Colour Separation

CMYK Colour Separation

True process colour separation using four channels — Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. The most direct method for achieving commercial print quality on white and light garments.

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Important note on garment colour

CMYK separation is designed for white or natural garments only. The translucent CMYK inks rely on the white shirt as the paper equivalent. On dark garments, simulated process is the correct choice.

Press requirements

CMYK screen printing requires fine-mesh screens (typically 305–355 mesh), consistent registration, and accurate dot gain profiling. We set the separation parameters to match your production environment.

CMYK separation — example output
How It Works

What Is CMYK Separation?

CMYK separation converts artwork from RGB to four process colour channels — the same model used in commercial offset and digital printing. Each channel carries halftone dot information that, when printed in sequence, combines to produce a full-colour result.

UCR (Under Colour Removal) and GCR (Grey Component Replacement) settings control how much black ink replaces combinations of CMY in neutral areas — reducing ink load and improving drying on press.

Halftone angles for each channel are set to the industry-standard offsets (typically C: 105°, M: 75°, Y: 90°, K: 45°) to produce a clean rosette pattern rather than visible dot interference.

Best For

  • Photo-quality prints on white or very light garments
  • Screen printing setups with process colour inks
  • Fine-mesh production environments (305+ mesh)
  • Artwork requiring commercial offset-quality results on garment

What We Deliver

  • Four CMYK channels with correct UCR / GCR settings
  • Halftone angles set to avoid rosette patterns
  • Dot gain compensation for your mesh and ink system
  • Black channel optimised for depth without ink saturation
  • Ready for fine-mesh screen output or direct-to-screen

Ready to Fix Your Artwork?

Upload your file and receive a professional quote within 1–2 hours. No upfront payment. No commitment. Just a quote.

Print-ready or we fix it — free2 revisions on every order2–4 hour delivery