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I'm wanting to print t-shirt designs. I need a 300 dpi resolution, and I need the background to be transparent.
I save png files at 300 ppi all the time - for digital scrapbooking. Just create your images at the size you want and save them... I guess I don't understand the problem... just turn off any background layers so you see the transparency in PS and save as a png...
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I don't produce t-shirts but I'm pretty sure you don't need resolutions as high as 300dpi as the ink bleeds into the fabric and reduces the resolution. 120-150dpi would be closer to the mark I'd guess, but there are plenty of people here who know exactly how the process works so I'll leave the details to them.
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I save png files at 300 ppi all the time - for digital scrapbooking. Just create your images at the size you want and save them... I guess I don't understand the problem... just turn off any background layers so you see the transparency in PS and save as a png...
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Ok, I have done that. But when I check the file properties of the png, after it's published. It actually doesn't give me any information about the dpi. But when I publish it as a jpeg, it has a dpi of 92 I believe. Even tho i have my canvas set to 300dpi in Photoshop before publishing.
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If you're using Export or Save For Web, the resolution metadata are discarded, so that the file doesn't have a resolution at all. This is because resolution is moot for screen. The application you reopen the file into, may then assign its own default ppi value. Some assign 72, others 96 or some other value.
But none of this really matters. What matters is that you have enough pixels for the intended resolution at the intended size. If you open the Image Size dialog - with "resample image" UNchecked!!! - just type in the intended resolution and see if the resulting print size is sufficient.
It's important to realize that ppi, pixels per inch, is not a native property of the file. It's just metadata, and it can be changed arbitrarily without affecting the file. Just stop and consider what pixels per inch means. That little formula is the key.
All that said, cotton fabric can not possibly resolve as high as 300 ppi. I'd say 150 at the most, more likely 100.
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According to some of my research, 300 dpi is the lest amount you should use for printing t-shirts. Here's a tutorial on it. Image Size/Format Guide | Print Aura - DTG Printing Services
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https://forums.adobe.com/people/D+Fosse wrote
All that said, cotton fabric can not possibly resolve as high as 300 ppi. I'd say 150 at the most, more likely 100.
As I understand it, the 300 ppi figure is so the printer can make color separations.
"Traditional T-shirt printing is done by silk screen, which technically has a varying resolution called “mesh”, the density of the threads. You might see a typical mesh density of 110 or 156 threads per inch, but this isn’t terribly important to the final output of the image because the ink will flow through the threads and become a solid layer on the garment. The only time it is important to use 156 mesh is if there are a lot of very fine details in the image.
If you only have a raster image to start with for your T-shirt printing project, then it is ideal to have it at 300 DPI, simply because it needs to have enough resolution for the printer to create color separations. These are selections of each individual color that will go into screen preparation, since screen printing for T-shirts is done one color at a time.
Because the artwork for screen printing is color separated, it is much better to use a vector image to begin with, to make the color separation process go more smoothly, but it’s not terribly difficult to get separations from a raster image if it doesn’t have too many colors involved."
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Now just open it in photoshop again, set the DPI back to 300 and save it. Just save. Remember you are now editing a png file. No need to export or save as. Just save and be happy
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I'm only assume, that because the jpeg publishes in a dpi of 96, then so is the png publishing in a dpi of 96.
However, when I use scripts to publish my work, under the properties, it's 300 dpi. But can't publish a PNG using scripts.
How else can you check the dpi of a PNG? Maybe using gimp or something?
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just open it up in PS again to check the ppi...
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Photoshop Export/Quick Export strips the resolution metadata, as does Export/Save for Web (Legacy). Photoshop Save As will retain resolution metadata.
The official PNG specification for the PNG resolution unit is in metres (not inches). So a 300 ppi save as PNG from Photoshop would embed a value of 11811 ppm (pixels per metre). When Photoshop opens a PNG with this resolution metadata, it performs a “translation” from pixels per metre to PPI:
118.11 x 2.54 = 299.9994 ppi, rounded up to 300 ppi.
If there is no resolution metadata embedded in the file, then Photoshop defaults to 72 ppi.
Adobe Bridge does not perform the same translation, so there is a discrepancy where Bridge indicates the resolution as 72 ppi when Photoshop indicates 300 ppi. Later versions of Bridge simply show an arbitrary value of 72 ppi if there is no resolution metadata in the file. Earlier versions of Bridge, such as CS6 showed no resolution information at all for PNG files, whether they had resolution metadata or not.
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Save your PNG file, then open it on PS. Change the DPI to 300 and save it again. Just save. Remember you are now editing a png file. No need to export or save as. Just save and be happy You're done! PNG 300DPI
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As described in my reply #9, opening a PNG image and setting it to 300 ppi and saving will actually result in a value of 11811 ppm.
This can be verified using ExifTool or other metadata software.
Photoshop reads the 11811 ppm value when opening the image, converts and rounds up the value to 300 ppi.
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This is an old thread, but as I've stumbled upon it, I'll add my experience and 2 cents. I have to save 300 ppi transparent pngs all the time as I'm a digital graphics creator.
Let me address a couple of things from this thread:
Hope that makes sense!
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"Doing an Export to PNG will give you a 72 ppi file"
Doing an Export to PNG will give you a file without ppi - not 72, not 300, not anything. As has been explicitly said several times in this thread.
Export is for web/screen/mobile. It is not intended for print files.
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Hi Melissa, This thread is quite old but ill try 🙂
Im "saving as" png, my image which is 300 ppi and it comes out being 72ppi. Im not exporting it, saving as. Am I missing something?
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Best to open a new topic than to append to a very old and marked as answered post. That way you get full attention to your problem.