I have a strange project I'm working on. I'm making decals for trains in N scale. My original artwork/image is razor sharp at about 7.5" wide, 5.5" high and 300 pixels per inch resolution. I'm trying to make it print out at about .55" wide and .40" high but the test print's look terrible. I think I should be able to get them nice and sharp that small but can't figure it out. Does anyone have a workflow to get them to print out super small?

Thanks, Jon.

Hi Jon

No expert here but just wondering if you have tried changing the mode to indexed color and reducing the number of colors in your print.

Butch

Sorry, I should have given more details about the image. It's a simple black (grayscale) logo. Here's what the original looks like (sized for web).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v601/jfoster48386/Miscellaneous%20Shots%20Non%20300D/Artwork%20-%20Logos/MichiganCoffeeCompanyLogo.jpg

Jon.

Edit: I just tried printing the logo using a thumbnail program, Thumbs Plus. In the print window it gives me the option to print custom sizes. I tried it at the size I wanted and they look perfect... So now I know they can be shrunk to super small sizes, I just can't seem to figure out how to do it on my own.

Jon

I printed the example you posted at .55 width. I have a Epson inkjet R200.

As long as I did not resample, the prints were very sharp and detailed.

When I resampled to reduce in size some of the lines were faded.

Butch

Here are some sample prints at .55 inches...how do they compare to yours?

Butch

Those look a lot better than mine. Mine are very pixilated. I guess I can get by with the prints from the thumbnail program but it's going to bug me that I can't do the same thing. I'm printing on a LaserJet 6L and a LaserJet 4500n.

Jon.

One idea people claim sometimes works: reduce the size by 10% using the Bicubic Sharpen mode.... then repeat again and again until you get the final size that you need.

I have a strange project I'm working on. I'm making decals for trains in N scale. My original artwork/image is razor sharp at about 7.5" wide, 5.5" high and 300 pixels per inch resolution. I'm trying to make it print out at about .55" wide and .40" high but the test print's look terrible. I think I should be able to get them nice and sharp that small but can't figure it out. Does anyone have a workflow to get them to print out super small?

Thanks, Jon.

I tried the 10% reduction idea but it didn't look much better. I'm just going to use the Thumbnailer to make my prints for now and play around with shrinking the images later for the next project.

Thanks everyone!

Jon.

I'm no expert here, so there is probably an easier way to do this. I imported the file into Macromedia Flash, converted it to a vector graphic and resized it. Then imported the .ai file into Illustrator and exported it as a png. (phew)

Here it is:

I think open it in Illustrator (trial version from Adobe if you don't have) convert to b&w logo vector (or something like that... sorry haven't got AI installed at the mo to try myself) and just clean it up, simplify paths etc... I am sorry if this is a tad vague as I normally try my ideas out before I post them. BTW that sort of thing is good saved as an EPS file.