Ben-Day Dots Generator
Make a Ben-Day dot pattern: rows of evenly spaced dots in flat colour, the look of old comic-book printing, as a tile that repeats with no seam. Set the dot spacing, the dot size and the angle of the screen, choose round, square or line dots, and stack up to four colour screens, each at its own angle, so the dots mix into new colours. Add a dot-size fade for shading, nudge a screen off register for a misprinted look, or fill a comic page of panels. Download a real-size PDF sheet, a seamless SVG tile or 300 DPI PNG tile and sheet. Nothing is uploaded.
100% private — everything runs in your browser. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
Print at 100% (Actual size): the sheet is real size and the bar in the footer checks the scale. The SVG and PNG tiles are one seamless repeat at real size; set them side by side in any direction and the pattern carries on with no seam.
Dot screen
Colour screens
Each screen is set to the nearest angle and spacing that repeat exactly in the tile; the line under the preview states the values used. The offset shifts a screen to look off-register.
Page
Runs in your browser with our own code: nothing you type is uploaded or saved. Every dot is placed by our own code on the screen grid stated under the preview. You may use what you make here, including commercially, with no credit needed.
How to make a Ben-Day dot pattern
- Pick a preset, or set the dot spacing, the unit and the tile size.
- Choose the dot shape, a fade if you want one, the background and comic panels for the sheet.
- Choose 1 to 4 screens and give each a colour, an angle, a dot size and an offset.
- Read the line under the preview: it states the exact spacing and angle each screen uses.
- Download the PDF and print at 100% (Actual size), or the SVG or PNG tile for a seamless fill.
What you can use it for
- Comic and pop-style backgrounds and panels
- Seamless fills for design software from the SVG or PNG tile
- Screen-print and riso-style textures with layered colours
- Gift wrap, scrapbook and fabric repeats at real size
- Art lessons on how printed dots mix colours
- Laser, vinyl and plotter dot fields from the SVG
The 16 presets
| Preset | Screens | Dots | Spacing at angle (used) | Dot size | Fade | Tile | Dots per tile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classic red dots at 45° | 1 | round | 3.03 mm at 45° | 60% | none | 60 mm | 392 |
| Blue dots on white | 1 | round | 3.03 mm at 45° | 60% | none | 60 mm | 392 |
| Comic skin tone: red dots on pale yellow | 1 | round | 2.5 mm at 45° | 45% | none | 60 mm | 578 |
| Comic sky: cyan dots on white | 1 | round | 3.05 mm at 14.74° | 50% | none | 60 mm | 386 |
| Big bold dots, 6 mm | 1 | round | 6.36 mm at 45° | 75% | none | 72 mm | 128 |
| Fine dots, 1.5 mm | 1 | round | 1.52 mm at 45° | 55% | none | 45 mm | 882 |
| Square dots | 1 | square | 3.03 mm at 45° | 55% | none | 60 mm | 392 |
| Line screen at 30° | 1 | line | 3.04 mm at 30.47° | 35% | none | 60 mm | 389 |
| Dot fade across (big to small and back) | 1 | round | 3.03 mm at 45° | 90% | across (to 15%) | 60 mm | 392 |
| Dot fade both ways (bright spots) | 1 | round | 3.54 mm at 45° | 95% | both ways (to 10%) | 70 mm | 392 |
| Two screens: red and blue at 45° and 15° | 2 | round | 3.03 mm at 45°; 3.05 mm at 14.74° | 50% / 45% | none | 60 mm | 392 / 386 |
| Four colour screens (15°, 75°, 0°, 45°) | 4 | round | 2.52 mm at 14.62°; 2.52 mm at 75.38°; 2.5 mm at 0°; 2.5 mm at 45° | 45% / 45% / 45% / 30% | none | 60 mm | 565 / 565 / 576 / 578 |
| Off-register two-colour print look | 2 | round | 3.03 mm at 45°; 3.03 mm at 45° | 55% / 55% | none | 60 mm | 392 / 392 |
| Comic page: dot fill in 2 × 2 panels | 1 | round, 2 × 2 panels | 3.03 mm at 45° | 50% | none | 60 mm | 392 |
| Comic page: three tiers of panels, two screens | 2 | round, 3 tiers of panels | 3.05 mm at 14.74°; 3.05 mm at 75.26° | 45% / 40% | none | 60 mm | 386 / 386 |
| Quarter-inch dots, 3 in tile | 1 | round | 0.265 in at 45° | 60% | none | 3 in | 128 |
Spacing and angle are what each screen uses so the tile repeats exactly; dot size is the dot’s width as a share of the spacing. Every value is worked out by the tool.
Checks
| Check | Result in our tests |
|---|---|
| Dot centres | every one on its screen grid: offset plus whole steps along the turned directions |
| Dot sizes | every one equals dot size × spacing × fade |
| Dots per tile | exactly m² + n² per screen, where the screen steps m across and n down per tile |
| Seamless by path | every dot crossing a tile edge has its copy on the other side |
| Seamless by pixel | the colour at a point equals the colour one tile across and one tile down |
| Tile and sheet | the SVG / PNG tile shows the same colours as the sheet |
What prints
| Download | What is in it |
|---|---|
| A sheet at real size filled with the pattern, vector, with the screens stated and a check bar | |
| SVG tile | One seamless repeat at real size in mm: the background and each screen as its own path |
| PNG tile 300 DPI | The same tile as a picture |
| PNG sheet 300 DPI | The PDF sheet as a picture |
For a cutter that needs DXF, use SVG to DXF. To pick screen colours, try the Color Palette Generator.
Which tool to use
| You want | Use |
|---|---|
| Even dot screens that repeat, in flat colours at angles | Ben-Day Dots Generator (this page) |
| A photo turned into dots of varying size | Halftone Image |
| A photo turned into pop-art panels | Pop Art Generator |
| Polka dots on a square or half-drop grid | Polka Dot Pattern Generator |
| Comic panels with speech balloons | Comic Strip Maker |
Other tools: Halftone Image and the Pop Art Generator for photos, the Polka Dot Pattern Generator for polka dots and the Comic Strip Maker for strips with balloons. For the dots in fine art, read our article on Roy Lichtenstein’s Ben-Day dots.
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Frequently asked questions
What are Ben-Day dots?
Small dots of one size, set evenly in rows, printed in flat colour to make tints and mixed colours. The Wikipedia article on the Ben-Day process (read 13 November 2026) says it was developed in 1879 by illustrator and printer Benjamin Henry Day Jr., that the dots are “of equal size and distribution” unlike halftone dots, which vary in size, and that colour comic books used it “to inexpensively create shading and secondary colors”.
How do the dots make new colours?
Two screens of different colours side by side read as a mix from a distance. The same article gives widely spaced magenta dots reading as pink and “an interleaved pattern of cyan and yellow dots” as a medium green. Stack screens here and print to see it.
Why is the angle I typed changed a little?
A screen at an angle only repeats in a square tile when the tile holds a whole number of dot steps along both turned directions. Each screen takes the nearest angle and spacing that do, and the line under the preview states them. A bigger tile or finer spacing gets closer to what you typed.
Does the pattern really repeat with no seam?
Yes. Our tests check every dot centre against the screen grid, check that every dot crossing the tile edge has its copy on the other side, and paint thousands of points to check the colour at a point and one tile along is the same.
What is the dot-size fade?
An extra for shading: the dots shrink towards the tile edges and grow to full size in the middle, across, down or both ways, so the fade still repeats with the tile. Classic Ben-Day dots are all one size, so leave the fade off for that look.
What does the offset do?
It moves one screen by the distance you set, like a print where a colour plate slipped. Our tests check that every dot of the moved screen is the first screen’s dot plus that offset.
What do the four-screen angles mean?
The four-screen preset asks for 15°, 75°, 0° and 45° so the screens do not line up; in a 60 mm tile they land at 14.62°, 75.38°, 0°, 45°. Set any angles you like.
What prints at real size?
The PDF sheet fills the page inside the margins from the tile’s top-left corner at real size, with a check bar in the footer. The SVG and PNG tiles are one repeat at real size: 300 DPI for the PNG.
Is it free?
Yes. There is no sign-up, no watermark and no limit.
Is anything uploaded?
No. Every dot is placed by JavaScript in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere or saved when you close the page.