Overview of Knock Me White Out
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- Use Knock Me White Out to automatically remove white from a design.
- Allow the white of the shirt to represent white areas instead of printing white ink.
- Reduce ink usage and achieve a softer, lighter print feel.
- Apply this function primarily for DTF and white toner printers.
Example 1 – Solid White and Solid Color Designs
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- Use Knock Me White Out for designs with solid white and solid color areas.
- Avoid gradients in this type of design.
- Benefit from significant white ink reduction.
Selecting a Base Print Mode
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- Import the job into the printer queue.
- Go to the Q tab in the lower-right corner.
- Select a print mode intended for white shirts from the drop-down list.
Creating a Custom Print Mode with Knock Me White Out
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- Open the Q menu.
- Select Properties.
- In the Q Properties dialog, expand the Color Layer.
- Click Processing Options.
- Enable Use Knock Me White Out.
Setting White Tolerance
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- Adjust the tolerance slider to define what is considered white.
- Understand tolerance values: 0 equals pure white (RGB 255, 255, 255)
- Use a value of 5 for this example.
- Note that Knock Me White Out produces a hard edge result.
- 5 equals slightly off-white (RGB 250, 250, 250)
Saving the New Print Mode
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- Click Create Print Mode.
- Enter a descriptive name for the print mode.
- Click Save.
- Click OK.
- Confirm the new print mode appears in the Print Mode drop-down list.
- Click Yes when prompted to reset properties to print mode defaults.
- Example: 1440 x 720 White Removal
Previewing Results with View Raw Data
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- Right-click the job in the queue.
- Select Rip Only.
- Wait until the job status shows Job Spooled.
- Right-click the spooled job.
- Select View Raw Data.
- Click OK on the preview warning dialog if shown.
Viewing White Ink Output
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- Open the colors and layers window using the left icon.
- Deselect CMYK planes.
- View where white ink will print.
- Change the background color or select View All Colors as Black.
- Confirm that white areas are knocked out and shirt white is used instead.
Example 2 – Designs with Gradients into White
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- Identify designs with gradients fading into white.
- Understand that Knock Me White Out cannot produce white gradients.
- Note that white ink will stop abruptly, creating a hard edge.
Inspecting Gradient Issues in View Raw Data
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- View Raw Data for the gradient design.
- Deselect CMYK layers.
- Leave the white layer active.
- Enable View All Colors as Black.
- Observe where white ink stops printing.
- Disable View All Colors as Black.
- Re-enable all layers.
- Change the substrate color to light gray.
- Observe the posterized transition between ink white and shirt white.
Recommended Alternative for Gradient Designs
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What you need
- Knock Me White Out is best for solid white designs
- Not recommended for gradients into white
- Produces hard edge white removal
- Fluid Mask provides better control for complex designs
- Use the Fluid Mask plugin instead of Knock Me White Out.
- Right-click the job in the queue.
- Select Edit with Fluid Mask.
- Define delete areas in red and keep areas in green.
- Remove unwanted outer white while preserving internal white areas.
- Change the print mode to one without Knock Me White Out.
- Example: 1440 x 720 White