Need help with sticker quality

The Blue Knight · Post by **The Blue Knight** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 11:58 pm

I need some help with the quality of some of the stickers I am working on. Let me first say that I have an outstanding Canon MF 8180c color laser printer, so I very much doubt my problems are related to poor printer quality (though I'm old enough to never say never).

Many of the images are sharp and clear, but many others are "pixelated," which gives them a blurry or washed out appearance in addition to the blockiness. I can guess at several reasons, but do any of you pro sticker/decal customizers know why that may be? And how to fix it? Let's see, here's some details that may help diagnose. I "copy and paste" the images. I have taken them from a variety of sources, from the "How-to" section of this site, to Matthew's LOTRs stickers on BS. I have sized them to correct proportions by right-clicking on the images and using the "Format picture" option; though it reads "Format object" on some of them (and no--there is no correlation there, I have looked into that already). Oh, and I'm sure my not-expert computer skills play into the equation at some point

Any help would be appreciated. BTW, would it help if I could show you a sample sticker sheet? I'll try to load one onto BS.

Richard

OK, this is my first shot at a deeplink. http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/TheBl ... ickers.doc

Look at the "scale mail" with classic factions (for example) on the second line, and how the details are pixelated looking. It is even more pronounced when printed. Now notice the Gondor torsos at the bottom. They are sharp and clear. Now I know the pixelated ones in this example are from the CC.C site, and the others are not; but that is not a pattern. Other things from the site are fine, while some things from outsie CC.C are pixelated.

NickGreat · Post by **NickGreat** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 2:54 am

I'm know I'm no "pro sticker/decal customizer", but what I noticed is that most of the the images you are using are low resolution bitmapped ones.

A better option is to find (if possible) and use vector based images for your print-outs. Otherwise, bitmapped versions with a higher resolution (someone help me out here on the minimum dpi) will also do the job.

EDIT:
On folllowing the links provided in the file, the images are of high quality. Maybe if you tried [Insert_Picture_From file] (under MS Words) instead of copying and pasting the images?

The Blue Knight · Post by **The Blue Knight** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 5:40 am

Your edit taught me something I didn't know, thanks. Unfortunately it didn't help, thought it may have narrowed it down.

I was working with stickers Anthony Sava had made (the brown pleated scale armor with the classic factions and the Elves of the Sylvan Moon for example). I noticed that those images were the pixelated ones, and these were the ones from his great articles in the How-to section, including his articles with sheilds, torsos and all--my favorite ones! Are these images hosted elsewhere? Perhaps getting them from a different source might make a difference?

NickGreat · Post by **NickGreat** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 9:30 am

We all learn something everyday; like I just found that your "copy and paste" technique works straight off my IE (call me slow).

Anyhow, I believe that the problem is that you may have copied the thumbnail instead of the deeplink images into your MS Word file.
I've just tried it with Anthony Sava's images are they came out very fine indeed.

The Blue Knight · Post by **The Blue Knight** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 1:56 pm

NickGreat wrote: Anyhow, I believe that the problem is that you may have copied the thumbnail instead of the deeplink images into your MS Word file.
I've just tried it with Anthony Sava's images are they came out very fine indeed.

Ah, perhaps. I copied the images off the website here, maybe I saved them as thumbnails. I noticed that when I used your method the clear images came over huge and I had to size them down (like taking up half a page) while with Anthony's the images came over miniscule, and I had to blow them up, so I think you're onto something there. I even tried it off his BS account and found the same thing. So what mistake am I making? I'm using the same techniques and his come out very tiny, while others are not. How do I remedy this?

Post by **SavaTheAggie** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 5:28 pm

Looking at your word document, many of your images are, in fact, thumbnails. To be perfectly honest my images were not really designed to be printed out in word, but rather in photo imaging software that allows you to choose what dpi you are printing in.

In terms of my images, which did you download?
This:
http://www.classic-castle.com/howto/art ... Shield.jpg
Or this:
http://www.classic-castle.com/howto/art ... Shield.jpg

As a matter of reference, any file of mine that is preceeded by "tn_" is a thumbnail image.

The large image was designed to be large so that when printed using photo editing software it would be scaled down not physically but by increasing the dpi the printer printed at. You really need to download the images, save them to your computer. Copy and Pasting the images from your browser will just cause unecessary problems.

I've been told that once you import the large picture file in word from your hard drive(as opposed to copy-pasting it into word), all that remains is resizing it to be the correct print width, and it will print out fine.

If you want to try dedicated software, Gimp is free photo software, you may wish to try that. There is an article in the How-To section of the site:
http://www.classic-castle.com/howto/art ... cgimp.html

--Tony

Heir of Black Falcon · Tue Feb 19, 2008 6:33 pm

I have been trying to get some stickers going as well. I now have Gimp on my computer but am still messign around with it to figure out how the heck to use it. Seems interesting though.

Tony,

Thanks for the original files. I will never be as good as you at making them so it makes it much easier that many are already there!

R

The Blue Knight · Post by **The Blue Knight** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:04 am

Mission accomplished! I am very happy with what I have now. Thank you Anthony for the last piece of the puzzle. I saved the PSD file to my computer, then used NickGreat's insert picture technique to get them on a very good looking Word doc. Thank you all very much.

Anthony--I had indeed saved thumb nails. I looked at the files and saw the "tn" you described sure enough, thanks again for the help.

I dowloaded "the gimp." Sounds like a name Lenny might have made

I'll play with it later.

I owe you guys some pics now of finished product. I'll share pics as soon as I get some figs together. I'm aiming for some orcs, elves and Rohirrim just now.

Richard