VECTOR VS. RASTER
Using the word “versus” in that heading would indicate a fight but that’s not necessarily the case. Vectored images and rastered images most often work in conjunction with one another, especially in the screen-printing world.
Most simple corporate logos you see out there are vectored logos. Vectored artwork can be complex, photo-real stuff but it’s usually something that looks like it was created in a computer. When I say that, I’m talking about the simple lines, simple text or cartoon-like images with clean edges.
The great thing about vectored images is that we, as artists, can take a vectored image and blow it up as big as we’d like and it won’t lose any clarity in the process. Consequently, resolution has nothing to do with vectored images. If it’s vectored, it’s usually good to go…or at least a good start for your artist.
Rastered images, on the other hand, cannot be blown up to as big as we’d like. These are usually the photo-real type of images…or actual photographs themselves. In fact, most every type of image you will see on a computer screen in your lifetime will be a rastered image. More importantly, Photoshop makes rastered images and that’s really all you need to remember in this department.
LAYERED VS. FLAT
This one’s a no-brainer in the screen-printing world. Unfortunately, most every artist in out there ISN’T from the screen-print world. In offset printing, artists always flatten their work before sending it off to get printed. There’s simply no need for them to send it layered to the print house.
Sending a layered file to be color separated is not a must but can drastically cut down on your production time. The reason for this is that we actually use the layers to separate bits and pieces of the images so we can address them individually. When the file’s layered, it saves us the time of going in and drawing masks by hand, which consumes a large amount of time. Layers help minimize that time quite a bit.
Again, layered files are not necessary BUT they can save you money when going to production…LOTS of money in art time.
Tags: ai, eps, File formats, Illustrator, layered, Photoshop, psd, raster, Screen-printing, screenprinting, vector
