Separations
One film per ink
Separates your art, vector or raster, into spot-colour films, and finds the ink colours in the art for you. For full-colour art: simulated process and index colour.
Artwork in, one film per screen out.
ScreenFoundry is free, open-source prepress software for screen printing (silkscreen). It turns your artwork into the films you need to make your screens, one film for each ink.
It runs in your browser with nothing to install, and your files stay on your computer. Downloads for Windows, Mac and Linux: coming soon.
Three words, in plain language
- FilmA clear sheet with one ink's part of the design printed in solid black. Light shines through it to make (burn) the screen for that ink.
- UnderbaseA first layer of white ink printed under the colours, so they stay bright on a dark shirt.
- HalftoneTiny dots of different sizes that let a single ink show lighter and darker shades.
What it does today
Dark garments and fit
Underbase, white, trap and choke
Underbase and highlight white, plus trapping and choke so neighbouring colours meet without gaps.
Halftones
Dots for shades
AM, FM (stochastic) and hybrid screening, a choice of dot shapes, and dot-gain compensation.
Output
Films, job sheets and more
Films as 1-bit PNG, TIFF, CCITT G4 TIFF and PDF, with registration marks and a job-sheet PDF. Also DCS 2.0 separations, DTF output (mirrored colour on transparent plus a white choke) and gang sheets.
A print-test page helps you calibrate ScreenFoundry for your own press and mesh.
Status: alpha
Version 0.1.0, alpha. No installers are released yet: use the web app in the meantime.
The default numbers (trap, lines per inch, dot limits) are published rules of thumb, not yet measured on a press, and a shop's printed test sheet is still pending. Print the test page and expose a test on scrap before a production run.
Screen-printing shops: help us test it
We're looking for print shops to try ScreenFoundry and tell us what their shop needs. Write to us with your shop's name, what you print (plastisol, water-based, simulated process…) and the computer you use.
Works with MakerFoundry
MakerFoundry is where makers share and sell their designs. In ScreenFoundry, File › Publish to MakerFoundry sends your drawing there as a private SVG draft. Designs on MakerFoundry will get an Open in ScreenFoundry button (being switched on soon).
Part of the Foundry family
Embroidery
StitchFoundry
Digitize your own embroidery and make stitch files for your machine.
Laser cutting
LaserFoundry
Lay out artwork and send it to your laser.
Share and sell designs
MakerFoundry
Share free designs, and buy and sell them.
Free and open source
ScreenFoundry is free, under the MIT or Apache-2.0 licence, and built on the open-source VectorCraft vector editor. The code is public: github.com/Stitchwright/screenfoundry.
The web app only talks to the internet when you choose to publish to MakerFoundry or sign in to your Foundry Account. Privacy