Which is the best printing file?

When starting a new project with printing, especially the printing on top of paper, textile or leather, we require an artwork from customer as the first thing, but this is quite often to have problem with the files. This is essential to understand below to ensure a more efficient communication and more accurate printing finish. 

 Paper printing

1, If no special metallic color, no special white color, no placement foil or uv, no very strict standard for colors matching , we can use either use vector file or higher resolution raser file.

2, If there is strict color requirement, this is better to print by spot printing, and which needs vector file.

3, If there is metallic color, foil, uv etc, the areas with these finish need to be vector file, and rest can be high resolution raser file. 

Textile or leather printing

1, If this is less than 4 or 5 colors, this is better to use spot silk screen printing, which needs vector file. 

2, If there is foil, stamp, the artwork needs to be a vector file. 

3, If there is silver, gold special colors, the artwork needs to be a vector file. 

4, If this is more than 4-5 colors, and does not have very strict color matching requirement, it can use either vector file or high resolution raser file for CMYK printing.  

Since there are MOQ for different printing methods, and above are just the normal one based on certain quantity. If the quantity is really big or very small, sometimes factory may choose different printing way. Below are a few FAQ for designer or newbies. 

Vector file VS Raster (BMP) file

Raster file is created by a fixed number of colored pixels. This is more like people take photos with digital camera, or artist make a painting then scan and save to a certain format. Almost all the photos are raster files. Vector file is created by using mathematical formulas to draw lines and curves that can be combined to create an image from geometric objects such as circles and polygons. We can understand designers firstly create different frames or shapes by line drawing, then fill colors into each small frames, each frame can have only one color. All these colored frames come into being one whole artwork. ***Sometimes there is mixture of these kind of 2 files. There is chance designer make one vector file, and insert photos into this file. Strictly speaking this is not e real vector file. 

1, BMP file is best for images that need to have a wide range of color gradations, such as most photographs. Vector formats, on the other hand, are better for images that consist of a few areas of solid color. Examples of images that are well suited for the vector format include logos and type.

2, Vector file can be zoom in and out randomly without changing the definition. If we enlarge a raster file to a certain size, it may appear pixilated or low resolution. 

3, We can imagine there are actual lines between each color for vector file if we open them in related software, designer can select the color in one frame and change to other color in one time. Even we see boundary for colors in the raster file artwork, designer has to outline each color, and then change to other color if they want. 

4, If the design is not very complex or with many color graduation, graphic designer can outline each layer of colors, and make the BMP file to vector file. This is not a simple convention, but takes long time to create. 

5, Both types files can be used for printing, vector files can be used for any printing, but raster file can be printed with restriction. 

File formats

 There are many files formats like PDF, EPS, JPG, JPEG, TIFF, AI, PNG,PSD, SEG etc.  

1, We cannot simply define which kind of files can be used as an artwork for printing or not. 

2, If sometimes a JPG file is not proper for printing, customer may just save them into PDF or AI format, still this is not workable. 

File resolution 

Dots per inch (DPI) or pixels per inch (PPI) refer to the number of pixels in one inch of the image. These measurements become important when you attempt to use raster images in specific places. If we use desk printer to print a picture and find this is not clear, we call the file resolution or DPI is not big enough. This is better to be 300dpi or above if we are print like a package, catalogue etc.  it is important that you save raster files at precisely the dimensions needed to eliminate possible complications.

Process printing VS spot printing

Process printing is to convert all colors excluding white or special metallic colors in the artwork to C/M/Y/K 4 different colors. This is same as color printer. We can see a lot color from picture, but we need to buy only four ink cartridge. Spot color is print each color separately. If the artwork has 7 color, it needs to print each color separately, normally it is for silk screen printing. 

1, Process printing can be saving, and both vector and raser file can be used for this kind of printing. 

2, Spot printing needs vector files. 

Hopefully above can help you understand printing files better, We will share more articles for product knowledges and industries trend covering to #bags, #leathergoods, #fashionaccessories, #giftwre, #homedecor and more. If you'd like to get more information, contact me  [email protected]  

Jacky Sun 

Dongguan Youlike Gift Co., Ltd

★20yrs work in gift/household/home décor/fashion...

★One stop manufacturer for bags, leather goods and paper products. 

★Strong development skill, created different collection for brands and gifts line for government authorities.