ToneSmith Gang Sheet Builder

Quick Start Guide

Lay out, auto-nest, and export print-ready DTF gang sheets from your browser. Plan on five minutes.

by Maker Foundry · tonesmith.makerfoundryco.com

1 Open the Gang Sheet Builder

Two ways to get there:

No sign-up: the public demo at /gang-sheet-demo is fully interactive (drag, auto-nest, background removal, all of it). Only Save and Export are gated behind a trial.

2 Configure Your Sheet

The left sidebar has every sheet-level control. Set these once and the rest of the work flows from them.

Units toggle is at the top of the panel — switch between inches and millimeters anytime; values convert automatically.

3 Add Images to the Sheet

Three ways to bring artwork onto the sheet, all valid:

New items get smart-placed: the builder finds the first empty spot that respects margins and gutter, and rotates the item if a 90° turn fits better.

Source resolution matters: the canvas displays a downsampled version of large images for performance, but exports use the full uploaded resolution. So 4000×5000 source PNGs print at the same quality as their original.

4 Arrange — Manually or Auto Nest

Drag items around the canvas. Smart guides snap edges to sheet bounds, margins, the centerline, and other items (with gutter). Hold Alt while dragging to bypass snap. Hold Shift while resizing to free the aspect ratio. Click and drag the rotation handle on top of any selected item to rotate.

Multi-select by Shift+clicking items, or by drag-marquee on empty canvas. Multi-drag moves them as a rigid group; the entire group's bounding box snaps to sheet edges.

For automatic packing:

Watch the warning banner in the toolbar. It surfaces overlapping items, items pushed out of sheet bounds, and items that span tile boundaries (see Step 6). Click the banner to select all flagged items so you can fix them in one go.

5 Background Removal — Per Image

Click any item on the canvas. The right-side property panel shows a Background Removal section. Hit Remove Background (AI) and the model runs entirely in your browser — nothing uploaded, no cost. The first run downloads a ~40 MB model (cached after that).

After it processes:

Solid-color background? The panel detects this and suggests halftoning the image in the Editor's Knockout Color tool first — it produces cleaner halftone edges than AI matting on flat backgrounds.

6 Tile Boundaries — Sheets Bigger Than Your Printer

Some printers can't take a single PNG longer than ~60″. When your sheet exceeds the safe length, magenta tile-boundary lines appear on the canvas. They show where the export will split the sheet into multiple PNGs that line up edge-to-edge in your RIP.

Auto Nest, Tile, and Duplicate are tile-aware — they avoid placing items across boundaries when possible. If an item does straddle a boundary, it's flagged "blocking split" in the warning banner so you can move it before exporting.

7 Save & Export

Two distinct outputs. Both come from the same toolbar.

Save (.gang project) — click Save (or ⌘S). Bundles every source PNG plus the layout into a single .gang file you can re-open later. Also saves to your Recents list (browser-local IDB) so returning visits show your work right at the top.

Export (PNG) — click Export. Choose:

Whatever path you choose, the export trims empty space below your last item — you don't pay for film you didn't fill.

Resume on another machine: drag the saved .gang file onto the gang sheet's canvas (or use the Open toolbar button) to load it anywhere. The Recents list is per-browser; the .gang file is portable.


Keyboard Shortcuts

Hit ? anytime to open the shortcuts cheat sheet. The most-used:

Join the Maker Foundry Community

Real shops share their gang sheet workflows, packing tips, printer settings, and gotchas in our community. If you hit a snag, posting your .gang file with what you're trying to do gets you faster help than figuring it out alone.

facebook.com/groups/makerfoundry

Less wasted film. More finished orders.

That's what a good gang sheet pipeline gets you.

More Quick Start Guides

← All Guides Read Me First Web App Photoshop Plugin Gang Sheet Builder