Font Quality 1

[hjohnj]

I am using PS Cs4.

My printer is HPC5580 and is set to "presentation - best"

The paper is smooth card stock 110 lb. Have tried index and copy paper with no change in quality.

PS is set to Working CMYK and Perception.

I have printed out one sheet with Smooth, Crisp, Sharp and Strong type in 14 pt Arial. Smooth is the best but pretty lousy.

Word documents and other software print excellent quality so I don't think it is the printer. It is also a few weeks old.

This is a presentation document so the type needs to be vg or ex quality. Is this possible with PS CS4?

I have used this printer with Word and other programs and the type is sharp and clean.

I am not sure if PS is set correctly or if I am missing anything. Any suggestions or help is greatly appreciated.

 

[apepp]

...what resolution is the photoshop image, and are you scaling the print size up or printing at 100%?

andrew

 

[hjohnj]

The resolution is 72
The size is 720 x 396 or 5.5 x 10 in.
I am printing at 100%

 

[apepp]

...72 resolution will likely to look pixelated, you really need to be more towards 300dpi...

...the alternative is save your 72dpi photoshop image to "Photoshop PDF" and print from acrobat. This only works if the text doesn't have "faux" styles like bold, or italic (fake styles in other words, not actually using a font that has that style). If faux styles are used, your PDF becomes text made of pixels...

...photoshop is a bitmap program, nothing like how Word or a desktop publishing program handles text...

andrew

 

[apepp]

...you can change the image resolution using "image size", with resample turned on, but any graphics used will be effected...

...the text won't be effected as long as it is still editable type...

andrew

 

[hjohnj]

What about saving the type as a jpeg and printing from that? Will I loose any quality?

 

[apepp]

...saving to jpeg makes no difference if it is still at 72dpi, your text will look as bad as it does from printing directly from photoshop at 72dpi...

...saving to PDF maintains the text as vector type (so long as you don't use faux styles), printing that PDF from acrobat provides the same text quality as if you were printing from Word...

...so really your only two options are to print from a higher resolution photoshop file, or saving to PDF and printing from acrobat...

...best to test it and see for yourself really...

andrew

 

[apepp]

...as mentioned above, photoshop is a bitmap program and therefore deals with pixels, not enough pixels in an image means bad prints, even when trying to print editable text...

...PDF however can maintain vector data and bitmap data...

...jpeg is a lossy format and only holds bitmap data, not vector data, which is why resolution is important when dealing with bitmap images...

andrew

 

[apepp]

...also to add, a 72dpi continuous tone graphic (i.e. like a picture of a tree and without text involved) printed to a desktop printer might look OK, but once you try text you can have problems...

...72dpi is no good for high end printing either, like magazine work, rule of thumb is 260 to 300 dpi for continuous tone images, printed at 100% size...

...600 to 1400dpi for 1bit images (solid black and white)...

...greyscale images are the same as continuous tone images (260-300dpi, 100% size). Scaling up in a layout program results in loss of quality, scaling down means the dpi increases...

...vector graphics are scaleable to any size (within reason) without loss of quality...

andrew

 

[hjohnj]

Can these changes (DPI) be made directly in PS? I am aware of using image size but how does that work for just type beside making it larger?

The printer has specific limitations of 300 - 600- 1400 depending on the paper. All the printing is done at 100%.

 

[apepp]

...as already mentioned above:

...you can change the image resolution using "image size", with resample turned on, but any graphics used will be affected...

...the text won't be affected as long as it is still editable type...

...the resolution of the paper type is a separate issue to that of image dpi, if your printing on 1400dpi quality paper, doesn't mean your images have to be 1400dpi. The resolution 1400dpi merely refers to how many printer dots the printer will put down per inch. The paper quality/printer settings determine what quality the printed result will be and how long it takes to print your 300dpi image...

andrew

 

[hjohnj]

Image size worked.
I guess I will have to turn off any graphics first...
Then use image resize and resample...
Print...
Turn off type and turn on graphics...
Print again...
Can't think of any other way to print graphics and type together on one page.

Does this sound correct?

Will printing in Adobe PDF maintain the size of my page when printing?

 

[apepp]

...turning graphics on and off will make no difference when resampling, photoshop will still resample the graphics whether they are visible or not...

...resampling graphic elements in photoshop reduces quality, without seeing what graphic elements you are using it is difficult to tell what quality loss is happening...

...with photoshop you have to really have the right resolution from the start and build your graphics in that resolution, in some cases this can mean starting all over again for optimum quality...

...if you are using placed web graphics, then the web graphics have to have enough pixel data. If you find that placing a web graphic in a 300dpi image results in you have to increase the size by a large amount, then you may well have to find a better image to use...

...that is what resampling does, it makes up data that doesn't actually exist, meaning lower quality...

...sometimes you can get away with it, sometimes you can't depending on how much larger you are stretching that placed graphic and how well it looks when printed...

andrew

 

[apepp]

...saving to PDF will be the actual physical size of your photoshop document, no more, no less...

andrew

 

[apepp]

...for example, if i needed to create an A6 cover for a book, the first thing to do is create a photoshop document at A6, 300 dpi and build it...

...if someone turned around to me and said, we need to create a A3 book cover the same, i'd have a bit of a problem, i can't simply scale A6 to A3 and expect the same quality print...

andrew

 

[hjohnj]

I did what you suggested for a 'new' page by changing the dpi to 300. I added a jpeg and type. Printed it out and both look great.

Can a page that have been designed be changed if the dpi was not changed when the page was originally set-up? Or do I have to re-do the whole page?

Is there an easy way to move layers to a 'new' page if I have to re-do?

Also; is 300 dpi too much?

 

[apepp]

>>> "Can a page that have been designed be changed if the dpi was not changed when the page was originally set-up? Or do I have to re-do the whole page?" <<<

...you can change the dimensions and keep the same dpi by using image > canvas size, if reducing you have to be careful as some elements can be come clipped when reduced...

>>> "Is there an easy way to move layers to a 'new' page if I have to re-do?" <<<

...press shift key to select layers in the layers palette (or control/command key to target only certain layers), drag and drop to another document window...

>>> "Also; is 300 dpi too much?" <<<

...not really, you can go as low as 260dpi for continuous tone images, 300dpi helps as your layout has text, any higher and you won't see much benefit, only longer print times...

...as mentioned earlier, if you save to PDF and print from acrobat, your text is handled differently than printing from photoshop directly (as long as you use correct fonts, not using "faux" styles). The fonts are embedded in the PDF and print as fonts. Printing from photoshop prints fonts as pixels...

...for very large poster output resolution is different, in that they are produced for distance viewing, so you can get away with lower resolution images (100dpi, sometimes as low as 50dpi for graphics on the side of a building), but you still wouldn't print text at that resolution. For large size output you need to keep text in vector/fonts for much better output, where possible...

andrew

 

[hjohnj]

Andrew,

Thank you very much for all your time and excellent help. Learned something new! This is a great site. Will pass it on to friends and bookmark.

John

 

[apepp]

...your welcome john!

andrew