In printing, the term Resolution refers to the sharpness and detail of images. Higher resolution means more image detail. Lower resolution means less image detail. However, the resolution of the sublimation transfer printer means what? please read this article!
What is the resolution?
Resolution refers to the detail that an image holds. The higher resolution, the more detail, The lower resolution, the less detail. The image resolution is measured in DPI and PPI. DPI stands for Dots per inch. PPI stands for Pixel per inch. Generally speaking, the resolution is the degree to which the eye can distinguish the varying components of an image. On a more technical level, the term resolution refers to a numerical measure of the clarity and sharpness a device, such as a computer monitor or printing press, can create an image.
Resolution is a measure of pixel density, not size. That is to say, a poster measuring 2X3 meters could have the same DPI as a business card measuring 2X3 inches. Remember it’s dots per inch, so it doesn’t relate to the size of the image, or of the dots. As already discussed, a large image(such as a billboard)can have a really low DPI if it’s going to be displayed very far away(as is usually the case with larger images), as the human eye resolves the image; hence resolution.
The optimal DPI for billboards is lower because the viewer usually only sees it from distance. Nonetheless, size does have a bearing on resolution. Reducing your resolution by half would mean you’d need to double the width and height of your printed image, in order to maintain quality. For example, let‘s say you’re printing a flyer measuring 5.5 X 8.5 inches at 300DPI. Reducing the resolution to 150DPI would result in the output of an 11 x 17inch flyer. So make sure you have the right resolution for the size of your print. If you scale down the resolution, you must scale up size correspondingly.
Instead of dots (which are round), the computer use pixels (which are square). Resolution on a computer is measured in pixels per inch(PPI), which thankfully converts directly into DPI. This means a 300PPI digital image will print in 300 DPI. Simple, right?
Nonetheless, be very careful…Your source image might look huge on your computer, but it still, comes out with low resolution in print. This is because a digital image that has a lot of pixels (for example 3000 x 2000) will look great, but still have a low DPI (for example 20), meaning it still looks terrible when printed at a certain size.
The resolution of the dye-sublimation transfer printer determines the fineness of the printed image, which directly affects the quality of the printed product. The resolution of the printer is also an important indicator for judging the print quality of the dye-sublimation transfer printer: the higher the resolution, the clearer the printed pattern is. At present, there are more and more types of large format sublimation printers in the market of sublimation printing. At this time, in consideration of the print load and speed, the user need to consider whether the print quality of the printer can meet its own requirements.
How to understand DPI better in sublimation transfer printer?
A sublimation transfer printer works by applying dots of ink or toner on the paper. The varying colors of these dots and their spatial relationship creat the printed images we recognize as photo graphs or designs. The more dots that are used, the sharper and cleaner the image (up to a point). Most digital and offset printing machines print at a resolution of 300DPI (dots per inch). 300DPI is considered high resolution and the minimum DPI for quality printed output.
Higher resolution digital sublimation printer is better?
Based on our experience, the print resolution should be set according to the actual situation, not the higher is better. For example, the highest output resolution of the dye sublimation transfer printer is now 2880 X 2880DPI. In theory, 2880 dots of ink will be places in the horizontal direction of the material in the horizontal direction. Because the material may be too saturated with the absorption of sublimation ink, the ink is connected into one piece. Instead, the print resolution is reduced. Therefore, the theoretical point refers to the capacity limit that printers can archive, but in fact, it depends on the cooperation of materials. The better the sublimation ink absorption of the material, the more independent dots can be placed in each inch. If the material used can not be used, supporting the highest resolution selected, there will be a situation in which adjacent ink dots are blended into one piece, thereby affecting the printing effect. More is not necessarily better. For most daily uses, printing in the highest resolution is a waste of ink. Many printers offer a draft-quality setting. The document points quickly and uses little ink. It doesn’t look perfect, but it is clear and good enough to meet many day-to-day needs.
If the large format sublimation tranfer printer wants to avoid the above factors to achieve the highest resolution printing, it is necessary to do the coating pretreatment on the surface of the object to be printed. The role of the coating is to absorb ink, adsorb and carry the ink so that the ink droplets perfectly present the image on the coating, so the larger the DPI value, the finer the printed pattern and the better effect. If the material is printed with high precision and the ink is scattered, or the outline of image is blurred, it is related to carrying capacity of coating, and it is necessary to replace the suitable coating. Therefore, a higher resolution of the sublimation transfer printer doesn’t mean we can get better work.
Finally, anything 2880 x 2880 pixels per intended printed inch is simply, ridiculous. There is absolutely no advantage to having a image with a resoultion that high. All is does is make your image larger than it needs to be with no improvement in print quality. The naked eyes is lucky to be able to discern the difference between an image submitted at 150 pixels per inch so going higher than 300 makes little sense.
