Hi there, new to the forum, so apologies if this a dumb question. I have created a series of vehicle instrument faces that I intended to print and use in scale model construction to replicate, in this case an historic F1 car's, instrument panel. So far so good. I am happy with the scale and proportions of what I have drawn and they are faithful to the original, here is a bitmap of my vector drawing.


I use a Canon MP620 injkjet, allegedly capable of 1440dpi. However using a variety of papers, printer settings etc, when I print out my drawing at 5mm diameter per dial, I all but lose the contrast, the markings aren't readable etc. When I scan my print (only at 600dpi) it doesn't look too bad.

viewed with the naked eye, it just looks like a black blob.

Is this just physics? do I need to make the markings overscale to get the same perceptual effect? or is there a means of increasing the sharpness/contrast at this scale? am I flogging a dead horse with a domestic, cheap printer?

I have tried printing both as a vecor and bitmap at various resolutions, any thoughts anyone?


Regards


Nick

I never had to print something so small but I guess it's similar to creating small icons. Check this out:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=33