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Custom Full Color Sublimation Decorated Photo Coffee Gift Mugs
The Coffee Mug Lovers Paradise - Frequently Asked Questions
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answers to questions 31 to 40;
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31.) I cannot save my digital art work files with a resolution of 300 dpi's. What can I do?
Should you not be able to save your digital art work with a resolution of at least 300 dpi's, you can use this trick to obtain high resolution digital art files: Assuming that you can only save your files in your graphics application program with a resolution of 72 dpi's or 96 dpi's, then you just create an art work that is about four (4) times as large as the dimensions of the finished mug decoration should be.
For example:
If your final mug decoration should have these dimensions: 3½" x 3½", then you'd start out by creating a new decoration with these dimensions: 14" x 14" or even 15" x 15" in your graphics application. When finished, just save it as you normally would and send us this digital file.
Please remember that this file will be rather large and you might not be able to send it to us as an attachment to an e-mail. In this case, just FTP up-load it to our server. We'll then "transform" your "over-sized" digital artwork file into one with the minimum required dimensions and resolution. (You'll find more information on this in our arts section as well as in the present FAQ pages.)
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32.) Can I send you .eps formatted art work files or is it preferable to have them in the .ai format?
Yes, you can send us art work files in the generic .eps format (Encapsulated Post Script) but you'll have to consider that sometimes when we open this type of file the original dimensions are changed, distortions might have been introduced, colors might not be as you intended, fill and other special effects might not open up correctly in our programs.
Note: If at all possible, you should always send us your files in the .ai format as we have experienced fewer problems with the .ai format than the .eps format.
Since we have to assume that the information in the .eps file you sent us, and how it opens in our graphics applications, is exactly what you want, and since we're not able to tell the difference, we cannot be held responsible for any "distortions" that might result in the finished mug decoration.
We might not be able to open and use any images that are embedded in other files. Hence all files that are to be used for the decoration of coffee mugs must be submitted in their original file format, either in the bitmap/raster or vector format. We cannot be responsible for mug decorations based on digital files sent to us that do not meet with these requirements.
Keep your fonts intact in PhotoshopWhen sending files to print vendors or us, for example, there are certain things that a designer must always include. When type is included in a Photoshop document all you have to do is save the document as an EPS. Just remember to select the Include Vector Data check box in the EPS Options dialog box. This way your font is actually outlines rather than a font call.
33.) Why do I have to enter my personal data every time I send you an on-line Order and/or Payment Form? I am tired of entering the same information several times.
You have to enter your personal data into our various on-line forms every time and in every form you sent us.
Since we only sell custom-decorated products, every order is different and we have not yet been able to automate this customizing process. Thank you for your patience.
34.) How can I order several different mugs, but only 1 of each? Do I need to do several separate order forms?
To order several mugs, each with a different mug decoration, you can send us only one order/payment form.
Just make sure that you indicate very clearly what decorations you require on each mug, on which side of the mug decoration you'd like to have the mug handle, if they're all the same mug size and if they are to be shipped to the same address.
Since you're ordering several different mugs with different decorations, your digital art files might be rather large and you might not be able to attach them to an e-mail. In this case, you can easily up-load all your files to our FTP server. It's easy. We have more details on this and other related matters in our help and suggestions pages of our web site.
Please remember that individual mug decorations are offered at the one-mug price but that we can combine the S&H portion of any order so that you'll only pay for the total S&H amount of all mugs ordered/shipped - provided they all go to the same shipping address.
If this is an order for sample mugs, we'll also be able to discount down the sample mug price to the price per mug of any resulting mug order.
In addition to this, we very highly recommend that you also ask for at least a Delivery Confirmation for any mug(s) you might order, or better still have your mug shipments also insured.
35.) Can I order over the phone or do I have to send in your secure on-line order form?
You can place your order over the phone. However, we would still require to receive our secure on-line order and payment forms as we need written documents in order to be able to process any order.
We can only begin with the decorating process of any mug order after we have received the corresponding digital artwork files (which meet with our minimum quality requirements) as well as complete order and payment information.
36.) Why is your ordering and payment process so difficult and cumbersome?
We realize that our ordering and payment process is not the most user friendly available. We have tried very hard to make it an easy click and buy experience - just as it is with other web site order and payment pages...and offer some tips on how to make this process easy.
While doing research on this subject, we found out that there are not any scripts or shipping carts available (yet) that can accommodate the wealth of variations and options we have to offer with our custom decorated coffee mugs. We do not have not even one single product that is the same.
Decorations vary from order to order as do colors, size of decoration, size of mugs, custom text, color of text, type of font, size of font, custom images, greeting cards, gift boxes, quantities ordered, quantity discounts, and most of all the shipping and handling procedures cannot be automated at all at this time.
Since we can only ship a maximum of 36 mugs per box, orders larger than this have to be split up into several boxes - yet not one of the shipping companies can handle this on any of their web sites - except manually.
What they all do - including the really big sites - is they assign an average value for S&H costs and apply this across the field. If we would do this, the S&H costs would rise dramatically and our customers would not be willing to pay then. Remember, ceramic coffee mugs are very heavy and rather prone to breakage and have to be shipped all over the world.
To be able to permit our web visitors to order online we developed our secure combined Order/Payment Form so that all vital information has to be entered only once. For those customers who do not select this form, we have a separate Order Form and a separate Payment Form where all vital information has to be entered in each. Hence the "double-entry" feature found in our web pages.
To overcome these problems, we also offer the option of confirming any order by e-mail before we charge any credit card or deposit any check. This way any customer interested in ordering custom coffee mugs does not have to enter any prices, etc. etc.
Should you have discovered a shopping card of cgi-script that offers what we're looking for, we'd greatly appreciate you informing us of it so that we can evaluate it to make your shopping experience with gift mugs more customer friendly. Thank you for your help with this.
37.) Can I put my Sublimation-decorated coffee mug on an electric Mug Warmer?
Yes, you can but if your electric mug warmer emits a lot of heat and especially when your mug is almost empty and gets very hot, the bottom part of the mug design might be influenced by the heat and show some "wear-and-tear" there.
38.) Can you recommend a shade of red and blue that prints nicely with your sublimation process on custom coffee mugs?
You might want to try the following red and blue spot colors with your digital vector art work files. Please note that the values here indicated are only suggestions as there is no definitive recommendation as to which red or which blue is suitable for your purposes. You might also want to try them with your raster/bitmap files.
When the reproduction of a particular color is of importance , a sample mug should always be considered before ordering.
Color RGB Values RGB Values Red: R179-G24-B16 R188-G5-B22 Blue R10-G73-B178 R0-G0-B185 We do not recommend the use of yellow for letterings and text alone on our white coffee mugs, as the yellow color will not show up sufficiently bright to be discernable enough.
39.) Why is the full-color reproduction of my digital art work on your coffee mugs different from what I see in my monitor?
There are many reasons why the reproductions on our white photo coffee mugs differ from what you see in your monitor. Here are just a few of them:
- Images seen on any monitor are in the RGB color mode while all printed images are in the CMYK mode. There will always be a "loss", change or "deterioration" generated somewhere in the translation process. (Consider: The basic color of your monitor is black and that of paper is white);
- All spot colors are converted to process colors as our composite printers can only print with process colors (still more "translations);
- Colors out of gamut will be automatically "replaced" by printable, similar colors available to our composite printers. Hence the reproductions cannot be the same as those you see on a monitor. (Consider: Your monitor can theoretically display up to 16.4 million different while that many colors can never be printed by anyone.)
- Diversity of devices used to create and print an image:
Each device that is used in the creation of a digital drawing, photo, etc., has a range of colors, or color gamut, that it can reproduce. For example: a monitor displays a different range of colors than a printer can reproduce. This means that a drawing might contain colors that display properly on a monitor but cannot be printed properly.
Different monitors, scanners, printers, digital cameras, and other devices might all have a different gamut.- There is no way that all the components/settings you use in creating a digital art work will correspond to the settings we use in the printing process of your digital art work files.
There will always be differences in what you see in your monitor and what you see on our coffee mugs - sometimes they are minimal and sometimes they are rather very pronounced, even unacceptable. The reproductions can never "look" the same in a monitor as they do on paper or our white coffee mugs.
If color fidelity is of importance, sample mug decorations are a MUST so that the digital file can be adjusted to what the final outcome on the coffee mugs should be. In other words, you have to work "backwards" - from the final mug decoration to the digital art work as sometimes color shifts are unavoidable. More on this can also be found here. You might also want to read question # 40.
For an independent view on this aspect of digital decorations we are offering you here the opinion as expressed by the world-renowned CorelDraw expert, Foster D. Coburn, in a recent article entitled: Secrets of Color Management. This article is partially re-printed here with the express permission of the author.
Secrets of Color Management © 2000 by Foster Coburn. All Rights Reserved.
A question that arises quite often is geared towards color management. Users of graphics software are frustrated that the colors they see on screen do not match the colors that come out of their printer. In short they will never match so get over it. If you need to match colors, there are a number of ways to do it and I'll cover them in this article.
Why Colors Don't Match
To first understand the concept of color management, you have to understand why colors don't match. The screen on your computer displays colors in RGB (Red, Green, Blue) colors. This is what is called an additive color model. As you add more of each color, you get closer to white. With no color, you get black. Printed colors are exactly the opposite. They use the CMYK model (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) which is a subtractive palette. The more color you add, the closer you get towards black.
Each of these colors models has a gamut or a range of colors that can be represented. There is some overlap within these palettes, but you would be surprised at how few colors are represented in both palettes. Thus the reason that the colors you see on screen don't match your printer. If the color you want isn't one of the colors that is within the gamut of both models, it won't match. Well over half the colors won't match.
If that isn't confusing enough, let's throw in some other variables that further confuse things. The colors you see on screen are dependent on the video card and monitor that you use on your system. And as monitors age, the colors change. So two separate users won't even see the same color on their respective screens unless their equipment is identical and the stars are in alignment. Then we throw in different brands of printers, different brands of ink and different kinds of paper. So many variables to consider and it all leads up to colors that just won't match.
Click here to read the full article and many other, very interesting tips and suggestions as they apply to digital graphics in general and vector-generated graphics in particular, especially those created with CorelDraw.
40.) How can the same image look different on the same color monitor depending on whether I chose RGB/Windows or RGB/Macintosh and also look rather different on the actual mugs?
Because of the way the two computer platforms handle color, the same image is "seen" differently on either a PC or a Mac monitor. You can very easily "see" this difference if you open an image, for example, with PhotoShop, and then from the Menu select >View >Preview and then alternate between the >Macintosh RGB and >Windows RGB formats. The numerical values of the colors do not change at all. They are identical in both views, yet the images display completely differently. The RGB/Macintosh appears to be "lighter" in appearance, and "darker" in RGB/Windows mode. And while we're at this, you might also want to take this opportunity to check on the "printability" of your image by turning the Gamut warning on: by going to View >Gamut_Warning. Immediately you'll see which colors cannot be printed as seen on your monitor so that you can change them to colors that can be printed. (See also an expert's opinion on this.)
Based on this fact - and many others mentioned elsewhere in this web site - it is impossible for us to print images/colors exactly as they are "seen" on any monitor - this on top of all the other reservation and limitations that exist on this topic.
The color decorations on our coffee mugs will thus either be "lighter" or "darker" from what the original creator of the digital art work file "sees" on the color monitor. You should also expect color shifts.
Furthermore, images seen on a monitor are similar to slides in traditional photography. Slides - which are backlit, just as images seen on your monitor - are much more brilliant than any print will ever be...and mug decorations are just like prints. A monitor can display over 16 million colors while only a fraction of these colors can actually be printed by any means. Hence, it is important to also check the gamut of your digital art to actually see on your monitor which colors cannot be printed and for which the printing process will substitute other colors which can be printed.
Since we're PC-based you might want to consider turning the "Windows RGB" mode on when creating your digital images for our sublimation, full-color mug decorations to keep the color differences you actually see in your monitor to a minimum. See also here.
We prefer that all our customers prepare and send in their digital files in the RGB format ... whenever possible.
In conclusion, we'll not be able to print your images with the same brilliance and luminance as you see on your monitor. Our mug decorations are only print copies and reproduction that will never equal the images seen on your screen and you should and cannot expect them to be like images seen on any screen...maybe someone will invent a better printing process in the future but for now we can only use the technology available today with all its limitations and short comings.
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