PSD onyx

[Jr Douglas Imaging]

Hey Guys, I thought we used to be able to print directly from PSD/PSB in onyx 12.1

Getting unsupported file format now

Thanks
Wayne

 

[shoresigns]

I would never trust a RIP to reliably interpret PSD files correctly, especially with the rate of updates to Photoshop and other Adobe apps lately.

There is only one standardized format in the printing world, and that's PDF. If you're not using PDF for 100% of your RIP jobs, you should have a really strange and unusual reason for it.

 

[Bly]

Flatten and save as a tiff.

 

[shoresigns]

Flatten and save as a tiff.

That's the second best solution.

 

[Bly]

If it's already a bitmap saving as PDF isn't going to add anything.

 

[shoresigns]

If it's already a bitmap saving as PDF isn't going to add anything.

Correct, but that's one of the many reasons why TIFF is the second best solution. What if there are vector layers in the Photoshop file? Spot colours? Cutting lines? Text? Most Photoshop files that a sign printer gets from a client are going to have at least one of those things in it, and a flat TIFF file supports none of them. Not to mention PDFs are usually smaller.

 

[iPrintStuff]

We just export everything to PDF and have any customer supplied artwork made into PDF before submitting. Saves a load of hassle. Especially on our digital machines with customers sending in dodgy word files. Never have any issues.

 

[Bly]

Correct, but that's one of the many reasons why TIFF is the second best solution. What if there are vector layers in the Photoshop file? Spot colours? Cutting lines? Text? Most Photoshop files that a sign printer gets from a client are going to have at least one of those things in it, and a flat TIFF file supports none of them. Not to mention PDFs are usually smaller.

OP was wanting to print thru Onyx.
The rip flattens the file anyway.

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

Anything raster we export as TIFF, vector or mixture goes PDF.
No need for any additional wrappers.

 

[shoresigns]

OP was wanting to print thru Onyx.
The rip flattens the file anyway.

Yes, of course it does – all RIPs do. But giving the RIP a better input file (PDF) is going to give you better print results than a worse input file (TIFF). I mean, you could increase the resolution on your TIFF file to match the quality setting on your RIP, which is usually 600–2400dpi, but that would make your TIFF files even more enormous and probably take much longer to generate than a PDF. In fact it might not work in many cases since TIFF files have a 2gb size limit.

 

[ColorCrest]

The rip flattens the file anyway.

Yes, of course it does – all RIPs do.

Technically, RIPS separate the file.

But giving the RIP a better input file (PDF) is going to give you better print results than a worse input file (TIFF).

Just two different tools with each their own benefits in work flow and final print.

I mean, you could increase the resolution on your TIFF file to match the quality setting on your RIP, which is usually 600–2400dpi, but that would make your TIFF files even more enormous and probably take much longer to generate than a PDF.

Doesn't work this way. Be careful not to confuse an image pixel with a printing dot.

In fact it might not work in many cases since TIFF files have a 2gb size limit.

Typically it's 4gb, not 2gb.

 

[shoresigns]

Technically, RIPS separate the file.

Yes, after flattening. Irrelevant to the topic here anyway.

Just two different tools with each their own benefits in work flow and final print.

Sure, but the only real advantage of TIFF is it's easier to learn, because a flat raster file has little flexibility. If you learn to use PDF and TIFF to their full potential, you will rarely if ever have a reason to use TIFF.

Doesn't work this way. Be careful not to confuse an image pixel with a printing dot.

I get that DPI and PPI aren't the same thing, but if your printer prints at 2400 dpi and you give it a rasterized TIFF file at 150–300 ppi, you're likely to lose some crispness on things like small text, when compared with a PDF file with vector data. If you want your TIFF file to be equivalent in print quality to the PDF, you'll need to rasterize at 600, 1200 or maybe even 2400 ppi in this scenario.

Typically it's 4gb, not 2gb.

You are correct, it's technically 4gb. However, some implementations of the TIFF format use signed integers, which halves the limit to 2gb. I don't know which commonly used software this might affect, but if you want to play it safe and maximize compatibility, the limit is 2gb.