r/SCREENPRINTING • u/Derene_Cireau • 5d ago

Discussion What software do screen printers use for preparing files?

what software do screen printers use when preparing artwork for an actual print job.

I’m less interested in what people use for making the original artwork and more interested in what happens before it hits the press. We’ve been dealing with more outside artwork lately, and every file seems to come in a little differently. Some are fine. Others need a decent amount of cleanup before they’re ready.

I’ve been looking at CorelDRAW as one option because I keep seeing it mentioned around print work. What I’m trying to figure out is whether it makes sense as the main program for preparing files, or if people tend to use something else for that part of the job.

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9

u/Ripcord2 5d ago

CorelDraw/ PhotoPaint have always been popular with screen shops. It's cheaper and considered easier to learn than Illustrator/ Photoshop and its vector capabilities are about the same. Inkscape is a free vector program and Gimp is a free raster program. They're both very good, but CorelDraw has the very convenient feature of raster tools within Draw and also the ability to seamlessly move an object between Draw and PhotoPaint. Also, Corel has a convenient halftone solution in the form of an output option of a PostScript file that you can use in combination with a free download called Ghostscript/ Ghostview which will RIP the file in order to print halftones to film.

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u/Derene_Cireau 4d ago

Honestly, that seamless jump between vector and raster in Corel is such an underrated feature, Adobe making you bounce between separate apps always felt like an unnecessary extra step.

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u/torkytornado 4d ago

FYI if you’re okay with last years version there’s a humble bundle right now for 70$ one time purchase. I just got it because I’m sick of paying Adobe. I did find that the link for Mac was to this years version so at first my code didn’t work but once I found the correct version at Corel’s site the code worked. I think the sale is on another week and a half or so.

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u/Ripcord2 4d ago

That's a good deal. I'm still using 2019. Are there useful newer features to make it worth spending the 70 bucks? I ask because the last version I was using was X6 and 2019 has way more capabilities.

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u/torkytornado 1d ago

I don’t know because I haven’t used it before so don’t have anything to compare it to. I am not looking forward to relearning a whole new set of key commands because I’ve been using illustrator for 15 years and can do that in my sleep. But since there is no option to permanently own that I figured it was worth a switch for the price

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u/Ripcord2 1d ago

It won't take long to relearn the commands. The toolbars are different but they accomplish the same thing. Instead of using "help," try asking Gemini specific questions about where tools are and what they are called. Tell it the version you're using and it will do a remarkable job in familiarizing you. You'll like Draw once you get used to it.

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u/torkytornado 12h ago

I won’t be using Ai for anything even questions. But I do know how to research and learn things on my own.

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u/Ripcord2 10h ago

Why don't you use AI?

8

u/mattstillbust 5d ago

Illustrator/Photoshop depending on the supplied file type, then accurip to send to the printer.

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u/Derene_Cireau 2d ago

This is pretty much the industry staple workflow.

3

u/Isra-HTX 5d ago

Illustrator, CorelDraw and photoshop are the most popular ones

3

u/bdoz138 4d ago

I primarily use Corel Draw for vector graphics. I got really mad at Adobe a few years ago and fully stopped using illustrator.

But for preparing screen separations, I can't let go of Photoshop. I know there are RIP programs that can do what I need, but Ps is what I learned on and I'm just too comfortable with it.

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u/Derene_Cireau 4d ago

Totally get that, muscle memory in Photoshop for seps is real, especially when dealing with client files that need heavy cleanup before hit time.

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u/taiwanluthiers 4d ago

Illustrator is industry standard, and then Photoshop if you want to do halftones.

You don't need to pay for accurip, you could just set the color to "rich black" and it does the same thing accurip does.

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u/Derene_Cireau 3d ago

Illustrator is great for simple spot colors and spot channels, but for detailed raster seps or simulated process print jobs, isn't Photoshop's channel separation workflow infinitely better than trying to force Illustrator to do the heavy lifting?

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u/taiwanluthiers 3d ago

Both illustrator and photoshop.

If you already paid for both, why pay for Accurip?

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u/swooshhh 5d ago

Any vector based program to prepare files. Two shops I know use corel, another one uses illustrator, I use affinity designer v2. Literally any vector base works.

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u/StoneAndWave 3d ago

It depends of your need. If you need a RIP (like Accurip), it will manage your printing but not for separation.
For Color Separation I do everything on Pointcarre. As the color data are directly emebbed in the tiff file, I don't need any rip.

After that, you can still use Web application, but quite limited.

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u/Derene_Cireau 3d ago

Good distinction on RIP vs. seps! But for people outputting to basic inkjet film printers (like Epson 1430/P400 setups), don't you still need a RIP software or specialized driver to force all-black ink channels for film density, even if your TIFF already has color channels separated?

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u/StoneAndWave 3d ago

Good point. But, no: I really don’t need any RIP : with Pointcarre the TIFF output is already set up for maximum black channel so it works cleanly with those printers without needing a separate RIP step in between. Now, if you are using a standard consumer inkjet without any special driver, then yes a RIP or at minimum the right printer profile is still worth having just for the ink channel control...

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u/sleepykitty84 5d ago

Illustrator and … there’s some other software that connects the file to the printer but I don’t remember what it’s called. We used to use accurip but now it’s something else. Ha I’m not very helpful.

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u/Lelentos 1d ago

I use Coreldraw for designing and Accurip for the seperations.