PNG to EPS for t-shirt

[petey]

Hi all. I've made a t-shirt design to celebrate a product launch at work. The t-shirt maker says he needs to run the file through a color separator so he needs a 'vector image' type file. Specifically he says he needs an AI (Adobe Illustrator) or EPS (Encapsulated Post Script) file to do this.

Evidentally EPS and AI are vector based. What I have is a PNG24 image created in Photoshop purely as a raster image. There's Photoshop's "save as eps" option, but I suspect this will degrade the image as it attempts to convert the pixels to vectors. I don't have anything but Photoshop software. What are my options? Can I offer alternatives to the t-shirt maker? I've read thread229-368446 but want to know more.

Thanks,
petey

http://www.drpeterjones.com/

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[deecee]

4 color process? How many colors are in this? all he is really asking for are PMS color call outs with their opacity so Lets say you have BLACK at 50% that is the same as BLACK 90% opactiy. Even though 50% will give you a grey. Generally the eps files are used to isolate the exact colors you want to he can set his equipment to best capture the colors in your logo. This is actually standard and he should offer services to create what you want from your png. This of course would not be free but might be worth it to you.

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[petey]

Pardon my ignorance. I'm a web guy and I live in RGB la-la land. Are you saying that giving an EPS file would provide the necessary color mapping info, but that he doesn't necessarily have to convert the image itself to a vector-based format? I don't know how many colors would be used in the printing. Four would be my guess.

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[deecee]

a color call out sheet is simply your artwork with the colors specified ie you have a clean logo used for the priniting and you have another copy of the logo with a line that drawd out from each color to a little square that also has the color code next to it. so in PMS you will have say a 3 digit number. now you can achieve more than 4 color by using opacity so instead of oragne you would have a red at say 40-60% opacity. That way you can still use solid red should you chose to. I dont see why you have to convert it to eps but they should have given you dimensions to make your artwork at. I live mostly in rgb lala land too but as of the last 3 or 4 months ive wandered across the track to CMYK, and PMS land a bit as well. RGB is used for computer art for the most part and can be used for print but primary print process uses CMYK. PMS colors are used more for spot color imprining and 4 color process. Im guessing their machinery is set to read eps files (but then again my guess is as good as yours).

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[petey]

Thanks for the tips deecee. I think I'm going to have to call this t-shirt company direct. All I've had to go on otherwise is whatever filters through from my manager. I'll post any relevant info I learn about the process.

petey

http://www.drpeterjones.com/

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[duncdude]

This conversation is crazy!

petey: A 'vector' file format is a mathematical description of the artwork in a picture file. It is how PostScript works from the ground up. For example, if you draw a coloured box in Adobe Illustrator or Macromedia Freehand the vector file format would describe it as a co-ordinate for the bottom left point, a co-ordinate for the top right and a fill colour property. Very minimal descriptions to define an object. Anything you create in Photoshop is a bitmap. This means it is described pixel by pixel. Much larger file sizes. There is no way when you save a file from Photoshop it will suddenly become a vectored file. The EPS (Encapsulated File Format) simply shares the same name.

deecee: You cannot print in RGB. RGB is a additive light model. Add Red, Green and Blue light at full intensity and you get white light. This technology is used on your monitor. In print, CMYK - Cyan, Magenta, Yellow & Black (Key) inks are used. This is a subtractive colour model.
Additive use light, Substractive use inks.

Duncan

 

[deecee]

RGB is used for computer art for the most part and can be used for print but primary print process uses CMYK

so if i make an image in rgb and send it as a pdf it wont print at all? because when i first started about a year ago i sent an image in rgb and it printed -- just the colors were a wee bit off from what i expected --

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[blueark]

These days, RGB images will probably print, but somewhere along the line it will have to be converted to inks, which usually means a color conversion to CMYK. The process may be invisible to the user, but it still happens, and it usually doesn't work very well (with a few exceptions, including some desktop inkjet printers).

The advice to convert to CMYK is sound, because it means you can trap any nasty suprises early on and compensate for them. Also, if your printer has an outdated RIP, they mightn't be able to use RGB at all.

For t-shirts, however, I would probably use a vector application whenever possible, and drop CMYK in favor of one or two PMS colors instead. Keep your graphics simple, because fabrics can absorb inks differently to paper, so the chances of getting a 'muddy' print are quite high.

 

[petey]

duncdude, we all know about vector vs. raster and RGB vs. CMYK, but thanks anyway for the beginner's tutorial. If you have any insight on t-shirt printing that would be helpful. What I need to know is why a t-shirt maker would reject a PNG and ask for an EPS file. Read my original post. Incidentally, the graphic might as well be a photograph, so vector format wouldn't suit, and it's too late to redo it anyway.

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[duncdude]

Petey

I wasn't trying to be an arse but you did state the following:-

Evidentally EPS and AI are vector based. - not true

What I have is a PNG24 image created in Photoshop purely as a raster image. There's Photoshop's &quot;save as eps&quot; option, but I suspect this will degrade the image as it attempts to convert the pixels to vectors. - also not true

and what does deecee mean by ...BLACK at 50% that is the same as BLACK 90% opactiy... - god knows!!!

I was just trying to clear up some basic facts that's all!

I will try to be a bit more helpful. Ask the t-shirt printer how he will be printing the shirt. If, for example, you wanted to print artwork onto a black t-shirt, you might need to make a white 'mask' before you even start.

My guess is - and I have prepared artwork for t-shirt printing in the past, is that he may well be able to accept a CMYK EPS from Photoshop. Send it to him and see if he's o.k. with it?

Duncan

 

[petey]

Thanks, Duncan and everybody. Sent EPS file. Will wait and see how this turns out.

petey

http://www.drpeterjones.com/

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[deecee]

in pms printing (4 color process or 3 color process...) you get to choose well *cough* say 4 colors. You can choose black and grey and you lose 2 colors or you choose black and black at 50% opacity and you have both your colors but only lose 1 from the *insert technical term here* original 4 you had to chose from.

<signature>
sometime you just gotta say &quot;WHAT THE @#*% !!&quot;
</signature>

 

[duncdude]

Does anyone know &quot;WHAT THE @#*% !!&quot; deecee is talking about?

Duncan

 

[deecee]

NM -- I was explaining how PMS / 4 color process printing works -- you know if you say want to put artwork on a shirt, or logo a ball or any other item. Am i wrong with my assumpitions on color choice and opacity?

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sometime you just gotta say &quot;WHAT THE @#*% !!&quot;
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[SPYDERIX]

deecee

You are getting way off topic. petey is interested in giving a raster image to a print company. Whatever software is used to print the shirts might only accept .eps or primary vector files. .png might not be an option. He needs to save the png as an .eps file then send that to the printers.

petey

As Duncan said, just save as the .eps in photoshop. If he can't use that, then you could insert the image into an illustrator file and save as an .eps that way.

Don't worry about color processes either, setting the mode to CMYK simply shows you more accurate color matching on screen and prepares it for the printing process which uses the subtractive color wheel - pigments (inks). Print work should always be set to CMYK.

Hope this helps!

NATE

http://www.mainframe-webdesign.com

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[petey]

Thanks Nate!

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[dtminf]

petey, ia ma new to this forum so bare with me. I am a tshirt designer and printer. I use both vector an raster images. The t shirt people apparently do not have the capability to do color seperations on a raster image, only on vector images. As far as I know there is no way change a raster image to vector that works well enough to get the quality that you have in your original design. However they can try to do a trace with say Corel Trace but I find that this does not work as well as most customers want. But There is software that is out there that can do raster color seperation. I have it ( very expensive) it works excellent and all customers are amazed at how much quality is maintaned in the final print on the shirt. I hope this helps. Dan