How to print with high quality?...

[PockieLoli :3]

Hello, I've recently started doing commissions where I draw out characters for customers and print it out.

The drawing is made to be a little keychain, so when I draw it in Photoshop, I make it big and then size it down when I'm ready to print it. The edges and outlines look great on Photoshop but once I print it on paper, the fine lines are jagged and pixelated. :\

I'm sure it has something to do with the resolution, but I don't know what resolution will give me a better print quality. Can anyone help me out? Thanks in advanced. :]

 

[vizfxman]

I recently had a logo that was printing with jagged edges and what worked for me was to increase the resolution in "Image Size". I believe in my case I went from 72 to 300.

Not sure if this will help you out.

 

[design-is]

I recently had a logo that was printing with jagged edges and what worked for me was to increase the resolution in "Image Size". I believe in my case I went from 72 to 300.

Not sure if this will help you out.

Indeed - create artwork in 300dpi or higher for print. You can reduce it to 72 and save a low res version if you ever want to use it on screen.

Or, if you're producing line drawings, use a vector application which will be resolution independent.

 

[PockieLoli :3]

Well, if it helps, here's one of the drawings I made as a commission.
http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af2/PockieLoli/Art/Digital/RazmakaziPeach.png

I actually called Kinko's as well and the man who answered said that 150 DPI should be fine. I'll try 300 out if need be.

Another question though... you said to create the artwork at 300 DPI for a nice print. What about the two drawings I've already made? Would it be too late to change the resolution so I can print it in high quality?

 

[vizfxman]

I changed the resolution of my logo after it had already been done, so yes, I believe you can go in and change the setting to an existing drawing.

I like the drawing, btw.

 

[bbeers]

just changing the resolution won't do it

I changed the resolution of my logo after it had already been done, so yes, I believe you can go in and change the setting to an existing drawing.

I like the drawing, btw.

You can't go up in resolution, only down. If you change the resolution in images size it will give you more pixels but it won't actually change the resolution. You see Photoshop can't just create data that isn't there. When you attempt to resize these raster images (ie jpg, png, gif, and even psd), Photoshop either has to increase the size of each individual pixel - resulting in a jagged image - or it has to "guess" at the best way to add pixels to the image to make it larger. Basically you will have more pixels but it won't actually look any better.

For the ones you already did, you will have to redo the work to get a true and accurate better resolution.

 

[vizfxman]

I can totally see and agree with what you're saying (100% agreed... there's no way to magically increase res), bbeers. However, with my logo, I did in fact go up in resolution and was able to print "jaggedless"... probably more of a hack.

Could it be that my increase in resolution increased the print size, and then decreasing the print size and keeping the higher resolution is what did the trick?

 

[design-is]

I actually called Kinko's as well and the man who answered said that 150 DPI should be fine. I'll try 300 out if need be.

It depends on what you're doing with it. 300 is the standard for print images. If you're running some off at a local copy shop using a laser printer, 150 should be OK. If you're having it professionally printed on a press you want 300+, but 250 will do at a stretch. If you're printing on a photo paper with a high quality inkjet printer, you will might even consider going up to 600-1200. It all depends on how clean you want things to look.

Another question though... you said to create the artwork at 300 DPI for a nice print. What about the two drawings I've already made? Would it be too late to change the resolution so I can print it in high quality?

Drawings you have already made are set at the lower res I'm afraid. As bbeers said, you can't just create data that isn't there. Though Photoshop does a better job than he implies, it will not to a great job (it will look a little better, but not a huge amount better). You can try Photoshop's re-sampling options for different results, Bicubic Smoother is best for enlargement.

Also, check this page out for some enlargement tips.

vizfxman, not sure what you mean. To clarify, you have print size which is the physical dimension it's intended to print at, which your image should be at 300dpi. If you have the print size 3 times larger than you actually want to print and the res at 100, then reducing it without re-sampling will produce a res of 300. As it's 'dots per inch' the smaller you make the image without re-sampling, the more dots you are putting within the inch.

Hope that helps a little...

/Doug

 

[usclaneyj]

Indeed, if you start a project knowing that the intention is to eventually have it printed, you should definitely be working in CMYK @ 300dpi. No ifs ands or buts!

Like others have mentioned, Photoshop does a pretty decent job of upscaling low-res images, but you shouldn't rely on that.

 

[mstrze]

Of course she's not looking to upscale/enlarge the images...she is looking to print them smaller.

I would almost suggest trying saving and printing a few at a lower resolution, allowing PS to smooth the image out for you, rather than relying on the printer...which is where I think you are getting the 'jaggies' from.

Have you tried to start your PS image/canvas at the correct size for the keychain? i.e., so you wouldn't have to shrink it at all to print? So, start with a new canvas at 1.5" x 1.5" for the keychain (at the recommended 300 dpi). If that's all you do with these drawings...the lower resolution IS the ideal resolution for what you are attempting and then the computer/printer will not ever have to resize and potentially screw up your image.

BUT if you ever see yourself doing anything else with these images, you will be missing out on the higer resolution...as others have stated above.

 

[design-is]

Indeed, if you start a project knowing that the intention is to eventually have it printed, you should definitely be working in CMYK @ 300dpi. No ifs ands or buts! <snip>

Sorry to disagree, but its best to work in RGB, keeping a nice wide colour gamut to work in, but using Photoshop's 'View'>'Proof Setup' and 'View'>'Proof Colors' to simulate the CMYK. All you can ever do on an RGB monitor is simulate the CMYK anyway, there's really no need to covert until outputting a print file. This will keep the colour fidelity etc.

More info here.

Though this may be a little more in-depth than necessary for this thread Just wanted to interject on that point

/Doug

 

[stainlessliquid]

- Open the biggest version you have in photoshop

- go to image>image size

- uncheck "resample image"

- change the resolution to 300 pixels/inch
--- this will alter the inches in the document size but wont change the pixel size. This is how big your image will print. Adjust the resolution until you get it close to how big (in inches) you need it to be printed at. Anything over 150 should look alright. If you know exactly how big you need it then you can just type in the inches and it will set the resolution automatically.

- hit ok and the image will not change at all on screen but will print better. This will not degrade the quality of the image because the pixel size stays the same.

- if the image is still too small then you can recheck resample image after applying the resolution change and then change the width/height to how big you need it, this will enlarge the image on screen and degrade quality and is only a last resort.

 

[Designer Dale]

Just for future reference.

72dpi for Web
150dpi for low quality print (newspaper)
300dpi for high quality print

Try to work at the resolution you want for the final output. You lose pixels when you downsize and gain invented ones when you upscale.

Dale

 

[PockieLoli :3]

Well, I actually found a site that explained that when you click on print, if you look at the print set-up window that pops up, there's a field where you can adjust the image size or manually move the handles around the image in the preview box instead. As you change the size, the resolution/DPI amount changes accordingly with the size.

This worked out great and the tags printed out beautifully, in my opinion.
The picture itself is a little blurry but surely you can tell that the prints itself and more importantly the outlines came out smooth.

 

[idtaminger]

Very cute. At first I thought they were Pokemon characters but then I saw the Princess Peach.

 

[usclaneyj]

Sorry to disagree, but its best to work in RGB, keeping a nice wide colour gamut to work in, but using Photoshop's 'View'>'Proof Setup' and 'View'>'Proof Colors' to simulate the CMYK. All you can ever do on an RGB monitor is simulate the CMYK anyway, there's really no need to covert until outputting a print file. This will keep the colour fidelity etc.

More info here.

Though this may be a little more in-depth than necessary for this thread Just wanted to interject on that point

/Doug

Thanks for the link. I don't agree.

Not every print project moves through InDesign. Aside from that, can you shed some more light on something -- The author keeps talking about using RGB because it allows you to use "brighter" colors. However, when you convert to CMYK and output you aren't going to be able to maintain that brightness.... So, what's the point?

I believe your assertion that it is "best" is a bit strong. Perhaps instead we can agree that it's not as big a deal as it used to be?