Check the first set
before you burn

What the free trial really gives you

• Three film sets at 360 dpi. One design, downloaded as a ZIP, counts as one set. It counts when you download, not when you make it, so trying settings costs nothing.
• One of those sets may use all your inks, up to six. The others use up to three inks.
• Downloading the same set again is free. Pro removes the limits, adds 720 dpi and drops the FREE mark in the margin.

Want to see what comes out before you use your own artwork? The sample ZIP for textile (156 mesh) and the sample ZIP for paper (230 mesh) are real output.

Make the set

1. Upload the artwork. The inks and the films appear by themselves.
2. Pick the tab that matches your job: Textile, Paper & posters, or Lino & block. That sets the mesh choices and the dot behaviour.
3. Check the number of inks. The slider under Inks tells you how many screens you will burn; merge two inks that are really one colour, in Advanced settings.
4. Choose the mesh you actually have on the frame.
5. Press the download button. A small prompt shows the set name and asks whether you want to show your work in the gallery; both are optional.

Open the ZIP

• Count the films against the inks you plan to mix, plus a white underbase if you use one.
• Read one label. Screen number, ink, LPI, angle, mesh and size should all match what you intend. If it says mirrored, every screen in this job has to be exposed and printed the same way round.
• Look at the margins. Registration crosshairs top, bottom, left and right, and a crop tick in each corner, on every film in the same place.
• Skim print-instructions.txt. It gives the print order and anything specific to your settings.

Print one film

Print the darkest film on transparency or film at 100%, with no scaling and no “fit to page”. Hold it to the light: the black should be dense enough that no light shows through the dots. If it is not, the printer settings are the first suspect, and the printer settings guide covers them. Look at the dots with a loupe: they should be round and clean, not smeared or grey.

Do not expect the print to look like the preview. The preview shows the colours you chose; the film is always black, and the dots only become tones once ink goes through the mesh.

Before you burn: a short checklist

• Film count matches the inks.
• Mesh on the label matches the screen.
• Mirrored or not, the same for every screen in the job.
• Black is dense and the dots are clean.
• Registration marks are on every film.
• You know the print order, which is the screen number.

Then burn. If the check turned up something, change a setting and download again: the same design does not use another film set.

Common questions

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