printing text in psd looks awful compared to straight text from word

[justride]

call me a nut, but why is it that when I print text from photoshop it looks diff than when i print from word or notepad.

i made a flyer in adobe, used fonts, made that smooth etc... but i need them to print good. i print at 600 dpi and it looks awful. i mean i dont have a great printer but the text should look like it does from word right?

heres the deal, im sending these flyers out to be printed professionaly, how do i need to modify the the psd so it looks professional when printed and not liek it doesn now.

THeres obviusly a fine line between printing text and psds and i need to understand it better.

thanks!

 

[jimoblak]

but the text should look like it does from word right?

Not really.

You did not specify your version of Photoshop.

In current versions of Photoshop, unrasterized type layers can be retained as crisp vectors when you save to PDF. Keep the design at a standard print-ready 300 ppi and the vector type will print as cleanly as you see from any other application.

- - I hope this helps - -
_{(Complain to someone else if it doesn't)}

 

[duncdude]

I'm with jimoblak

Maybe you have a dumb printer that can not understand the vectored text. Try making a copy of the image, flattening - rasterising (turning into dots) the text in the process... i.e. get rid of the cleverness of the 'editable vectored text'.

Once you have rasterised the image any dumb printer should print it fine - as it is just a bunch of dots

(By dumb i mean non-Postscript)

... but all of the above is only the way i interpret your problem and could easily be wrong. Give it a go


Kind Regards
Duncan

 

[BodesMan]

I'm not sure what kind of ripping software your printer is using but for ours - Photoshop type will rip as a rastered file (300 dpi) - your type in Word rips as vector art (2400dpi) Now this is our rip that we use at a commercial printer, not a proofer. Other rips may handle Photoshop type differently then ours.

We recommend to our customers if they can avoid setting type in Photoshop and use a vector based applications instead so their type will look more sharp.

info@prepress-online.com

http://www.prepress-online.com

"Tell'em we're comin', and hell's comin' with us.

 

[jimoblak]

BodesMan, what are you sending to your RIP?

If you send PDF, then you get the vector type.

- - I hope this helps - -
_{(Complain to someone else if it doesn't)}

 

[BodesMan]

Jimoblack,

On the rip software I use which is a Creo/Scitex Brisque station - Any file that has type created in Photshop - if that file is linked in a PDF, Quark, Indesign, etc... In my experince the type does no rip as vector - it rips as rasterd type.

Are you familair with this rip? Other rips might handle the type different as I said in my post above. To my knowlege by talking to other prepress professionals that work on different rips they have never been able to get type created in Photoshop to rip as vector art.

What kind of rip do you use that makes the type vector when ripped as a PDF?

info@prepress-online.com

http://www.prepress-online.com

"Tell'em we're comin', and hell's comin' with us.

 

[jimoblak]

linked in a PDF

How do you do that? I did not realize that PDF allowed linked images.

You should place the Photoshop PDF file in InDesign or print directly from Acrobat. You can try placing the PDF in Quark but I suspect that Quark will chew it up badly since Quark has poor PDF support.

Try this: create a 300 pixel by 300 pixel (a one inch squared 300 ppi) image in Photoshop with a bunch of vector type on it. Then save out as PDF without rasterizing the type. In Acrobat, and in the print dialog, choose to scale to fit the letter-sized page. The type should appear crisply, even when scaled up so high. This is because the PDF contains vector type.

- - I hope this helps - -
_{(Complain to someone else if it doesn't)}

 

[BodesMan]

You can't link a Photoshop file in a PDF - it was a typo.

I just would like you to answer the question what kind of rip are you using at your commercial printer to produce vector type out of Photoshop that you are saying can be done. I'm not going by creating a PDF and viewing it on my computer screeen.

Yeah when I distill a postscript file out of Indesign or Quark that has a linked Photoshop file with layered type - the type looks smooth in Acrobat - but when this PDF gets ripped at a commercial printer will that type still look smooth? - The commercial printer I work for it will not.

You claim that if you send a PDF to rip you will get vector type (Your post at 8:30 a.m.) - what kind of rip are you or your commercial printer using - thats what I would like to know. If it can be done we would be interested in purchasing it.

The 1st post by justride said he is having some flyers printed and he wants to know how to get his type to look smooth and not rastered when he gets the job printed. I work in Prepress and I am just passing on my experince along to him that I do not think he will get smooth looking type out of Photoshop.

info@prepress-online.com

http://www.prepress-online.com

"Tell'em we're comin', and hell's comin' with us.

 

[jimoblak]

I use several printers and could not begin to guess what the various RIPs are that they are using - but none of them rasterize type poorly from a proper Photoshop PDF file. A printer that I was just talking with uses Indigo and FujiFilm RIPs (if that helps). I doubt you have any problems with your RIP.

The difference here may simply be the file format. You are probably thinking of printing or placing PSD files, but you should be printing or placing Photoshop generated PDF files to retain the crisp text. When saving to PDF from Photoshop, check the box to 'Include Vector Data' and to 'Embed Fonts/Use Outlines for Text'.

It's been nearly 10 years since I worked in prepress but I cannot imagine that things have gotten worse since then.

- - I hope this helps - -
_{(Complain to someone else if it doesn't)}

 

[BodesMan]

I will try that suggestion saving files out of Photoshop.

Thanks for the suggestion - I will let you know if it works on our rip.

info@prepress-online.com

http://www.prepress-online.com

"Tell'em we're comin', and hell's comin' with us.