Artwork Requirements
Acceptable File Formats for both Mac & PC: TIF, EPS, BMP, PDF

Our Production Software Includes:

When transmitting your files please indicate the application name and version, as well as the computer platform being used (PC or Mac). If artwotk was NOT generated by these programs please contact us for additional options.

Resolution for Halftones
All files sent for Halftone production must be at least 300dpi at 100% size. Any files that DO NOT meet this requirement may be sent back to the client with a request for new electronic artwork and the current job will NOT be produced at that time.

Raster vs. Vector!
Let's tackle one of the big questions FIRST! What is Adobe Photoshop?!

In simplest terms Photoshop is raster based image editing program. It has very powerful tools which can analyze and allow you to modify these pixels. Raster or bit mapped graphics are defined by a grid of pixels to Photoshop. Each pixel has a specific color value assigned to it depending what color mode you are working in it is defined differently. A pixel is usually very small so you don't notice the individual pixels, they all combine to make up you image.

Differences between raster and vector image formats
A computer screen generally displays 72 pixels per inch and most printers work with 600-2400 pixels per inch. The terms ppi, pixels/inch, dpi, dots/inch and spi, samples/inch all are different terms for describing how the grid is laid out which is it's resolution. The only difference between the terms are the devices being used. Scanners and monitors generally use PPI or spi. Output devices use dpi or lpi. Lpi is lines per inch which we will talk about in the future.
Drawing programs like Freehand and Illustrator are vector based which is very different. They use math to describe the shapes that make up an image. The advantage of using math to describe a shape is it doesn't have a set resolution. The shape will display/print at the highest resolution the output device supports. This is very different then raster images which have a fixed resolution. Also fonts and therefore text is usually vector based.
The way each format handles resolution is very important. In Photoshop to achieve the highest quality you need to work at the correct resolution from the beginning. Each time you resize or alter the resolution the quality suffers.
As you can see a raster based image at 72 dpi has fairly jagged edges. When increasing the size to 200% the resolution drops to 36 dpi and it is really jagged. On the other hand a vector based image looks much less jagged since the curves are defined mathematically and resizing the image has no effect on quality.

Vector based images do have several advantages since they are describe mathmatecally and are resolution independent. But they do have one major disadvantage. Most photographs can' t be described mathematically. To achieve a continuous tone image for example a photograph the most efficient way to describe it is by using a raster image format.