Chapter 5 - Post Processing Designs

5.1 Printer Admin Features

The /designtool/printeradmin page is a password protected page that allows you to download and create the necessary files for printing the customer's design. This page has a password protection that is separate from the main admin page. So you can allow access to someone for printing purposes only. If you run the web site but outsource the printing, you may want to give your printer access to only this page so they can get the necessary files for printing without having access to the web site admin features

5.1.1 Printer Admin Username/Password

1) Open the printadmin/login-check.php file in any text editor and change the username and password.
2) FTP the file to the /designtooldirectory/printadmin/ directory.

5.2 Using the printadmin Features

Open A Design
A design needs to be opened before creating or downloading files. Enter the design ID into the box and select Open Design. Once the design is opened you will see the thumbnail images of the design for your quick reference.
Creating a Scaled Image File
This input is used to scale the design to the actual printable area of your machine. A good starting point is a scale factor of 4.
Example: Basic Tee has a designer area of 350x400 pixels, a scale factor of 4 will convert the design to an area of 1400x1600 pixels
PNG: This will produce a png file with a transparent background, white background, or a background set to the product color. The png with transparent background, is the best option for DTG printing to a dark material.

GIF: This will produce a gif file with a transparent background, white background, or a background set to the product color. We find that the png file produces a more sharp image from the design. However, the gif option is availble.

JPEG: This will produce a compressed image in the jpg format. The default compression values are 80% compression. You can change this value if you need more quality (however a larger file size) or lower quality (and smaller file size). A jpeg file has no transparency channel. Therefore, the background will be printed. This option is good for DTG printing to light colored material or if you need manipulate the image to your final artwork requirements (i.e digitizing)
Enter a scale factor and then "Create Image File". For each scale factor, an image will be created with the scale factor appended to the end of the file name: GWTxxxxxxxxxx-4.ext for decimal values "p" will be used for the point (i.e. 1.5 is 1p5). You can create image files for as many scale factors as you'd like. If the customer has uploaded their own files. You may need to play a little to find which scale factor works best.
Once the image is created, the download link will allow you to download the image file. When you click on the link be sure to save it instead of open it. You may need to right click the link and use the menu option "Save Link As.." option.
Creating a Zip folder for Manual Adjustment
You may need/want to use the raw design data to create a document for printing (i.e. do it yourself in FastArtist or CorelDraw)
The zip folder will be saved in the saveddesigns directory.
The zip file will contain:

1. The design XML file.
2. Any customer supplied images.
3. A scaled png image for for each line of text and symbol.

1) Select Create Zip Folder
2) Select the download link for the zip file. Your browser may ask if you want to open the file. Be sure to select the "Save" option and save it to your local machine.
Be sure to log out as printadmin when done. You can go to logout.php and log out. Or close your browser.