Expert: Tom Rouze - 6/17/2006

Question
I understand that in the new CS2 ver of AI one can
create gradients in half tone dots. Here is an excerpt from a new feature list:
"Separations
Print color separations using either host-based or in-RIP options and optimize output directly in the application, controlling screen angle, ruling, and dot size for each plate"
How is the accomplished? I would be interested to know how to also print the art on a hp color 3550 laserjet.
Thanks for your help,
Greg

Answer
Hi Greg,

I'll have to check this out in CS2.  In the past versions, separations, screen angle, and frequency can be specified in Illustrator, however printing to show true dots was something done in the RIP software.  I will be looking into this since this question comes up often.  This may be what you are talking about.
This is an excerpt from CS2. Note the part that states "simulates the effect".  
  Pixelate filters and effects
The Pixelate effects are raster-based and use the document’s raster effects settings whenever you apply the effect to a vector object.
Color Halftone Simulates the effect of using an enlarged halftone screen on each channel of the image. For each channel, the filter divides the image into rectangles and replaces each rectangle with a circle. The circle size is proportional to the brightness of the rectangle.
To use the filter or effect, enter a value in pixels for the maximum radius of a halftone dot (from 4 to 127), and enter a screen-angle value (the angle of the dot relative to the true horizontal) for one or more channels. For Grayscale images, use only channel 1; for RGB images, use channels 1, 2, and 3, which correspond to the red, green, and blue channels; for CMYK images, use all four channels, which correspond to the cyan, magenta, yellow, and black channels.
Printing this should be the same as printing any other item.  You should be able to specify composite or separations in you printer setting.

I hope this helped.
Thank you,

Tom