While that is true (and recommendable and, really, necessary), I have found that you almost can't go wrong with at least 300 dpi. Probably the max you need is 600 dpi.
However, it depends on the printer (machine), ink, media, etc.
The point is that 300 dpi produces clean output on commercial prints, though matching the resolution to machine, media, etc will give more vibrant colors and less distortion all around.
Just make sure when you convert from png to whatever format you'll be sending that you don't scale it again (use the same/correct dpi for the final product). Sounds like a stupid thing, but some software (usually the kind that assumes you don't know what you're doing and doesn't try to help you learn :) will actually downsample your files for you.
JF
Julie wrote:
Thanks so much JF. This is a big help. What dpi should I use to export to PNG? Julie
-----Original Message----- From: inkscape-user-bounces@lists.sourceforge.net [mailto:inkscape-user-bounces@lists.sourceforge.net] On Behalf Of Joshua Facemyer Sent: August 17, 2008 8:54 PM To: Inkscape User Community Subject: Re: [Inkscape-user] file format for printing
Julie,
PDF support is incomplete in Inkscape (best used, atm, for straight vectors and text and bitmap objects without any effects), upgrading Cairo won't solve it. Hopefully in the future this will all be corrected. In that case, PDF would probably be the best option.
Your best option is probably to export to PNG then convert to TIFF or very high quality JPG (or convert your PNG to PDF).
You'll have to use a third-party tool, and that depends on the platform you're on. (I'd suggest either image-magick on the command line or GIMP for gui).
I'm sure that produces more questions for you - feel free to ask.
JF
Julie wrote:
Hi,
I apologize for asking what I'm sure is an incredibly basic question, but internet answers seem to be too technical for my understanding or non-existant.
I don't know which file format I should use in order to send an inkscape generated document off for printing. The file that I'm working with is a fairly simple 8.5 x 11" document. In the past I'd saved a similar document as a pdf to send to the printers, but this time it doesn't seem to be appearing exactly as shown in my inkscape file. Do I need to download Cairo to fix this? I went to that site but felt fairly confused by the array of available options. Is pdf even the best option for printing? Could someone shed some light on this for me?
Thanks so much.
Julie
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