# What DPI for DTG?



## Arithian (Dec 27, 2007)

I have been tossing up either 200 or 300 DPI for designing for DTG. 

I hear that DTG cant do anything over 200 so its a waste of ink and filesizes to even design in 300 dpi. I also have heard that 200 DPI is more than enough for any shirt.

However, on the flip side, I have heard that 300 DPI is ideal for any design and many companies require it to print your image. Now, I will be printing my own images so it doesnt technically matter what other companies want but... I am just wondering if there is something I am missing with the designing at 300 dpi that I should be aware of before I start pumping out all these graphics.


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## tpope (Oct 3, 2007)

I tend to lean towards the 300 DPI barrier. I can always downsample a customer's image with good results.


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## zhenjie (Aug 27, 2006)

I've printed at 72DPI and it still looks fine. I tend to ask for around 100-300DPI as I can enlarge or downsize as neccessary.


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## Arithian (Dec 27, 2007)

hhhhmmm so let me ask this...

If I design at the fullest possible size, as in designing at 16x20 knowing that the image I am using is never going to be printed at that size, am I ok with 200 dpi or should I still design at 300 dpi?

The reason I am so concerned about 300 dpi is because it my files were ginormous (around 200 megs a file), and everytime I did anything filter wise it would take like 2 mins to apply due to comp lag. 

However, if 300 dpi is the smart way to go, I will gladly put up with that file size and comp lag.


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## zhenjie (Aug 27, 2006)

There really isn't a difference in the final print output whether you use 200dpi or 300dpi.


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## Arithian (Dec 27, 2007)

Ok so if there is no difference in the print output, then why even bother designing in 300 dpi?

Is it simply just more leverage when resizing? Or is it for the possibility of using the image on bigger formats such as posters/banners?


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## Arithian (Dec 27, 2007)

Also, let me ask...

If there is no difference printing on a shirt at 200 dpi vs 300 dpi... would there be a difference printing on other items with DTG such as a mousepad?


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## Peta (Jan 25, 2007)

Hi!

We never use more than 200dpi on any DTG-job. Shirts, Mousepads, Towels etc etc. 300dpi in scale 1:1 is only neccessary in sheetfed offset printing when you use screening over 150-175 lpi.

DTG is very "forgiving" with the inkjet technology and large textile fibers in the material compared to a glossy paper printed with offset.


Best regards / Peter, uniprint.se


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## Mistewoods (Jul 7, 2007)

We reduce our graphics to 150 dpi at print size before printing. We have been told that it speeds up the RIP without compromising quality- and our printing results confirm this.

However in doing canvasses there is some art that does benefit from printing at 200 dpi at print size. Higher than that does not seem to be beneficial.


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## Don-ColDesi (Oct 18, 2006)

Amen on the 200 dpi comments - on a garment anything over 200 dpi (and 150 in most cases) is just wasting computer time. On less absorbent substrates like the canvas Mistewoods mentioned and rigid goods like wood, tile or golf balls you will want higher resolution - I usually use 300 dpi

Hope this helps!


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## Tshirtgang (Dec 28, 2010)

Hi all,

Does it matter what kind of artwork it is for printing results in 200 vs 300 dpi? I have a client that wants to print tattoo art. He's scanned them at 300dpi and I really want to capture the detail in the lineart and color shading. But I'm worried this will eat up a lot of ink and the RIP speed. Any thoughts on this? Has anyone printed tattoo art before on tshirts?


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## Tallyplayer (Aug 10, 2010)

I have done the same image at 150 200 and 300 with no difference in final output but time and ink gave the sweet spot to 150

Sent from my SCH-I500 using T-Shirt Forums


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## GraphixGuys (Jan 16, 2012)

300 dpi is ideal if you are doing offset printing. Like Don said the way the shirts handle the media and absorbs the ink the detail of 300dpi gets lost in the absorbment of the fibers. I like to set my up in 200dpi and that is mainly for the purpose of sizing up if nessesary.

Something that will help your file sizes is to minimize the number of layers you have, turn off the thumbnail preview, and turn off your layers when saving (by this I mean to unview the layers not flatten the image).


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## zoom_monster (Sep 20, 2006)

If you resample a lower rez or do color correction, you will run the risk of making the file "dirtier", So starting out in the creation stage at a higher ppi is a good thing to do. If you want to save RIP and spool time 150 to 200(remember at size) is fine. Designs for dark shirts should be at the higher end, CMYK only will usually look fine at 100 to 150. Remember that an Epson head only has 180 nozzles in a row, the rest of the resolution come from "timed" placement of the interpreted dots in a pre arranged matrix. This is designed to fill in the spaces and add just a little more smoothness(and ink volume).

Interestingly, when you see 360,720,1440, this is achieved only with the overlap (interweave) of part of the width of the printhead over a specific point in the substrate.


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## Fenrir (Mar 13, 2012)

Wow, talk about ancient thread necromancy. Does the DPI itself affect the ink usage _at all_? I thought this was entirely dependent on the printer quality setting.

If you have a red square at 200dpi or 300dpi it's still going to use the exact same amount of red ink to cover that area at the same quality setting. However, if you have a gradient square at 100dpi the gradient will be rougher than a 300dpi gradient.

I always work at 600dpi if I'm not doing vector unless I'm absolutely sure I'll never ever need to blow up what I'm working on. What if a shirt takes off and you want to sell wall posters of your artwork? Or it _really_ takes off and you need to do a billboard?!


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## greysky (Jul 8, 2012)

greetings all..

since i'm newbie here and i have concern about whether use 300 or below for clothing design.. its made worry about the output on the t-shirt.. but i think using under 300 dpi its okay for me, since all my design is uses solid color and solid shape ( in my terms solid is there's no gradation or separation design, like my sample on attachment)

cmiiw


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## GraphixGuys (Jan 16, 2012)

You can go below 300, but I would not go under 150 dpi for any designs.

Or you can also vector your art if it simple and blocky and you won't have to worry about DPI at all.


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