# Separations

CMYK · spot inks · adaptive

A color print is made from a few inks, each on its own plate, laid over each other in screens of dots. Separations splits your picture into those plates, in process inks, spot inks or inks taken from the picture, and prints them a little off register.

## Controls

### Inks

- **Inks** (Select: CMYK / Spot / Adaptive / RGB). The inks. **CMYK** separates into four process inks. **Spot** prints up to three inks of your choice. **Adaptive** takes the inks from your picture. **RGB** adds red, green and blue light on black.
- **Process inks** (Select: Process / Fluoro / Soy / Neon). The four process inks for **CMYK**. Process, Fluoro, Soy for muted color, or Neon.
- **Palette** (Select: Newsprint / Chrome / Riso / Pocket Green / Fantasy 16 / CGA / Home 8-bit / 1-Bit Desk / Faded print / Sunset / Mono 4 / Dial-up Dusk / Red Sunset / Arcade Neon / Sea Glass / Moss). The palette for **Spot**. The lightest color is the paper, the next three are the inks. In **CMYK**, it only sets the paper. Change any color under the faceplate.
- **Inks** (Knob, 2 to 32, rests at 17). How many inks **Adaptive** takes from the picture.
- **Key black** (Knob, 0 to 100, rests at 100). How much of the dark the black plate carries. Turn it down and the shadows are built from color instead.
- **Layering** (Switch: Overprint / Knockout). **Overprint** lays each ink over the last, so they mix and darken. **Knockout** clears the paper under each ink, for flat, crisp shapes.

### Screen

- **Method** (Select: Dot / Line / Square / Cross / Diamond / Cluster / Stochastic / Diffusion / Toner / Phosphor). The screen every ink prints with. Dot, Line, Square, Cross and Diamond give each ink its own angle. Cluster builds dots from tiny pixels, Stochastic is fine random grain, Diffusion follows the picture, Toner is copier grain, Phosphor makes red, green and blue triads like a TV tube.
- **Size** (hero knob, 1.0px to 30.0px, rests at 5.1px). The hero. How big each dot cell is. Small is a fine magazine screen, big is a cheap comic.
- **Angle** (Knob, 0° to 90°, rests at 23°). Rotates the whole set of screens. The inks keep their angles to each other.
- **Softness** (Knob, 0 to 100, rests at 30). Softens the edge of each dot. Low is crisp, high goes blurry.
- **Diffusion** (Knob, 0 to 100, rests at 85). How much of the grain a Stochastic, Diffusion or Toner screen puts in. Low is hard and flat, high is smooth and busy.

### Angles

- **Ink 1 angle** (Fader, -45° to 45°, rests at 0°). Turns the first plate off its usual angle. Cyan in **CMYK**.
- **Ink 2 angle** (Fader, -45° to 45°, rests at 0°). The same for the second plate, magenta in **CMYK**.
- **Ink 3 angle** (Fader, -45° to 45°, rests at 0°). The same for the third plate, yellow in **CMYK**.
- **Ink 4 angle** (Fader, -45° to 45°, rests at 0°). The same for the black plate. Line plates up on one angle and the screens beat into moiré.

### Tone

- **Black** (Knob, 0 to 100, rests at 0). Sets the black point.
- **White** (Knob, 0 to 100, rests at 100). Sets the white point.
- **Gamma** (Fader, -100 to +100, rests at 0). Lightens or darkens the midtones before separating.
- **Sharpen** (Knob, 0 to 100, rests at 25). Sharpens edges first, so detail survives the screen.
- **Radius** (Knob, 1.0× to 6.0×, rests at 1.0×). How wide the sharpening reaches.

### Register

- **Misregister** (hero knob, 0 to 100, rests at 0). How far the plates miss each other. A little is honest, a lot is a misprint. In **CMYK**, black holds still and the colors slide off it.
- **Shift way** (Knob, 0° to 360°, rests at 0°). Which way the plates slide.
- **Drift** (Knob, 0 to 100, rests at 0). The plates wander back and forth through the loop. It needs some **Misregister**.
- **Shake** (Knob, 0 to 100, rests at 0). The plates jump against each other, to a new spot on each beat of **Rate**.
- **Rate** (Select: 1× / 2× / 4× / 8× / 16×). How many times a loop the shake changes.

### Press

- **Paper** (Knob, 0 to 100, rests at 0). Paper fiber and tooth showing through the print.
- **Ink spread** (Knob, 0 to 100, rests at 0). Ink spreads into the paper and the dots swell, so the print goes darker.
- **Rough** (Knob, 0 to 100, rests at 0). Ragged dot edges, like ink on rough stock.
- **Wear** (Knob, 0 to 100, rests at 0). A worn plate. Patches of dots drop out.

### Print

- **Print** (Select: Screen / 72 dpi / 150 dpi / 300 dpi / 600 dpi). **Screen** sizes the dots in screen pixels. A dpi sizes them as printer dots, as fine as a real print would be.
- **Print width** (Knob, 2 in to 24 in, rests at 8 in). How wide that print is. Wider means finer dots on screen.

### Motion

- **Boil** (Knob, 0 to 100, rests at 0). The screens shimmer frame to frame while the picture holds.
- **Boil rate** (Select: 12 fps / 8 fps / 4 fps). How fast the shimmer runs. 12, 8 or 4 frames a second.
- **Spin** (Select: Still / 1× / 2×). The screens turn with the loop, once or twice around.

### Finish

- **Roller bands** (Knob, 0 to 100, rests at 0). Bands of heavier and lighter ink across the sheet, from an uneven roller.
- **Slur** (Knob, 0 to 100, rests at 0). Every dot prints twice, a hair apart, like a sheet that slipped on the press.
- **Outline** (Knob, 0 to 100, rests at 0). Traces an ink line around the shapes in the picture.
- **Reprint** (Pulse button). Press it to pull a fresh sheet. The roller bands move and the plates miss in a new direction.

## Presets

- **Four-Color Magazine**: Fine CMYK rosettes, almost in register.
- **Pulp Comic**: Coarse CMYK dots, off register on cheap paper.
- **Newspaper Color**: Color news photo: soft dots, spread ink, grey paper.
- **Stochastic Print**: Four process inks as fine random grain instead of dots.
- **Line Separations**: Each process ink as its own line screen.
- **Off-Register**: The plates slip and wander while you watch.
- **Riso Pink & Blue**: Fluoro pink and blue spot inks on natural paper.
- **Duotone Sleeve**: Navy and orange on cream, a record sleeve duotone.
- **Fluoro Poster**: Pink, yellow and blue fluoro inks, loud and loose.
- **Screenprint Three**: Three flat screenprint inks, a rough pull.
- **Adaptive Spots**: Four inks taken from the picture, each on its own screen.
- **Mail-Order Catalog**: Eight picture inks as fine grain on coated stock.
- **Phosphor Screen**: Red, green and blue phosphor triads.
- **RGB Dots**: Red, green and blue dot screens added on black.
- **Moiré Magazine**: All four plates on the same angle: the screens beat into moiré.
- **Fluoro Process**: Fluorescent cyan, magenta and yellow in place of process inks.
- **Soy Ink**: Muted soy process inks on warm uncoated paper.
- **Neon Process**: Neon cyan, magenta and lime for a loud four-color print.
- **Knockout Poster**: Yellow, pink and navy, each knocking out the ink under it: flat, crisp shapes.
- **Shaking Press**: The plates shake against each other eight times a loop.
- **Wide Angles**: Each plate turned well off its usual angle: a big, open rosette.
- **Light Key**: Most of the dark built from color, with very little black.
- **CMYK Press**: Four rotated process screens, slightly off register.
- **Riso Duo**: Three spot inks separated from the picture, each on its own screen, off register on toothy paper.