Separate and Underbase a Spot Color File in under 5 minutes

[RichieGoodtimes]

Elroi is a douche.

Do you have an Illustrator file that you need to separate for a black or other dark shirt with an underbase? Wanna know how to do that really quickly? Its easy. This is for your super basic files without gradients or tints. Flat spot colors.

EXPORT your spot color design as a 300 dpi RGB Photoshop file. ANTIALIASING OFF. Put the design a backgroud which is the shirt color.

Open that file in PS. Index it with no antialiasing or dithering. Since it's all spot color it should automatically Index itself at as many colors, plus one being the shirt color, as there are colors in your design.

Choose Select in the top menu then choose Color Range, set your fuzziness to ZERO and select one of the colors using the eyedropper. Go over to the little arrow on the top left corner of the Channels Pallette and create a new spot channel. Make it whatever color it's supposed to be.

Repeat that with all the colors in the design, including white or whatever color you're using for the underbase.

To create the underbase, select each channel by pulling them down to the dashed circle thing in the channels pallete. Hold shift and drag each channel down ther until they are all selected.

With that selection under SELECT : MODIFY: CONTRACT...contract the selection 2 pixels at 300 dpi. Then with only the underbase color channel selected fill that selection with 100% black. Done.

If you don't want to underbase every color then don't select the colors that you don't want underbased when you are creating the underbase channel.

[bdix]

and the Budweiser?

[lil_tuffy]

or
- select all in illustrator
- copy and paste in front (command-f) (new layer)
- pathfinder unite all
- fill and stroke 2pt.

[bdix]

and the Budweiser?

[uncle charlie]

this talk maks me horny

[lil_tuffy]

in my tummy tum.

[RichieGoodtimes]

or
- select all in illustrator
- copy and paste in front (command-f) (new layer)
- pathfinder unite all
- fill and stroke 2pt.

Doesn't work when you don't want to underbase one of the colors in the design that butts up with where the underbase shows through.

Like if you don't want to underbase black on a red shirt, but you've got white right next to it in some areas and another color on top of the white in others...both touching the black.

[bdix]

if it's vector, keep it in Illustrator.

you can make a selective underbase just as easy in Illustrator, while maintaining a smaller file size and quicker print time.

[lil_tuffy]

what's vector, victor? over.

[RichieGoodtimes]

The RIP times are actually faster with same with a multichannel psd file then they are with a vector file. It's a negligible difference, but its true. There are fewer calculations with a raster file than a vector file to turn it into printer language.

Seriously. Try this Bobby. Separate, load film, hit print once and walk away.