sir, how do 'you' deal with halftones?

[sol]

what is 'your' graphic design step by step process, when it comes to generating halftones for screens.

thanks for shearing!

[tompaine]

The easy way is just to print to a Postscript file and use a RIP.

[vivisectapparel]

I create my halftone images in Photoshop CS3 and they print fine with an regular inkjet printer, or just get it printed at Staples on transparency.
Here's how:
Open your image:
Go to Image> Mode> Grayscale (if it's not flattened you'll have to do that)
Go to Image> Mode> Bitmap
In the Bitmap screen choose the Resolution you have, or want. Then in Method choose Halftone Screen.
Click OK
Choose your Shape (I like round, it looks more like old newsprint) and Frequency and Angle (see Photoshop help for more info).

If you have multiple colors, and you are screen printing single colors, you'll have to separate colors and halftone each color separately.

Hope this helps!

[Art_Maverick]

I use Adobe Illustrator and have found that AccuRip does wonders. For small stuff Phantasm is great, but it's a destructive filter whereas AccuRip is not. It's software that works between your printer and the software, making the printing so much easier. AccuRip and Illustrator are a match made in heaven for color separation of vectored imagery. I'm still working on color separation and Photoshop... exploring SpotProcess at this time.

Halftone is an art in itself. I'm still researching it, but here's what I've found out so far. LPI is not the same as DPI, but you find it interchanged often. LPI and DPI do reference dot concentration so to speak, but LPI can have an angle associated with it, whereas DPI does not. For simple gradient halftoning, the angle can be 22.5 deg, but with regards to process printing, the angles between CYMK colors is of vital importance. LPI and screen mesh also play a role. I've seen 5 and 3.5 used to determine LPI ie. 225 Screen Mesh / 5 = 45 LPI. 3.5 gives you a tighter dot pattern, but maybe it's good to start with 5 and determine what works best for you.