Is it the Printer? Paper? Mug? Software? Help please!!

[Coops]

Thanks for all your replies, they are all very useful. I do believe it is more a software issue now, as I don't really know whats the best template to start with so I think a bit more research is needed.

For 300dpi, do I create a template from the beginning at 300dpi (page setup etc) or is that when I come to save it?

[daviddeer]

Best to set the image resolution to 300 dpi from the start.

[k21john]

If your downloading images from Google it could be that your just grabbing thumbnails which could be as small as 150px X 200px for example. if this is the case then when you increase the size it will loose quality. If you start with a large image and reduce the size you shouldn't loose quality, if you run your mouse over the image in your folder it should show basic info such as file type, size and dimensions.

you may also find this video useful..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UfDqKq4N88

[Andrew]

You need to put a photo up of the problem prints as it is often far easier to comment then.

[Coops]

Thanks for all your replies, I'm going to try and sub a mug tonight and will take some pics as I go.

When using a photo (taken from a mobile phone), would I need to change this to 300 DPI when inserting the image?

[Coops]

Having done a bit more research, could there be an issue with the ICC profile?

[webtrekker]

I doubt if it's the ICC profile causing blurriness on your printouts.

Getting back to resolution: If you have a mug wrap of say, for example, 8 inches width, then a suitable image for this at 300 dots per inch (DPI) would need to be 8 x 300 = 2400 pixels wide. So, make sure you are using images of at least a couple of thousand pixels in width to cover the whole wrap, and DO NOT resize smaller images up to this size. It's fine, of course, to reduce larger images down to that size.

[Coops]

Ok, thanks for that. I am a bit confused with the dpi so I'm going to look into it a bit more. I had a little experiment today and created a template at 300dpi. I also changed each photo to 300 dpi and so far the test one has come out Ok.

Is it best to enter the dpi in with regards to the size of the image I require or should I just set the whole image as 300 dpi and then reduce the size? I've noticed that when changing the image to 300dpi the size can increase dramatically.

[webtrekker]

If you have an image at, say, 72 dpi, then changing the dpi of the image to 300 will dramatically increase the size of the image, but this is not the right way to do things as the final result will be a blurred or pixellated image. You need an image that has a NATIVE resolution of 300dpi or thereabouts (I wouldn't go less than 200dpi for most things).

So, if you are using images from the net then this usually means searching for, and downloading, very large images.

A tip when searching Google Images ...

When you find an image you like (and I'm not getting into a copyright discussion here! ), drag the images towards the top of the browser page ...

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Drop the image into the Search box that appears when you near the top of the page ...

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Another page will appear and if there are other sizes available you will be able to select the 'All sizes' link under the image ...

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Now you will find all the available sizes of that image and you need to look for one that is large enough for your purposes. It may be that none of them are, in which case you are wasting your time looking on Google Images for larger versions of that image. It may also be that some of them are watermarked and you can always visit the site and pay for the image. Lastly, it may be that the larger image is simply a smaller one enlarged, in which case the quality will be poor, so make sure you view the image full-size before bothering to download it ...

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[Coops]

Wow! Thank you so much for that information. You have explained clearly what I need to do, you should write a book lol. Good choice of image too. I have a few questions about this:
1) how can I view the image "full size"?
2) what's the best way of finding out an images size?

What would you do when inserting a photo into your design?

A friend of wants a personalised mug with photo. When I print my design to be sublimated, the photo appears grainy. When inserting the image I select the image I went & then open it. The image usually comes out quite big so I drag a corner in to shrink it. Should i be using a different method to change the size? Also are mobile phone pictures good enough quality to be used?

Thanks again for all your help.