LOL, yep, I'm guessing that is one of the more advanced techniques, but we can do it. Before we start, though, the last time I had anything to do with screen printing, they weren't using computers to create the screens. (Yes, I'm THAT old.) So tell me this. Does everything have to be vector or can you use bitmap images? The process is a whole lot less complicated if you can use bitmaps.

Meanwhile, check out the free video tutorial on distress effects and duotoning here:

 http://www.advancedartist.com/video/distress.html

 He's also got several other good tutorials you may want to take a look at.

Have fun!

Val P. 

Val P. As long as your outputting to a ps printer or through a rip any image will work. Ultimately we output to a clear acetate (films, vellums, etc.) as film positives.We now just bypass the old stat cameras, dark rooms, zap sheets and rubylift. I as well remember the good ole days as well :)
 

 I'm glad you are here Val. There are things that Corel Draw is capable of doing (just as well as Illustrator) that aren't covered in the manuals or help files. I'm starting to use Draw more and more as an artistic tool and most of the resources available available do not approach Draw from that direction so I will be asking lots of questions.

 

Hello Laink, for an image such as the one you linked, the transparencies can come in handy. Just draw basic forms on top of others and use the Interactive Transparency tool and drag. Set the transparency mode to Multiply instead of Normal. You'll see that the object starts shading the one below. That's the principle of one of the paths to shading. If you see my burro image (http://coreldraw.com/photos/mosh/burrito.aspx), most of the shadows and highlights were done this way.

What a great idea!  Good forum.  My favorite button is the "undo" button

Thank you Mosh!!!  I am going to go give it a try.... I'll probably ask more questions because I never seem to get how to do things right off the bat, lol!!

Love the pic!!

Thanks again,

Leigh-Ann

No can do Richard.... sorry... this is just a pic of a tee I printed.   I bought a bunch of used screens and this was one of them.  See how it looks shaded around the outter edges of the cats face?  It's a random shading also... how would you create a random looking shade?  The shading effect is little tiny dots that you can see on the tee itself.    http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m17/fauxlah/Capture.jpg

Also!!!  Can we post pics directaly onto our pages or do we have to do it as link form?

 

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m17/fauxlah/002.jpg

Hi Fluid,

I've been working with cut vinyl for several years, and for silk
screening for only one. We silk screen simple signs about 12x12 to
30x30, but no halftones yet. We've been putting cut vinyl onto the
acetate then exposing that.

Now that we have a Roland SP540V, I can simulate halftoning in the file
at a low LPI such as 30 LPI, then print that on acetate at 1440 DPI.
Hmmmmm... a little brainwave. :-)Not sure if the ink would be dense
enough though - even with 2 passes and a rich black. Anyone here know?

Also, I don't know if you deal with cut vinyl at all, but I was reading
about thermo-film. Seems interesting, kind of like a heavy duty iron on
for single colors.

http://www.beacongraphics.com/thermofilm.html

JD


fluid wrote:
> Val P. As long as your outputting to a ps printer or through a rip any
> image will work. Ultimately we output to a clear acetate (films,
> vellums, etc.) as film positives.We now just bypass the old stat
> cameras, dark rooms, zap sheets and rubylift. I as well remember the
> good ole days as well :)

Thanks for the info, Richard. Actually, when I was doing it, it was more
in the arts and crafts movement of the late 60s, early 70s and I seem to
remember something like painting silk stretched on a frame with an acid
etch by hand (or maybe it was painting the part that wasn't supposed to
be etched? It's been a long time and I was only assisting, LOL.)
Obviously this wasn't a mass produced commercial project.
Val P.

fluid wrote:

> Val P. As long as your outputting to a ps printer or through a rip any
> image will work. Ultimately we output to a clear acetate (films,
> vellums, etc.) as film positives.We now just bypass the old stat
> cameras, dark rooms, zap sheets and rubylift. I as well remember the
> good ole days as well :)

Sorry, I got sidetracked on some other projects this afternoon, but I've
got a sort of tutorial about half written. Haven't finished reading the
posts, so the others may have answered all your questions. I'll try to
get the tut finished in the next day or so.

Val P.

Feel free to ask away! I don't promise to have all the answers myself,
but we've got lots of resources to draw from on this forum. The answer
pockets are deep and there's often more than one way to accomplish a
given task in CorelDRAW.

Have fun!
Val P.

Twelve wrote:

> I'm glad you are here Val. There are things that Corel Draw is capable
> of doing (just as well as Illustrator) that aren't covered in the
> manuals or help files. I'm starting to use Draw more and more as an
> artistic tool and most of the resources available available do not
> approach Draw from that direction so I will be asking lots of
> questions.Big Smile
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> http://coreldraw.com/forums/p/189/595.aspx#595
>

Hey Jeff

You might need to use a rip in order to get a denser print. I believe ghost rip will do the trick yet not totally sure as I have not used it. Currently I have FastRIP for my Epson R1800 and RTI for one of my thermal imagesetters. I previously used Wasatch. I have head of lots of users have great success with the ghost rip. The only thing I can ay for sure it to test. Sample a range of halftone percentages at your highest lpi size.  Depending on your light source and emulsion you may need to tweak your burn times. Possibly by a considerable amount

30LPI for signs should work just fine. a good, large dot makes for easy variable control especially for the flat stock. What type of light unit will you be using to expose your screens and what type of emulsion, Dual cure or single polymer?

Thermo-film is pretty cool stuff. You would be amazed at what all is out there and what can be cut with a vinyl cutter and pressed onto a shirt.
reflective films, holographic and flock just to name a few. A cutter, good blade and a heat press can produce some cool stuff. Ill get some supplier urls together and send your way. Vinyl for textile are not limited to one color graphics.

 

Val,

 Below is a screen shot of an actual project that we use for the CarveWright machine.  This was created by one of our Forum members.  As you can see, he apparently used different shades of gray, using the Interactive Contour tool.  I have a basic knowledge of what the Contour tool does, but I can't seem to figure out how to guage the correct number of steps,offset and whether to use the contour to the inside, outside or center.  Is there a standard rule of thumb?   I have included a logo that I would like to carve, but cannot figure out how to convert it to a carveable form.  Any help you can offer will be greatly appreciated.   

Other folks using CorelDRAW for carving may have better answers. My
guess is that what you DON'T want is for your shape contours to run
together, so your outer curve on the fleurdeli (Sp?) would probably
contour to the outside while the inner black outline would contour to
the inside. If all you had was the either the inner or outer shape and
you wanted to produce the whole thing from that, you'd have to decide
which effect you really wanted and how much room you've got for your
lines to run. For instance, in a small shape, there's not a lot of room
for inner contours of any great thickness.
With those thick outlines, I'd bet you'd want to use the "Convert
outline to object" in the right click menu of the Pick tool rather than
using the contour tool, but I don't know if your machine carves the
object or the outline.
Hope that gives you a little help.
Val P.

CAJUNPEN wrote:

> Val,
>
> Below is a screen shot of an actual project that we use for the
> CarveWright machine. This was created by one of our Forum members. As
> you can see, he apparently used different shades of gray, using the
> Interactive Contour tool. I have a basic knowledge of what the Contour
> tool does, but I can't seem to figure out how to guage the correct
> number of steps,offset and whether to use the contour to the inside,
> outside or center. Is there a standard rule of thumb? I have included
> a logo that I would like to carve, but cannot figure out how to convert
> it to a carveable form. Any help you can offer will be greatly
> appreciated.
>
> CarveWright Project
>
> Saints Logo
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Bill
>
> Remember, Good judgment comes from bad experience, and a lot of THAT
> comes from bad judgment.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> http://coreldraw.com/forums/p/189/703.aspx#703
>

 OK, I've put together a little tutorial for you that includes a few different shading techniques in the process of creating a critter something like your cat image. I have no idea if it would work on your T-shirt screening or not. You don't really need to do all the steps just as they are in the tutorial to do what you want, but I've put them all in there so you can explore some different tools. As you go, you'll probably get an AHA moment or two or a "Why did she do THAT?" moment or two. You are the best judge of what will work for you and the way you work.

It ain't great art, but may be of help to you. Anyway, here it is in CDR format so you can take it apart. See page 3 for the finished product.

 http://val.webastute.com/CorelTutorials/vals_tutorials/shadowdots1c.cdr

Let me know what you think or if you have any problems. (For example, I'm not sure what the custom pattern will do if you don't have it on your machine! At least the bitmaps in the later steps will show you what it should look like if it doesn't work in the earlier steps.)

Have fun! 

Val P.