[NSDdesign]

Hello All,

I want to picksome brains for file settings.

I know I need to use RGB and I also know its best to use transparent PNG files (right? depending on the art)

But what are you guys setting your files sizes as and at what DPI?

It seems like the (for example) a 600dpi PNG is taking WAY to long to load into NEO Rip.

Well, on the flip side, I suppose I may need to partition my HD for more ram on the Windows side (I use a MAC) so, that also brings up the question, how much RAM and space does Neo Rip need to run at its best?

THANKS!

 

[treefox2118]

600dpi is way too much data, in my opinion. Our artwork is anywhere from 180dpi-300dpi. My most poplar designs are 150dpi even and print great. How detailed are your designs?

We use an SSD as our primary drive and the RIP flies. We pre-RIP the next job in queue and it is ready to go as soon as shirt #3 is printed. We just hit print as shirts 1 and 2 are already platen loaded.

 

[lazographics]

Hello All,

I want to picksome brains for file settings.

I know I need to use RGB and I also know its best to use transparent PNG files (right? depending on the art)

But what are you guys setting your files sizes as and at what DPI?

It seems like the (for example) a 600dpi PNG is taking WAY to long to load into NEO Rip.

Well, on the flip side, I suppose I may need to partition my HD for more ram on the Windows side (I use a MAC) so, that also brings up the question, how much RAM and space does Neo Rip need to run at its best?

THANKS!

600dpi is an over kill. What you want to look at is the pixel dimension and the inch dimension. Inch dimension should be a minimum of the size that you will be printing at. In turn the pixel dimension should be high. Personally for me 2000 or more pixels width and height but you can still get great quality prints at lower. Your dpi can be a minimum of 72 as long as you have high pixel and inch dimension but for me personally I like to use 300dpi at the most. 300dpi will increase the pixel dimension as well as the file size. Hope this makes sense and helps.

 

[NSDdesign]

Yeah, its all coming together. I'm a vector guy, so figuring out how to get the best rastor prints is "new" to me. No, I have plenty of print designs under my belt, but for garment stuff, I'm learning.

Heres my example: Print was done on a P&C ring spun black tee, using Black image armor pretreatment. (1.5) turns out. saved at 600dpi, 9600 pixels wide and tall.



And here is what the raw art file looks like:



It's nowhere near the result of the Hulk tee, for example that Neoflex sends out. HOW in the heck do they get results like that? I want to use this as an example tee to hang in my shop to show what the neo can do, but I need to learn or figure out how to get the best results, exactly what the same files look like that NeoFlex itself send out and show. But HOW????

I mean, I'm excited to get this sort of result on black tees coming from a Brother GT-541, but I want my tees to really pop now that I have a machine that can create the best.

 

[Printzilla]

What matters is the total number of pixels and the size of the final print.
These are rough numbers, but they will get the idea across. An image that is 1200x1200 pixels is 72dpi when it is 16x16, but will be 144dpi at 8x8 and 288 at 4x4.

All you really care about is how many pixels there are in the image for the size you are going to print. So a 72dpi image can look great if it was created at the actual size of the desired final print.

I would also mention that printing on tshirts is more forgiving than say offset press on treated paper stock as far as DPI is concerned. The ink spread, dot gain, etc......makes it more forgiving.

Try printing three images on the same shirt in three passes. Create them all 4x4 with three different dpi....72, 150, 300. I bet you cannot tell much difference, and the 72 will look fine.

The issue in creating art at 72 dpi for a 12x12 DTG print, is that if you ever wanna print the design on a larger media, say a banner or billboard, then the 72DPI might be an issue on enlargement. Of course, those are meant to be viewed from much further away, and would still look great from the recommended viewing distance.

Clear as mud?.....lol

Zilla

 

[lazographics]

Yeah, its all coming together. I'm a vector guy, so figuring out how to get the best rastor prints is "new" to me. No, I have plenty of print designs under my belt, but for garment stuff, I'm learning.

Heres my example: Print was done on a P&C ring spun black tee, using Black image armor pretreatment. (1.5) turns out. saved at 600dpi, 9600 pixels wide and tall.



It's nowhere near the result of the Hulk tee, for example that Neoflex sends out. HOW in the heck do they get results like that? I want to use this as an example tee to hang in my shop to show what the neo can do, but I need to learn or figure out how to get the best results, exactly what the same files look like that NeoFlex itself send out and show. But HOW????

I mean, I'm excited to get this sort of result on black tees coming from a Brother GT-541, but I want my tees to really pop now that I have a machine that can create the best.

Another thing to look at is your print mode. What print mode did you use for color?

 

[NSDdesign]

What matters is the total number of pixels and the size of the final print.
These are rough numbers, but they will get the idea across. An image that is 1200x1200 pixels is 72dpi when it is 16x16, but will be 144dpi at 8x8 and 288 at 4x4.

All you really care about is how many pixels there are in the image for the size you are going to print. So a 72dpi image can look great if it was created at the actual size of the desired final print.

I would also mention that printing on tshirts is more forgiving than say offset press on treated paper stock as far as DPI is concerned. The ink spread, dot gain, etc......makes it more forgiving.

Try printing 3 images on the same shirt in the same pass. Create them all 4x4 with three different dpi....72, 150, 300. I bet you cannot tell much difference, and the 72 will look fine.

The issue in creating art at 72 dpi for a 12x12 DTG print, is that if you ever wanna print the design on a larger media, say a banner or billboard, then the 72DPI might be an issue on enlargement. Of course, those are meant to be viewed from much further away, and would still look great from the recommended viewing distance.

Clear as mud?.....lol

Zilla

Thanks Zilla, makes perfect sense to me. I guess I got lost on the fact that the printer can print 1440dpi. I was thinking in terms of DPI and not actual art size. My vector mindset needs to be refreshed.

 

[lazographics]

Thanks Zilla, makes perfect sense to me. I guess I got lost on the fact that the printer can print 1440dpi. I was thinking in terms of DPI and not actual art size. My vector mindset needs to be refreshed.

Exactly what zilla and I stated. Don't worry about dpi. Look at pixel and size dimension. But keep in mind that the artwork should always have been created at least at the size that you are printing at. Artwork or photos created at high pixel dimension are best. If you upscale for example a 4x4 image to 12x12 its going to look horrible.

 

[NSDdesign]

Another thing to look at is your print mode. What print mode did you use for color?

Print mode? Like Job Print Setup....if thats the same as print mode you talk of, I used black background type settings on the black and red high rez organiser template. (I'm learning Neo Rip Pro)

 

[NSDdesign]

Exactly what zilla and I stated. Don't worry about dpi. Look at pixel and size dimension. But keep in mind that the artwork should always have been created at least at the size that you are printing at. Artwork or photos created at high pixel dimension are best. If you upscale for example a 4x4 image to 12x12 its going to look horrible.

I figured as much for that. If anything scale down, not up for raster art. I just though the DPI had some correlation as to how crisp and clean the fill and dot/ink laydown was going to be. Anyone know the file spec's on any of the NeoFlex demo tees?

 

[treefox2118]

The 1440 dpi and 720 dpi are not real. They're apparent dpi, so ignore that for designing.

The Hulk image looks great because the artwork is great. Learning to design for DTG takes time. Don't expect to be able to duplicate that output right away. We have been doing DTG for almost 2 years and we still learn new tricks for art design.

As I said, I have artwork at 150dpi which looks amazing.

 

[NSDdesign]

The 1440 dpi and 720 dpi are not real. They're apparent dpi, so ignore that for designing.

The Hulk image looks great because the artwork is great. Learning to design for DTG takes time. Don't expect to be able to duplicate that output right away. We have been doing DTG for almost 2 years and we still learn new tricks for art design.

As I said, I have artwork at 150dpi which looks amazing.

Good to know Brian. Long as my art size to to print scale, the dpi has no real effect then? I can work with that.

But when you say design for DTG, what exactly do you mean? I posted an image of my print result and the actual on screen art, why was my print not as crisp or clear as my designed art, can it be, should it be? I mean, even the background texture fell out? What can I do to retain prints as close to the design as possible??

 

[treefox2118]

What you see on cotton is affected by the weave of the cotton, the richness of the pigment dye, the pretreatment process, the level of ink printed, the input artwork quality, and a mess of other factors. Sometimes, artwork just won't look good for no reason whatsoever. Not all artwork is printable.

What you see on the screen is additive RGB. What you print on a garment is subtractive CMYK. There are dozens of tutorials online that explain why subtractive printing is limited to additive screen rendering. Do not expect your print to duplicate the screen -- these are two different processes.

Welcome to the world of DTG printing. You're going to witness many customers come in with artwork that looks fantastic on their monitor but boring on cotton. You'll learn over time what will look great, and what won't. We often tell customers up front if their artwork is going to print without pop and sharpness. We learned over years and years"

 

[NSDdesign]

Humm. I have been DTG printing with a brother (cmyk only for a while now) and was getting great results from that, well, as great as I could. My customers were happy campers.

I had done years of research on what DTG that prints white to buy and Neo won me over. I'm still happy that I decided to buy, but wondering now, how in the heck did the Hulk shirt get printed with that result, I mean I stare at him daily and that look is everything I'm after. In my mind and as I was sold on the idea, you design it and the neo prints it, easy peazy.

I know this was my first official print, but kinda disapointed. Given I didn't have the exact same shirt and have no clue what their pretreatment was on the hulk tee, (I'm kinda lost on the pretreatment process as a whole right now too) BUT, IF i had the same tee and same pretreatment, would my design(s) print like the hulk design or was I (all of us) mislead to believe that such results are extremely hard to obtain?

 

[treefox2118]

The Hulk design has heavy ink coverage, gradients, and a lot of inked area. Your image is thin lines that are highly detailed, relatively monochromatic, and some areas with difficult color contrasts (grey smoke on black is a pain!)

 

[NSDdesign]

I'm happy with the smoke actually, and the car for the most part. I want the textures to pop which I know can be done. The background texture and the texture on the car need to show more, I could obtain details like that, I'd be much happier.

I printed a file from Dekay (his st pattys day art) and it shad a woodgrain background. the texture on that file printed quite well, and to me, is in the same realm as the grunge texture I have in my art, yet the print totally lacks it? Is there something I can do on my art file side (using photoshop) to make that shine in the print more?

 

[NSDdesign]

Just spent a while looking through the "what I printed with my neoflex" thread and see lots of good stuff, stuff I think I am fully capable of creating, well, as long as I learn to know what I'm doing. Hahah

I see that the results are possible, NOW, just to obtain them. I'm all eyes and ready to learn!

On a side note, Jeff with articulate creation is a killer artist, I know I can compete on that level, or near it, as long as I am starting in the right mindset that the final print will replicate with the results hes getting even after printing.

 

[NSDdesign]

One last thing for the day, would it be beneficial to me (I think yes) to get actual art files from one of the pros, and use them to print....that way I can learn how to tweak my pretreatment process and sort of dissect the files to see how some effect are set up to render as good as they do on the tees in the final print.

Any fellow NEO family willing to pass off a file or two for me to run and dissect? I'm dead set on getting the most out of my new machine!

 

[lazographics]

One last thing for the day, would it be beneficial to me (I think yes) to get actual art files from one of the pros, and use them to print....that way I can learn how to tweak my pretreatment process and sort of dissect the files to see how some effect are set up to render as good as they do on the tees in the final print.

Any fellow NEO family willing to pass off a file or two for me to run and dissect? I'm dead set on getting the most out of my new machine!

That's a good idea. Especially someone who can create for dtg users. PM me and I can send you a free sample piece if you like.

 

[NSDdesign]

I think I'm getting somewhere?

My art:



The Print: