Why only Vector?

[ScreenFoo]

I'm a tusche only shop. 

…then we auto traced it. LOL

  Auto tracing can't even get straight lines right.

How do you manage without the glue?   

[StuJohnston]

The glue is important, but it's the stencil not the image/positive.

[Chadwick]

Can you elaborate on what you mean by "rely on proprietary renditions within one version of a brand of software"

Corel and Adobe ( and likely others ) have some features within their software that allow you to do 'fancy' stuff on your vector art.
Problem being, these effects should be rasterized at scale before sending the file out, as they rely on the specific program
to render the effect properly. Heck, even thickened outlines don't always translate properly between formats.
It's nowhere near as bad as it used to be, but it's still something to keep in mind.

Maybe 10% of all art jobs that land on my desk have a 'proper' vector file, and those are just a simple logo with text.

[59Graphix]

Thanks for all the interesting posts! I think everyone that has a clue (at least in this forum!LOL Just kidding) don't need to the art to be just vector.  Monochromes and vector, when designed and separated properly work hand in hand. Almost transparent if you will. I liked the explaination that as Chadwick explained, files from other programs can get really jacked when importing. No matter what file type or program you use. I'm sure the separator guys (i.e. Dan...) have some tricks to fixing this. I have taken so called "vector" art and rasterized it just so it would print properly.

I guess the moral to the story is: " Vector, Schmector, do what you know, learn what you can and print some cool stuff!"

[Chadwick]

So..do any of you see a trend?

[AdvancedArtist]

I have one simple question. Maybe someone can set me straight.
Seems like the more artwork I do for other companies and individuals, the more I hear "we only print with vector art" Really?
I just sent out a CorelDraw x6 file to a client and it had a monochrome bitmap as part of the art. It was a simple overlay that distressed a section of the design. I get it back saying that they can't print that way or if they do there will be a substantial up-charge.
I don't get it. If you print a Corel file, does it matter? It was all spot color. Designed for a one color print. As long as there are no transparencies or need for halftones, shouldn't this not be an issue?

Enlighten me.

There is a mountain of ignorance in the graphics world relating to pixels and color. So huge is this mountain that while every other form of printing has mathematical based solutions that are dead on only we screen printers have this special class of separators.. and even they are way off the mark. I have found this to be the biggest problem in this Industry. We are trying to correct it but hitting massive resistance.

For example I have been working with a very high end artist recently one of his limitations is the separator that does the seps  for the high end shop. Imagine that the artist constrained by the separation requirements. And the separator makes more money than the artist.

Billions of dollars have been lost or wasted because of this ignorance even I as a real artist for some 20 years tried to steer around pixels with vector.. NOT ANY MORE!

The Separation Show 2 Simulted Process Color Separations Channels VS Layers

And these things go really deep and there are really easy solutions and I am not talking about plugins.