Vecspine's Pre-Press Trapping Engine eliminates the white "flash" gaps between spot colors by building a sub-millimetre overlap. Auto spread/choke, 1-bit TIFF positives and a multi-page proof PDF. No press surprises, no subscription.
Trapping is applied non-destructively to the separated plate masks, so your artwork stays pristine while your films go to press bulletproof.
Ranks plates by luminance and automatically spreads the lighter color into the darker neighbor — the industry standard for least-visible traps.
Force Spread (lighter grows out) or Choke (darker grows under) when the job demands a specific background behavior.
Dial the overlap from 0.0 to 1.0 mm in 0.05 mm steps. 0.2 mm is the safe default for most textile and paper presses.
Uncompressed 1-bit TIFFs (BlackIsZero) at 300/600/1200 DPI per trapped plate — exactly what exposure units expect.
A visual proof of the trapped plates before going to press, so you can verify overlaps without burning a screen.
Trapping only modifies the exported film positives. Your canvas vector artwork is never altered.
Two ways to build the overlap. Auto mode picks the best one; manual mode gives you control.
The lighter color expands outward into the darker neighbor. This is the industry default because a lighter overlap on a dark background is least visible to the eye.
The darker color expands inward, underneath the lighter object. Use this when the background artwork must not change shape, or when trapping into a white/light garment.
Trace a raster or import vector artwork. Vecspine extracts the spot-color plates automatically during the trace.
Open the Trapping dialog. Pick Auto, Spread, or Choke, set the trap width in mm, and choose 300/600/1200 DPI.
Write one 1-bit TIFF per trapped plate plus a multi-page PDF proof — named and ready for the screen room.
Rough guides — always confirm with your press operator, but these are safe starting points.
| Press / Substrate | Trap Width | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| High-speed textile / stretchy | 0.2 – 0.3 mm | Forgiving on garment stretch and pallet shift |
| Standard flatbed / paper | 0.1 – 0.2 mm | Tighter registration, cleaner edges |
| Fine detail / small type | 0.05 – 0.1 mm | Minimal overlap to preserve legibility |
| No trap (knockout) | 0.0 mm | Only when colors don't touch or intentional gaps exist |
Trapping deliberately builds a sub-millimetre overlap between adjacent spot colors so that normal press misregistration doesn't expose a white "flash" gap between them.
Spread grows the lighter color outward into the darker neighbor. Choke grows the darker color inward, underneath the lighter object. Both achieve overlap; Auto mode picks the least visible one.
0.1–0.3 mm is standard. 0.2 mm is a safe default for most textile and paper presses. Use smaller values (0.05 mm) for fine type, and larger values (0.3 mm) for stretchy garments on high-speed carousels.
No. Trapping is applied non-destructively only to the exported 1-bit TIFF plates and PDF proof. Your vector artwork on the canvas remains untouched.
One uncompressed 1-bit TIFF (BlackIsZero) per trapped plate for the exposure unit, plus a multi-page PDF proof for visual verification.
Auto spread/choke, precision trap widths, 1-bit positives — offline, in one click.
