Dear Inscape users,

I've used inkscape for the first time to make a map to put on the back of a business card. The map is finished and my problem is that after I save it according to the print shop standards (size and dpi), they say the map is still blurry. At one size it is clear, than the more I zoom out it gets really unclear. I saved it in a .jpeg format using GIMP.

I've spent literally hours trying to do different things to get it to work....

How can I get the map to be clear at the 90 mm x 57 mm size for the printers?

I'd appreciate any tips or advice anyone has to share!

Thanks!

File->Export bitmap->
In the window that appears, press the "Page" button. Change the drop down box below "Width" and "Height" to "mm". Change width to 90 mm, and height to 57 mm. Under the "Bitmap size" header change the dpi to 300. Enter a file name, press export and you'll have a PNG that should be printable at the right size. (According to that the image would be 1063 by 673 pixels) Give it to them in PNG format, don't convert it.

tfw wrote:after I save it according to the print shop standards (size and dpi), they say the map is still blurry.

See this thread for gory details: http://www.inkscapeforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3488&p=16141&hilit=dpi#p16122

Here's what to do:
Set your Inkscape page size to the size of the business card in mm, i.e. 90 mm x 57 mm.
Scale your map to fit within the the inkscape page boundaries as you want to see it on the card.
Export your bitmap for printing. In the bitmap dialogue, export "page". Set the DPI value to what the print shop told you. Export. The exported document will be exactly the right size to produce a 90 mm x 57 mm card on the print shop's printer.

This file will be huge for your screen, or in the gimp, because print dpi is finer than screen dpi. Don't worry about this.

The exported file format is png; your print shop ought to take that. If you really need to change file format using the gimp, just load it up and save it out. Don't change its size.

dsavi wrote:File->Export bitmap->
In the window that appears, press the "Page" button. Change the drop down box below "Width" and "Height" to "mm". Change width to 90 mm, and height to 57 mm. Under the "Bitmap size" header change the dpi to 300. Enter a file name, press export and you'll have a PNG that should be printable at the right size. (According to that the image would be 1063 by 673 pixels) Give it to them in PNG format, don't convert it.

Thanks for the reply and suggestion.

I have done it and submitted it to many different print shops, no one can use .png format. I'm in Chengdu, China so maybe things are different here. They all insist having to be able to open it in Corel Draw before they can print it.

Slow Dog wrote:

tfw wrote:after I save it according to the print shop standards (size and dpi), they say the map is still blurry.

The exported file format is png; your print shop ought to take that. If you really need to change file format using the gimp, just load it up and save it out. Don't change its size.

Thanks for the tip. I've saved it in .jpeg using GIMP and will see if they can do it.

If they still haven't printed out your cards please email them your master svg or ai file and they will print out a vector image of the map for you. Printers prefer vector images to any sort of compressed bitmap image.

Why didn't anyone tell tfw when he first posted

Pureon wrote:If they still haven't printed out your cards please email them your master svg or ai file and they will print out a vector image of the map for you. Printers prefer vector images to any sort of compressed bitmap image.

Why didn't anyone tell tfw when he first posted

Thank you Pureon for the suggestion!