DTF Bitmapper

Turn glows, drop shadows and soft edges into hard dots so the white underbase prints clean. Every pixel comes out fully solid or fully clear.

Staff guideHow to use the bitmapper

Use this when the artwork checker flags soft shadows, glows or faded edges, or when a customer's file has a transparent fade that will print patchy. It converts the soft areas into a dot pattern the white ink can actually lay down.

Convert a file

Drag the PNG onto the Drop PNGs here box, or click it to browse. Several files at once is fine.
Leave the preset on Recommended unless you know the job needs something else.
Check the preview on a black and a white shirt. Zoom to 300% to see the actual dots.
Click Save this PNG, or Save all for a batch. Files come out as name_dtf.png with the DPI set.
Send the saved file to the RIP as normal. Don't send the original.

Which preset

Recommended: 2 px dots. Right for normal 300 dpi customer art. Start here.
Fine: 1 px dots for small text and thin detail. Needs good film and a tidy printer.
Heavy glow: Bigger dots and a harder cutoff for large outer glows and long drop shadows.
Halftone pattern: Screen-print style round dots. Looks great on big soft fades, try a cell size of 4 to 8.

Good to know

Soft pixels after should always read 0. If it doesn't, something went wrong, try again.
Faint glows that are mostly cut off are normal. The faint tail never printed well anyway.
Solid parts of the design are untouched. Only semi-transparent pixels change.
Files never leave your computer.
If a customer wants the look checked first, save the file and send them the preview on their shirt colour.

Preset

Diffusion at 2 px dots, faint tail cut at 8%, edges solid above 92%. Prints clean on standard 300 dpi artwork with a full white underbase.

Pattern

Error diffusion. Best all-rounder for glows and shadows; looks like fine grain at print size.

Dot size 2 px Bigger dots are safer on cheaper film but coarser up close. 2 px is a good match for 300 dpi art.

Cut faint pixels below 8% Drops the near-invisible tail of a glow so it doesn't scatter stray dots.

Make solid above 92% Anti-aliased edges above this become solid instead of speckled.

Glow strength 100% Boost or fade the transparency before it's converted to dots.

Output DPI Written into the PNG so it lands at the right size in your RIP.

Drop PNGs here or click to browse. Several at once is fine.PNG · WEBP · transparent background

Files

Nothing loaded yet. Try a design with a drop shadow or outer glow.

Convert a file

Which preset

Good to know

Files

Preview