Howdy do.
I've done this before with a camera and an enlarger, but, not with a computer and an inkjet printer.
I've made halftone images with a small screen that has dots on it to make an image have some shading to it.
But, what is the best way to do this with modern tools and software?
I have PS Elements that I got with a WACOM pad, so I've been using that for now.
Maybe there is something in PS that can lay down halftones for me?
I want to screen print an image of a famous person's head or something onto a shirt.
How do I get the image onto a transparency with all of the line detail that I need to make it look good?
Say I have an image of George Washington..........how do I get that image onto my transparency so that when I burn the screen it'll show up well enough on the emulsion to print it onto a shirt?
The computer has to know how to print the dark areas from the transparent areas so that the light can pass through and/or be blocked according to the transparencies transparency.
The detail doesn't have to be photo-realistic quality, just a line drawing will do.
Know what I mean?
Thanks.

Unfortunately you will need RIP software to output inkjet film positives with halftones. Older versions of the full Photoshop can output some halftones as bitmap so it’s not the best quality but it works well for some.

A line drawing on the other hand would not require RIP software. So a caricature of a person as line art would be simple to print out without RIP software but if you need to do halftones then you will need it.

http://www.catspitproductionsllc.com/ou ... gfilm.html

Lemme see if I got this right and studied the halftone video deeply enough. The one with the plaid shorts and pre-pubescent audio glitch...lol...If there is a one color halftone going on white and dark garments, the halftone transparency needs to be a positive for the dark and a negative/positive for the light garments? Is this correct?...thanks...peace

LOL.... well yes.

First let me say you can output some halftones right from certain versions of Photoshop without RIP software. So you may want to look into that if you have PS.

Otherwise you are correct. I will do a video on this subject using spot colors as an example but it is the same either way for spot color work or halftones like we discussed in the halftone video.

For white and light colored tees we print normal film positives without much concern for the appearance of line work and other details. Then when it goes to screen it makes a negative which when printed then makes a positive.... follow? LOL.

But when printing on black or very dark garments you will want to reverse all if not some of the artwork in the design to create a negative film which then creates a positive on the screen which will print a negative on the shirt which then looks positive. I think I got that right. LOL... how is that for a brain twister?

So for halftones you’ll need to create a negative if you want it to look like a positive on the dark garment. Spot color line work would be similar but in both cases we may choose to make all or only certain parts of the design negative. These decisions are made based on experience and what will look best with the design on dark garments.

What nobody likes my plaid shorts?

Thanks for clarifying that, I cant believe I did the halftone shirt without knowing that. Making those image changes in PhotoShop is cakework for me. I hope to get this HP inkjet goin that I acquired so I can produce my transparencies in house. Thanks again....peace

Plaid is cool..kinda

LOL... you're welcome.

I guess I'll have to get some new shorts for next year. I wear adult small 29 wasit or youth xl if you want to send me any cool shorts I should be wearing

Lost the instruction packet that came with the catspit waterproof transparency film. Which side is the print side? I see a rounded corner on one of the film edges. I'm ready to give this a non postscript try...no postscript rip for the hp 6110xi...thanks in advance...also i have a squeegie question...If the squeegee isnt wide enough to get the entire image in one stroke, making a second stroke to the part that missed the squeegie is likely to damage that portion of the image laid down by the first stroke? Is this a true statement? Get a wider squeegie? thanks....peace

The instructions for the inkjet film is on the Catspit web page:

http://www.catspitproductionsllc.com/in ... tives.html

But basically the rounded corner goes in the top right corner when printing. Also if you moisten your fingers the sticky side is the side you want to print on. The slick side is the back.

Yes, a wide enough squeegee for the job is recommended but if you need to you can stroke a print again leaning toward one side as long as you don't leave any heavy deposits of ink on the mesh where the squeegee is missing. That would leave imperfections in the print surface.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34UxodAT_Wo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp4nsGCgnaQ

Thanks Jonathan, and thanks for the direct video links, apparently i missed some of these...I'm on it....peace