I gave up and hired a print shop to do it for me.  All advice from others was only partially helpful, not complete, and with no knowledge of what lousy version I am using, there is no way to explain why a "channel" tab doesn't show up, or why a flatten makes all the channels go away. The pro took my PSD as is, flattened it, split the channels, entered mostly default specs, then said it would be ready for pick up tomorrow. He dropped out the black from the gradient art because it was very minimal. The photo is solid black, 15 pt dot and will now be the last screen to print, so 4 colors, 4 pulls, and it will be done in one afternoon! tx, mikka ... View more

there in lies the problem from the start. the assistant in school computer center helped me with the original comp, saving it as a PSD rather than "exporting it as a tiff. now I have re-saved and exported BOTH the Ai color gradient art AND the Ps photo as TIF. the next step, I believe, is to reconstruct the thing to match the previous design. Is that correct? mikka ... View more

Thanks for that detailed, pictoral demo. Here's how it went... The original art was an Ai color gradient combined with a Black/15 pt dot photo, saved as a PSD.  In Ps, the conversion to grayscale discards all color info, and the BMP flattens(for what?) Then, there are no layers or channels to play with. While still in the full color version, there was no "split channels" option available(gray out).  So, I could not move forward as you may have expected. mikka ... View more

Monika, I checked out the rip software for $500. Too bad the school doesn't have it, which would make sense especially for students who need too much help from too few teachers. Monday I am going to a real print shop to ask them to do it for me. m ... View more

I tried to copy channels this morning with a TA, but the copies were of the whole Ps document, not separated at all. I read all the info you sent me but I am so frustrated with the conversion to gray, bit, merge, mask, etc. issues. If I were designing this thing I would make it a one click deal, convert all channels at once to a film transparency for screen print at 100% black in just the right dot size and pattern...one box! mikka ... View more

Well Monika, I don't blame the guy. He has sent me several pieces of the puzzle already, but as you know there is always a missing link somewhere for a novice like me. I am a great artist and designer with very little of this tech stuff. I have tried all other avenues for today, school, private printers and online tutorials...most don't have a full grasp of the screen print process other than for t-shirts. The biggest disappointment is not in the volunteerism, but in the fact that there is no "automatic" way to do this no thanks to programmers. mikka ... View more

I just tried to go back to the original Ai file to flatten it or do whatever...make layers there, but there is a layer for every little thing I did, incl. 3 masks to cover the edges because I could not find a crop tool. ... View more

I don't know how to make those copies or separate the channels to work on them...it's all stuck together and one change affects the rest. m ... View more

Well my friend, it turns out that only one assistant at school know anything about screen print, and shes out till Monday. So far, I have run into every block, like converting to grayscale , which asks for flattening, merging, discarding color info, all which eliminate all channels. I got a flat blob of gray with a nice black photo. The channels are already "split" into four, but I cant do anything with them, separate them, adjust them, copy them...maybe I started with the wrong file type(Ai color image saved as PSD, two layers). How can I convert 4 channels into bitmap when they disappear after going gay? Too many questions! m ... View more

I don't see the conversions dialog.The channels are already split into all four colors, but all have the main object in them. Is it OK for all colors to print over each other in the black? Also, I was trying to copy all the layers or channels just in case I mess up. mikka ... View more

Your instructions look pretty simple. I'll give it a shot. Mikka ... View more

I watched only one video about color seps for t-shirt printing. The guy made it look easy while doing complicated things. So, my comp is finished. The original art is a photo done in high bright and contrast, 15 pt dot, all black. The second art is a big brush stroke I made, scanned, outlined in Illustrator, then filled with a multi-color gradient to mimic a split font. They are visual combined in Photoshop now in two layers and no background. It looks great, but the next steps are crucial for doing negatives and exposing the screen. I don't really know what to do next, how to separate the colors, go gray, dot and pattern thing. That's all! m ... View more