DTG - Art work properties

Just create the artwork in corel and export as a PSD with trasparence in rgb at 300 dpi and you are good to go.

KB Graphics said:

Just create the artwork in corel and export as a PSD with trasparence in rgb at 300 dpi and you are good to go.

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This will make a file that is larger than you need. You only need the resolution to be at 150dpi.

kevrokr said:

This will make a file that is larger than you need. You only need the resolution to be at 150dpi.

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What effects does this have on the file quality? Wouldn't a 300dpi file be better quality than 150dpi?

300 dpi is about all the eye can see. If the artwork is mostly text 150 would work but we always use 300 dpi. Remember DTG printing is all about the artwork.

KB Graphics said:

300 dpi is about all the eye can see. If the artwork is mostly text 150 would work but we always use 300 dpi. Remember DTG printing is all about the artwork.

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Awesome, that is very good advice. Most of what I'll be printing is a mix of print and graphics so 300 it is.

Any other "small details" such as these I should be aware of?

I like to work at 300 or higher in case I need to enlarge it. That way you can double the size and still have the "minimally acceptable" 150 dpi.

Depending on what I'm working on I'll go up to 600 or 1200dpi. Of course if you are planning major enlargements, vector is better, but not always usable for what you're doing.

Never print a color the same as the shirt. If printing on a black shirt and there is black in your graphic, knock out the black and let the shirt color come through. it make for a much nicer print, less ink and the shirt breaths better. Hopefully the printer you purchased has bagged ink, if not look into it. It makes a world of differance. Watch your humidity, needs to be 60 to 70%. Clean your machine EVERY DAY!!!!.

You can have your files at 300dpi, but it is not necessary to have such a large resolution when printing on garments. Even on white ink the dot gain is too drastic.

KB Graphics said:

Never print a color the same as the shirt. If printing on a black shirt and there is black in your graphic, knock out the black and let the shirt color come through. it make for a much nicer print, less ink and the shirt breaths better. Hopefully the printer you purchased has bagged ink, if not look into it. It makes a world of differance. Watch your humidity, needs to be 60 to 70%. Clean your machine EVERY DAY!!!!.

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Yes, I got the bagged ink system, also looking at getting a humidifier for the work space. Summers can be quite warm and dry here.

Fenrir said:

I like to work at 300 or higher in case I need to enlarge it. That way you can double the size and still have the "minimally acceptable" 150 dpi.

Depending on what I'm working on I'll go up to 600 or 1200dpi. Of course if you are planning major enlargements, vector is better, but not always usable for what you're doing.

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Thanks for pointing out the enlargement factor. I'll be enlarging some of the more detailed art for the back of some shirts and using a smaller version on others on the front left.

Great input!

SuicideCharley said:

Thanks for pointing out the enlargement factor. I'll be enlarging some of the more detailed art for the back of some shirts and using a smaller version on others on the front left.

Great input!

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I don't know how many times I've seen people finalize at 150 or 300dpi only to want to blow it up later and be unable to. While 150dpi may be perfectly fine for a t-shirt, since higher resolutions generally won't make much of a difference on fabric, if someone absolutely loves your design and wants a wall poster made out of it (or if you're lucky, 5 years later your clothing line takes off and you want a billboard), you may be able to blow it up with something like Fractals, or you more likely will be re-drawing it from scratch.

Another little trick is if you're doing a lot of line-art to color in such as cartoons, if you input at 900dpi the lines smooth out if you crush it down to 600 and then complete the work from there.

I use Corel to get my art art set up the way I want it to look on the shirt. Export it out as a .png with transparent background and use that to rip. I keep both files so when reorders happen I'm ready to print. If I need to edit it I have the vector file to edit.

SuicideCharley said:

Thanks for pointing out the enlargement factor. I'll be enlarging some of the more detailed art for the back of some shirts and using a smaller version on others on the front left.

Great input!

Click to expand...

If you print dark shirts I would recommend 200 to 300 ppi to size with anti-alias turned off. This of course would depend on the details in the art, but if the rip tries to resample or fill in the "jaggies" it will not always do what is expected. PNG with transparency or TIF with an alpha channel. If printing lights, you can use lower resolutions. Try 1/8" inch text at different resolutions to see what is best for you. Remember "to size". Whether to use RGB or CMYK will depend on what RIP you have, but the best way is always to take as much control on the conversion as possible.

You are better off not enlarging in the RIP. Reducing is better, but realize that the RIP time is more with a larger file, so exporting from your vector program an exact size is better.

Learning, Learning, Learning! Thank you all for sharing your expertise!