Halftone Dots

[R***@adobeforums.com]

Can somebody please tell me if it's possible to create an effect in InDesign like halftone dots/printer dots on a solid color? Thank you very much.

[P***@adobeforums.com]

Can you explain a bit more about what you want to do? Are you trying to create a pattern fill that looks like halftone spots, or are you trying to make a tint? Is this supposed to show on screen or in print, or both?

Peter

[R***@adobeforums.com]

Thank you Peter for your reply. I am trying to make a rectangle filled with one color and instead of having the color solid, I would like it to look like halftone dots. I'm not actually sure if "halftone dot" is the correct term, but it's bascially like what printed colors look like when you zoom into them. They are made up with multiple dots with various amount of spaces in between them depending on the lightness of the color, etc. On top of the halftone dots, I would like the dots to fade out on one side. Hope this is clear. Thank you very much.

[P***@adobeforums.com]

Is this for on-screen display, or print? For on-screen, I think you'll need to produce a graphic that simulates the screening process in either Photoshop or Illustrator, but in print the halftone process is built-in with making the plates, so you really would only need to tell the printer what line screen value to use to get the dots the size you want. You can get your fade either from a gradient fill or from a gradient feather, depending on what is more appropriate and what's behind the object.

Peter

[R***@adobeforums.com]

Thank you Peter for your reply again. This is for print. I'm imagining the dots would be about 1/16" diameter to 1/8" diameter. Is it not possible to have the dots show on screen as well as on print? What do you mean by "making the plates"? What "plates"? My knowledge in InDesign is quite basic. Thank you for your patience.

[P***@adobeforums.com]

Dots that large will need to be done as an external image.

What do you mean by "making the plates"? What "plates"?




When printing on a conventional printing press, some sort of plate is required for each color to transfer the ink to the paper. Since inks are only one color, we use halftones -- grids of spots of various sizes -- to fool the eye into seeing continuous tones and other colors. The size of the "screen" controls both the size of the spots and the number of shades and amount of detail that can be produced.

Without going into a whole lot of detail, each spot is made from a matrix of "printer dots" (an image setter usually has a resolution around 2400 to 3000 dpi), so the finer the screen (more spots per inch) the fewer printer dots are used for each halftone spot and the fewer shades are possible, but smaller spots reproduce detail better, so there are always compromises.

Inkjet printers, and many lasers, as well as some specialty press operations use a different system where all the spots are the same size, but they are varied in how densely packed they are arranged on the page to give the tonal spread.

None of that has a lot to do with answering your question, except to set up the rationale for doing this as an external file. To get real halftone spots that vary from 1/16 to 1/8 inch you would need to be using a halftone screen of less than 8 lpi (since you still want to see spots defined at 1/8 inch, not solid color) and adjust your tones so that they run from something less than 100% to around 50%, which just isn't practical, and it won't work on screen or with most desktop printers, if that's how you plan on making the hard copies.

That leaves the question of whether you want to truly simulate the halftone appearance -- i.e. lighter shades should have smaller spots -- or whether you simply want to apply a gradient fill across a grid of same-sized spots. You could actually draw the spots natively in InDesign, but Illustrator or Photoshop would, I think, make more sense. (In fact, both of those may already have some sort of pattern fill defined that would be suitable)

Peter

[R***@adobeforums.com]

Thank you Peter for your extensive explanation. That is very helpful. I know that I can create that grid of dots using Illustrator or Photoshop, however, I just want to see if there is an "effect" or something similar in InDesign that can do the same thing. I will be printing off of my laptop on a home inkjet printer. Thank you once again.

[L***@adobeforums.com]

I think I know what you are trying to do. Artistic fill? If so, Tea Cup
software offers a plug in (pattern maker) that can do that, but if it's a
one time deal, it might not be worth the $100 investment.

Larry

[R***@adobeforums.com]

Thank you Larry for your suggestion. So if it is a one time deal, I just have to create the dots myself?

[L***@adobeforums.com]

You could just step and repeat dots. Take something like a 6 point period,
and make it outlined, then have at either step and repeat. Klunky but could
work.

[P***@adobeforums.com]

That would work, but doing a blend in Illy would be more flexible, and probably faster. :)

[R***@adobeforums.com]

Thank you for both of your help.

[M***@adobeforums.com]

I believe CorelDraw used to be able to do that. You could define any line screen value you wanted in the eps settings specifically by colour, so if you chose a 8 lpi screen or halftone you would get great big halftone dots that you could actually see on screen. You could even pick the type of dots i.e., round or diamond or whatever.

I'm thinking back to Corel 7, but if you're on a PC and have Corel, it may be worth a look.

[j***@adobeforums.com]

you would get great big halftone dots that you could actually see on screen




The other way around should work as well, i.e., by setting the halftone parameters in an EPS file on printing. That way, you don't see the dots on screen -- gray is still gray -- but when printing the file, it should honour the print settings and use the halftone screen you specify.

(I think at least Distiller's default settings are not to honour per-image settings.
As your entire workflow has to be aware of these settings, the safest way would be to use another program and "fake" the dots. Photoshop's Grayscale-to-Bitmap function allows you to specify a lot of settings.)

[Heather Bell]

I'm not sure why doing this in ID would be clunky unless I'm missing something. Sample here was made using step&repeat function, gradient fill with simple group or conjoined path, then the overlay simply uses a 50% trans setting if you're going for the fake moire pattern look. Start time 2:27, finish time 2:31, and far more control than an artistic fill like in Corel.
<http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1zsPciV401HO7RY2Bm9J2VTl1udlt1>

[P***@adobeforums.com]

Tough to do curves this way, though, if that's part of the scheme.

[Heather Bell]

Peter, how do you mean? I find the curve and path functions in ID far easier to use than Illy.

I've used Illustrator of course, but as soon as ID came out with it's path functions I started using it for everything. All I need are simple path tools etc. and I find ID's tools far more intuitive than Illy's, especially for drawing simple vector logos etc.
Gradient mesh, etc and so forth, would be Illy for sure, but other than that I stay away.
Sloppy point control, cropping shape functions that never work like I want them to, then all the bother of exporting and placing, and possibly having to go back and change if a key spot color changes, when if in ID all you have to do is delete it from the palette and tell it which color to use instead, makes me avoid Illy when possible. But, I am absolutely no expert in Illy and I may simply be missing the boat.

[P***@adobeforums.com]

I'm thinking in terms of making a wave pattern, for example. I suspect it would also be faster in Illy to do a pattern where the dots vary in size, which would be more realistic in a halftone simulation.

Nothing wrong, though, with using S&R in ID if it will get what you want.

Peter

[M***@adobeforums.com]

and far more control than an artistic fill like in Corel




Not so. All you're doing is drawing a representation of halftone dots. What I was talking about was the actual eps screen dots. It was NOT an artistic fill. Big difference. Consider if the goal was to show a how halftone dots actually look in an extreme close crop of a halftone image. The Corel image would simply be that.

The other way around should work as well, i.e., by setting the halftone
parameters in an EPS file on printing.




How can you do that? And if you could, shouldn't you be able to import that eps into ID and see the dots? I've never seen that level of control in Illustrator (or ID), and for that matter I don't think what I'm talking still be done in the newer versions of Corel.

[R***@adobeforums.com]

Thank you very much for all your help. i managed to achieve what I was trying to do.