The problem with color separations in Photoshop

Photoshop is the traditional home for screen-print separations, but it wasn't built for it. Doing it well means:

Manual channel work — spot channels, curves, and selections for every color.
Building the underbase and highlight white by hand, with choke and trapping to match.
Setting halftone angles and LPI yourself so screens don't moiré.
An ongoing Adobe subscription just to open the file.

It's powerful, but it's slow, easy to get wrong, and gated behind a monthly bill.

AI Separations vs. separating in Photoshop

	AI Separations	Photoshop (manual seps)
Standalone (no Adobe subscription)	Yes	No — needs Photoshop
Simulated process & spot	Both, auto-halftoned	Yes, but manual
White underbase & highlight white	Automatic	Built by hand
Prep (background removal, upscaling)	Built-in AI	Manual masking
Setup guidance	AI Advisor recommends the whole setup	You decide everything
Speed	Seconds to a full sep	Often 30–60+ min per job
Price	$179 one-time	Adobe subscription, ongoing

Photoshop stays great for photo retouching — AI Separations just replaces the tedious separation step.

What the AI actually does

AI background removal strips the background off a customer file in one click — no pen tool.
AI upscaling rebuilds detail in low-res JPEGs before they wreck the print.
The AI Separation Advisor reads the artwork and recommends print mode, ink count, palette, and underbase — the setup that takes years to learn in Photoshop.

Separate a real job free — no Photoshop

Run your trickiest customer file through the free trial and compare the plates to your Photoshop workflow. Clean production exports and the AI Advisor unlock for $179 one-time.

Download the free trial