Halftone generator for DTF printing

DTF transfers halftones: what to know

Direct-to-film printers lay down white ink under every pixel that has any color. Soft shadows, glows and semi-transparent edges turn into a solid, rubbery white patch — or worse, a faint rectangle around the design. Halftoning fixes this: partial transparency becomes a pattern of fully opaque dots with true transparency in between, so the white underbase only goes where the dots are.

This page starts with a transparent background, a fine 6 px cell and a 6% minimum dot. Export a transparent PNG at 2400 px or more (8 inches at 300 DPI) and place it in your gang sheet. Breathable halftone areas also make large DTF prints softer and less likely to crack.

Use Invert when the design is meant for a dark garment and you want the light parts of the image to become dots. Keep the dot size above about 0.5 mm on the final print — smaller dots can fail to transfer reliably with some powders and presses.

Coarse 30 px cell

Fine 12 px cell

Recommended settings

• Turn on Transparent background before exporting
• Use 2400–3600 px wide output for 8–12 in prints
• Minimum dot 5–8% so tiny specks do not fail to transfer
• Invert for light-on-dark designs

How to make a halftone

1. Add an image. Click Upload image, drag a file onto the preview or paste with Ctrl/⌘+V. Photos, logos and gradients all work; transparent PNGs keep their transparency.
2. Choose shape and size. Pick dot, line, square, diamond or cross, then set the cell size (dot spacing) and screen angle — or switch to CMYK for four color separations.
3. Tune the tones. Open Tone to adjust contrast, dot gain and the minimum and maximum printable dot for screen printing, DTF or engraving.
4. Download. Choose the output width and click Download PNG, or SVG for vector dots. Tick Transparent background to export only the ink.

FAQ