What it does
Vortex screens your art into halftone films for screen printing and shows you what the press will do to them before you burn a screen. It runs in your browser with no account and nothing to install.
It keeps two kinds of effect apart. Dot gain, the smallest dot your emulsion holds, screen wear, squeegee drag and the underbase choke go on the film. Misregistration, optical gain and paper tooth stay on the monitor as a proof, because putting them on film would print them twice.
The free Dot Gain Report gives you a PDF target to print on your own press. Photograph the print, drop it back in, and Vortex reads each patch against the bare paper beside it. You get your real gain curve and a Photoshop .acv that corrects for it.
In numbers
Specifications
| Films out | PDF with one page per screen at your imagesetter's resolution, and 1-bit TIFF with PackBits compression and no grey pixels. |
|---|---|
| Plates | Up to eight, separated against a GRACoL profile, with a white underbase and choke. |
| Labelled films | Each film carries its plate, angle, LPI and size burned into the slug. |
| Engines | Ten: vector, AM, wave, spiral, stipple, flow, rings, TSP line, glyph and reaction. |
| Correction curve | A Photoshop .acv built from your own printed target. |
| Repeat runs | The browser and native builds render the same job byte for byte before release, so next year's films match this year's. |
| Where your art goes | Nothing is sent while you work. Saving to the cloud uploads your art; that is off until you sign in. |
| Other exports | PNG and SVG at physical size for laser and vinyl software. |
Features
16 features, all shipped. Listed from the product's code and documentation; each row shows the day it was last checked.
| AM halftone | Round, euclidean, square, line or stochastic dots at a set angle and LPI. | |
| Stipple and line engines | Weighted stipple, flow lines, single-line TSP and spirals. | |
| Glyph and reaction | Builds tone from characters or a reaction-diffusion pattern. | |
| ICC separation | Separates to CMYK with a GRACoL profile. |
| Dot gain | Grows each dot by its own edge, more on a white underbase than on cotton. | |
| Smallest dot | Drops highlight dots the emulsion would not hold. | |
| Impression counter | Wears the screen by how many pulls you have made. | |
| Directional damage | Draws drag, roller marks and moiré along the direction that causes them. | |
| Cracked ink and photocopy edges | Builds crazing with T-joints and copier edge build-up. |
| Misregistration | Shows drift between screens on screen only. | |
| Optical gain and paper | Simulates light in the paper, tooth and show-through on screen only. |
| Dot Gain Report | Prints a PDF target and reads your photo of it into a gain curve. | |
| Correction .acv | Writes a Photoshop curve from your measured press. |
| PDF films | One page per screen with a slug, size fixed. | |
| 1-bit TIFF films | PackBits, mirrored if asked, labelled in the file. | |
| Projects | Saves a .vortex project, or to the cloud after sign-in. |
Works with
- storageCloud projects are saved after sign-in.
Your data
| Where it is kept | In your browser while you work. Cloud projects upload the source art and a thumbnail. |
|---|---|
| Getting it out | Films as PDF and TIFF; projects as .vortex files. |
| If you leave | Not documented. |
APIs and standards
- Web app (installable)
- Standard: PDF
- Standard: TIFF
- Standard: ICC (GRACoL)
- Standard: Photoshop .acv
- Standard: SVG
- Standard: PNG
Compared
| Checked 2026-11-01 | Vortex | Separation Studio NXT (with AccuRIP Emerald) | UltraSeps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free in the browser; paid cloud plan price not published | $399 a year, bundled with AccuRIP Emerald1 | not published on the vendor page2 |
| Runs on | A web browser | Windows 10 or 11 x64, macOS Catalina to Tahoe1 | Inside full Photoshop (not Elements)3 |
| Simulated process separations | No; CMYK and spot plates with underbase | Yes1 | Three simulated process modules2 |
| Prints the films | Writes PDF and TIFF films; you print them | AccuRIP Emerald in the bundle1 | not published2 |
| Measures your own dot gain | Yes, free, from a photo of a printed target | not published1 | not published3 |
| Shows screen wear and press defects | Yes, kept apart from the film | not published1 | not published2 |
| Free trial | No trial needed for the free tool | 8 days1 | 15 days2 |