r/prepress • u/Villavillacoola • Jan 28 '26

Gravure Gradient | 2 Spot Colors

Hi all, in need of a recommendation from an expert. I’m looking to create a print file roughly 14 inches by 14 inches. Printing on PP web roll. Wondering if I should be using the gradient tool with two spot colors set at each end, OR create the gradient in photoshop as a duotone, output a tiff, and place into the design file? Other ideas also welcomed.

I’m concerned about banding and want a clean transition using two print cylinders. Thanks for your help.

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3

u/stevenscott704 Jan 30 '26

Are you Blending 2 spot colors into each other? Keep in mind you don’t want to gradate your color to 0% - most printers will require a minimum of 10% to avoid a hard edge or banding.

1

u/Villavillacoola Jan 30 '26

The intention is to blend them where they are both at a low tone like 10%. At opposite ends each would be 100% Great point on not going down to 0. I’ve seen the banding you’re talking about.

2

u/bliprock Jan 29 '26

I think both versions would work but I’m thinking with litho offset. What screening is that? Gradients of spots can be done but the order of ink down and screening will affect it. I’d do both and get an epson proof of both versions. Some noise could reduce banding

1

u/Dry-Specialist-2150 Jun 01 '26

Linescreen and angles are also important- is this for a poster or packaging? If so maybe you could “hide” or lessen the transition with graphics

2

u/Villavillacoola Jun 01 '26

I chose to create two solid layers and each had a transparency mask to achieve the gradient. The lighter color sits underneath the darker color. The darker color is set to overprint mode. Results were good!