Film Separations:

Films are not colored. They each look the same and all appear to be using "black" as their emulsion. The same way a black & white laser printer works, the film comes out of the printer one sheet at a time. They are simply "emulsified" or printed with dots in the area that needs that particular color or tint. This is known in the industry as a percentage of, or density information, for each color being printed.

Where's the color?

A standard Offset Press uses the CMYK color mode (C = Cyan, M = Magenta, Y = Yellow, K = Black). It's possible to make countless different colors when using varying amounts of each color in combination. To make the printing plates the artwork needs to be broken down into the four CMYK colors. From there, film negatives are made.
 

You will see that our nice pile of fruit has been seperated into the four "channels" of color information. If we then send this information to an Image Setter (that's the device that prints the film) out will come our 4 pieces of film. These 4 pieces of film are then used to image the printing plates, which are then mounted onto the CMYK Offset Press. When the individual colors are then recombined when printed onto paper, the fruit image is reassembled in all its glory. Of note, this style of printing is done with translucent inks - also called "Process" inks - and not opaque inks.

Your Photoshop program can do the same thing. In the image shown below you will see that the software automatically separates the image into the four individual CMYK channels, plus it also shows a 'combined' channel.

So what does this all mean?

Not much, unless you are planning on sending your design files to a local service bureau in order to make films to send to us. CDman can take all the technical mumbo-jumbo hassles out of your project so you don't have to even know what film is.

We do not recommend that clients supply their own film unless they are very experienced in designing artwork for commercial print. IMPORTANT: If supplying film, you must use our design templates. Failure to do so could result in the rejection of your supplied film.

FILM SPECS FOR SILKSCREENPRINTING (PMS/Spot or CMYK):
• Positive, emulsion up, round dot, output resolution 2400 dpi, line screen 100 LPI
• Film angles: Yellow: 0 / Magenta: 75 / Cyan: 15 / Black: 45
• Film must be free of pinholes, contamination, creases, scratches, etc.
• All layers must be labeled with the job number, project name and date.
• All layers must be labeled with the appropriate PMS colour # or CMYK value.
• All layers must be labeled with the type of product being printed (CDROM, DVD5, etc.)

FILM SPECS FOR OFFSET CMYK PRINTING:
• Negative, emulsion down, round dot, output resolution of 2400dpi, line screen 200 LPI
• Film angles: Yellow: 0 / Magenta: 75 / Cyan: 15 / Black: 45
• Film must be free of pinholes, contamination, creases, scratches, etc.
• All layers must be labeled with the job number, project name and date.
• All layers must be labeled with the appropriate CMYK value.
• All layers must be labeled with the type of product being printed on (CDROM, DVD5, etc.)