User`s manual

Chapter 9 - Software Overview
73
A Quick Note about Photoshop
As you begin to work with different kinds of images in different formats and resolutions, it is very
important to have the proper tools necessary to clean up and make images “print ready.” Even though
FastARTIST is a very powerful graphics program, there may be times when a program such as Photoshop
is required for specic editing functions. Don’t worry, Photoshop works hand-in-hand with FastARTIST,
making it a very complimentary program to have when working with bitmap images.
The goal here is to cover the basics of image editing, so that you can print the best looking images
possible. When rst learning graphics programs, the process may seem a bit overwhelming, but don’t get
frustrated. Just keep in mind the 80/30 rule: you use 30% of the program 80% of the time. But, in this
case, it’s actually more like a 90/10 rule.
So, you might be asking why you need Photoshop at all if you have FastARTIST? In a nutshell, you can
do almost everything you need with FastARTIST, but Photoshop is much more powerful when creating
an image with lots of photographic components. Plus, Photoshop is much more powerful when xing and
cleaning up poor quality artwork.
Photoshop is the agship product of Adobe Systems at www.adobe.com. The program retails for around
$650 and, as of this writing, version 9.0 CS3 is the most current version. It is always nice to have the
latest and greatest version, but frankly, you can do everything mentioned here with version 5.5 or higher.
If you are a student, teacher or work for a school, you may be eligible for an “Educator Version” from
places like www.academicsuperstore.com.
Check File Mode
This is the step that most new users will overlook when opening a le. It is very important to note the
le attributes when rst opening a le as well as determining the le mode. Note whether it is CMYK or
RGB and make changes if necessary. Because the T-Jet does not print spot color, the le must be in RGB
mode.
If the le is CMYK from another application, FastARTIST will Open/Import it as RGB. However,
FastARTIST will open the le at a larger resolution than normal, drastically increasing the le size. For
best results, convert the le to RGB (if you can) before importing it into FastARTIST
.
Yes, Photoshop will do process color separations called CMYK, but for le manipulation and adjustment
you should work in RGB mode. To check the Mode of the le in Photoshop, go to Image > Mode. If
CMYK is checked, click on RGB. NOTE: changing modes will atten the le if not attened already.
Check File Size and Resolution
FastARTIST and Photoshop will let you “Open” a wide variety of les including, TIFF, JPEG, GIF, EPS,
PSD, AI and others. If you open a le that is vector based, such as one from Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop
will convert the le from mathematical vectors to small pixels. This is called Rasterizing a le.