Tool help

Color Separation

CMYK halftoned plates ready for screen burning, or spot layers — exported as ZIP of PNGs.

Best for

CMYK process screen printing — burn one screen per plate, register, and print.

Simple steps

  1. Pick CMYK mode (default).
  2. Keep ‘Halftone plates’ on so each plate prints as dots.
  3. Set LPI to match your mesh and output DPI to match your film printer.
  4. Apply, download the ZIP, burn one screen per file (C, M, Y, K).

What each setting means

Mode

CMYK = four process plates. Spot = merge to N flat spot masks.

Halftone plates

On = print-ready halftone dots per plate. Off = continuous-tone density.

LPI

Halftone screen frequency. Match it to mesh count / desired dot size.

Output resolution (DPI)

Pixels per inch of the film output. Higher = crisper dots.

Min dot %

Drops dots smaller than this to avoid unprintable specks.

White threshold

Snaps near-white to paper white before separating.

Alpha threshold

Pixels below this are treated as clear (paper white).

Black on white

On = more ink renders darker on the plate (typical film positive).

Number of separations

Spot mode only — target number of spot channels.

Helpful tips

  • Standard CMYK angles are used: C=15°, M=75°, Y=0°, K=45°.
  • Register the four screens carefully — even small offset shows in 4-color print.
  • Tune LPI/min dot to your mesh; very high LPI clogs on coarse mesh.
  • CMYK here is a device CMYK formula, not a press ICC profile.