Mesh is printed on the roll and usually on the frame. In Europe it is often given in threads per cm: 43T, 61T, 90T and 120T are 110, 156, 230 and 305.
Actual dot structure at this frequency, screened with the same maths the tool uses. On screen it is scaled — on a printed film at 100% these dots are the sizes listed above.
The working rule is mesh count divided by about 4.5. The reason is physical: a halftone dot has to span roughly two thread pitches — about three openings — to have threads to hold onto. Any smaller and it washes away during development, so the tone it represented never prints.
The halftone grid is square, so the count is the frequency squared, converted from inches. It is a useful sanity figure: 190 dots per cm² at 156 mesh is roughly newspaper-fine, and going far above what your mesh supports adds nothing you can print.
Calculated from the halftone cell and the low end of the usable range: cell size is 25.4 mm divided by the frequency, and a dot covering that percentage of the cell has the listed diameter. Compare it with the thread pitch to see why the range is clipped where it is.
(dpi ÷ LPI)² + 1. That is how many printer pixels fit inside one halftone cell, and therefore how many sizes the dot can take. The eye distinguishes roughly 60 to 100 tones in a gradient and a screen holds fewer, so 360 dpi is enough for most work. Fine mesh with smooth gradients is where 720 dpi starts to matter.
Pitch is centre-to-centre spacing: 25.4 mm divided by the mesh count. The actual opening is smaller, because the threads themselves take up space — roughly 35 to 45% of the pitch on standard fabric, depending on thread diameter. That is why the smallest printable dot is larger than the pitch figure alone suggests.
The same mesh behaves differently depending on what you print on. A knit swallows small dots and gains 15 to 30% in the midtones, so the frequency stays lower and the range is clipped harder. A flat sheet of paper holds much finer dots and gains only a few percent, so the same 230 mesh runs at 55 LPI instead of 48, with a wider usable range.
These figures are starting points, not specifications. Mesh tension, emulsion, exposure, ink and squeegee pressure all move the result. To find your own limits, print a step wedge and read it.
Everything above is about screens. Lino, woodcut and other relief printing have no mesh, so there is nothing to calculate: a roller lays down solid ink and halftone dots are the wrong tool. In PrintFilmReady you switch the halftone raster off and every colour becomes a flat, solid shape instead, from the same separation.
One solid black film per ink, at true size, for exposing a relief plate or block. No mesh, no dots: every shape is fully black or fully white.
One carving guide per block at exact block size, mirrored, with kento registration marks. Transfer it face-down, keep the black, cut away the white.
See how it works in the raster-off section, or read the guide to layers for lino and block printing.
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