Professionally done DVD cover prints for Tetris and Iron Soldier...anyone have extra?

[3DOMan]

I was going to print my own but anyone have any extras for sale? I'm looking for really nice ones.

If not, any tips on how to print them and get the best results? I don't have a fancy graphics printer so I'll probably have to go to a print shop

 

[megarat]

The only advice I can offer is:

(a) take it to a professional print shop, since it will look better that what you can do at home and will likely be worth the extra $.$$.

(b) use a heavier stock paper; not necessarily card stock, but heavier than standard printer paper. The actual inserts look to be fairly glossy, so I would keep that in mind as well. It might be helpful to bring in an actual DVD insert (probably not the exact one you are copying, to alleviate any concerns about copyright infringement that the shop might have, but something qualitatively similar) and say, "I want the paper to be like this."

(c) this is probably obvious, but if you're going to make multiple copies, do a test first, to make sure you're happy with it.

 

[Sajin]

Im with megarat, Id say use at least 60 pound glossy and maybe up to 120 pound depending on what you want. I wouldn't go over that though.
Also if your doing this yourself, most normal ink jet printers(at least the ones I've used) can run 60 pound(anything more maybe but I wouldn't recommend trying it) so you wouldn't really need to spend the extra money on the professionals unless you wanted extremely good quality.
Also just some advice, look around your town for a vocational high school with a Graphic Communications program that takes jobs as part of the curriculum, they usually have some good printing equipment and are much cheaper then most other print shops (as well as your giving students some experience )

 

[3DOMan]

Ah ok thanks, Ive seen some really nice Tetris covers, I was hoping somebody might have an extra one kicking around.

 

[K3V]

Here's a scan of the IS3 cover: http://www.nuon-dome.com/pix/is3cover.jpg

And here's a cover for The Next Tetris that I made years ago that, now that I look at it, is pretty crappy LOL http://www.nuon-dome.com/pix/tntcover.jpg

 

[3DOMan]

k3v how did you print yours?

 

[Skah T]

I seem to remember going to Kinkos to print mine at the time.

 

[viMaster]

I'm planning on creating a custom Next Tetris one for fun, but I don't know when that will be yet. I never did it when I had the game, but now that I don't have it, it sorta got lowered on the priority list, but if no one has a good quality one in the coming months, I may get around to it.

The only way you're going to get something halfway decent without it being an inkjet printout or from a professional printing press is to take it to Kinkos and have them do it on their laser. Actual DVD inserts are actually not very heavy at all. I just have them print on their glossiest laser paper. As long as you do that, you should be good.
The other option for a truly professional job would be to send it to an actual professional press. There, you're going to run into more costs, though. If they do it on their digital press, then it's probably about the same quality as kinkos & their laser printer, but you'd have to have a minimum order with a professional press -- at least 20-25 to make it worth your while. If you want to go with an offset press, which is the best, you're looking at a minimum print of at least 200-500 and there's usually setup costs involved as well.

I'd just go to kinkos if you only want/need 1.

 

[K3V]

Yeah I got mine done on Kinko's. Make sure they print on some nice laser paper and you'll be good to go.

 

[3DOMan]

So how does that work? Should I bring the file in on a usb drive or cd or sd-card?

 

[megarat]

It's been a while since I've done it, but yeah, I recall that you take the image in on a flash drive, and tell them at the counter which file you want printed on which size/type paper, and what quality/type of printout (e.g., color laser). I recommend that the files you want printed be the only ones on the flash drive, so that the staff don't get confused about which ones to print out.

Also, if it's not clear, I concur w/viMaster about using Kinko's. (Now called FedEx Office at most locations.) I was including them under the rubric of "professional print shop".

This is probably a personal thing, but I would still recommend considering a heavier-stock paper. I think it holds up better, and that sometimes the heavy laser printing itself can create slight creases in the paper, which I personally think looks cheap. (It's also possible that my opinions are formed by the technology of yesteryear, and that this is no longer an issue, so feel free to experiment.)

K3V: your Next Tetris artwork looks like it could be cleaned up reasonably easily with a small amount of Photoshop work. If I get a break in my schedule I may take a stab at it.

 

[K3V]

It prints out pretty well but I must've had a pretty bad monitor when I created that because you can really see the shoddy cutting and pasting in there. Hurts the eyes to look at because I could do so much better now!

 

[3DOMan]

I'll tell you what, k3v, you make a really nice professional one I'll buy one from you.

 

[K3V]

Sorry, just don't have the time and access to equipment that I used to!

 

[megarat]

I had a spare moment this afternoon, and it seemed like a relaxing endeavor, so I took a quick ( < 30 minutes) pass at cleaning up K3V's TNT cover.

http://www.megarat.com/tmp/tntcover.jpg

Most of the work involved leveling out some of the shading/artifacts, but I also made a design decision and added a border around the starfield on the front cover, to make it appear more deliberate. I thought about blacking out the blue field behind the "TETRIS" on the spine, since it still has some of that copy-and-paste look, but it's not so bad and didn't seem worth the effort.

Oh, and to be consistent, I added a "TM" to the "TETRIS" on the spine, since it was also on the cover. (I didn't go whole-hog and do it to all the "Tetris"es on the back cover, although the annoying completist in me really really wants to.)

 

[K3V]

Much better! Nicely done.

 

[megarat]

Do you plan on hosting that file on the web site yourself? Personally, I'd prefer not to be responsible for hosting it, and I clean up that tmp directory every few months, so unless it gets archived somewhere it might have a short web-life.

 

[K3V]

I'll grab it and replace the one I've got up now. I'll let you know when it's up.

 

[3DOMan]

Megarat that looks good if you do a professional print of that I'll buy one off you!

 

[megarat]

It wasn't my plan to do any personal prints, but I could be persuaded if there's enough interest. (Say, 10 or more for both IS3 and/or TNT.) PM me if you're interested (at an estimated cost of US$2-5 apiece, including domestic shipping).