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Art Requirements

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What type of artwork?

 

We can make your Gobo from any artwork. However, especially in glass, the higher quality of an image you provide us the better your Gobo can look. Below are some guidelines that will help.

 

Postcript Formats

 

Adobe Illustrator (.ai)
For almost any style design except for photographic images, the preferred, ideal file format is a native Adobe Illustrator file. This kind of vector-based artwork creates the best Gobo tooling.

EPS Files (eps)
A close second to Illustrator files are files saved in eps format. This format can be created from many of the popular graphics programs available. EPS files maintain excellent image qualities and allow for moderate re-sizing without degrading the image quality.

PDF Documents (.pdf)
While there are many advantages to pdf files, ease of use in Gobo making is NOT one of them. We may be able to extract the images embedded in pdf files, but they are almost always low resolution and produce poor quality Gobos.

 

Rasterized Formats

 

Adobe Photoshop (.psd)
Native Photoshop files provide tremendous versatility by allowing all the elements of a design to be edited by graphic designers. This file format maintains text editing (v.5 and higher) and preserves layers. In addition, Photoshop is the ideal format for photographic designs or Hi-Definition Photogobos.

TIFF Files (.tif), BMP (.bmp), PICT (.pict)
Digital cameras and many graphics programs provide means for saving images in TIFF, BMP or PICT format. These files are uncompressed and maintain a very high image quality. However, they are often extremely large, so much so that electronic transfers are difficult..

JPG (.jpg), GIF (.gif)
These file types are commonly found online, they are best as artwork for custom Gobos.
GIF files are 72dpi, and contain a limited color table. This means that altering the file in any way – re-sizing, adjusting contrast, color correcting – is virtually impossible to accomplish without significantly degrading the image. So unless the file provided needs no alteration at all (very uncommon), it is a poor format choice.
JPG files are a compressed file type, which helps to keep even very complex images relatively small. But this compression makes it difficult to alter the image without introducing artifacts, which degrade the image quality. If you will be submitting JPG files, make sure to submit a file that is 2x the size of the finished Gobo.

CAD Files (.dxf, .dwg)
CAD files should not be submitted at all. Despite claims by the software companies to the contrary, these file types almost never successfully convert into a usable file format.

Word Program Files should not be submitted at all. The fonts almost never stay true.

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