Products / Make & Print
Hoq RIP
Lay art on the platen, set the white, and download the printer's own file.
What it does
Hoq RIP turns artwork into the dot pattern a DTG, DTF or UV printer fires. You lay art on the surface you print on, a 16×20 inch platen or a length of film, and the RIP renders that whole surface at print resolution. A platen and a gang sheet go through the same path.
You choose how the white is made: an underbase, highlight white or white only, with choke, a cap on white under black, or only the white channel named in your file. Ink levels, black generation and the screening method are set per job from the machine's calibration. Saved recipes hold those settings by name.
Artwork arrives as PNG, JPEG, TIFF, PSD or PDF. Spot channels in a PSD rip as their own inks. A white spot fires the white ink directly, and a job that asks for an ink the printer does not have is refused. Out come Epson ESC/P2 .prn files, PrintExp .prn files for the Epson i3200, and 1-bit TIFF separations for any other RIP.
In numbers
16×20 inplaten at 1440 dpi: 23,040 × 28,800 pixels
9ink channels on the Epson i3200 file
2400 dpivertical resolution of every i3200 job
33 MiBto rip a 60 cm × 3 m DTF sheet, rendered in bands
Specifications
| Artwork in | PNG, JPEG, TIFF, PSD and PDF. PSD spot channels rip as their own inks. |
|---|---|
| Files out | Epson ESC/P2 .prn, PrintExp .prn for the Epson i3200, and 1-bit TIFF separations. |
| Printers addressed | Epson L8050 (6 channels: CMYK plus two white bays, 1440×720 dpi) and Epson i3200 (9 channels, 480 or 720 × 2400 dpi). |
| Proven on hardware | PrintExp files have printed on an Epson i3200 with all nine channels firing. The ESC/P2 encoder matches a reference encoder byte for byte; it has not yet printed on the L8050. |
| Where it rips | The browser lays out the job; the rip runs on a server and hands back the files. The same core builds for the browser and the server and must produce identical bytes. |
| Memory | The surface is rendered in bands, so a 60 cm × 3 m sheet fits in about 33 MiB. |
| Where jobs are kept | Each job is a bundle in the owner's Hoq Storage drive, with its versions. Rendered .prn files stay out of the bundle. |
| Spot inks | A white spot fires white directly; a decorative spot such as a Pantone uses its alternate. Missing inks refuse the job. |
| Ink order | Curve, then per-ink limit, then total ink limit. The total limit counts process inks only, so white does not dim the colour. |
Features
20 features: 19 shipped, 1 in beta. Listed from the product's code and documentation; each row shows the day it was last checked.
| Place art on the surface | Drop art on the platen, drag, snap to centre and edges, rotate and nudge with the keyboard. | Shipped | |
| Align, distribute, tile | Lines up several pieces and repeats one across the sheet. | Shipped | |
| Mirror for transfer | Flips the whole surface for film that is pressed face down. | Shipped | |
| Platens and presets | Saves the machine's platens and sheet sizes as presets. | Shipped |
| White modes | Underbase, highlight, white only, or the white named in the file. | Shipped | |
| Choke and caps | Pulls white in from the edge and limits white under black. | Shipped | |
| Background removal | Drops a white, black or chosen background, optionally only from the edges. | Shipped |
| Ink levels per job | Turns each ink up or down from its calibrated level for this rip only. | Shipped | |
| Black generation | Sets GCR, where black starts, and rich black, per job. | Shipped | |
| Extended gamut | Uses orange, green and blue bays directly where a colour is close to them. | Shipped | |
| Spot colour library | Names shop colours once; each printer says how it makes them. | Shipped | |
| Recipes | Saves white, screening, ink levels and black settings under a name. | Shipped |
| Screening | Error diffusion or ordered (Bayer) screening, with a fluid limit. | Shipped | |
| ESC/P2 .prn | Writes the Epson command stream with variable-size dots. | Shipped | |
| PrintExp .prn for i3200 | Writes the i3200's nine-plane file. | Beta | |
| TIFF separations | Writes one 1-bit TIFF per channel for any other RIP. | Shipped | |
| Channel preview | Shows each channel alone, and tints the underbase so you can see it. | Shipped |
| Ink bays | Records which ink sits in which bay of each machine. | Shipped | |
| Calibration | Prints charts and stores each machine's calibration. | Shipped | |
| Export and import a machine | Saves a machine's setup as JSON and loads it on another account. | Shipped |
Works with
- storageJobs are bundles in your Hoq Storage drive.
- Hoq PrintDTG, DTF and UV printers can be listed in Hoq Print with their platen and inks.
Your data
| Where it is kept | Each job is a bundle in the owner's Hoq Storage drive. Rendered .prn files are downloads, not stored in the bundle. |
|---|---|
| Getting it out | Download the .prn or TIFF separations; machines export as JSON. |
| If you leave | Not documented. |
APIs and standards
- Web app at rip.hoq.app
- JSON job spec for the command-line kernel (internal)
- Standard: ESC/P2
- Standard: TIFF
- Standard: PSD
- Standard: PDF
- Standard: ICC
Compared
| Checked 2026-11-01 | Hoq RIP | CADlink Digital Factory DTF (Desktop Edition) | Kothari Print Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Not published | $379.99 lifetime licence at one reseller1 | $1,000 to $2,400 per printer model at one reseller2 |
| Runs on | A web browser; the rip runs on a server | Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit; no Mac version1 | not published2 |
| Printers supported | Epson L8050 and Epson i3200 files; TIFF separations for others | Many Epson desktop models and DTF brands, sheets to A2, rolls to 17 in1 | Epson F2000, F2100, F3070; Ricoh2 |
| Ink cost per print | No | not published1 | Yes, from your cartridge prices2 |
| Same input, same output bytes | Yes, checked on every release | not published1 | not published2 |
| PSD spot channels as inks | Yes | not published1 | not published2 |
| Licence | Account in the browser | Activation code, no dongle1 | Free 15-day trial2 |