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Question

How do I prepare my artwork for DTG printing onto shirts?

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
February 17, 2017
8 replies
5595 views

I bought Adobe Photoshop Elements 15 so I could supply my artwork to a manufacturer for DTG printing on clothing. I've searched the internet but i can't find any instructions that are specific to this software. I've tried to learn how to use this software but i'm overwhelmed. I don't have time to learn (yet alone retain) all of the available guides, especially when I don't even know what i'm looking for.

Does anybody know of an article that gives step by step instructions for preparing my artwork, primarily color drawings on color shirts, dark ink on light color clothing and light ink on dark clothing.

The instructions would help me get my very, very small business going. The instructions would also help me get started learning about Photoshop.

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CreakyBottomArtAuthor

Participating Frequently

I was pushing buttons and I think I accidentally got it to work except after I saved it there is a feint line on one edge. I can't erase it because I can't see it on my screen, what I see is my design but the background is the checkered box.

hatstead

Inspiring

The checkered box denotes transparency. All that should be left is the foreground.

Sent from my iPad

CreakyBottomArtAuthor

Participating Frequently

I used to write instructions to teach people how to use Intergraph PDS. It was 3D modeling software for piping design. I wrote and trained more than 20 people for the fortune 500 company I worked for. I recommend when you write instructions, you take a couple of extra minutes so they are complete instead of wasting hours of the end users time making them guess what the heck you/re talking about. Once you get them right you can create a user instruction.

I was reading the forums and I'm not the only person who doesn't understand how to create a transparent background.

I got close but I still don't know how I did it because it wasn't per your instructions.

CreakyBottomArtAuthor

Participating Frequently

I also removed my name,

CreakyBottomArtAuthor

Participating Frequently

all of the white area outside of the drawing must be deleted. the white within the drawing must remain.

CreakyBottomArtAuthor

Participating Frequently

heres the original jpg

hatstead

Inspiring

Open the file
Double click the background layer in the Layers palette to convert the locked background layer to a regular layer. This will be Layer 0.
Activate the the Magic wand tool. On the tool's option bar, set the Tolerance=10. (The default is 32, but start out with 10 here - adjust if necessary.) Check "contiguous". Then left click anywhere on the white background and hit delete on the keyboard.
Press CTRL+D to get rid of the marching ants.
If a small unwanted white area remains, use the magic wand again.
Go to File>save as and select PNG for the file type. This supports transparency.

CreakyBottomArtAuthor

Participating Frequently

CreakyBottomArtAuthor

Participating Frequently

The file is too big 36 to 38 MB

MichelBParis

Legend

I had never heard of DTG printing before.

A Google search did provide a site with a lot of useful information:

http://www.dtgprintsolutions.com/top-10-reasons-not-to-get-into-dtg-printing/

http://www.dtgprintsolutions.com/what-is-dtg-printing-and-why-is-it-so-awesome/

http://www.dtgprintsolutions.com/managing-your-color-expectations-with-dtg-printing/

and a video:

http://www.dtgprintsolutions.com/optimize-images-dtg-printing-basic-levels-saturation-adjust/

As I see it, the trouble is not in what you can do with Elements, the instructions about color seem really basic and even the 'Quick' edit mode should be adequate to ensure correct saturation.

CreakyBottomArtAuthor

Participating Frequently

I think I can do everything up to a point. i need to make the background transparent. I read the articles titled "About transparent and matted web images". i think I'm following the instruction but I always end up with a white background. First I convert the file to sRGB, then do my stuff, then save it as a png file and send it off. the files are very large and can't be sent by email.

So it appears I'm stuck with the transparent part.

i will look at the articles you reference.

thanks

hatstead

Inspiring

CreakyBottomArt wrote
I bought Adobe Photoshop Elements 15 so I could supply my artwork to a manufacturer for DTG printing on clothing. I've searched the internet but i can't find any instructions that are specific to this software. I've tried to learn how to use this software but i'm overwhelmed. I don't have time to learn (yet alone retain) all of the available guides, especially when I don't even know what i'm looking for.
Does anybody know of an article that gives step by step instructions for preparing my artwork, primarily color drawings on color shirts, dark ink on light color clothing and light ink on dark clothing.
The instructions would help me get my very, very small business going. The instructions would also help me get started learning about Photoshop.

Direct to garment printers generally require a specialized software package called a Raster Image Processor (RIP) to print properly. Primarily, the RIP is simply a printing utility that translates the image you created into a format that allows you the most control over the end result.

With this in mind, have you contacted the manufacturer as to whether or not output from PSE will work satisfactorily on the equipment?