Frequently Asked Questions: Printing

What printing methods do you use?

We use two methods of printing for our canopies:

Vinyl

For simple designs, fast turnaround, and affordability, our in-house graphic design team uses full-colour heat transfer vinyl. We print and cut your artwork with our UV print machine and press it onto one of our stock colour canopies.

Dye Sublimation

For more elaborate designs, including custom colours, patterns, photos, and edge-to-edge graphics we use Dye Sublimation. This means the entire canopy is dyed with your graphics for a premium and completely custom result.

For most other items (flags, tables, etc.), we print exclusively with Dye Sublimation.

For more details, see our page on Vinyl vs. Dye Sub printing.

How do I start the design process?

You can call us at 905-664-4758 or email studio@gosurfturf . Give us a description of what you’d like printed on your canopy and send us any necessary artwork files in vector format (.ai, .pdf, .eps).

We’ll send you a design proof typically within 24 hours. Then we’ll adjust the design as necessary until you’re ready to print!

What kind of design files do you accept?

You can send any necessary graphics in a vector format, which can seamlessly scale to massive sizes without losing quality. These formats also contain information needed for our vinyl print & cut machine.

Common vector formats include Adobe Illustrator files, PDFs, and EPS. Look for a file whose name ends in .ai, .pdf, or .eps.

If you can’t locate a file in one of these formats, send the highest quality file you have and our in-house Graphic Design team can recreate your artwork in vector form. This may incur a small additional fee depending on the complexity of the artwork. Once we’ve vectorized your artwork, we can provide you with a vector file you can use wherever you like.

What is a vector file and why do I need it?

Vector formats such as .ai, .pdf, and .eps use math to plot lines and shapes. This allows our print & cut machine to cut the shape of your artwork out of vinyl, and it also means no quality is lost when enlarged.

Meanwhile, common image formats such as .jpg and .png are examples of Bitmap, AKA Raster formats. Raster images are just an array of pixels that become visible when scaled to large sizes, and don’t contain the necessary data to make cutlines.

Can you print my custom brand colours?

With Vinyl printing, we can use our full-colour to print your logo in any colour, but the background must be one of our stock canopy colours.

With Dye Sub printing, we can customize the colour of the entire canopy.

Our machines will print your colours as provided in your artwork files. If you have a Pantone colour reference that you’d like matched, please provide the PMS number. Our design team will use our Pantone swatch book to match your colour as close as we can with our CMYK printers.

Please note that colours can often appear slightly different when printed vs. on screen.

Will your team create my design for me?

Once you’ve sent your artwork, you will have direct contact with one of our Graphic Designers who will design your canopy to your specifications. You’ll receive a design proof and a 3D render, which we can adjust until you’re totally happy with your design.

If you have your own graphic designer competent in Adobe Illustrator, we can send you our templates for you to create your own designs. Note that your design may be adjusted for technical reasons, but you will always receive an up-to-date proof prior to printing.

How long does it take to receive custom printing?

Once you request a design proof, we will usually send it within 24 hours.

For vinyl printing, the product is typically finished within 1 week of design approval.

For dye sub items, printing can take 2-3 weeks.

Can I have printing added to my canopy after I’ve bought it?

If you’ve bought a plain or vinyl-printed canopy, we can always add more vinyl printing later on. Just make sure you return it to us relatively clean to ensure proper adhesion, and to keep our equipment clean!

Dye sub printing cannot be added to an existing canopy as it is applied prior to stitching.