I make designs to put on fitted hats and I need to send some designs that I made on Inkscape for print.

I'm a bit confused on how to export files to a certain DPI because I will need to have at least 400-600 DPI to be able to get the best quality for print. When I export the drawing I set the DPI at 400 and its fine, but when I go to view the image In InkView (as SVG. format) its a very big image. I've used some online and off line file converters also. I've converted from SVG. to PNG. then PNG. to JPEG or SVG to JPEG or SVG to PDF and even when its converted I the image/design won't come up. It either comes up blank in PDF or JPEG and won't show up at all. After I convert the Inkscape file I look up properties and the design comes up a 96dpi and I know for a fact I changed the dpi already. Another thing I want to ask is eventhough the dpi is low and the pictures is good quality will it still come out in good quality and the exact way you look at it after its printed??

I've been working on these designs for awhile and now this happens and I have no idea how to get my stuff ready for printing because It won't show up or the file doesn't exist. I'm very confused and need help. And this is my first time using a design program to be able to send my designs to print.

Hi Dystink.

Please forget about those external converters.

1/ A 400 dpi image, when viewed on your computer screen, is big, yes. That's normal because your screen is displaying about, let's say, 100 dpi (pixels per inch). So, 4x4 pixels on your screen are needed to display one pixel from the image. But for the printer that's ok, the big picture is good, because the printer fits more pixels per inch (more dpi) and the picture is going to be printed at the intended size (the size of the medium, or the frame, you put it on/in).

2/ You're saying that you export your drawing from Inkscape and then you open the exported file (SVG) with Inkview ? But, exported files are PNG raster images... Not SVG.

3/ You're asking : "Another thing I want to ask is eventhough the dpi is low and the pictures is good quality will it still come out in good quality and the exact way you look at it after its printed??"
Not at all! See the answer 1/
A 100 dpi image is going to look good on your display but not good at all when printed, just because a printer is more accurate and needs about 3x more pixels. Actually it depends on the image/photo type and on the viewing distance ; a field of flowers may be ok at 150 dpi if seen from a certain distance.

4/ The dpi and the image size is related. Let's say you have a Letter-size picture, at about 90 dpi. You display it on your screen, horizontally, 100% zoom, and it fits nicely into the display because your screen displays about 90 dpi, too. You CAN'T ask a printer to print this image on a letter-size sheet of paper and expect good quality. BUT, you can print it nicely on an index card, because pixels are going to be "squished" into the "index card frame", so there is going to be more pixels per inch : good for the printer !

It's not easy to get it when you begin in the field, but, actually, it's pretty simple.
Feel free to ask for additional explanations if some points are not clear enough.

Regards.

Dystink wrote:I make designs to put on fitted hats and I need to send some designs that I made on Inkscape for print.

In addition to rndmerle's points, you'll need to talk to the people who will print your designs to find out what formats they will accept. It's not likely they will want a JPG, and some effect you can produce in Inkscape do not translate well to PDF and other vector formats. So you have to plan things out a bit.

Once you know what formats the printers accept, post them here and we can advise you on which you should use and how to maintain the best quality.