How it works

From client artwork to press-ready film — one pass, no Photoshop.

NestSheet is the prepress layer before your RIP: it takes the order folder, packs the sheet, generates the white, and writes a file your RIP opens first try. Here is the whole workflow, screen by screen.

Step 1 · Upload

Drop the order folder as it came in.

Ten formats — PNG, JPEG, TIFF, WebP, PSD, PSB, EPS, AI, PDF, SVG — up to 500 MB a file. No “please resave as…” emails to customers.

  • CMYK TIFFs and PSDs are normalised to sRGB with their embedded ICC profile respected — no silent colour jumps.
  • 8-channel DTF TIFFs (CMYK + white) are read natively on the way in.
  • Transparent padding is trimmed off automatically, so the print size is the artwork, not the canvas.
  • Low-DPI files are flagged in the rail — including the iPhone “72 dpi” lie, which is auto-corrected instead of shrinking your art.
  • Preflight is advisory only: quiet warnings, no blockers, no red-alert theatre.
NestSheet files rail: clean 300 dpi files with green dots, a 72 dpi phone photo flagged “DPI too low” and a 170 dpi file flagged “Low DPI”, each with a Review button and copy-count steppers
The files rail after a mixed upload: green dots for clean files, quiet flags for the two that need a look.

Step 2 · Nest

The packer does the Tetris. You keep the veto.

Auto-nest is on by default: every copy of every file is packed with rotation 0/90°, honouring your gap and margin, on the roll you actually run.

  • Roll presets from 300 to 1800 mm plus A4/A3/A2 sheets — or a custom sheet up to 2000 × 10000 mm.
  • Defaults an operator would pick: 2 mm gap, 5 mm margin, auto sheet height that grows with the batch.
  • Per-file copy counts live in the rail — bump a design to ×6 and the sheet repacks around it.
  • Film length, m² and fill stay on screen while you work, so the cost of a layout is never a surprise.
  • Prefer to place by hand? Switch to Manual and drag — auto-nest is a mode, not a cage.
NestSheet builder with a 43-piece order auto-nested on a 600 mm DTF roll, files rail on the left and film readout at the bottom
43 pieces from ten files, auto-packed on a 600 mm roll — 0.31 m of film for this batch.

Step 3 · White & inspect

Get the white right before it hits film.

The White Underbase Lab derives the white channel from the artwork alpha — choke 0–10 px (default 2), alpha threshold, standard or soft-hand modes — with a before/after split you can drag.

White Underbase Lab in the Prep terminal: Standard/Soft-Hand mode toggle, white amount 255, choke 2 px and alpha threshold 15 sliders, before/after split showing colour art against the generated white channel on black
White Underbase Lab: mode, white amount, choke and alpha threshold, with live coverage numbers and a split preview of the exact channel the RIP receives.
Prep terminal with an advisory card reading “Alpha channel missing — DTF requires transparency” and a Remove Background tool previewing the white background dissolving to transparency in a before/after split
The Prep terminal catches a file with no alpha channel and previews the fix — background removal with a draggable split.

Six in-place fixes ship in the Prep terminal — remove background, fix invisible pixels, colour knockout, fringe doctor, halftone dithering and the White Underbase Lab — applied as a reversible stack that never touches the original file. AI-assisted white-relief and varnish masks are available too. Every plan has the same tools; only the monthly exported-area allowance changes.

Step 4 · Export

Write the file your RIP expects — the first time.

Nineteen export recipes across TIFF, PNG, PSD/PSB and PDF: up to CMYK + 4 white + 4 varnish channels, real spot channels in PSD, channel names your RIP already knows.

  • Six RIP presets in the box: MainTOP, CadLink Digital Factory, AcroRip, PhotoPRINT, SAi Flexi and Generic DTF.
  • White and varnish channels named W1–W8 / V1–V4 — renameable per export to match any RIP’s convention.
  • Four ICC output intents: sRGB, Adobe RGB, FOGRA39, Epson wide-gamut CMYK.
  • Mirror-for-film toggle, custom file naming, and a varnish pass when the job calls for it.
  • Every render lands in your export history and stays downloadable for 72 hours.
NestSheet export dialog with TIFF format, CMYK colour, four white channels, embedded ICC profile dropdown, mirror-horizontally toggle and W1–W4 channel name fields
Export with Advanced open: TIFF · CMYK + 4 white channels, embedded ICC picker, mirror, channel naming.

Roadmap

What’s coming — and what isn’t here yet.

We put features on this site when they ship, not before.

On the roadmap: a UV-DTF mode in the UI (the varnish export pipeline is already built), automatic multi-sheet split for orders that outgrow one sheet, a public API, and more named RIP presets. None of it is sold on this site until it ships — what you saw in the four steps above is the product as it exists today.

FAQ

The practical questions.

Do I need to install anything?
No. NestSheet runs in the browser — current Chrome, Safari, Edge or Firefox on macOS, Windows or Linux. There is nothing to license per computer; sign in and the bench is there.
What happens when an order doesn’t fit one sheet?
You stay in charge of the cut: pick the roll and sheet size, the packer fills it as tight as it can and shows the film math, and what doesn’t fit goes on the next sheet you run. Automatic multi-sheet splitting is on our roadmap — it is not in the product today.
Can I fix a customer’s file without Photoshop?
For the common production problems, yes. The Prep terminal applies six in-place fixes — remove background, fix invisible pixels, colour knockout, fringe doctor, halftone dithering and the White Underbase Lab — as a reversible stack, so the original upload is never touched.
Which colour profiles can I export through?
Four output intents ship today: sRGB, Adobe RGB, FOGRA39 (ISO Coated v2 300%) and Epson wide-gamut CMYK. Incoming CMYK files are normalised to sRGB using their embedded ICC. Uploading your own output profile is not supported yet — honestly.
How long do exports stay downloadable?
Every render sits in your account’s export history for 72 hours — re-download the exact file the press ran without re-rendering or consuming additional exported area. After that it is deleted on schedule.
Does preflight ever block my export?
No. Preflight is advisory by design: quiet warnings for low DPI, missing alpha or off-sheet pieces — no blockers, no red-alert theatre. You know your press better than a dialog does.

Run your next batch through it.

Free plan, no card: upload a real order, nest it, export for your RIP and judge the file yourself.

TIFF · PNG · PSD spot channels · PDF 6 RIP presets in the box Free forever · no card