Below are some recommendations we have that will help you create quality vector art work for screen printed transfers.
1. Send the artwork at the actual size it will be printed. Sometimes outlines have settings which change when vector art is scaled so sending us the actual size you need printed helps guarantee the quality of your art.
2. All fonts used in the design must be converted to curves:
This allows you to use fonts from any commercial font manufacturer. Your
fonts do not travel with your file and will default when opened in our
system. To avoid delays and possible errors please convert all text to
curves before sending files to us.
To convert text to curves using
CorelDraw®:
Select all your text and convert it to curves by selecting "Arrange/Convert
to Curves". The keyboard shortcut is "Ctrl+Q".
You may need to ungroup your design to perform this function, depending
on which version of the program you are using.
• Note: Script typestyles will need to be
welded instead of simply converting to curves. See your
program user's manual
for instructions. To convert text to curves using Adobe Illustrator®:
Select all your text and convert it to curves by selecting "Type/Create
Outlines". The keyboard shortcut is "Ctrl+Shift+O".
You may need to ungroup your design to perform this function. Video Tutorials
3. Minimum line thickness and outline thickness recommended
is .012".
Thickness Test
1. Create a line in your file and make
it a different color than your artwork. 2. Set the thickness of
the line to .012". 3. Now move the line around,
setting it over top of any artwork
that may have thin areas of color.
All of your artwork should be at
least as thick as that line whether
it be text, outlines or objects. 4. Delete the line when you have finished checking
your file.
*NOTE: Text that has thin and thick areas should be measured
at their thinnest areas. This type of text will need to be
larger than text that has a uniform thickness.
4. All non-printing areas are recomended to measure at least
.045" thick:
This is so the artwork will not close up once it is printed and applied
to the garment. This applies to any non-printing area including the
open spaces within text.
Non-Printing
Area Test
1. Create a line in your file and make
it a different color than your artwork. 2. Set the thickness of
the line to .045". 3. Now move the line
around, setting it over top
of any small non-printing
areas. All non-printing reas
need to be open at least
as wide as that line. 4. Delete the line
when you have finished checking
your file.
5. Don't use pattern fills.
Pattern fills can be techncally challenging and cause an increase in file size.
6. Halftones - these are the settings we recomend:
If we print halftones in your design, we will need to add a backing color to your design.
Tint= 30, Type= Dot, Frequency= 30 and Angle= 30
All halftones should be set to 30 dots per inch for the tint. Also,
Post Script options should be set to the following: Type = Dot, Frequency
= 30 LPI, Angle = 30 Degrees. For more information on setting these
Post Script options, please see your program user's manual.
7. Support your file a fax copy of the art.
This will be used to ensure that the transmitted file is exactly
what you were trying to transmit. Put your reference # on the fax. Due to different software programs/file there can be translation issues and the fax will give our designers your original art to compare it to how it imports in our software.
