File not "cut ready"

[myront]

Customer brings in file that is labeled as an eps. Turns out it's a raster image. He can't understand why he will be charged an art fee to cut it. I explain it's a raster file and we would have to vectorize it first. It's a group of stars at various sizes. He tells me that he designed it in photoshop and can make whatever file type I need. It's always been my understanding that no matter what you design in photoshop it will always be raster. You cannot extract vector from it unless it's text. The quickest solution was to trace it and go.
He won't be charged art time even though it took me 30 minutes to show him on the screen what I was talking about. I then hear from our sales department that he got a little testy with them and said he is an "instructor". I think he meant an instructor of graphic design. I think the world is in trouble.

 

[Fred Weiss]

It's always been my understanding that no matter what you design in photoshop it will always be raster. You cannot extract vector from it unless it's text.

Actually Photoshop allows you to create a workpath out of anything you can select and then export it as Paths to Illustrator. You can then open it in Illustrator and go from there. Quality will vary with the resolution of the original image and the settings you choose. I don't particularly recommend it as a way to trace but it is there if needed.

I think the world is in trouble.

That's been the case as long as I can remember.

 

[Snydo]

I think the world is in trouble.

It is.

Also, if your using Flexi...Bezier,enchanced corners, and enhanced curves can make you a very clean vector, depends heavily on the image your using. We often make a "negative" in Photoshop and then bring it into Flexi and Bezier it for a perfect plot file.

 

[PRS Bryan]

You are right, he is wrong.

If he is going to be "testy" I would charge him.

All of my instructors and those that I know that became instructors understand the difference between raster and vector.

You ask me, he is not being truthful with your sales department.

A client of mine claimed to be an instructor and also informed me that "no one uses PMS colors anymore". Turns out he exaggerated his credentials.

 

[T_K]

Customer brings in file that is labeled as an eps. Turns out it's a raster image.

I then hear from our sales department that he got a little testy with them and said he is an "instructor". I think he meant an instructor of graphic design. I think the world is in trouble.

:ROFLMAO:

Had this problem so many times. The "professional designers" are always the worst. It's like, how many ways can you explain "I need your file saved at ACTUAL PRINT SIZE at 300 dpi," and they still keep sending a 1/10 size image at 72 dpi. *sigh

I always prefer to work with the people who are woefully uneducated in my field and they know it. I'd rather spend an hour training my customer to be a better customer and work with us than to work with the "professional" who can't do their job right and blames it on me.

 

[shoresigns]

"A vector file contains an outline of the shape for the machine to cut. This is a raster file, which is just a big grid of pixels (*zooms in*). See? There's no outline of the letters in this file."

That's how these conversations usually go and I've never had a client who argued beyond that point. If they did, they would probably say something along the lines of "well, can't it detect the edges of the letters or something? If I can see the edges then the computer should be able to detect it." To which I would reply by telling them computers aren't very good at that, then click autotrace and see if they're happy with it.

 

[The Hobbyist]

Don'tcha just love it when someone gives you some postage stamp sized image and says, "Just blow it up! It only needs to be 20 feet wide!"


.

 

[gabagoo]

....sort of on the same topic is the low res jpg and the comment that it looks great on their computer screen.... ugggg

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

Don'tcha just love it when someone gives you some postage stamp sized image and says, "Just blow it up! It only needs to be 20 feet wide!"

Best one we've had in a long time... client sent us a 320x200px JPEG and wanted it UV printed onto an 8'x4' board.

 

[oksigns]

Customer brings in file that is labeled as an eps. Turns out it's a raster image. He can't understand why he will be charged an art fee to cut it. I explain it's a raster file and we would have to vectorize it first. It's a group of stars at various sizes. He tells me that he designed it in photoshop and can make whatever file type I need. It's always been my understanding that no matter what you design in photoshop it will always be raster. You cannot extract vector from it unless it's text. The quickest solution was to trace it and go.
He won't be charged art time even though it took me 30 minutes to show him on the screen what I was talking about. I then hear from our sales department that he got a little testy with them and said he is an "instructor". I think he meant an instructor of graphic design. I think the world is in trouble.

I've learned in situations like this you have to be firm yet gracious with information. I will not hand hold a customer in to producing workable artwork myself for free.

Photoshop is not the swiss army knife some off-the-street customers think it is, and a little education goes a long way. You set the tone and pace for your customers in these subtle ways. Since working in this field, I treat other businesses with SO SO much more respect now and I can't imagine wasting their time by being "cheap" or try and find DIY for them to clean up after me.

"Cut line paths need to be created in a program like Corel or Illustrator using this spot color and such-such name on a separate layer, and make sure your artwork is ONE SINGLE LAYER"

but of course if you don't want to be so gracious and maintain a rigid path for customers to follow then:

"We are glad to accept your artwork; however, we will need to create the cut path information for your file and it costs $XXX for the first XXX minustes, and is $XXX for additional minutes."

pushback? See if they have the capabilities and know how- otherwise you just stay firm with your process.

 

[oksigns]

Best one we've had in a long time... client sent us a 320x200px JPEG and wanted it UV printed onto an 8'x4' board.

"I understand you are an admirer of digital mosaic artwork."

 

[bigben]

I had an web designer/programmer instructor, in a university he says, that could not figure how a ftp work. I had to use teamviewer to log him in.

 

[2B]

when we get files that are "print ready" usually one of the following happens

1. for plotter vinyl, we change the view to a wireframe, screen shot and send it to them saying every one of these lines is going to be cut and you will be responsible for weeding it
2. for printed vinyl scale to size, screen shot an area and say you will have to print this off sign/date it and return it with approval that you are fine with this quality.

99% of the time the correct file magically appears and we are good

 

[signcrafters london]

he got a little testy with them and said he is an "instructor"

"He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches."

 

[eahicks]

Don'tcha just love it when someone gives you some postage stamp sized image and says, "Just blow it up! It only needs to be 20 feet wide!"


.

Yep...."just go and pull it off our website"....


My favorite is receiving a low res .jpg and telling them I need a vector format, in EPS/AI/PDF. "Oh I can send a PDF". When I get it, it's the SAME low res .jpg, saved as a PDF. And they still don't get what I am needing.

 

[TrustMoore_TN]

For every new client we have for exhibits we send an Artwork Submission Guidelines PDF that spells out every requirement we have for them to provide "Print Ready" artwork. It goes out with the contract for the project and is a part of our terms and conditions. It covers Acceptable file formats, raster/vector requirements, resolution, fonts, bleed requirements for different print processes, color mode, resolution & scale, clearly defined definition of Print Ready and what would make art NOT print ready, and instructions of how to upload art to us. It's as comprehensive as I could make it and even still we get clients that don't even open it, but we can point back to our terms and conditions on the contract and hold them to it if need be. Marketing departments that are used to designing brochures and small format printing are the worst and typically ignore the verbiage about us not taking InDesign files or files generated from InDesign without additional handling fees to make them print ready.

 

[GaSouthpaw]

For every new client we have for exhibits we send an Artwork Submission Guidelines PDF that spells out every requirement we have for them to provide "Print Ready" artwork. It goes out with the contract for the project and is a part of our terms and conditions. It covers Acceptable file formats, raster/vector requirements, resolution, fonts, bleed requirements for different print processes, color mode, resolution & scale, clearly defined definition of Print Ready and what would make art NOT print ready, and instructions of how to upload art to us. It's as comprehensive as I could make it and even still we get clients that don't even open it, but we can point back to our terms and conditions on the contract and hold them to it if need be. Marketing departments that are used to designing brochures and small format printing are the worst and typically ignore the verbiage about us not taking InDesign files or files generated from InDesign without additional handling fees to make them print ready.

That's the way to go, in my opinion- but, you could have stopped at "marketing departments...are the worst".

 

[cmwpmm]

I had the "Art Director" for a large, national chain give me a wood grain file she'd created on her desktop at 150 dpi. She wanted it over the doorway of their new location blown up 18' wide. I asked her if she liked minecraft, cause thats what it was gonna look like. She said it would be fine, I printed, cut and installed it. She decided then, it was no longer fine. Of course, this is also the same lady who wanted her vinyl wallpaper to be laminated with a "matay" finish (matte):Big Laugh