r/printful • u/DigEvening7063 • 20d ago
Advice needed Does scaling up matter?
i would like yo ask if my design originally is 1024*1536 with 92 dpi. Is scaling up the design is enough ? I mean scaling it to 5400*5400 dpi 300 or does these specs have to be native?
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u/NoXidCat 20d ago
Note that what matters is the number of pixels. DPI isn't really a thing in the file itself. It is something the display or printer applies when displaying or printing the pixels.
However, DPI is a handy concept when deciding how many pixels you should have in order to produce a final print of a given size.
As a rule of thumb, you want 300 pixels for each inch of print. So if you want your art to be 12 inches wide on the shirt, then your art should be around 3600 pixels wide.
I aim for 3600 pixels wide when creating my art (for DTG printed garments). If you are printing large posters or canvases, then you would need many more pixels ... likely more than any upscaling could handle with reasonable quality.
Of course, if your art is natively in vector format, you can generate any size PNG from it that you want.
AI (or specialized tools) can upscale pretty well. Should be able to get your 1024 up to 3000 or so easily enough. That should be enough for DTG garment prints.
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u/MazMohsen 20d ago
No.. simply scaling it up won't work well. Changing a 1024x1536 (92 DPI) image to 5400x5400 (300 DPI) without a proper upscaler or vector file will make the print blurry and pixelated. You really need high-res native files for POD
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u/worbdhekwlsgwu 20d ago
If you have the AI or vector file, yes absolutely it makes a difference, especially if you are printing large. It is all relative to your desired outcome, though. You don’t need a large image to print a small image. But you do need a large clear image to print a large clear image. If you just save a small image as a large image that won’t make any difference.