Automatic Tonal is an ideal separation method to use on designs which are tonal, but have no overprinting colours. Just like Automatic and Auto with Create, this technique creates layers which fit around each other like a jigsaw puzzle. It has two purposes; separating tonal layers, and separating step tone layers.

Separating tonal layers

1. Use the Pipette to select the most saturated colours from the design and create an 8 bit layer for each colour. It is important to try and select the most saturated colour for each layer, as this will ensure full tonal movement in the resulting separation. If there is white in the design you must also make a layer for it.
2. Make all the layers active and make the image visible but not active.
3. Split the view by pressing the small + button in the bottom left corner of the Design Window.
4. In the new view, make all the layers active and make the image invisible.  It does not matter which layers are active in this window because you will not be working in this window.  It is used to simply preview the separation as it happens.
5. Click back in the view which has the image visible and the layers active.  In the snapshot below this is the view on the left hand side.
6. Go to Separate > Automatic Tonal. The Auto Tonal window will open, showing the layer colours across the top. Position this window so that it is next to rather than overlapping the Design Window.
   
7. Using the Pipette Tool, click on a range of tones for each layer colour.
   It does not matter how many colours you pick for each layer, as long as you include a range of light, mid and dark tones. Very good results can be achieved from just a few sampled colours for each tone.

9. Click on the small icon at the top left of the window, just under the close button (if you hover your cursor over this cell, a tip will appear which says Select All). You will see that all cells become highlighted.
   
10. Click on the 0% button at the bottom of the window.
    
    If you would have preferred for these values to be automatically set to 0% as you were picking your colours you need to deselect Automatically Set Tonal Values from the action menu at the bottom of the window. Next time you click on the action menu, you will notice that the tick has disappeared and from now on when you use Automatic Tonal, 0% will be entered in each cell rather than the actual tonal values.
11. Starting with the first colour column on the left, drag from the first cell downwards until you reach the last colour in that group. For example, if your first column is white, highlight all the cells directly underneath that column that are white, including all of the different tones that you pipetted for that colour. Stop dragging when you get to a row which is a different colour.
    
12. Click on the 100% button and this will set all the highlighted cells to 100%.
13. Click on the action menu at the bottom of the Automatic Tonal window and make sure there is no tick next to Retone. If there is a tick, just click on Retone again and you will notice that the tick disappears.
14. Click on the Separate button at the bottom of the Auto Tonal window. The coloured information from the image will be copied to the layers but it will be flat at this stage.
    
15. Check that each mask area has separated correctly by making the layers visible one by one.

Removing colours from the resulting separation

To remove a colour from the Auto Tonal window click on the unwanted colour and choose Remove Selected Rows from the Action menu at the bottom of the window.

To delete several rows from the window, do one of the following:

• Hold down ⇧ (shift key) and click on the first cell of several rows in a block, one after another and then choose Remove Selected Rows from the action menu
• Hold down ⌘ (command key) on the keyboard and click on the first cell of several rows from different places in the window and then choose Remove Selected Rows from the action menu

If the results are unsatisfactory

Look at the Automatic Tonal Window and check the colours listed. Some important tones may not have been picked up, so the software will have selected the closest colour available from the colours included. If so, use the Pipette Tool to add missing tones to the list.

Select the Pipette Tool and, working in the view which has only the image visible, and the layers active but not visible, click on the missing colours. All extra colours are added to the bottom of the list. Then repeat steps 11 – 14.

1. Once the mask areas have been separated correctly they can be cleaned up using the Despeckle Filter and the Mover Tool.
2. Finally, after the automatic tonal separation has been performed and you have cleaned up your mask layers with the relevant tools, you may wish to use the Retone feature to introduce tone to your flat masks. If this is the case, click on the view which has the image visible and not active, and the layers active but not visible and choose Separate > Retone.
3. The picture shows the original image on the left and final layers on the right.
   
   Following the Retone process, the design can be further improved by adjusting the colour of the final layers and applying a slight Gamma to some of the layers.

Creating a step tones separation using Automatic Tonal

For some textile designs, you may want to work with step tones, rather than smooth, continuous tones.

1. Use the Pipette Tool to select the most saturated colours from the design and create an 8 bit layer for each colour. If there is white in the design you must also make a layer for it.
2. Make all the layers active and make the image visible but not active and select Automatic Tonal from the Separate Menu.
3. Enter a range of percentages in the cells to create a step tone effect, starting with, for example 100% for the strongest tone, then 75% for the next strongest tone and so on. The tones you pick with the Pipette Tool and the percentages you assign will have a direct result on how the separation looks.
4. Make sure the Retone option in the action menu is not ticked and click on the Separate button. The information will separate in stepped areas of colour to the selected layers.
   
   If the resulting step tones are not what you want, undo the separation using the keyboard shortcut ⌘Z, and go back to the Automatic Tonal window and edit the percentages you entered. Then click the Separate button again to perform the separate with the new values.