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Outputting sharp text from Photoshop

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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
Hey everyone,

I'm trying to make film out of Photoshop using Accurip and all of my text comes out fuzzy.

This is on text that I've brought in from Illustrator both as "pixels" and as "Vector Smart Object" as well as text that I generated right from Photoshop. I haven't altered the size of anything that I've imported, I've brought it in as the size that I want to output.

When I import a shape from Illustrator, or draw a shape in Photoshop, they output to film super sharp.

Can anyone point me in the right direction as to what I'm doing wrong? I tried to search for this particular problem but couldn't really find the answers I'm looking for.

Thanks again as always everyone!

-Nick
 
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Discussion Starter · #5 ·
Yes the image is 300 dpi.

And yes the text is solid black, at least it was when I brought it in from Illustrator. Just to get some kind of baseline, I generated text straight from Photoshop that is solid black and the same thing happens.

When I output the film and turn on "Labels" that little text that like 12 or 16 point prints out super clear so I know that my printer can do it.

I did a little research on Anti-Aliasing and was hoping that it would be my problem because it seems like just a click (for text generated in Photoshop anyway). When I went back to the file to check, Anti-Aliasing was set to "Sharp". What is the difference between "Sharp" and "Crisp"? Or any of the other selections for that matter.

Sorry I'm not at my shop right now, I will post a picture of my film later.

I do have access to a computer with Photoshop and I'm looking at the different Anti-Alias choices. It seems that it very well may be my issue.
I've just started outputting my film through PS so I'm used to the super sharp vector output of Illustrator. The very first file that I brought into PS to output was a complex vector drawing with type in it an everything printed out super sharp, I guess all of that type was converted to outlines first though.

I guess what I'm getting at is: Is it possible to print super sharp text from PS? One website that I happened across was saying that PS always treats text as rasters, even if it is brought in as a "Smart Vector Object".

Thanks !
 
seacookie

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#6 ·
pacehotep said:
Yes the image is 300 dpi.

And yes the text is solid black, at least it was when I brought it in from Illustrator. Just to get some kind of baseline, I generated text straight from Photoshop that is solid black and the same thing happens.

When I output the film and turn on "Labels" that little text that like 12 or 16 point prints out super clear so I know that my printer can do it.

I did a little research on Anti-Aliasing and was hoping that it would be my problem because it seems like just a click (for text generated in Photoshop anyway). When I went back to the file to check, Anti-Aliasing was set to "Sharp". What is the difference between "Sharp" and "Crisp"? Or any of the other selections for that matter.

Sorry I'm not at my shop right now, I will post a picture of my film later.

I do have access to a computer with Photoshop and I'm looking at the different Anti-Alias choices. It seems that it very well may be my issue.
I've just started outputting my film through PS so I'm used to the super sharp vector output of Illustrator. The very first file that I brought into PS to output was a complex vector drawing with type in it an everything printed out super sharp, I guess all of that type was converted to outlines first though.

I guess what I'm getting at is: Is it possible to print super sharp text from PS? One website that I happened across was saying that PS always treats text as rasters, even if it is brought in as a "Smart Vector Object".

Thanks !
Click to expand...
Click on text in illustrator before you copy it to photoshop and check black color. Double click black color and see if it is all the way down in the corner. If not move it down and try to export again to photoshop.
 
NoXid

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#7 ·
You want NO Anti-Aliasing on the text. You are printing black onto film, black ONLY. Anti-Aliasing blends your black text into the background color by surrounding it in a cloud of pixels that are various colors between black and whatever the background color is. To make matters worse, the RIP is probably halftoning that cloud.

AA is great for photos and photographic output. But it is incompatible with outputting pure black ink to films. Kill the AA.

In a past life, I spent a fair amount of effort having to convince professional graphic artists that PhotoShop's AA should not be used for output destined for a black-only printer.
 
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Discussion Starter · #8 ·
seacookie said:
Click on text in illustrator before you copy it to photoshop and check black color. Double click black color and see if it is all the way down in the corner. If not move it down and try to export again to photoshop.
Click to expand...
Ok so I check the properties of my "Black" and it is 100% K in CMYK but it has some values in RGB. I forgot what color space I was working in, I'm pretty sure it was CMYK. Once again I'm not at my shop so I don't have access to my printer or that file. Could the RGB value be causing the problem?

It seems like I have to pick either RGB black or CMYK black.

Thank you for all the help and info!
 

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seacookie

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#9 ·
pacehotep said:
Ok so I check the properties of my "Black" and it is 100% K in CMYK but it has some values in RGB. I forgot what color space I was working in, I'm pretty sure it was CMYK. Once again I'm not at my shop so I don't have access to my printer or that file. Could the RGB value be causing the problem?

It seems like I have to pick either RGB black or CMYK black.

Thank you for all the help and info!
Click to expand...
put that picker all the way left and down. In to the corner. I had some serious issues when exporting to photoshop if I didn't do that.
 
NoXid

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#11 ·
pacehotep said:
Ok so I check the properties of my "Black" and it is 100% K in CMYK but it has some values in RGB. I forgot what color space I was working in, I'm pretty sure it was CMYK. Once again I'm not at my shop so I don't have access to my printer or that file. Could the RGB value be causing the problem?

It seems like I have to pick either RGB black or CMYK black.

Thank you for all the help and info!
Click to expand...
RGB black is 0 0 0, so not sure why it shows something else. The RIP would try to halftone it if it is not true black. Use the eyedropper to check the actual color of the text.
 
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