Back to Dye Printing Tricks & Tips
For Printing Press |
For Printing Press |
For the Web |
For the Web | |
| Lines/Pixels | Vector |
Raster |
Vector |
Raster |
Applications: |
FreeHand Illustrator CorelDraw |
Photoshop Painter |
Flash Illustrator |
Photoshop Painter Imageready |
Color Mode: |
Grayscale CMYK Spot Inks (Pantones) |
Grayscale CMYK Spot Inks (Pantones) |
RGB |
RGB |
Resolution: |
Not an issue |
Inkjets: 150 or better Laserprinters: 300 or better Commercial Printing: Twice the Line Screen |
Not an issue |
72 dpi is standard 96 dpi can be used |
Save As/ |
Standard: EPS |
TIFF EPS for Duotones |
SWF SVG |
JPEG GIF |
Vector based graphics are basically drawn with lines. Those lines can be filled with color. Because the lines use corner points (which can be squared or curved) that are mathmatically defined, vector graphics are excellent for line art, logos, technical drawings, etc. The are fully scaleable--they can be enlarged or reduced without any loss of detail. Tiny for business cards, huge for billboards. It makes no difference. Vector graphics don't do subtle colors and photorealism easily.
Each shape is a vector graphic.
Raster based graphics can be considered photographic. Pixels make up the image. Once you create the image at a certain resolution they are set in size--like bricks in a wall. You define how many bricks tall and how many bricks wide the wall is. Each pixel can be a color, but if you scale the image up, quality will drop down, as you get bigger, but not more detailed, bricks. Raster graphics have excellent color ranges, gradients, and subtle light and shadow effects. All the atmospheric effects and subtly of nature demand raster-based graphics.
This graphic is a series of colored blocks--pixels. Zoom in to see detail
is rapidly lost.
Pick the right format for the job.
Web graphics make lousy print art. Print graphics take too long to download on the web. RGB vs. CMYK is a whole new problem!