YOUR EconoBags™ARTWORK – VECTOR VS RASTER DOWNLOAD ARTWORK GUIDE
**NOTE** No Screens, Shading or Tight Registration Between Colors (if 2 color) in Artwork.
Yeah, you have a logo on your website OR some other artwork you want on your branded bag – but is it good enough to put on our Multi Use Bags? Let’s discuss!
“Yeah – I’ve got a logo. You can just grab it off our website.”
That’s not something any designer wants to hear.
The problem is that the logo on your website is a RASTER based file.* It’s usually very small – and when you’re talking about your logo, size really does matter. You need a VECTOR version of your logo – especially if you plan on using it anywhere but the web and for our photopolymer plates we use.
What does that really mean, and how can you get vectored?
Raster images are images that are made up of pixels (grids of colored boxes) – and they’re really mostly used for photographs and for web-based applications. Vector images are made up of math. Math rules.
On the web, no matter how big of a monitor you have, images are right around 72dpi at 100%. For printing, you really need to have images that are at LEAST 300dpi at 100%. What this means is that if you have a logo that is 2 inches, or 400 pixels wide (pretty typical on a lot of websites,) you’re going to have to blow that logo up at least 4 times to make it look good in print. The biggest problem is that raster images just don’t enlarge well. You’re lucky to blow one up 10% – and that’s only if you don’t have hard edges or text. If you’re going to use raster images anywhere outside the monitor, you really need to make sure they’re very, very large. But, you can avoid that worry completely if your logo is vector-based.
Here’s an example. Let’s say you’re printing a 5 foot wide banner. For your logo (or whatever you’re printing) to come out crisp, you’re going to need a raster image around 21,600 pixels wide. Now, if you grab the 400 pixel wide logo off your site, you’re going to have to enlarge that image 5400%. It’s gonna look terrible. Same on our bags. Go vector – you’ll never go back…
In the sections below, I mention “DPI” which stands for dots per inch. That term, in some ways, is compatible with PPI, which is pixels per inch. A printer, typically, will print using a machine that prints 300 dots of color per inch. A computer monitor is usually 72 pixels per inch – so what you see on a screen is around 4 times lower-resolution than a printed piece. So, DPI=PPI in a weird way. You need a high dot per inch image, or you need an image that is independent of dots.
Following Our Guidelines Will Make Your Bag Printing Order Go Smoothly. Please take the time to Read Carefully.
The quality of your imprint depends upon the quality of artwork supplied to us! . Vector Artwork can be submitted via E-Mail It does not matter if you are Mac or PC based, we are able to accept your graphic files if you meet the requirements listed below. To avoid delays or extra art charges please adhere to our specifications.
NOTE: DELIVERY SCHEDULES MAY DEPEND ON THE QUALITY OF THE ARTWORK SUBMITTED AND UPON ANY CHANGES MADE TO THE ARTWORK ONCE THE ORDER HAS BEEN WORKED ON.
Imprint:
Artwork can be accepted from the following programs:
- Vector your artwork first then save as a PDF. Send us the vectored PDF. Also, now you can email us and we may be able to help out with the vectoring.
Adobe Illustrator – CC or lower - Photoshop – All EPS, TIFF, JPEG files (layered if possible)
They must be 600 dpi or higher at 100% of final size or larger.
Please Note: Vector Art is preferred. It provides the best quality and allows images to be resized without loss of sharpness and detail.
If scanned images are used with artwork, they MUST be sent as a separate file scanned at 600 dpi or higher. (If not actual size, scan at a higher resolution. This will prevent loss of quality.)
Trapping ! For artwork with more than one color being printed. There must be at least a 3 point trap between colors. Trapping describes the compensation for mis-registration between printing units on a multi-color press. Trapping involves creating overlaps or under laps of objects during the print production stage to eliminate mis-registration on the press.
Vector images solve this issue of resizing images. Vector images are path-based they are composed of mathematical equations so the image itself is easily scalable. Because of this, vector images are considered resolution independent. Vector images have a specific artificiality to them because they are completely computer-generated. They’ll never look photo-realistic. However one can individually resize and retool specific shapes and components of vector images without destroying the image itself. This makes vector images very useful for graphic designers.
Vectorizing
Due to these factors, often designers will choose to vectorize an image, or convert it from a bitmap to a vector-based image. The opposite process, turning an image into a bitmap, is called rasterizing. The two most common programs used to convert bitmap images into vector images are Photoshop and Illustrator. You can also use a FREE program named InkScape
How To Vectorize An Image In Adobe Illustrator
Illustrator is an application made by Adobe that is used to create vector images. Because vector images are the native format, vectorizing images within Illustrator is fairly straightforward. You’ll be using the Live Trace functions to create paths.
- Open the image in Illustrator and make sure it’s selected.
- Navigate to the “Live Trace” option on the control panel. Click the “Tracing Presets and Options” menu icon next to it.
- Browse the existing preset options and select one to vectorize the image. For example, selecting “16 Colors” will vectorize the image in 16 separate colors.
- In order to create a separate path for each color click “Expand” under the options menu.
- To customize the settings for each path, navigate to the “Tracing Presets and Options” menu and click “Tracing Options.” From here you can edit settings such as “Mode,” “Blur” and “Threshold.”
- Click “Preview” to view the resulting vector images. Using this tool you can modify the paths as needed and experiment with the settings before saving the image.
How To Vectorize An Image In Photoshop
When you use Adobe Photoshop, the images you’re manipulating are bitmap images by default. Follow these steps to convert bitmap images in Photoshop into vector images.
- Open the “Window” menu and select “Paths” to pull up the corresponding panel. You have three choices in the options bar: select the standard Pen tool to create straight lines and Bezier curves over the image. Select the Freeform option for a more organic and loose drawing that you trace over the image. Select the Magnetic Pen to follow transitions of color and brightness within the image.
- Draw your vector paths over the image until you have a traced conversion of the paths and shapes within your image. Press Enter when you are done tracing a path to signal the end of the pathway.
- Select further pathways utilizing the Lasso, Marquee, and Magic Wand selection tools. Click the menu button at the top right corner of the “Paths” panel and choose “Make Work Path” to turn each selection into a vector pathway.
- Set the tolerance level for the pathways. Smaller levels make the path adhere tightly to what you’ve traced, while larger levels displays smooth transitions between anchor points in your path.
- When you create a new work path be sure to double click the Path name that appears in the “Paths” panel. Accept the default name or name each path. Otherwise new actions will replace vector drawings on the work path with new output.
- Export vector paths from Photoshop into Illustrator so you can use them across other programs. Click “File” à “Export” à “Paths to Illustrator.”
How To Vectorize An Image In Corel Draw And Or InkScape
We’ve added this link that explains how to do it in Corel Draw. CLICK HERE
We’ve added this link that explains how to do it in InkScape. CLICK HERE