Print™
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- SteveJobs
I'm doing some comps in photoshop for a poster I plan on taking to a print shop. In the meantime, I'm trying to print some samples here at home on my hp printer, but all text and graphics come out blurry. Anyone know some good tips to make crisp prints? Also, how do I make my fonts come out crisp if they are set to smooth and set to 8pt?
Many Thanks.
- airey0
what dpi is your file?
- DutchBoy0
you could set your printersettings to lineart.. but that will only help if all of it is ...well........ line-art!
- 2cent0
whats the resolution of your document?... and don't do 8pt type in PS if you want it to be clean and crisp.
- MrDinky0
i think its dpi
seems like he is using PS
- SteveJobs0
300dpi
the 8pt is for disclaimer text/fine print/etc.
- MrDinky0
interesting
well i think its the printer ... maybe..
8 is too small
- nextseason0
8pt is definitely not too small to print. Are you on a mac or pc? This kind of thing usually has to do with missing the postscript font.
- SteveJobs0
i'm using helvitica bold ttf. maybe that's the problem? it has to be helvetica though.
- MrDinky0
yeah i guess that post script problem
ttf is not good for print.. i say
- nextseason0
Try printing a different font out of photoshop as a test to see if it's the font.
The settings crisp, smooth, etc should only affect the display on screen.
- MLPROJECT0
do your graphics in PS, then the text in indesign or illustrator... if you perpare your files correctly, tt fonts should be fine... just make sure you have the ps components of the fonts - not just the screen fonts.
- wendell0
i think about the thread of me in the last year here on NT: to put it in FIND>>.(my point is 8 my chiefs is 9) !!!put that!!!!
many many good here in responding in the thread of me-i still think about that!!! point then to easy taking!!
- airey0
typesize: 8pt is fine. 6pt is fine. 5.5 is the lowest size when reversed (offset printing) so that aint the cause unless the printer is old or crap.
Truetype fonts don't have PostScript bits. that's the point of TT files and is similar to the new Opentype format as there's only one file. the font could be buggered (corrupt) which could cause the problem. try printing some text from some other app.
If all the text is in Photoshop then flatten the image and 'save as' a tif. Print the tif and if the problem is still occuring then it's a printer / printer software problem (either reinstall or check the prefs) Tifs don't use font files as obviously there are no text elements just one flat pancake.
make sure it's 300 d(ots) p(er) i(nch) not 300 dots per centremetre - too low.
lastly it could simply be that the colour the text is overlayed on the background colour/img is confusing the printer and unfortunately you may need to deal with it or outsource a better proof.
- gsd0
never ever do type in photoshop - it always somes out blurry, cause it's a pixel image, so the outside edge of the text will always be made to bledn in slightly with the rest of the image. Do your image at 300dpi, CMYK, flatten it, save it as a tiff then drop it into Quark/Indesign or whatever, then do your type.
- SteveJobs0
Thank you for the great responses!
I realized that for some reason, photoshop or windows kept changing my print settings to 'good' instead of 'best'. I just assumed settings were saved automatically. I also changed the print quality from 600dpi to 1200 dpi and that really made a difference.
- esnk0
It would seem to me that 300 dots per cm (which is smaller than an inch) would print better than 300 dpi. An inch is somewhere around 2.5 cm, which, at 300 dots per cm would be 750 dpi. I think.