Artwork Guidelines: Resin-Printed Process-Color

To qualify for our $40 order discount you must use the artwork template corresponding to the item number you ordered, and follow the requirements below.

Mandatory requirements

Process-color bitmap files must be placed within our vector art template. You can create your graphics and lettering partially or entirely in Photoshop or other similar applications if you like, but such artwork needs to then be imported, positioned, and cropped on our template as it is intended to print. All common placed bitmaps files are fine — JPG, GIF, PNG, TIF, BMP, PSD, etc.

Do not embed any bitmap files in the document. Place them as linked files instead, and send them to us as separate companion files along with the .ai or .eps layout file.
Vector artwork must be drawn cleanly enough to color-separate and trap properly. We will do any trapping of artwork required on this end, but vector paths must be executed professionally enough that they do not complicate color separation or trapping. This means properly closed paths, without stray points or other litter in the form of unnecessary or left-over non-printing “junk” paths, and so forth. If artwork is autotraced, take a certain amount of care when setting up the parameters for the automated trace to ensure a decent result, or else redraw the artwork manually. Autotraced artwork done as a quick-and-dirty “shortcut” may be more trouble than it is worth if the file needs trapped. If we need to rebuild or rework poorly built or poorly autotraced files or otherwise haphazardly constructed pathwork, the discount cannot be given.
Standard reproducible tint range is a 10–15% highlight dot and 85% shadow dot. These apply individually to each process-color plate (Cyan 15–85%, Magenta 10–85%, Yellow 10–85%, and Black 10–85%). Above 85%, tints will start going solid, completely so before 90%. As tints go below the minimum highlight dot they will start to drop out, completely so by the time a 5% overshoot is reached. This reproducible tint range of 10–15% to 85% is based on outputting artwork at 400x400dpi with a 60-line halftone screen. While it is not actually mandatory to make sure your artwork is satisfactorily reproducible within this range, we strongly recommend you do, or you might not be happy with the results if critical art elements fall outside it.

The reproducible tint range can be expanded to 5% through 95% by increasing the output resolution to 1200x400dpi (same 60-line halftone screen). This slows output, however, but for a 15% surcharge and print runs of at least 100 plates, we are happy to do so.
All fonts must be converted to outlines or pixels. The former applies to fonts used in Illustrator or other vector art programs, the latter to fonts typeset with Photoshop.
Mounting holes must not punch through critical lettering or artwork. Or if they do and it doesn’t matter to you, you must notify us in advance, so we don’t spend time attempting to contact you about the issue or need to fix any problems on our end. Mounting holes are shown in our .eps file templates to aid in laying out artwork.
Final file must be saved in Adobe Illustrator .ai or .eps format, any version up to CS4. Windows or Macintosh does not matter, since Adobe graphic formats are cross-platform-compatible. Most other vector artwork applications, such as CorelDraw, can save/ export files to either Adobe .ai or Adobe .eps format.
Discount forfeited for anything other than minor adjustments that need to be made to your file on our end, though in some cases we may extend partial discount credit depending on amount of time saved. Make sure you heed all the guidelines above. If you don’t understand something, don’t hesitate to contact us — we’re glad to answer questions, since that makes things easier for everyone.

Non-mandatory guidelines to ensure best reproduction

Try to keep critical vector art details to at least 1-point in thickness. This applies to both printed ink and to any small unprinted interstices between inked areas (often called “negative space”). Details slightly smaller will often print okay, say 0.75-point, but smaller than that usually risks dropouts in the case of inked areas, or else filling in of negative space. Industrial-resin printing (or screen-printing, for that matter) cannot resolve details as fine as commercial offset printing. Keep this in mind when you are repurposing artwork originally desiged for printing on paper or any artwork that is highly detailed.
Placed bitmap files should be 300dpi or higher at actual output size. For non-photographic images that should have clean/hard edges, 600dpi is strongly recommended. We are not responsible for poorly appearing printed output due to low-resolution images, such as those intended originally for use on websites at 72dpi, or other similar images.
Use color swatches consistently. While not critical with process-color like it is with spot-color art, when color swatches are defined it’s a good idea and always helpful to apply them consistently. Don’t, for example, use a defined color swatch for some red objects but apply an undefined red color to other red objects. Although we vet submitted files to catch oversights like this that could otherwise sometimes result in a mismatch between slightly different colors that should instead match, our job is easier if you prep files properly on your end.
Background colors. Plates are printed on a white reflective background. Background colors other than white are printed with a flood of colored ink on the reflective white background. For black plates, resin-black is totally opaque and looks excellent when used as a background color — deep-black and glossy enough to create the appearance of a high-grade enamel-coated black plate surface, an approach we regularly use. Other colors are similarly rich with the same high gloss.
Rich black is not required. As noted just above, resin-printed black is a totally opaque deep black that looks very good by itself, and using a rich black will not improve appearance.
Bleeds. Plates are typically printed subject to a 3/16” outer white margin, however bleeds can be printed in many circumstances. Solid background colors can be printed full-bleed without issues. If care is taken in laying out artwork properly, non-solid backgrounds can also be printed full-bleed, but must be seamlessly tiled in the vertical direction. This is because plates are printed on continuous roll-fed reflective sheeting in the top-to-bottom direction, butting exactly end to end. Once printed, the rolled sheeting is automatically laminated onto rolled aluminum as both are fed through a conveyor apparatus, and then plates are die-cut from there. Since slight variances in positioning can occur during die-cutting, background artwork must be tiled vertically with no visible discontinuity where the artwork pattern butts itself and repeats, so as to preclude the possibility of a hitch in the art showing near the top or bottom plate edges.
Don’t worry about trapping the file. We’ll handle any trapping required on our end.