How do I get one file per colour for screen printing?

Updated on 11 October 2026

Drop the image into the Homotope workshop, set your inks in “Fixed palette”, check that the export mode is “cut” (Illustration switches it to “stacked”), then in Export tick “One layer per colour” and pick “One file per colour (ZIP)”: each file is the visible area of one ink, knocked out, ready for its screen.

Blurry JPEG illustration: a fox sitting at dusk, banded sky, pine trees and mushrooms, some forty colours. — 1,200 × 860 px blurry JPEG and the SVG produced by the engine, Illustration preset, “Number of colours” set to 20, untouched: each colour of the drawing becomes a clean flat area: one per thread, screen or vinyl.

The same illustration traced to SVG, each area a single colour. — 1,200 × 860 px blurry JPEG and the SVG produced by the engine, Illustration preset, “Number of colours” set to 20, untouched: each colour of the drawing becomes a clean flat area: one per thread, screen or vinyl.

×6 detail: the fox’s ear: three inks that meet, each one in its own file. Drag the slider to compare; hover over the image or hold your finger on it to move the magnifier.

Try it with your image Open this example in the workshop

Steps

Drop the logo or illustration into the workshop.
Pick Logo for crisp flat colours, Illustration for a richer drawing.
In the “Palette” panel, “Fixed palette” section, paste your inks one per line (#E30613 Client red), or import a CSV or ASE file, then turn on “Use this swatch library”. Each pixel takes the nearest ink: no colour is invented.
Check the “Mode” under “Advanced” › “Export”: it must be “cut”, shapes meet without overlapping. The Illustration preset switches it to “stacked”: set it back to “cut”, or the ZIP is not offered.
In Export, tick “One layer per colour”, then “One file per colour (ZIP)” as PDF, EPS, SVG or DXF, or “One layered SVG”.

Nothing leaves your computer: see vectorize without uploading.

What each file contains

Each file in the ZIP is the visible area of its ink: the files are disjoint, knocked out, nothing is printed under another ink.
Each file is named after its ink (logo-client-red.pdf); the layered SVG has one named layer per ink, which Inkscape and Illustrator read.
From 2 to 64 inks. “Dithering”, off by default, simulates in-between shades with dots; the “Coverage threshold” removes an ink that is too rare.

Homotope adds no trapping and no halftone screen: set them in your film output software. The step-by-step is in the screen printing guide; to reduce an image to your colours without separating it, see reducing an image to exact brand colours.

What is counted

Separations are a production export, whatever the format: the ZIP of all your inks counts as one export. A single-piece SVG stays free, except transparent background and recolouring (Pro).

Production exports (DXF, EPS, PDF, separations): 2 free per month with an account, unlimited with Pro; without Pro, 1 credit each beyond those 2. A new account gets unlimited production exports for 7 days, once. The preview and the “Ready for cutting?” check are free; the conversion runs in your browser and the server only counts the export. The details: how much vectorizing costs.

The other trades (vinyl, laser, embroidery) are on the production page.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use my Pantone colours?

Homotope ships no Pantone table: paste or import the values of your own swatch library (CSV or ASE), and each pixel takes the nearest one.

Why is the ZIP not offered?

It needs “cut” mode: in “stacked” mode shapes overlap, and one file per colour would no longer be knocked out.

Are separations free?

They are a production export: 2 free per month with an account, then 1 credit each, unlimited with Pro. The whole ZIP counts as a single export.

Is my image sent to a server?

No, not from the workshop: tracing and separations run in your browser, and the server only counts the export. Through the API or an assistant, the job runs on the server.

Guides and conversions

Try it with your image