Vector Decal Blurry vs. PNG

[ItsWilder]

I've designed and built several labels in Illustrator. When I add them onto my bag as a decal, they seem to be blurry. Even when rendering them in HIGH resolution as a PSD they are still blurry. I know I can export each one of the .AI files as a .PNG and to solve the issue but that seems like a long workaround.

Does anyone know why .AI files are blurry when applied as decals in Dimension?

I tried to post a sample file here but kept getting this error

 …so here's a link to the sample file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jcqfkl09lqzhxvk/Bag%20Test.dn?dl=0

[Ussnorway]

why = fontsvectorpixelsalways use a colour

yes ai files are blurry because Illustrator is the wrong tool for the job... vector is fine for basic shapes but fonts should always be pixels because Dimension is flexing the image across the model to fit

• Pixel takes less time to rendor than vector... on my Ryzen its only a few seconds but smaller systems will have a biger gap
• clients can't use your Ai file unless they have the same Fonts installed which means you will get errors as others swap different fonts into the design
• last point = always pick a colour (black or white) background when making Png with fonts... Mac drivers just can't do transparrent correct

p.s, the Dn file error is because Adobe doesn't test their systems, each time they bring out a new build of Dimension the Dn file format changes... they know about this error but its not important to fix

[ItsWilder]

First, thanks for taking the time to respond, but I find a lot of what you're saying hard to believe because it goes against my 20+ years of experience doing digital design and using Adobe products.

Primarly, I'm having a hard time believing that Adobe doesn't want you to use Illustrator in conjunction with Dimension for any designs with "text", but instead, they want you to use PSD or export each of your designs as a JPG or PNG before importing into Dimension. If that's true, it's very confusing. But, to your credit, this wouldn't be out of character for a piece of new software that's still understanding how customers are actually using it and might be still in development by Adobe. That is a more plausible answer to me than Adobe not wanting you to use Illustrator files with text in them.

Pixels (PNG, JPG, PSD, etc) taking less time to render versus a vector image would also be very odd to me. I'm not well versed in the 3D world of texture mapping, but one just has to open a large AI file vs. a large PSD file to understand why this might be confusing. Large scale AI files open much faster than a high resolution, large PSD file, so what you are suggesting seems at odds with all my experience. But in the case of 3D texture mapping, maybe you're right and it's an odd case.

I'm not worried about clients using my AI files just yet. I know to convert all fonts to outlines before sending off to print so this is not an issue.

Lastly, if I need the image to include a transparent background, why would I add white or black as a background color when creating a PNG? In what you say is true, I'd opt for a JPG or even a TIFF instead, both of which can be smaller in size than a PNG. This seems odd to me considering the whole point of the graphic is to be applied as a "decal". What if my bag is blue or purple? How would the bag color show through the graphic if I add a background color?

[Ussnorway]

a Tiff will not rendor correct and Jpeg has issues because it losses data... never use a Bmp or Dimension will crash and any Dn save file with Bmp will be corrupt | worthless

I agree that the point of Png is trans but the fact is Dimension moved away from Nvidia standard after V1 and the new Mac metal drivers just can't rendor trans correct yet... maybe later

I'm not telling you Illustrator is bad software mate just the nature of vector means it has to be put together at the other end by whatever Cpu is in the device and in the case of text that is a more complex file than just a basic shape... think of it like printing your decal on a balloon then pumping in the air, your text will become stretched as the balloon moves into its new shape so the Cpu has to keep adjusting the decal and that takes longer to rendor