Artwork Terms and definitions:

Camera-ready art:

Any drawing, photos, illustration or lettering suitable for photographic reproduction.

Vector files:

Sometimes called a geometric file, most images created with tools such as Adobe Illustrator and CorelDraw are in the form of vector image files. Vector image files are easier to modify than raster image files. (Which can, however, sometimes be reconverted to vector files for further refinement) Another way to look at it is that every pixel in the image has an X and a Y axis; this allows easy resizing without loss of quality.

Bitmap files:

Images are exactly what their name says they are: a collection of bits that form an image. The image consists of a matrix of individual dots (or pixels) that all have their own color (described using bits, the smallest possible units of information for a computer). Unless these are in very large sized resolution (600 DPI or better), they are unusable in the printing process.

Page Layout Documents:

The font files and document preferences that need to be supplied for use on the supplier’s end in case they do not have a rare or special font that you would like to use.

Metafile:

A collection of structures that store a picture in a device- independent format. Device independence is the one feature that sets metafiles apart from bitmaps. Unlike a bitmap, a metafile guarantees device independence. There is a drawback to metafiles, because they are generally drawn more slowly than bitmaps. Therefore, if an application requires fast drawing and device independence is not an issue, it should use bitmaps instead of metafiles.

Tone on tone:

Different shades of the same color as the garment are used for embroidery thread. For example, a navy blue shirt with a light blue and royal blue embroidery.

Earth tones (Color Families):

Neutral shades reminiscent of colors found in nature, such as deserts, mountains, and valleys. Many of these shades serve as a base of apparel, particularly in clothing. Colors include tan brown, sage, and charcoal.

Pastels (Color Families):

Soft sun washed colors such as sky blue, sea foam green, coral, baby pink, and butter yellow that are used predominantly in spring and summer deliveries and in warmer climates.

Phantom:

Transparent image or ghost superimposed over a subject.

Hologram:

Combination of several layers of refractive material that causes the image to have a three-dimensional effect.

Lenticular printing:

Process of creating multidimensional, animated or bi-view effects by photographing with an extremely fine screen and placing plastic made up of tiny lenses over the top.

(PDF) files:

Adobe Portable Document Format preserves the visually rich content of original files, and is easier to read than HTML content that appears in a Web browser. Adobe PDF files print cleanly and quickly, and anyone can share Adobe PDF files, regardless of their platform or software application. This is good to show the end result you would like, but usually not good for sending artwork that needs to be printed.

TIFF (Tagged Image File Format file):

A file format for exchanging bitmapped images between different applications.

EPS (Encapsulated Postscript):

An alternative picture file format that allows PostScript data to be stored and edited and is easy to transfer between Macintosh, Windows machines, and other systems.

AI (Adobe Illustrated):

Adobe Illustrator File, the very best in quality to recreate your artwork in the printing process.

JPG:

Commonly used on the web due to it's excellent ability to compress the graphic to save webpage load time. This format will not work to use in the printing process.

GIF (Encapsulated PostScript):

Commonly used on the web due to its ability to reduce the number of colors an image uses to be viewed to save webpage load time. This format will not work to use in the printing process.

BMP:

A generally low resolution Image format. This format will not work to use in the printing process.

Doc (Microsoft Word document):

Word doc files can only be used if you would like to display typeset text. Any images in a word doc will not be able to be printed correctly.

Web Pages As a general rule, if it can be viewed on the web it will most likely be too low of quality for printing. Web graphics are made to load quickly, thereby cutting the quality of the image. The eye may not notice on the web, but it will show up in printing.