Best Print Quality

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mikedunny

I've made some posts on photoshop groups trying to find a way to get
the best quality print possible from scanning a photo quality cd cover.

I've been scanning and saving the covers as tiffs, jpeg, psd, pdf's
with both rbg & cmyk at as hight as 600 dpi....and my HP laserjet 1500l
can only produce a sub-par print.

Does anyone know which part of my process needs to be upgraded to get a
cd cover to look like a professional quality print: my scanner or my
printer?

Do I have to get a $5,000 printer to get the highest quality print or
are there any other aspects of the scanning, photoshop, printing
process that I can improve upon?

Thanks!
Mike
 
I've made some posts on photoshop groups trying to find a way to get
the best quality print possible from scanning a photo quality cd cover.

I've been scanning and saving the covers as tiffs, jpeg, psd, pdf's
with both rbg & cmyk at as hight as 600 dpi....and my HP laserjet 1500l
can only produce a sub-par print.

Does anyone know which part of my process needs to be upgraded to get a
cd cover to look like a professional quality print: my scanner or my
printer?

Do I have to get a $5,000 printer to get the highest quality print or
are there any other aspects of the scanning, photoshop, printing
process that I can improve upon?

Thanks!
Mike
Click to expand...

what are you printing on Mike? If you're using plain paper for the
covers then that'll be substandard even at max settings. Do make sure
your printer is set to best quality for whichever paper you use. If
you have only tried one kind of paper and have bad results try another
before doing anything serious. Oh, and are you sure you're not getting
moiré when you scan covers? If you don't know what I mean then check
this little pic
http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~km/imaging/course/moire1.jpg

As you're scanning printed media it made me wonder if that's what
you're seeing. I think Paintshop has a moiré removal in its settings
but I'm unsure about other programs.Scanners sometimes have something
in their own settings to stop it happening too

anyway, I'm no techy but there's a couple of things to be going on
with.
 
I've made some posts on photoshop groups trying to find a way to get
the best quality print possible from scanning a photo quality cd cover.

I've been scanning and saving the covers as tiffs, jpeg, psd, pdf's
with both rbg & cmyk at as hight as 600 dpi....and my HP laserjet 1500l
can only produce a sub-par print.

Does anyone know which part of my process needs to be upgraded to get a
cd cover to look like a professional quality print: my scanner or my
printer?

Do I have to get a $5,000 printer to get the highest quality print or
are there any other aspects of the scanning, photoshop, printing
process that I can improve upon?
Click to expand...

I don't know your scanner, so I can't say whether you'd want another
one. Scanner technology changes very little. The biggest improvement
has been speed. For example I would still be using my old Microtek
600Z if it wasn't for the fact it wasn't supported in windows 95, only
a flacky beta driver, i'd likely still be using that though we are
talking super slow as it was a tripple pass model. Software, as in the
scan software, that is something worth buying a scanner for. The
feature the microteks had which I liked was moiré removal, though
newer models were lacking in the quality of their older ones. But this
can be addressed in photoshop.

I don't know if you'd want another printer. Best to find a spiffy
printable cover and see for your self.
http://cosplay.se/Mikau/Awesomness/ these at least have some decent
quality images in them, a couple at 300dpi which is minimal but
adquate. But a photo inkjet does a absolutly fab job and start at
hundrads of dollars. If you want to spend thousands you can with a
xerox phaser. I don't know your application, nor volume, so I have no
idea what you need.

But your best resource would be this document.
http://www.generetic.org/cover-chat/4866-dvdca-scanning-tutorial.html?highlight=tutorial

It covers the use of the gausian filter to help remove moiré and the
use of the unsharpen mask to remove the effect of the gausian filter.
 
zakezuke said:
It covers the use of the gausian filter to help remove moiré and the
use of the unsharpen mask to remove the effect of the gausian filter.
Click to expand...

:O) That's what I like, simplicity! I think paintshop pro has about
ten different noise reductions things but the main reason I like it is
that they're usually adjustable.
 
Paul said:
:O) That's what I like, simplicity! I think paintshop pro has about
ten different noise reductions things but the main reason I like it is
that they're usually adjustable.
Click to expand...

Both the gausian blur and the unsharpen mask are adjustable. While i'm
sure there are some more specalised tools available, it does the trick
and does it well.
 
I've made some posts on photoshop groups trying to find a way to get
the best quality print possible from scanning a photo quality cd
cover.

I've been scanning and saving the covers as tiffs, jpeg, psd, pdf's
with both rbg & cmyk at as hight as 600 dpi....and my HP laserjet
1500l
can only produce a sub-par print.

Does anyone know which part of my process needs to be upgraded to get
a
cd cover to look like a professional quality print: my scanner or my
printer?
Click to expand...

I would expect you would have much better results from an inkjet
printer. Even the $49 inkjet's these days typically far exceed the
photo print quality of a reasonably priced laser. If you are in the US
email me your address and the artwork you want printed and I will print
it on my HP 2610 and mail it to you.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging
 
I've made some posts on photoshop groups trying to find a way to get
the best quality print possible from scanning a photo quality cd cover.

I've been scanning and saving the covers as tiffs, jpeg, psd, pdf's
with both rbg & cmyk at as hight as 600 dpi....and my HP laserjet 1500l
can only produce a sub-par print.

Does anyone know which part of my process needs to be upgraded to get a
cd cover to look like a professional quality print: my scanner or my
printer?

Do I have to get a $5,000 printer to get the highest quality print or
are there any other aspects of the scanning, photoshop, printing
process that I can improve upon?

Thanks!
Mike
Click to expand...

I use photo paper from a printer capable of printing photos, i.e. any
printer that advertises that. I like the Canon 5200r (wireless too),
many HP printers produce excellent photos but on mine I have to
exchange the black cartridge with the photo one. I have always used
printers with print heads on the cartridge but I am going out on a
limb by trying the Canon.
 
Who knows without seeing the result?

There are numerous places in a workflow from source to copy that can
create defects, and many can amplify the problems.

Also, it is not clear to me what you wish the end result ot look like,
and if you want the result ot be at 100% size or smaller or larger.

CD cover images are offset printed, so they are screened with a set of
angle screens to break the image up from continuous tone (photographic)
to a offset printed image that uses only four ink colors (CMYK).

Using the wrong dpi to scan or to print can amplify the screening, using
the incorrect amount of sharpening, or the wrong type, can make it worse
still. Then on the printing side, you can be running into a further
amplification of the screening if the printing method you use is not
correct for the type of scan. Most laser printers provide several
methods of distributing the dots.

Further, in general, color laser printers cannot provide the quality
that a properly used inkjet printer can. Inkjet printers generally use
smaller dots, have more control of dot positioning, some use several
more ink colors or densities. In fact, dollar for dollar, a very
inexpensive inkjet printer (under $99) will give you a better result
than a several hundred to a thousand dollar color laser printer.

However, with the right specialized software, (a R.I.P.) a laser printer
can be controlled to do a pretty good job.

If getting high quality results from a screened offset color image is
important to you, you need to do some research on techniques to
determine if you hardware and software can produce it. That means doing
some work on your end. The information on how to scan is available on
the internet using Google searches, and the same is true for working
with printers. There are just too many potential areas where the
problem could be occurring to answer your question. You will be doing
yourself a favor, not only in what you learn, but in not replacing
equipment unnecessarily, if you take the time and effort to figure this
out yourself.

Lastly, I don't feel exactly comfortable offering a lot of help in a
situation where a person is asking for advice on how to copy copyrighted
materials without knowing if they have rights to do so, nor knowing the
intention of this use.

Making a compilation disk or a back up disk for one's own use is one
thing (and even legal in Canada, due to the tax levy on black CDs) but
making dozens to give away or sell is quite another.

Art
 
and my HP laserjet 1500l
can only produce a sub-par print.

Does anyone know which part of my process needs to be upgraded to get a
cd cover to look like a professional quality print: my scanner or my
printer?
Click to expand...

Get a good photo printer. About $100 for an inkjet, not a laser. Canon
makes some very good ones with individual color cartridges.
 
I've made some posts on photoshop groups trying to find a way to get
the best quality print possible from scanning a photo quality cd cover.

I've been scanning and saving the covers as tiffs, jpeg, psd, pdf's
with both rbg & cmyk at as hight as 600 dpi....and my HP laserjet 1500l
can only produce a sub-par print.

Does anyone know which part of my process needs to be upgraded to get a
cd cover to look like a professional quality print: my scanner or my
printer?

Do I have to get a $5,000 printer to get the highest quality print or
are there any other aspects of the scanning, photoshop, printing
process that I can improve upon?

Thanks!
Mike
Click to expand...

For starters, place the CD cover 90 degrees offset @ 100 dpi, and either
rotate back afterwards or have it rotate in your twain driver if possible.
If you like what you see, save the image as a high quality jpg.
Make only small incremental increases in the dpi if necessary because the CD
cover isn't much better than magazine quality.
mark_
 
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