I'm trying to print a CD cover insert and backcover tracklisting.
I've got the image done and ready to print, but I cant seem to work Photoshop's print scaling function...
Can anybody tell me how to print my insert so it prints out the correct size? Thanks.

There are no "technique" as such, just learn the following rules:

Your screen is 72 dpi (dots per inch), thus, all the ruler units are function of dpi. It means that if you create a new 5 inch by 4.5 inch document while keeping the screen resolution, make sure that in Image Size options under the "Print" subsection the printing dpi is also 72 dpi, else your print will be disproportional to your screen size parameters... That's basically all you need to know for successful printing..

Now, I know what I said is not quite clear, but hope that helps you.. Otherwise, you might want to try using consumer products dedicated to printing covers... ;(

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Lol. I'm straight off that man.
Thanks dude. I think that's the reason why it wont print right...I have it as 5 by 4.9 inches, and the resolution to 144 dpi..

I'll try it. Thanks man!

dpi should have no effect on the size of your print out. as long as you set your art board to the size you want printed out, and actually if you want a decent print out the dpi should be set to at least 300 dpi. the default is set to 72 dpi because that is the max that monitors can display. just make sure your print properties are set to 100 percent.

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quote:

dpi should have no effect on the size of your print out.

Oh, but it does, methinks.. Just try printing an image given a fixed size at 72 dpi, and then set the dpi to 300 dpi, for instance... Since in your previous 72 dpi there is not enough information to trully print at 300, image will be either (depending on your option):

- scaled (usually via bi-cubic resampling, but depends on your option), thus quality is lost.

- kept at the current settings, in which case the current "real" size will be distribued accordingly to the new dpi, resulting in a print trice as small.

Now, although I might be off, since I let service bureaus handle my printings when the need arises, I'm quite positif that this is the cause of dJohn's erronous printing...

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yes u are correct...what i was saying is you should always design at the dpi that the final product will be outputted as..i.e a logo that will be used for print should be designed at 300 dpi, not at 72 dpi and then scaled.

an image that is designed at 300 dpi say 1 inch by 1 inch when resized to 72 dpi will be 4.16 inches by 4.16 inches

it is better to design at a higher resolution and scale it down, this way images will not be as distorted. images that have the dpi scaled up become very pixelated and unusable for print

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pixel8edconcepts.com :: new flash site in the works

I'm the graphic artist for my Printshop as i'm outputting all proofs and art onto either our Xerox 4 color laser (running on a fiery ex1200 RIP) or destined for offset printing and thus color seperations and spot colors being involved.

In all cases i start at upwards of 300 dpi in photoshop (usually 500 as that for me is the sweet spot). Printing lower dpi means having to stretch the color information in the bitmap and thats never good. it's always possible to reduce dpi/size if need be but not vice versa.

Outputting for the web and print is so different that you have to decide which is your goal though if you want to do both keep your dpi nice and high and downsize at the final step. First be aware that color matching is one of the biggest differences in printed media and web art and has to be taken into consideration. Are you printing in 4 color (also known as process or CMYK for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and K for Black) or on a digital device?

if it's for Digital reproduction you can stay in RBG color mode as digital devices usually can reproduce this color gamut (or range) fine, RGB or Red, Green and Blue are what monitors display so rgb to rgb is pretty safe. As far as our printshop goes we're running on a Fiery RIP which outputs to a Xerox Docucolor 1250 4 color laser printer. what that means is that the fiery (which is basically a modified printserver running VERY specialised software based on a NT platform) installs a PostScript 3 Driver which allows your PC to output vector art as vectors to the fiery which then rasters it at whatever size it needs to thus keeping the art looking crisp no matter what size it was originally etc. It then passes the rastered (bitmapped) art to the printer to print in 4 color. This allows you the ability print your vector art as crisply as possibly and allows me the freedom and control to adjust the color of a job in the middle of printing a job even.

If it's for offset printing or 4 color laser to achieve color matching you're best saving your work in CMYK. CMYK has a smaller color gamut (or range of printable colors) and has problems producing some colors like flourescent yellows etc.

Here's where having a good color profile for your monitor and scanner etc come in handy as they talk together as to what is the closest color to what you did on your pc and output as closely as possible the same colors as are on the printer/output device.

If you were to get your art printed professionally they'd take your art and lay it out as needed and check to see how many colors needed to be printed and seperate it. This involves printing a negative or film for each color that needs to be printed, so in this case C+M+Y+K. Thats four films which the printer then puts in a machine with a solution and burns it onto a metal plate. He then prints each color with each plate onto the paper. He usually lets them dry a bit before printing the next color onto them.

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Last edited by Tranzmit on Dec-24-2002 at 09:29