Placing PNG file without losing quality. Comes out pixelated.

[J.K. Mason Marketing]

Hello.

Trying to design a flyer in Illustrator.  Received both JPEG and PNG files from the company.  When I place them in to Illustrator they are both extremely pixelated.  I tried opening each one individually in illustrator and then dragging images and they are still pixelated. 

Thinking the issue is the quality of the output from the company? 

Also, not an expert at PNG stuff at all, but how exactly does a PNG work?  I know it is scalable, but how come the PNG files I have are not scalable?  Is it because its not the original file and more of a burnt PNG file?

Thank you in advance for any help or knowledge provided.

V/R

Justin

[barbara_a]

The problem is with the quality of the original jpeg and png files, not with Illustrator. Both jpeg and png can loose quality when scaled. You need vector artwork from the company.

[J.K. Mason Marketing]

Hello,

Thank you for your reply.  How do you send Vector Art Work?  EPS, SVG, PDF and AI files? 

Thanks again for reply, look forward to hearing back.

V/R

Justin

[barbara_a]

Vector artwork can be sent as any one of the files you listed: EPS, SVG, PDF, and AI. However, receiving a file in any one of these formats does not guarantee that it is vector.

You can check by opening the file in Illustrator. If you click on the file and see anchor points, it's vector.

If you choose View > Outline and see just a box instead of the contour of the artwork, it is NOT vector.

If I've misunderstood your question, please let me know and clarify.

[Test Screen Name]

Bear in my nd tgat if you ask someone to send a vector and they don't have one, some will just place the pixelated image in Illustrator and send the file. This does not magically fix it. The work may have to be redrawn by an expert. Indeed, they may be expecting you to be that expert.

[barbara_a]

Good point, Text Screen Name. I've had my share of such clients and usually just redraw the image without even asking.

[Bill Silbert]

I would try opening each file in Photoshop to confirm that the files are indeed pixilated.

[jane-e]

When you place an image file into Illustrator, the Control panel will tell you how many pixels per inch (ppi) the image has. If the number is low (large pixels), it will be "pixelated". If the number is large, it means the pixels are smaller, and it takes more to fill an inch.

If you drag the image, you scale it, and this changes the effective ppi. Here is the Control panel for the same image:

• First scaled smaller with the Shift key
  
  
  
• Second scaled larger with the Shift key
  
• Third scaled and distorted without the Shift key
  

Clicking to place with place the image at 100%. Dragging while placing will scale the image.

Also:

Be sure you are viewing the image at 100%. It will appear pixelated if you are zoomed in, but that does not have any effect on the printing.