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| If you are planning to send a continuous tone picture (bitmap) then follow these easy step-by-step instructions: | |
| 1. | Make sure your picture is of the quality you
desire. If it has defects, (or is too dark or too light, not enough details, etc.) these
will all show up on the mug. We cannot be responsible for these defects as we use your
material "AS IS". See our FAQ section as well as our art file format pages. |
| 2. | Have the picture scanned. Perhaps one of your
friends has a scanner. Or you might try a vendor such as Kinko's. If you have an image
file that you have downloaded off the net, (although the picture may look good on the
screen), it will not be of sufficient quality for placement on the mug. For optimal
results, the picture resolution should be at least 300 PPI (pixels per inch), with a typical
file size of not more than about 60KB for a 3" x 3" (or about 400 x 400
pixels) finished picture. (If you use Kinko's or a similar service provider, they'll know
what to do if you give them these indications.) Save this scanned image in the
.tif format on disk. They might also compress your files.
Just ask them about this service. Therefore, if you want to use pictures downloaded off the web, you might consider printing the pictures first on a high quality color printer to see if the quality is sufficient for your mug decoration. If it looks acceptable, then have the printed picture scanned to above specifications. (Remember, a copy of a copy is never of the same quality as the original.) When saving the file, do so in the .tif format as this will permit easy electronic transmittal without loss of quality and speed. |
| 3. | Zipping (compressing)
your scanned images. Once you have the pictures scanned, and saved to your floppy disk or
hard drive in the .tif format, then you will
need to "zip" (or compress) the
file with PKZip or WinZip. This compression process will reduce the size of your file
without losing any information (about 40-60%
depending on the image's contents). Mac users can use a utility called: Stuff-It. PKZip and WinZip can be found for free at this link and WinZip also at this link.. Tutorials usually accompany these programs for you to learn how to use them. In general, you will want to create a "New" folder or directory into which to place your picture files to be zipped/compressed. First, you determine in which folder/directory you want to create the .zip file. One good choice would be in the "Temp" folder on your hard drive or a new folder called simply: mugs. This folder will be easy to find later on when you get ready to send it with an E-mail. Then you choose a name for the .zip file that will contain your picture file(s). A good name for such a file would be something similar to your E-mail name to help us with our records and not to lose your file. (This is important because if by chance two of our customers e-mail us the same day a file called, for example, mug.zip the file that arrives in our e-mail box after the first one, will over-write (eliminate) the first file called mug.zip on our hard drive.) Then, you will have to zip or compress your file. You use the "Add" command to zip your picture files into an archive. ("Add to archive" means to compress or "zip" the picture files). If you have done everything right, then a new file will be created in the folder/directory you indicate with the ending "xxxx.zip". This .zip file you send to us as an attachment to your E-mail. If this still sounds confusing, please read these. |
| 4. | Once your picture
file has been zipped you're ready for sending it to us using this
link. In the subject area, type in an appropriate header. In the text area type whatever you want us to do with your picture. |
| 5. | In the body of the message, include the number of mugs, your address, method of payment...and any information you deem necessary. |
| 6. | Once we receive our
secure order/payment form, we will e-mail you a "virtual mug"
layout for your review and approval. Your order will be ready for shipment in about 3-5 business days after we receive payment and all other required items. As always, we do not guarantee timely arrival of your mugs at their destination, but only timely delivery to the shipping company |
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FTP up-loading to our servers:
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