Comments on: Getting your work digitally printed

By: chabuhi

chabuhi — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 15:56:40 +0000

I know this post is way old, Andrew, but would love to hear (now that you have even more experience) your insights into preparing your files for digital print. Not so much compositionally, but the technical aspects (dpi, color mode, etc.). I find often that the images I’ve had printed wind up having horribly striated gradients even though I’m outputting to a fairly hight resolution and color depth. I’d be tempted to blame it on the printer, but it was with one of the top services we have here in the U.S.. Just curious on your take if you have any new opinions. Thanks!

By: daffy duck

daffy duck — Thu, 27 May 2010 09:41:19 +0000

Great idea, definitely make sure to save the file in a lossless compression, with as large a resolution as possible. Converting to the color type of the printing, usually cmyk is a good idea too, and check them out in PS/Gimp etc. to see if the color looks the same. Great tut’s keep them coming!!

By: todd McIntosh

todd McIntosh — Sun, 16 May 2010 18:52:19 +0000

I would like to win the copy of The Wow Factor because I: (¯`·._.·(¯`·._.·(¯`·._.· NEED IT! ·._.·´¯)·._.·´¯)·._.·´¯) (¯`·._.·(¯`·._.·(¯`·._.· WANT IT! ·._.·´¯)·._.·´¯)·._.·´¯) (¯`·._.·(¯`·._.·(¯`·._.· GOT TO, ·._.·´¯)·._.·´¯)·._.·´¯) (¯`·._.·(¯`·._.·(¯`·._.· GOT TO, ·._.·´¯)·._.·´¯)·._.·´¯) (¯`·._.·(¯`·._.·(¯`·._.· HAVE IT! ·._.·´¯)·._.·´¯)·._.·´¯) ____ ______ ______ _____ ______ | \ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | / | | | | | | | ------ | | ______ |______ |_____ |______ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ______ | ______ | | _____| |______ * Thank you, that is all. Todd McIntosh

By: william

william — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 23:19:37 +0000

I made a video game for christmas for my siblings

By: waystar

waystar — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 18:20:20 +0000

Thanks for sharing the process, Andrew. Great to see what worked, what didn’t, and why.

Happy New Year to you!

By: Fredy Martins

Fredy Martins — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:35:13 +0000

Well, I found an interesting trick to solve printing open source´s softwares outputs. For example, I took some colorful illustrations from Inkscape in JPG (high quality) and PNG formats. Went to a print shop and the results gone pretty bad. The colors changed a lot.

But when I exported to PDF, it seems to keep the characteristics of my digital files (including the colors and transparencies) pretty well. Did that to a 64 pages magazines too, on couché paper, printed digitally and the same thing happened. It´s far from being the final solution, but, it works pretty well.

By: Maxwell

Maxwell — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 17:26:39 +0000

Damn Andrew. You’re pretty cute. I’d do you. Or let you do me.
If you ever consider batting for the other team, let me know

By: SAverio

SAverio — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 10:18:16 +0000

Thanks for the idea…
i newer considered before to make a postcard in blender…

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 05:18:29 +0000

If you’re trying to save money and want high quality, but aren’t particular on what you’re printing, then this is your workflow:

1) Check out the printing capabilities of the printer/printing press
2) Determine limitations of printer (utilizing customer feedback, online forums, etc)
3) Determine limitations of printing media
4) Design image with those in mind

If you have an image, don’t mind the cost, and want high quality, then:

1) Ascertain the proper media type/color (e.g. you could’ve gone with black card stock)
2) Determine which printer can print to it.

Final kickers to make professional cards:

1) Look into embossing your cards, in addition to learning to add creases so that the card can be folded. While a “Merry Christmas Chloe” embossing stamp would be expensive, an embossed border? Not so much.
2) Visit the arts and crafts section of your local department store. Painting in your embossed borders with metallic paint or reflective ribbon could go a long way.

By: Sven

Sven — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:51:08 +0000

The image looks very nice! I downloaded your file to find out how you did the heart-shaped fireworks, but I can’t find it in any layer… Where’d you hide it? ^^

By: Reyn

Reyn — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:36:39 +0000

Having worked in a printing company and a souvenir shop before, I remember just how a pain in the ass it is to calibrate and match as closely as possible the printed output to that of the image you see on the screen. There’s things you have to consider (to name a few), like: printer calibration, monitor calibration, color space, rgb to cmyk conversion, gamma correction, paper type, paper quality, etc.

Best advice I could give is to experiment (that comes with a lot of wasted paper and ink), and learn from those, or better, list them as templates. ^_^

-Reyn

By: Tobey

Tobey — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 09:59:26 +0000

Nice work Andy, thanks for sharing your printing experiences on this vidcast, helps broaden the view of possible ways of using Blender to achieve impressive results off the screen. Too bad it didn’t work out the way you imagined but I believe your girlfriend must’ve appreciated the two weeks spent on it anyway. If not, then we do
GJ man.