Print format

[Hanschrs]

Hey guys,

I'm having trouble with exporting files for sublimation printing. I've been using PDF and EPS, but I've noticed that occasionally, one out of every 100 designs exported to these formats would have printing issues. I switched to JPG, which resolved the problem, but JPG has limitations for large-scale prints due to its compression.

I'm looking for a more reliable format for exporting my designs. Can anyone suggest a better alternative to PDF or EPS that can handle large files without sacrificing quality? I'm curious if others have encountered similar issues and found a solution.

[Monika Gause]

EPS is a thing from the past. If you have an even halfway new printer, then EPS will likely cause more problems than saving you from them.

So it would help to figure out what those files have in common that cause the trouble. What exactly the trouble is and what large-scale means.

[Bobby Henderson · Accepted solution]

PDF is really the best option for Adobe Illustrator-generated artwork. EPS does not have any native support for transparency effects and has other limitations compared to PDF. Obviously JPEG and other pixel-based image formats have their own serious limitations too.

The one trick with PDF is the printer or print software (or RIP) outputting the artwork really needs the capability to natively process the PDF data rather than attempt to emulate it. If the print setup has an Adobe PDF certified print engine it will be able to accurately print just about anything that goes into a PDF from Adobe Illustrator.

[Hanschrs]

Which RIP software do you recommend?

[Bobby Henderson]

That depends on the dye sublimation printer being used and the software available to it. Are you doing the print work yourself or providing the files to a company doing the print work? We don't do dye sublimation printing at my workplace, so the large format RIP applications we use are probably not relevant. Epson makes good dye sublimation printers and its own print software has an Adobe certified PDF print engine. Epson is not the only company making such printers.