A screen printing job ticket should tell the press operator everything needed to set up and run the job without asking: the customer and due date, the garment and quantity, one line per screen in print order with its ink, mesh count and halftone settings, the print location and offsets, how much of each plate is covered, any flash or cure notes, and boxes for approval and sign-off. Underbase, a Windows app from Automata Labs, writes that ticket automatically as PDF and JSON when it generates the separations and film, so the ticket always matches the plates that were actually burned.
Most small shops start with a handwritten sheet or a spreadsheet template. That works until the art changes after the ticket was written, or the operator on the second shift reads “white” and has to guess whether it means the underbase or the highlight white. The ticket’s job is to remove that guessing.
Generate the separations, the film and a matching production ticket in one click.
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Why does a small shop need a job ticket at all?
Because the person who separated the art is often not the person who coats the screens, registers the press and pulls the first print, or not on the same day. A ticket carries decisions forward:
- Which screen goes on which head. Print order is a separation decision, not a press decision.
- What mesh each screen needs. An underbase and a fine halftone want different mesh, and burning the wrong one wastes a screen.
- Where the print goes. Offsets from the collar or a reference point decide whether the design lands where the customer approved it.
- Who approved what. A signed ticket settles disputes about colour, size and placement before the run, not after.
What fields belong on a screen printing job ticket?
Here is a field list that covers what a manual or small automatic press needs. Shops add their own, but these are the ones whose absence causes reprints.
| Section | Fields | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Job | Customer, job name or number, due date, quantity, sizes breakdown | Scheduling and counting |
| Garment | Brand and style, colour, fabric content | Dark garments need an underbase; poly blends affect ink and cure choices |
| Location | Front, back, sleeve; design width and height; offset from collar or reference | Placement matches the approved mockup |
| Screens, one row each | Print order, ink name, mesh count, halftone ruling and angle where used, flash after | The operator can set the press head by head |
| Coverage | Percentage of each plate that prints | A rough guide to ink use and to which screens need more attention |
| Notes | Customer instructions, ink system, cure settings the shop uses | Anything that cannot be read from the film |
| Approval | Art approved by, press check by, date | Accountability before and during the run |
Two of these are often left blank on a hand-written ticket and filled in by memory: mesh per screen and coverage per plate. Both are known exactly at the moment the separations are made, which is the argument for generating the ticket from the separations instead of typing it.
How should print order be written on the ticket?
Write it as numbered rows, one per screen, in the order they print, with the underbase as its own row and the flash noted where it happens. A typical order for a dark garment is the white underbase, a flash, the colours from light to dark with black near the end, and the highlight white last. Underbase suggests exactly that order (light to dark, black next to last, white on top as the highlight white) and you can reorder it before generating.
Label the two whites differently on the ticket. “Underbase” and “Highlight white” read clearly; “White 1” and “White 2” invite a swap. Our guide to making colour separations explains where print order is decided, and the white underbase guide covers why the underbase is choked.
What mesh count goes with each screen?
Mesh is a shop decision that depends on the ink, the detail and the garment, so the ticket should record what the separator intended, not a rule of thumb. The practical rule is that halftone ruling and mesh must agree: too fine a ruling on too coarse a mesh loses dots. Underbase suggests a halftone ruling from the mesh count you enter, and lets you set your own ruling, angle and tint per plate. Our mesh count and halftone ruling guide walks through the relationship.
Whatever you choose, write the mesh on the ticket row for that screen, next to the ink. When a screen is reclaimed and reburned for a reorder, the ticket is how the next person knows which mesh to pull.
How do offsets and placement get recorded?
Record the design’s width and height and its position relative to a reference the operator can find on the press: commonly the distance down from the collar seam for a front print, and centred left to right. The film should carry registration marks and a plate label so each screen can be lined up to the same point. Underbase puts registration marks and a label on every plate, including plates ganged onto one sheet, and records the offsets on the ticket.
How does Underbase build the job ticket?
Underbase generates the ticket as part of the same step that writes the film, so the ticket and the plates come from one set of decisions.
- Open or drop the artwork. PNG, TIFF, JPEG, BMP, GIF, WebP, SVG, PDF and PDF-compatible Illustrator files up to 50 megapixels.
- Confirm the inks. Underbase assigns anti-aliased edges to the nearest ink, groups close shades and leaves the background unprinted. Rename, merge, reorder or switch off any ink.
- Set the underbase and the plate budget. Tick the inks that need white beneath them; the underbase is choked by the millimetre. Enter how many screens your press holds and Underbase warns when the job runs over and can merge the closest inks to fit.
- Pick film size, resolution and the output folder.
- Generate. The film PDF, the 1-bit TIFF plates, the channels, a preview and the production ticket land in one job folder.
The ticket, as PDF and JSON, lists the print order, mesh, offsets, coverage per plate, garment, quantity, due date, notes and sign-off boxes. The PDF goes on the clipboard at the press. The JSON is there if you want to read the same data into your own spreadsheet or shop system.
Keep the ticket and the film in one job folder, generated from the same separations.
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Hand-written ticket, spreadsheet template or generated ticket?
| Approach | Strengths | Weak points |
|---|---|---|
| Hand-written sheet | Fast for a one-colour job, no tools | Mesh and coverage filled from memory; illegible after a long day |
| Spreadsheet template | Consistent layout, easy to reprint | Typed separately from the art, so it drifts when the art changes |
| Generated with the separations (Underbase) | Print order, coverage and plates match the film exactly | Fields the app cannot know, such as cure settings, go in the notes |
A generated ticket does not replace your shop’s judgement. It removes the transcription step, which is where most ticket errors come from.
What else should travel with the ticket?
- The approved mockup. A printout or a file name, so the operator can compare the first print.
- The film itself, labelled. Each plate labelled with the job and ink, matching the ticket rows.
- A note on film density. Underbase writes 1-bit plates and PDF; how black they print is up to your printer. Inkjet film needs a RIP or a dense-black driver setting, and Underbase’s built-in film-density help page says what to check before you burn a screen. If the film is thin, the ticket is right and the screen is still wrong.
- Gang sheet layout. When several small plates share one sheet of film, note which plate is which. Our film positive checklist covers what to check on the film before it goes to the exposure unit.
What Underbase does not do
Underbase is for spot-colour jobs of a handful of inks on dark and light garments, plus index separations for soft artwork. It is not for photographic simulated-process separations, which need a Photoshop-based tool, and it is not a RIP, a printer driver or an ink-coverage quoting tool. Coverage on the ticket is a production guide, not a price. It runs on Windows 11 version 24H2 or later, entirely on your PC with no network connections.
Frequently asked questions
What is a production ticket in screen printing?
It is the work order that travels with a job from the art room to the press: customer, garment, quantity, due date, and one row per screen with ink, mesh and print order, plus placement and approval signatures.
Should the underbase have its own row on the ticket?
Yes. It is its own screen, often on a different mesh from the top colours, and it is followed by a flash. Give it a row and name it Underbase so it cannot be confused with the highlight white.
Can Underbase export the ticket for my own system?
Yes. The ticket is written as PDF for the press and as JSON with the same data, which a spreadsheet or shop system can read.
Does the ticket update if I change the separations?
The ticket is written when you generate the pack, from the inks, plates and settings at that moment. Change the separations and generate again, and the new ticket matches the new film.
Does my artwork leave my PC?
No. Underbase makes no network connections, has no account and does no telemetry of its own. Links inside customer SVG files are removed before the file is drawn.
Try Underbase
Underbase is a one-time purchase in the Microsoft Store with a 15-day free trial. Open a recent customer logo, generate the pack and put the ticket next to the one you wrote by hand. More detail is on the Underbase product page.
Generate a production ticket from your next job during the 15-day free trial.
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Photoshop and Illustrator are trademarks of Adobe. Underbase is not affiliated with Adobe.
Last updated 19 October 2026. Published by Automata Labs, a software company in Canada.