I Submitted a Bug Report to Adobe. They Never Fixed It. So I Built Kayrock Power Tools.

Spot Separation

Decompose any image into ink-coverage channels built from your real, measured ink colors. A Neugebauer color model predicts how those inks actually mix and overprint on paper: true color science, not a multiply-mode approximation.

• Measured-Ink Accuracy: Define each ink by its measured Lab color, including the overprint where two inks meet, so the separation matches what really prints.
• Coverage Layers: Outputs one grayscale coverage layer per ink (0–255 = 0–100% ink area), ready to halftone.
• Ink-Set Editor: Add, rename, recolor, and drag-reorder inks; save your shop's ink sets as reusable presets.
• Live Soft-Proof: A single on-canvas preview of the predicted print before you commit.
• Optional Proof Layer: Generate an accurate, hidden Neugebauer render of the simulated print for client sign-off.

Split Colors to Layers

The essential utility for breaking down flat art into printable separations. Take any image and automatically split each unique color onto its own layer:

• Automatic Detection: Scans the image and identifies every unique color.
• Layer Output: Creates individual layers for each color, ready for trapping and film output.
• Flat Image Mode: Optionally output a flattened, color-reduced image instead of separate layers.
• Solid Color Layers: Output as Solid Color fill layers with masks for non-destructive editing.
• Remap Colors: Save and load industry standard .act files, replace colors using the native color picker, drag and drop swap palette entries.
• Realtime Preview: See the separation result on your canvas before committing.

Reduce Colors

Posterize a full-color image down to a limited, print-ready palette. Essential for turning photographic or gradient-heavy art into a manageable number of spot colors before separating.

• Three Quantizers: Choose K-Means, Median Cut, or Octree to find the best limited palette for your image.
• Optional Dithering: Floyd–Steinberg error diffusion or ordered Bayer dithering to hold smooth transitions across fewer colors.
• Palette I/O: Load and save industry-standard .act palettes to reuse a fixed ink set across jobs.
• Live Preview: Dial in the color count and see the result on your canvas instantly.

AM Halftone Screen

Classic amplitude-modulated halftoning: a regular grid of dots that grow and shrink with tone: the look of traditional process printing, with full control over the screen.

• Dot Shapes: Round, ellipse, square, or line. Pick the dot that suits your art and mesh.
• Angle & Frequency: Set the screen angle and frequency (LPI) per separation to register cleanly and minimize moiré.
• Variable Dot Size: Smooth tonal response from highlight to shadow.
• Live Preview: See the screen on your canvas before you commit.

FM Stochastic Screen

Frequency-modulated screening places same-size marks at varying density instead of a fixed grid: no screen angles, no rosettes, and far less risk of moiré against the mesh.

• Error Diffusion: Floyd–Steinberg dithering for crisp, detailed stochastic dots.
• Voronoi-Relaxed Stipple: Evenly distributed stipple points via Voronoi relaxation for an organic, even texture.
• Dot Size & Threshold: Tune mark size and coverage to match your mesh and exposure.
• Live Preview: Watch the texture update on your canvas as you adjust.

Multitone Screen

Split the tonal range into zones and apply halftone screening to each, a bridge between posterization and screening that produces layered, screened separations in a single step.

• Tonal Zones: Divide the tonal range into as many zones as the job needs.
• Per-Zone Screening: Apply halftone dots to each zone independently.
• Layer Output: Produces ready-to-print screened layers.
• Live Preview: See the combined result before committing.

Multitone Threshold with Smart Separation

Full control over levels based posterization. Stop guessing with levels and start automating your prepress:

• Realtime Preview: See the results instantly on your canvas.
• Auto-Distribute: Automatically balances levels so every layer has equal pixel coverage.
• Content Aware Colors: As well as gray levels, you can use dominant colors or dominant hue based tones.
• Smart Separation: Instantly converts threshold levels into separate layers, both pixel based layers and Solid Color masks are supported.
• Built-in Trapping: Options for "reduction print" allow light colors to automatically underprint darker layers.

Trapping

Automatically generate spreads from your layered separations. Trapping ensures clean registration on press by slightly overlapping adjacent colors to prevent white gaps between them:

• Automatic Edge Detection: Finds all adjacent color boundaries across your layer stack.
• Adjustable Spread: Set trap width from 1 to 32 pixels to match your registration tolerance.
• Corner Joins: Choose miter, round, or bevel joins for how traps meet at corners.
• Interior Hole Control: Fill enclosed gaps or preserve them, useful for knockouts and overprints.
• Solid & Pixel Layers: Works with both solid color fills and rasterized pixel layers.
• Duplicate Detection: Warns you if layers have already been trapped, preventing double-spread buildup.
• Action Recording: Fully recordable and playable as a Photoshop action for batch production workflows.

Film Output

Gang every separation (one per layer) onto a single film, arranged to fit your printer's roll width, and lay down all the registration and trim marks your shop needs in one pass. Less wasted film, less manual nudging.

• Auto Gang-Up: Arranges multiple images (taken from visible, selected, or all layers) onto one film sized to standard roll widths (11″ to 44″), with adjustable gaps between them.
• Registration & Trim Marks: Crosshairs, center marks, star targets, trim marks (Western or Japanese), borders, rulers, and gripper marks. Toggle exactly what you want.
• Bleed & Trim Readout: Set the bleed and watch the true trim size (document minus bleed) update live.
• Filenames On Film: Optionally label each image so the press operator always knows what they're looking at.
• Film-Ready: Built for imagesetters and direct film output.

Export Layers

Batch export your separation layers as individual files ready for film output or digital printing:

• Flexible Source: Export visible layers, all layers, spot channels, or all channels, whatever fits your workflow.
• Format Options: Export as TIFF or PNG, with control over color mode and bit depth.
• Bitmap Conversion: Optionally convert layers to Bitmap mode on export for direct film output.
• Naming Conventions: Automatic file naming based on layer names with customizable prefix.
• Persistent Folder: Remembers your export destination between sessions.
• One-Click Output: Go from layered separation to a folder of print-ready files in seconds.
• Action Recording: Fully recordable for automated batch workflows.

Rotate Canvas

Rotate pixel art and bitmaps without destruction. Unlike the built-in Photoshop Rotate Canvas, this tool supports all image modes (including Bitmap), offers specialized algorithms to preserve crisp edges, and allows you to keep your original canvas size.

• RotSprite (2 versions): The gold standard for rotating pixel art: Sharp (Scale2x) and Smooth (xBR) variants.
• Classic Sampling: Nearest Neighbor and Bilinear with real-time viewport preview.
• Flexible Pivot: Rotate around the document center, layer center, active selection, or a color sampler point.

Test Image Generation

Instantly generate calibration and test images for proofing your workflow. No need to hunt for reference files.

• Gray Swatches: All 256 gray levels with labeled values, perfect for checking tonal separation and ink coverage.
• Gray Ramps: Smooth 8-bit and 12-bit gradients for testing banding and tonal transitions.
• HSB / RGB / LAB Maps: Complete color space visualizations grouped by any channel. Ideal for analyzing how separations and color modes affect your output.

Layer Conversion Utilities

Convert between layer types to fit your workflow:

• Pixels to Solid Color: Convert opaque pixel layers (single color on transparent background) into non-destructive Solid Color Fill layers with masks.
• Solid Color to Pixels: Rasterize Solid Color layers back into standard pixel layers while preserving transparency.

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