  HP DesignJet Z6 44in   RICOH Pro C5200S
Fiery BCE5  Xitron Navigator v.13   Screen 8000II   Azura Plates   Komori L640

DigiCorn

Quote from: born2print on March 25, 2019, 11:07:42 AMsee attached.
I hope I'm not man-splaining...
Not at all. But I think we'd all appreciate it if you did some manscaping.
"There's been a lot of research recently on how hard it is to dislodge an impression once it's been implanted in someone's mind. (This is why political attack ads don't have to be true to be effective. The other side can point out their inaccuracies, but the voter's mind privileges the memory of the original accusation, which was juicier than any counterargument ever could be.)"
― Johnny Carson

"Selling my soul would be a lot easier if I could just find it."
– Nikki Sixx

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."
― Ernest Hemingway

born2print

How will I laugh tomorrow...
when I can't even smile today?