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Use case 06 · Print

Create screen-printing artwork.

Separate a one-colour design from its background and prepare an opaque black shape for film and exposure.

One-colour artworkOpaque blackPDF · SVG · PNG
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Your mark on your shirt

I wanted to put my handwriting on a T-shirt.

That is exactly why I built Vector Boy. Draw something on paper, make a brush mark or spray a word on a wall and photograph it. In the tool you separate the shape from its background, choose the vector colour and export PDF, SVG or EPS. A print shop can work from that file, and for a simple one-off you can also upload it to a print-on-demand service.

Photographed personal handwriting used as a T-shirt motif
01Photograph handwriting, a brush mark or graffiti. It does not need to be perfectly clean.
Cleaned handwriting without the photographed background
02Use black level, contrast and brightness to decide which parts of the mark remain.
Scalable colour-ready vector shape prepared for T-shirt printing
03Choose a colour, export EPS or PDF and send it to a print shop or platform.
For the print shop: Ask about colour system, minimum line width, output size and the preferred file format. Vector Boy supplies the shape. The shop chooses the production method.

Black is the information.

For one-colour screen printing, the film determines which areas expose and print. The motif therefore needs a clearly defined, opaque black shape.

Vector Boy works for line art, type, logos and existing raster illustrations. It does not create a controlled halftone screen for photographs.

Suitable source material

  • Black areas should be fully opaque
  • Small white counters must stay open
  • Remove marks outside the motif
  • Judge detail at final print size

Step by step.

  1. Load the image and begin in result view.
  2. Adjust black level, contrast and brightness until all intended lines are present.
  3. Remove isolated marks or unwanted regions with the cleanup option or lasso.
  4. Open vector view and inspect outer contours, counters and narrow gaps.
  5. Smooth only visible raster steps and simplify Bézier curves conservatively.
  6. Export the format that fits your next production step.
Before exposure

Confirm film density, mirroring, minimum line width and screen specification with the print shop.

Choose the right export.

PDF is useful for controlled print output, SVG for modern design and production software, EPS for traditional workflows, DXF for contour-based CAD and laser processes, and PNG for the cleaned raster result.

PDF · READYSVG · READYPNG · READY

Frequently asked questions

Can Vector Boy halftone a photo?

No. It creates a hard black-and-white separation. Controlled halftones need dedicated prepress software.

Why are small holes closing?

Black level or smoothing may be too high. Inspect counters in vector view.

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Ready for clean contours?

From pixels
to paths.

Process your image locally, compare every contour and export only after the shape is right.

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