If you are sending logos, digital camera images or scans, please adhere strictly to these specs: Please do not submit logos or low resolution graphics (gif or jpeg) taken off your web page. These will not yield good results when enlarged.  Software programs that we support: Adobe Photoshop -----------------100PPI at finished printed size Adobe Illustrator 10 -------------send all linked images and convert text to paths CorelDraw 10 ----------------------please convert text to curves and save as an EPS Macromedia Freehand 10 -----send all linked images and convert text to paths If your image is scanned or created in a program such as Photoshop or other Bitmap (raster) application, it must be 100 PPI at finished size (actual printed size) saved as an LZW Compressed Tif file. For scanned images, if you want the final print to be 24" x 30" and you are scanning an 8" x 10" photo, scan it at 300PPI. This way when we enlarge it 300% we won't lose any image quality. Scanned Images: If you would like to include an image that you do not have in electronic form, we can scan the image. Scanning services are available for $60.00 per image. (If any additional touch-up is required it will be billed hourly) Your company logo may be incorporated into your graphic selection if provided in electronic form. If files have to be recreated there will be an additional design time charge. To avoid having your job delayed, please send only TIFF or EPS format graphics. Images can be sent as attachments (10mb limit) to graphics@smartexhibits.com or sent on CD or 100MB Zip disks. Important! When burning your CD's make sure you make them ISO 9660 compatible. Consult your CD-R/CD-RW manual for more info. When sending fonts via e-mail always use WinZip or StuffIt to protect against corruption in transit.

Quick Digital Art Lesson

Bitmapped Images (Raster)

Pass your mouse over the snowboarder to zoom in 1600X showing the pixels that make up the image. It is a detail of the jacket.     If enlarged to 2 inches you still only have 100 pixels. So now the image is 50 pixels per inch. This causes the image to become blurry or pixelated. Bitmapped images are made up of a series of pixels. Painting/image editing programs such as Adobe PhotoShop, Corel Photo-Paint, Metcreations Painter and Paintshop Pro create pixel images, also called bitmapped or raster images.A scanned image is also this type of file. The amount of pixels per inch(ppi) is determined at the time of scanning. Most brochure images are scanned at 300 ppi. If you provide us with an image from your brochure, we can enlarge it 3 times the size it appears in your brochure. This will make it 100ppi when enlarged. Images that appear on your website are 72ppi. We can't print these images any bigger than they appear on your site. If you have a photo you would like to use and it is too small, it must be rescanned from the original at the correct pixels per inch (ppi). DIGITAL CAMERAS Below is a guide based on Canon digital cameras listing the max picture size we can print from the following mega pixel cameras set on HIGH RESOLUTION. Different manufacturers may vary. Check your camera's manual for more info. 2.0 mega pixel camera - 17x22 picture 3.2 mega pixel camera - 28x22 picture 4.0 mega pixel camera - 32x24 picture 5.0 mega pixel camera - 27x36 picture If the picture was taken on low resolution (72ppi), we can only print it at 3x5". All bitmapped images are printed with a resolution of 100 PPI at 100% of the actual printed size. In some cases 72 PPI will get by, but remember, it must be already the size you want it to be when it is printed. So let's say we have a 3 x 5 picture of the snowboard scene and we want it to be 24 x 40 upon printing. That's an enlargement of 800%! The resolution of the scan should be 800 PPI to compensate for blowing up the scan 8x. To reduce the file size it should be saved as a LZW Compressed TIF file.

VECTOR DRAWING (Object)

Pass your mouse over the image above to see the wireframe view of the drawing.      Drawing or illustration programs such as Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia Freehand and CorelDraw, all create vector art files. These programs use mathematical formulas to create shapes or objects. These shapes can be assembled to create a "drawing" as in the example to the left. Unlike bitmapped images, these files are not resolution dependent (think PPI, here) and can be scaled up or down without any loss of image quality. Logos and clipart are generally created in vector based drawing programs, thus enabling them to be used on everything from letterhead on up to billboards and beyond with superior image quality. In all cases, it is best to provide us with a vector version of your company logo. Vector drawing files are typically saved as EPS files from their native application (ie, Adobe Illustrator) These file formats can be used in a number of software programs, both PC and Mac. Files ending with these letters are from vector based programs: .fh - Freehand .ai - Illustrator .cdr - Corel Draw If you are going to create a logo in any of these programs, make sure to convert the fonts to outlines or curves.

The Vector version of your file, if there is one, is the best choice! See The Difference For Yourself: