print quality text in photoshop

[David]

You need quality printer, imagesetter…. ,however, what do you mean by “print quality text”? what do you want to do/print?

[Jan Raimann]

why not, use a resolution about 300 pixel/inch and set the image size to the desired output value. i never had problems with the print quality doing it this way.

greetz

[Jeff Kelley]

The problem is once you set type in Photoshop and and save, lets say a tif, eps, or jpg, you stuck with this resolution. You lose the advantage or using postscript fonts, which is they can be resized without lose of quality. If you wanted to blow up you image, you will probably start losing quality.

For headline fonts, big bold stuff, there is no problem but . . . never ever set regular text in photoshop. Small type will print at whatever resolution you have the image in. If it is going to be professionally printed, your will be very disappointed. Printer print text at 1200 to 3600 dpi. That’s because it’s so fine. If at all possible I always set type in Illustrator, Quark, Indesign. Only large type I want to use Photoshop effects on will do in photoshop.

To let you know what a problems this was, when I was in printing, we wouldn’t except jobs the text fonts were set in photoshop. Why? Because the customer will always be upset when he see’s the final product and he will point his finger at use.

[Reneon]

Thanks for the replies.

For example, a business card at 300 dpi for a pro printers…is it OK to use a display font at 300dpi?
or does it need to be a higher resolution..?
and safer to do the main smaller text in Illustrator…?

[Jeff Kelley]

Exactly. I always try to set all type in Illustrator but a nice large font at 300 dpi should look fine.

[Kim Mackenzie]

300dpi is not sufficient for small type.

If you set the job up in Photoshop, send the print shop a copy of the file either in EPS format with the “preserve vector data” box checked, or as a PDF with fonts embedded. Then the type will be vector and will print crisply. Be sure to not use any faux bold or italic when you set the type in Photoshop – it doesn’t play well with “preserve vector data.”

[Reneon]

Thanks Underbelly.

Kim what DPI would you recommend working at in the above scenario then?

thanks

Rene

[Kim Mackenzie]

300dpi will be fine.

The type will be vector, which is resolution independent. The type will output at the highest possible resolution available by the imagesetter or the print device – could be 600, 1200, 2540, etc., depending on the output device. So the resolution is only going to apply to any non-vector items.

[Reneon]

Thanks Kim, very much appreciated.

Rene