THE PREPRESS IN SCREEN PRINTING

The  prepress job concerns all the operations prior to the actual screen printing.

1. The  prepress job concerns all the operations prior to the actual screen printing.

   The prepress in screen printing and textile printing is composed of several steps:
   
   
   1. Creation of the image to be printed by way of a graphic software that generates a graphic file to be processed in a specific software workflow
   2. Color separation for the screen printing: through a special separation software you get a breakdown of the graphic file in different spot colors  that correspond to several monochromatic images relevant to the colors that are going to be actually printed.
      By splitting the image in 2 colors you get a two-color printing, by splitting it in 3 colors you get a three-color printing, by splitting it in 4 colors you get a 4 Color printing . The separation of more than 4 colors is called polychromy and is largely used for T-shirt printing and for the realization of textures and reproduction of materials in screen printing.
   3. Ripping  (or elaboration through RIP software) of the separated colors file that consists in the transformation of all the shades in halftones fit for screen printing .
   4. Output of the halftones using imagesetters or inkjet Epson plotter on Positive film  for the screen printing.
   5. Light exposition / Screen engraving for the screen printing
   6.  Registration of the screen stretched with mesh in the printing machine

   The steps 2-3-4-5 are also called  “ PREPRESS “ of the printing structure for the screen printing