Weird issue with printing separations in PrintFab

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anchorapparel
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Joined: Tue Dec 21, 2021 3:21 pm

Weird issue with printing separations in PrintFab

Post by anchorapparel »

Hopefully someone has run into this problem, and can provide an easy solution...

I'm printing seps for screenprinting using PrintFab, and for the most part it's working well-I will often create the seps in Photoshop, save it as a DCS 2.0 with spot colors only, then bring it into Illustrator for final positioning, register marks, etc. What has happened EVERY SINGLE TIME is when I print a spot black, all I get are the register marks, not the image I want halftoned. I wind up having to separate out the black plate, putting it on another page, then finally printing that color. While it's not the end of the world, it is quite annoying and strikes me as a bug in the program.

I'm still on the trial version, and while I'm leaning towards buying the software, I would love to know what the workaround for this is. If the gang at Zedonet needs the files to test with, I can dropbox them over (they're 100mb files!).

Thanks,
Francois Robert
Graphics Manager
Anchor Apparel Co.
Jacksonville, FL
zedonet
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Re: Weird issue with printing separations in PrintFab

Post by zedonet »

Yes, please send a sample DCS file and / or a sample Illustrator document. You can send the dropbox link to mail (at) zedonet (dot) com .
zedonet
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Re: Weird issue with printing separations in PrintFab

Post by zedonet »

Hello,

thank you for sending the files. This seems to be a general problem either in Illustrator or maybe also in the workflow that is not specific to PrintFab. I tried to print the separations directly to a Postscript laser printer and process black prints an empty page except for the registration marks.

Also Illustrator probably thinks that process CMYK don't contain image information as the checkmarks are empty by default:

illustrator-no-cmyk-process-colors.jpg
illustrator-no-cmyk-process-colors.jpg (138.63 KiB) Viewed 1412 times

So unfortunately I don't have a solution yet.
anchorapparel
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Dec 21, 2021 3:21 pm

Re: Weird issue with printing separations in PrintFab

Post by anchorapparel »

Had the same issue pop up on another job this morning, difference is that it was Spot White that was being a problem child-separated the offending plate onto another page, and managed to get the job finished. If need be, I can upload this file as well-very strange...

Francois
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