Screen Print Color Separations
Turn any design into print-shop-ready spot-color separations. Reduce to 2–8 inks, add trapping to hide misregistration, and stamp registration marks, one screen per color.
Each ink spreads this far into its neighbours, so where two inks meet they overlap by twice this, enough that misregistration on press doesn't reveal paper gaps.
Optional. The films are written at the DPI that prints them this wide; the plates are never enlarged.
How it works
- Pick 2–8 colors; each becomes one screen
- Trapping overlaps colors to hide misregistration
- Registration crosshairs align every plate on press
- Set a print width; download PNGs, a ZIP or one PDF film sheet
What is color separation and screen-print prepress?
Screen printing lays down one ink at a time, each through its own mesh stencil, its own screen. A four-color design needs four screens, and before anything reaches the press the artwork has to be split into those individual ink layers. That split is called color separation, and the broader prep work (separating, trapping, and adding alignment marks) is prepress.
This tool reduces your design to a small set of spot colors, then renders each color as its own plate, exported as a black film positive. Two extras make the output press-ready rather than just pretty. Trapping grows each plate outward by a few pixels so neighboring inks overlap; when the press drifts slightly out of registration, the colors still meet instead of leaving a bare-substrate gap. Registration marks (crosshair targets in a margin around the art, at each corner and the middle of each side) are stamped identically onto every screen so the operator can mechanically line up all the plates.
If your artwork has gradients or photographic shading, convert it to clean line work with Vectorize Studio first, or break tone into printable dots with the Halftone Generator before you separate. For library colour names per channel and TIFF or PSD export, the full Separation Studio goes deeper.
Quick separations vs the full Studio
This page gives you instant spot-color separations with trapping and registration marks, no signup. Separation Studio in Texloom picks the color count for you or goes up to 12 colors, names the nearest library colour for each channel, and exports TIFF and PSD.
Quick Seps
HereInstant, private, no signup.
- 2–8 spot-color separations from any design
- Choke/spread trapping, 0–4 px
- 8 registration marks on every screen
- Per-screen PNG download with ink swatch
- Download all screens as a single ZIP
- A PDF film sheet at your print width, one page per screen
- Preview on the garment colour; skip a screen that matches the shirt
- Nothing uploaded
Separation Studio
ProIn the studio with a free account, no card.
- In Separation Studio:
- Auto color count, or 2 to 12 colors
- Nearest library colour named for each channel
- Trapping 0–4 px and registration marks
- Optional white underbase for dark garments (PSD)
- Export a ZIP of PNGs, a TIFF or a PSD
- Accepts PSD files
What people use the separator for
DTG and spot-color separation for t-shirt prints
Reduce a busy graphic to a clean set of spot colors before it hits the press. Each ink becomes its own screen, so you know exactly how many colors your job needs (and your quote) before you burn a single mesh.
Spot-color screens for vinyl and HTV cutting
Splitting a design into flat color layers is the same job whether you screen print or cut vinyl. Export one plate per color, then send the line work to Vectorize Studio to get cut-ready SVG paths for each layer.
Trapping to hide misregistration on press
Manual registration drifts a fraction of a millimeter every pull. Set 1–2 px of trapping and adjacent plates overlap, so a slightly misaligned screen never leaves a white halo between colors, the single most common rookie print defect, solved before you print.
Registration marks for manual press alignment
Every exported screen carries identical crosshair targets in a margin outside the art, at the four corners and the middle of each side, so they never print on the garment. Line the marks up on each plate and every color drops into the same position: no guesswork, no test prints wasted finding registration.
Halftone-ready seps for tonal artwork
Spot separation works best on flat color. If your art has gradients or photographic tone, run it through the Halftone Generator first to break tone into printable dots, then separate the result into clean spot screens.
Quote a print job by counting colors
Screen-print pricing is driven by color count: each ink is a screen, a setup, and a pass. Drop your artwork in, slide the color count, and instantly see how many screens the design really needs so you can price the job accurately.
When to use each setting
2–8 screens
Match the color count to your press capacity and budget. Fewer screens means a cheaper, faster job, so start low and add only the colors the design actually needs.
0–4 px overlap
Use 0 for digital or high-registration presses. 1–2 px is the safe default for manual screen printing; push to 3–4 px on stretchy fabric or coarse mesh.
On for manual
Keep registration marks on whenever an operator aligns plates by hand. Turn them off only for single-color jobs or fully automated registration.
Four steps to print-ready screens
Upload your design
Drop any JPG, PNG, or WEBP up to 10 MB: a logo, a t-shirt graphic, a scanned artwork, or any design you want to print. Nothing is uploaded.
Choose colors, trapping, and registration
Set how many spot colors the design should reduce to (2–8, one screen each), pick a trapping overlap (0–4 px) to hide misregistration, and toggle registration marks on for manual press alignment.
Separate the design
The tool reduces your artwork to spot colors automatically and renders each ink as its own plate, applying trapping so adjacent plates overlap cleanly. A plain background is treated as the garment and gets no screen.
Download each screen or all as a ZIP
Review the separation grid: every screen shows its ink swatch and number. Download any plate as a black film positive PNG, or grab the whole set as a single ZIP, each with registration marks in a margin outside the art when enabled.
Built by people who print
Real prepress math: trapping and registration the way a print shop actually does it, not a color-posterize filter.
Genuine choke/spread trapping
Plates are dilated by your chosen overlap so adjacent inks meet, the same technique that hides misregistration on a real press.
Press-standard registration
Eight crosshair targets, at the corners and edge centers, stamped identically on every screen, drawn in neutral registration black so they read on any ink.
Private + instant
Nothing is uploaded, nothing stored, no signup, no watermarks. Separations count toward a daily allowance without an account; a free account removes it.
Production-ready output
Each screen exports as a black-on-white film positive PNG with its ink colour in the filename, ready to burn or send to a RIP. A plain background is left as the garment, not given a screen.
Frequently asked
Q.What is color separation in screen printing?
Q.What does trapping do?
Q.Why does every screen have registration marks?
Q.How many colors can I separate into?
Q.Is my design private?
Q.Will this work on photos or gradients?
Q.Can I use the separations commercially?
Need library colour names, up to 12 colors, or TIFF and PSD export? Open Separation Studio with a free account, no card.
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