Inkscape Forum Inkscape > file format for printing

Hi,



I apologize for asking what I'm sure is an incredibly basic question, 
but
internet answers seem to be too technical for my understanding or
non-existant.



I don't know which file format I should use in order to send an inkscape
generated document off for printing. The file that I'm working with is a
fairly simple 8.5 x 11" document. In the past I'd saved a similar 
document
as a pdf to send to the printers, but this time it doesn't seem to be
appearing exactly as shown in my inkscape file. Do I need to download 
Cairo
to fix this? I went to that site but felt fairly confused by the array 
of
available options. Is pdf even the best option for printing? Could 
someone
shed some light on this for me?



Thanks so much.

Julie

Julie,

PDF support is incomplete in Inkscape (best used, atm, for straight
vectors and text and bitmap objects without any effects), upgrading
Cairo won't solve it.  Hopefully in the future this will all be
corrected.  In that case, PDF would probably be the best option.

Your best option is probably to export to PNG then convert to TIFF or
very high quality JPG (or convert your PNG to PDF).

You'll have to use a third-party tool, and that depends on the platform
you're on.  (I'd suggest either image-magick on the command line or GIMP
for gui).

I'm sure that produces more questions for you - feel free to ask.

JF

Thanks so much JF. This is a big help. What dpi should I use to export 
to
PNG?
Julie

2008/8/18 Julie <efficiency@conservationcouncil.ca>:
>
>
> Thanks so much JF. This is a big help. What dpi should I use to export to
> PNG?
> Julie

The first time I had to send a file to a printer, I phoned him up and
asked what he needed. Seems to me that would be the best place for you
to ask. In my case, the printer was pleased I called, as he often has
to deal with images in the wrong or inappropriate format.

Sorry I can't answer your question directly. :-(

--
Philip Stubbs

Ok, thank you Philip.

Julie wrote:
> Ok, thank you Philip.

You definitely have to ask the printer... there are times when you need
to cheat by exporting to PNG (at at least 300DPI) and convert the PNG to
TIFF with something like GIMP and there are times when you can get away
with an EPS or PDF (is the design is simple enough for the export to 
work).
And you may find the occasional stupid which will reject PNG but accept
JPEG.

>> Thanks so much JF. This is a big help. What dpi should I use to export to
>> PNG?
>> Julie
> 
> The first time I had to send a file to a printer, I phoned him up and
> asked what he needed. Seems to me that would be the best place for you
> to ask. In my case, the printer was pleased I called, as he often has
> to deal with images in the wrong or inappropriate format.
> 
> Sorry I can't answer your question directly. :-(


--
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While that is true (and recommendable and, really, necessary), I have
found that you almost can't go wrong with at least 300 dpi.  Probably
the max you need is 600 dpi.

However, it depends on the printer (machine), ink, media, etc.

The point is that 300 dpi produces clean output on commercial prints,
though matching the resolution to machine, media, etc will give more
vibrant colors and less distortion all around.

Just make sure when you convert from png to whatever format you'll be
sending that you don't scale it again (use the same/correct dpi for the
final product).  Sounds like a stupid thing, but some software (usually
the kind that assumes you don't know what you're doing and doesn't try
to help you learn :) will actually downsample your files for you.

JF