Separation Studio NXT
Separation Studio NXT is a modern workflow tool designed for creating high-quality color separations for screen printing. It focuses on simplifying what has traditionally been a technical and time-consuming part of production, giving operators more control without requiring deep prepress expertise.
Built for production environments, NXT streamlines the process of converting artwork into print-ready separations, helping reduce manual adjustments and inconsistencies between jobs. The interface is designed to be more direct and less cluttered than traditional separation workflows, with an emphasis on predictable output and repeatability.
Whether you’re working with spot color, simulated process, or complex multi-color designs, Separation Studio NXT is intended to provide a more efficient path from artwork to film output—while maintaining accuracy across different substrates and ink systems.
Separation Studio NXT uses a standardized Spot Process color system to generate and organize separations during the separation workflow. Each separation channel is assigned a default display color from the built-in Spot Process library, allowing users to quickly identify tonal regions and color relationships within a design.
The default Spot Process system includes foundational separation colors such as Base, Black, Red 032, Blue 300, Gold 123, Purple 253, Green 354, Turquoise 312, Gray C8, and Final White. These colors serve as visual reference points during separation generation and editing. The follow table provides a list of the default colors that Separation Studio uses to automatically create separations.
| Color | HEX Code | R | G | B | Swatch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pantone Red 032 C | #ff0000 | 255 | 0 | 0 | |
| Pantone 300 C | #0012ff | 0 | 18 | 255 | |
| Pantone 123 C | #ffc600 | 255 | 198 | 0 | |
| Pantone 253 C | #ff00c8 | 255 | 0 | 200 | |
| Pantone 354 C | #009600 | 0 | 150 | 0 | |
| Pantone 312 C | #00a7a7 | 0 | 167 | 167 | |
| Pantone Cool Gray 8C | #969696 | 150 | 150 | 150 | |
| Black | #000000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| White | #FFFFFF | 255 | 255 | 255 |
- Red 032 — Pantone Red 032 C (bright vivid red)
- Blue 300 — Pantone 300 C (strong blue)
- Gold 123 — Pantone 123 C (golden yellow)
- Purple 253 — Pantone 253 C (bright purple/magenta)
- Green 354 — Pantone 354 C (medium green)
- Turquoise 312 — Pantone 312 C (cyan-turquoise)
- Gray C8 — Pantone Cool Gray 8 C
- Black — Standard opaque black
- Base / Final White — High-opacity white (often reduced slightly for hand feel)
Importantly, the colors displayed in Separation Studio NXT are intended primarily for separation visualization and workflow consistency. The assigned display color does not necessarily represent the exact production ink that will ultimately be printed on press. Users may apply different ink systems, custom spot colors, or production-specific ink substitutions while maintaining the same underlying separation structure.
This approach allows artists and printers to work within a predictable and repeatable separation environment while preserving flexibility for different garment colors, ink brands, press conditions, and production goals.
Why separation colors matter
In Separation Studio NXT, separation colors function as channel identifiers as much as color previews. A separation named “Blue 300,” for example, represents a tonal separation strategy rather than a locked ink formula. Replacing the output ink with another blue may still produce usable results, but the visual outcome on press can change depending on ink opacity, undertone, mesh count, substrate color, and interaction with neighboring separations.