Rastered text in photoshop question...

[designflow]

My question is regards to rasterized text in photoshop. I know to set up the file to size and keep your dpi @ 72 but how come on the text the lettering prints a bit pixelated? It doesnt look like that went I view it at actual pixels why is it when it prints out it's a little pixelated around the edges of the letters. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[SightLine]

72dpi (or lower) is for web and on screen work or when printed, for things that will only be viewed from a long distance... Generally though, 72dpi is not suitable for print.

One thing beyond that though - PS does not do as well with some fonts for print without changing one small setting on the text itself.... there is a little double aa icon. That is for anti-aliasing. Might try some of the 4 options there like smooth or strong.

 

[designflow]

Sightline what would be your recommendation when designing a wrap at full size with text
in the design in order to have a crisp font. I could design the text in illy the bring it into photoshop and just open it at 72dpi?? Would that work, Should I have the dpi at 150?

 

[SightLine]

If I'm doing a wrap and (more often than not) the final flattened file will be coming from PS then I often do just that. I bring full size text and some other vector elements into PS from Illy. Also if those elements at full size exceed Illys 200 inch limit I just make them at half scale in Illy, then open them at double the resolution in PS - cut that in half without resampling to double their size then drag them to the working file as a new layer.

I do generally design wraps at higher resolution than 72 though. Typically 150 but sometimes lower for things like 54 foot trailers. Also nice - is if those vector elements are going to have any eye candy effects like shadows/bevel/emboss etc PS handles adding those effects to the Illy files very nicely at the layer style level.

 

[signswi]

If you're designing only in Illustrator and it's all vector you should leave it all vector and not bring it into photoshop before output. If you want to mix vector and raster elements it's still best to leave the vector alone (un-rasterized) until final print using one of the following: Illustrator links (to bring raster elements in to Illustrator), Smart Objects in Photoshop (to bring vector objects in to Photoshop), or my preferred method of using InDesign for final assembly. By keeping vector elements vector all the way through to the print you won't have to worry about resolution on those elements and they'll be as crisp as your printer/rip can produce.

I also consider 150ppi to be the baseline for wraps on raster elements, shooting for higher when possible. I don't really believe in overkill, even at distance. When the opportunity presents I render out raster graphics at 360ppi but I'm crazy like that.

 

[phototec]

I design all my vehicle wraps is PS at full size (100dpi), the vehicle template, all text, and other vector design elements are created in Illy, and imported (dragged from Illy) into the PS wrap as Smart Objects, to retain there crisp edges and scale-ability.

Smart Objects, how and why: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnPrZZ1e0Zg

 

[Mike F]

I design all my vehicle wraps is PS at full size (100dpi), the vehicle template, all text, and other vector design elements are created in Illy, and imported (dragged from Illy) into the PS wrap as Smart Objects, to retain there crisp edges and scale-ability.

Smart Objects, how and why: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnPrZZ1e0Zg

Anyone know if CorelDraw and PhotoPaint have a feature like this?

 

[ucmj22]

make sure you have antialiasing turned on. It will smooth out the edges of text that would normally be pixeled. you can change the anti aliasing setting from the type palet.