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Freejet 330-series: Setting Up a Print in DirectRIP

DirectRIP provides a wealth of options for how you’d like to print your image, to allow you maximum control over your products. This article will discuss how to select, import, and set up an image for Freejet 330-series printing in DirectRIP.

Format Considerations

No matter how high-quality the shirt, and how perfect the pretreatment job, there’s no amount of technical tweaking that can turn a bad image into a good print. Before you get started with setting up the print, you’ll want to make sure that you’re working with a properly formatted image that will yield satisfactory results! If you need guidance on how to create and format a proper print image, please follow the guidelines contained in this knowledgebase article.

Importing Your Image

DirectRIP makes importing your image a snap! You can either use the ‘File’ menu option on the top-left corner of DirectRIP , or simply click and drag any compatible image from Windows’ File Explorer into the gray space in the center of DirectRIP!

File import (open image file in DirectRIP)

To make sure your images print at your expected size, there should be very little “negative” or dead space (transparent content) along the borders of your image, to give a more precise projection of the artwork’s dimensions. Otherwise, the printed image itself will be reduced in size by the amount of transparency at the edges of the image. This would typically be handled during image creation in a tool like Photoshop or Corel Draw, but DirectRIP can be used for simple, rectangular cropping, too.

Steps to crop an image in DirectRIP

To crop the image in DirectRIP:

Click the Selection tool. It is the dashed box near the top-left of the image window.
Click & drag to draw a selection box around the parts of the image that you want to keep.
Right-click the image and select Crop from the pop-up menu to make the crop.

Using DirectRIP’s crop feature does not edit your original image file. It creates a new, temporary file of the cropped area to be used just for the current print job. To create a permanent crop to your image, edit it in your image creation software.

Configuring Your Print

Now that your image has been loaded and properly cropped to size, you can begin your setup process. The first step of any print configuration is to choose your Environment. Your choice of Environment will depend on two or three factors, depending on your printer model:

Expected (based on artwork) or desired print quality
Color of fabric being printed on
Type of fabric (Freejet 330TX PLUS model only)

In the Environment drop-down box, select the Environment Group and Environment which corresponds with the desired type or quality of your printed image.

Environment selection

Once you have selected an Environment, most of the heavy lifting of setting up the print is already complete and all that’s left is for you to size and place your image! Next, turn your attention to the QRip subwindow:

Q Rip subwindow

In the Size section of the Q Rip subwindow, select the third radio button from the top, to enable resizing of the image.
Make sure the checkbox to the left of the padlock icon is checked to lock in the original aspect ratio of the image (preventing distortion of the horizontal & vertical proportions), then resize as desired.

When resizing images, remember that if you upscale the image to print at a size larger than the design then your image quality will be degraded. The larger the percentage of upscaling, the more the quality will be reduced. Creating artwork designs at or larger than the dimensions to be printed is recommended.

Select the desired positioning of your image on the garment. This should be Top Center unless you’re doing something specific which requires some other print positioning.
Note the Mirror and Invert image options, which are typically not used. Mirror Image will print the design backwards, which is useful for Direct-to-Transfer (DTF) printing, or anytime you want to reverse the horizontal axis of your image. Invert Image will print your image’s photonegative — a dramatic effect seldom needed, but available.
Locate the two printer icons on the bottom right corner of the QRip subwindow. The icon on the left is the Print Setup icon. Click it to open the Print Setup window.

Print Setup

Note that the Platen placement on printing bed setting should never be changed. It has a completely different purpose than the Position setting in the Q Rip window, even though both settings are presented with the same 3×3 grid.

In the Print Setup window, select “Epson Stylus Photo R2400” from the Selected port dropdown box, then click the Properties button to pull up the Properties window.

Print Setup — Properties window

In the Properties window’s Margins section, set each desired margin. These margins set print position offsets from the justification setting previously selected in the QRip window. Each of the four arrows point to the side from which the margin can be set. For example, the 3rd box with the upward-pointing arrow indicates setting a margin from the top.

It’s a common practice in DTG printing (and garment printing, in general) to leave a 2″ margin down from the collar before printing the design.

Note that the dimensions of any margins selected are added to the dimensions of the print, as previously configured in the Q Rip windows, and the total must not exceed the dimensions of the print area — 12.5″ x 18″ on the Standard Adult platen. So, if you will be adding a 2″ top margin then the height of your design must be 16″ or less, as configured in the Q Rip window.

Click ‘OK’ to finalize the Properties settings and close that window, then click ‘OK’ again on the Print Setup window to close it and save the settings.

Final Preparations

If you’re using the Dark or Black environments on a 330TX Plus, or the Color or Black environments on the 330TX, DirectRIP will generate a White Underbase. Since white ink may slightly expand when it lands on a garment, we will need to slightly restrict the edges of the underbase to compensate and ensure that there won’t be an unintended white “halo” around the edges of the printed design. To do this, select the Image menu near the top left corner of DirectRIP, then select ‘Add WhiteUnderbase Choke’ from the menu — the second-to-last option on the list.

Add white underbase choke

Click ‘OK’ on the dialogue box that appears to accept the default of 2 pixels for the white underbase choke, then confirm that “UnderbaseChoke 1” has appeared in your Channels Palette.

Channels, with white underbase choke

At this point, the design is technically ready to print. But, you always want to be careful and make sure it has been formatted correctly! To check your work, right-click your image and select Print Preview.

Print Preview

The image displayed in Print Preview is proportionally accurate to the way your design will look when printed on the 12.5″ x 18″ Standard Adult Platen. You can reasonably expect the design to appear on the print surface the same as it appears on this screen. To make sure you get the most accurate comparison, select the fill bucket icon (3rd from the right among the icons at the top of the screen) to change the background color to match your garment or print surface.

If everything in the preview looks solid, tap the Esc key on your keyboard to exit Print Preview mode.

DirectRIP print job setup speedrun

Starting the Print

Once your print job is completely configured, you’re ready to print! Run through the following checklist to make sure everything else is properly set up:

Is the platen properly mounted on the printer and flush against the alignment rails?
Is a pretreated garment mounted smoothly and securely on the platen?
Have you properly adjusted the platen height?
Is the gantry in the Print Ready (fore) position?

If you can answer “Yes” to all of these questions, you’re good to go!

As you can see, there are a few steps to configuring prints in DirectRIP, but the process is not complex and can be completed within a minute if your graphic is ready to go. Once you’ve performed a few prints, you’re sure to get it down to muscle memory in no time.

Happy Printing!

FreeJet DTF Environments Installation

DTF printing comes with its own unique set of advantages so many DTG printer operations are running some of their print jobs using the DTF technique!

Freejet printers are fully capable of printing vibrant, durable, and profitable transfers. Best of all, expanding your Freejet operation to include film transfer printing is easy, requiring just a few modifications to your software and workflow!

This guide will take you through the process of importing the latest DTF Environments for the Freejet 330TX or 330TX Plus into DirectRIP, so you can try out this exciting kind of garment printing yourself!

Loading the DTF environments into DirectRIP

Download links for the Freejet 330TX and 330TX Plus DTF Environments (.kie files) are listed at the bottom of this article.

Make sure that the file that you download matches your printer model as the different inks in the 330TX and the 330TX Plus require different Environments. Using the incorrect environment can result in ink bleeding or poor adhesion.

In DirectRIP, next to your “Environment” drop-down box, there is an icon that looks like a globe with a wrench for ‘Manage Environment’.

Click this ‘Manage Environment’ icon.

The ‘Manage Environment’ window will open. Click the leftmost icon at the bottom of this window to open the ‘Import Environment Package’ window.

In the window that appears, navigate to where you saved the downloaded .kie file, select it, and click the ‘Open’ button.

The below screenshot examples are for a previous version of Environments for the Freejet 330TX Plus. There will be differences in file & Environment names for later versions, but the process is the same.

You should arrive at this window:

Click the ‘Import Package’ icon. This will import the new environments and the ‘Import environment package’ window will automatically close.

Next, click the green checkmark on the ‘Manage Environment’ window to save the update and close the menu.

That’s it! The environments are now fully installed! You can now use them to print transfers!

Environment Download Links

How to Save DirectRIP Print Job Settings

While configuring an image for a print job becomes practically muscle memory for operators after a modest amount of practice, it can, nonetheless, become a bottleneck in your production process. You may wish to save the configuration settings of some print jobs for efficient recall at a later time. We’re happy to tell you this is absolutely possible, with just a few details to keep in mind.

The process is essentially the same for Freejet printers using DirectRip and for the OmniDTF using Print Pro DTF. The program’s internal windows are styled a bit differently but the toolbar icon locations & functions in the Queue Manager of both rip software versions are identical. The still images shown are from DirectRip while the videos are from Print Pro DTF.

Before saving print job configurations, you may want to create a folder on your PC for your saved configurations. Sub-folders divided up by image, client, and/or job type would be a wise choice as well. You’ll see why in just a moment.

The next step is to configure your print job in DirectRip or Print Pro as usual. When the print is completely configured and ready, it’s time to Rip the image. You can do that by simply printing the design, which always involves first creating a Rip. Or if you just want to save these settings to print later, you can create a Rip without printing.

Ripping a Print Job without Printing

To create a Rip without printing, with your print job fully configured, we will be using features of the ‘Queue Manager’ subwindow at the bottom of the rip software as demonstrated in the below video and the following instructions.

In Queue Manager, click the “Add the Active Document” icon, which looks like a sheet of paper with a ‘+’ sign in its lower-right corner.

The image’s filename will then appear in Queue Manager’s Job Status column. Right-click the filename, then select ‘Rip’ from the options that appear in the pop-up menu .

When the Rip has been completed, the Status column in Queue Manager will read “RipDone”.

Saving the Ripped Print Job

Whether you ran a print or used Queue Manager to Rip without printing, once the job has been Ripped, it will be ready to save using the process demonstrated in the below video or the following instructions.

On the far right of the Queue Manager frame, find the column labeled “Save Location”.

Click anywhere in the cell or box displaying the file system path of the current Save location.

The ellipses (“…”) at the end of the path will then turn into a button.

Click the ellipses button that appears to edit the location and filename to be used when saving your Rip file. This will open your file browser. At this point, navigate to the folder in which you want to store the Rip.

After picking the folder, it is recommended that you give the job a new file name. Keep in mind that when selecting a saved print job to load in the future, you will not have a thumbnail or preview of the image. So, not only will the image in the file need to be identifiable from its name, but also the Environment, sizing, placement, and any other variables you may have adjusted when setting up the print job which makes it distinct from other, similar prints. (The file extension of all saved Rips will be .kprn.)

I recommend using something like: “<Image>_<Environment>_<Size>_<Date>”. For example: “TestImage_Dark_10x6_28Jan2022.kprn”. This will be instrumental to finding the file that you want to load for future printing sessions, to ensure that you have the correct version of any Rip file for the shirt you intend to print.

Once you’ve selected the Save Location and entered the filename to use, click the ‘Save’ button. Note that this action only saves the desired file name and location. You haven’t yet saved the actual Rip of the print job.

Next, click the ‘Save job’ disk icon in the Queue Manager toolbar to save the settings to a file.

Once you have clicked the ‘Save Job’ icon, the Rip is saved to the designated folder and filename, and it is safe to close DirectRip.

Recalling a Saved Print Job

To recall the file for later use, open DirectRip but don’t load an image file. Next, instead of loading an image file, we will load a previously saved print job using the Queue Manager.

The leftmost icon at the top of the Queue Manager subwindow, the open folder icon, is the “Load Job” option. Click this icon to open a file browser.

Next, navigate to the folder where your custom job is saved, select the appropriate file, and click “Open”.

The job will populate in the Queue Manager, ready to go!

DirectRip’s top-level menus and the Print buttons in the top toolbar and Q-Rip subwindow will all be greyed out since we haven’t loaded an image file. That’s fine because you will use the Print button in Queue Manager’s toolbar to run your print. As an alterative to the Print button, you can also right-click the filename in the Job Info column and select ‘Print’ from the pop-up menu.

This pop-up menu appears after right-clicking the filename in the Job Info column

Notice, as mentioned above, the image to be printed isn’t displayed in DirectRip. However, you’ve already confirmed the configuration of this print job before saving it, so as long as you have the printer started up and in the Print Ready position with a shirt pretreated and loaded on the platen, you are ready to print.

Click the Print icon or right-click the filename in the Job Info column and select ‘Print’ to run the print job.

Enjoy the increase in efficiency for designs that you will be using for multiple print jobs!

How To Reset the Waste Ink Pad Counter

OmniPrint recommends resetting the waste ink pad counter of FreeJet 330-series printers on a monthly basis. Doing so will prevent an error condition that is described at the bottom of this article from occuring.

Resetting the Waste Ink Pad Counter

See how to reset the waste ink pad counter in the below video or the following step-by-step instructions.

The Adjustment Program should be used only as directed below. Any other use without the direct guidance of OmniPrint staff is strongly discouraged and may cause problems that would not be covered by the warranty.

Use Windows File Explorer to navigate to where you installed the Adjustment Program, then double-click on the AdjProg program’s icon to launch the Adjustment Program.

If you don’t already have the Adjustment Program on the PC connected to your Freejet printer, you can get it and find installation instructions here.
Click on the ‘Particular adjustment mode’ button.
In the pop-up window, confirm that the Port selection is set to ‘Auto selection’, then click ‘OK’.
When the Adjustment Program window appears, scroll down to the ‘Maintenance’ section and select ‘Waste ink pad counter’, then click on the ‘OK’ button.
Click on the ‘Initialization’ button to reset the waste ink pad counter, then click ‘OK’ to close the informational window which pops up, then click ‘Finish’.
Click the ‘x’ in the upper-right corner of the Adjustment Program’s menu screen to close that window.
Click on the Adjustment Program’s ‘Quit’ button to end the program.
Turn the printer off from the rear power switch, wait 5 seconds, then turn it back on.

Congratulations! The waste ink pad counter has now been reset.

Error Condition Requiring a Waste Ink Pad Counter Reset

If a waste ink pad counter reset isn’t performed on a routine basis, the ‘Error’ and ‘Ink’ lights on the control pad will eventually begin flashing — blinking in an alternating pattern. Once this has occurred the printer will no longer accept print jobs until we acknowledge and clear the error, using the procedure detailed above. But there’s no need for that to happen.

Rather than wait for this to happen, we proactively check the waste ink tank level visually to avoid overfilling, and we use the Adjustment Program to reset the counters which trigger the error condition. By doing this as part of routine maintenance, we avoid ever having a print job interrupted by the error condition.

The absorbent waste ink pad at the bottom of the waste ink tank should be replaced once it is thoroughly saturated. This waste ink tank is the chrome, rectangular box at the left end of the printhead carriage. See our article about replacing consumable parts for details on how to replace the pad.

How To Install the Adjustment Program

The Adjustment Program is used to reset the waste ink pad counter on Freejet 330-series printers. This is typically installed and configured during your setup session with a training coordinator, but it’s quick and easy to do if you don’t already have it.

The Adjustment Program runs only on the Windows operating system, like all software provided by OmniPrint for use with FreeJet printers.

How to use the Adjustment Program is detailed in another OmniPrint Knowledge Base article, but if you don’t already have it installed onto the PC connected to your printer, we’ll explain how to get it and set it up here.

Downloading the Adjustment Program

Click on the following link to download the Adjustment Program to your Windows Desktop or any other folder of your choice: http://www.omniprintonline.com/r2400.zip

Installing the Adjustment Program

The Adjustment Program doesn’t require an installation process, technically speaking. We just need to extract the r24000 folder out of the downloaded zip file using the following simple steps.

Find the r2400.zip file that you downloaded using Windows File Explorer or by searching from the Windows Task Bar.
Double-click on the file if you used File Explorer to find it. If you searched from the Task Bar and selected r2400.zip from the search results, Windows will have already opened a File Explorer window with a view of the contents of r2400.zip.

Depending on your File Explorer settings, you’ll see something like this:
Drag the r24000 folder onto your Windows Desktop, or any other folder of your choice, then go to that r24000 folder with File Explorer. Again, depending on your File Explorer configuration you’ll see some form of this list of files and folders:

AdjProg.exe is the actual executable file which is the Adjustment Program. (You may or may not see the “.exe” file extension, depending on your Windows File Explorer settings.)

We’re now ready to configure the Adjustment Program.

Configuring the Adjustment Program

Before using the Adjustment Program, we need to make a couple of simple configuration changes to the AdjProg.exe file using the following steps:

In Windows File Explorer, right-click on AdjProg.exe to open a pop-up menu of things that Windows can do with the file.
Click on ‘Properties’ and this window will open:
Click on the ‘Compatibility’ tab and the ‘AdjProg.exe Properties’ window contents will change to this:

Windows 10 or Windows 11 may have already configured the compatibilities properties of AdjProg.exe for you automatically. Check the following two items from the above screen.

Compatibility mode should have a check mark on ‘Run this program in compatibility mode for’, and ‘Windows XP (Service Pack 2)’ should be selected from the drop-down list
Run this program as an administrator should be checked

4. Confirm or select the above settings, then click on ‘OK’ to save them.

When using Microsoft Windows 11 you may need to click on ‘Change settings for all users’ in order to modify these settings.

The Adjustment Program should be used only as directed by OmniPrint. Any other use without the direct guidance of OmniPrint staff is strongly discouraged and may cause problems that would not be covered by the warranty.

That’s it! The Adjustment Program is now ready to be used, as explained here.