PNG transparency for a t-shirt

Howdy.

I'm setting up a file to be direct-printed to a green t-shirt on a website called zazzle.com

It's currently a PSD with layers and transparency. Black text and a logo on a transparent background.

Their help files say to save it as a 32 bit PNG with alpha transparency and that transparency will be retained. I'm sure the 100% transparent areas will be transparent but what happens to the edge pixels that aren't 100% transparent? They'll no doubt be printed as an opaque color, giving me a halo. I can deal with that by mimicking the t-shirt's color in a bottom layer, I suppose. The shirt will be a lighter color, so it might not matter much.

My questions are:
Which Save for Web should I use? PNG-8 or PNG-24? or can I save as a 32 bit PNG from PS7?
Should I really create an alpha channel transparency? Is it somehow better?
And finally, has anyone had an experience designing a shirt at zazzle or similar.

Thanks
Amy

wrote in message

Howdy.

I'm setting up a file to be direct-printed to a green t-shirt on a website called zazzle.com

It's currently a PSD with layers and transparency. Black text and a logo on a transparent background.

Their help files say to save it as a 32 bit PNG with alpha transparency and that transparency will be retained. I'm sure the 100% transparent areas will be transparent but what happens to the edge pixels that aren't 100% transparent? They'll no doubt be printed as an opaque color, giving me a halo. I can deal with that by mimicking the t-shirt's color in a bottom layer, I suppose. The shirt will be a lighter color, so it might not matter much.

My questions are:
Which Save for Web should I use? PNG-8 or PNG-24? or can I save as a 32 bit PNG from PS7?
Should I really create an alpha channel transparency? Is it somehow better?
And finally, has anyone had an experience designing a shirt at zazzle or similar.

Thanks

32 bit png? 24 then 48 seems to be the progression, see http://www.mezzoblue.com/archives/2003/06/09/a_png_review/

MH

You can imagine my confusion.
Maybe 32=24 in zazzlespeak. I'm using a 24 bt image. Still worried about the edges but I guess I'll give it a go.

wrote in message

You can imagine my confusion.
Maybe 32=24 in zazzlespeak. I'm using a 24 bt image. Still worried about the edges but I guess I'll give it a go.

;)

MH

It is a tee shirt. They'll be looking at your tits not the edges of the design.

wrote in message

You can imagine my confusion.
Maybe 32=24 in zazzlespeak. I'm using a 24 bt image. Still worried about the edges but I guess I'll give it a go.

On 18 Aug 2006 13:41:26 -0700, wrote:

My questions are:
Which Save for Web should I use? PNG-8 or PNG-24? or can I save as a 32 bit PNG from PS7?
Should I really create an alpha channel transparency? Is it somehow better?
And finally, has anyone had an experience designing a shirt at zazzle or similar.

Nobody seems to have answered your question.

PNG has variable transparency, unlike GIF which only has 0% or 100%, so you should be OK.

Easy to use graphics effects:
http://www.ransen.com/

"Owen Ransen" wrote in message

On 18 Aug 2006 13:41:26 -0700, wrote:

My questions are:
Which Save for Web should I use? PNG-8 or PNG-24? or can I save as a 32 bit PNG from PS7?
Should I really create an alpha channel transparency? Is it somehow better?
And finally, has anyone had an experience designing a shirt at zazzle or similar.

Nobody seems to have answered your question.

PNG has variable transparency, unlike GIF which only has 0% or 100%, so you should be OK.

Easy to use graphics effects:
http://www.ransen.com/

Did you read the link?

"PNG, pronounced 'ping', is available in 3 flavours: true colour, grayscale, and palette-based. The former is better known as PNG-24, the latter as PNG-8 (24 and 8 bits per pixel, respectively) and these are the two that will concern us for now. 1-bit transparency means every pixel is either completely transparent, or completely opaque. 8-bit transparency means every pixel has an opacity value from 0 to 255, where 0 is completely transparent and 255 is completely opaque".

MH

On Tue, 22 Aug 2006 12:07:03 +0100, "Mike Hyndman" wrote:

The former is better known as PNG-24, the latter as PNG-8

Ha! I did not even know that PNG-8 existed!

Oh well, you learn something every day...

Easy to use graphics effects:
http://www.ransen.com/

"Owen Ransen" wrote in message

On Tue, 22 Aug 2006 12:07:03 +0100, "Mike Hyndman" wrote:

The former is better known as PNG-24, the latter as PNG-8

Ha! I did not even know that PNG-8 existed!

Oh well, you learn something every day...

Owen,

"Share what you know, learn what you don't." ;)

Regards

Mike H