Preparing artwork for a custom gobo

Updated 8 October 2026

Every maker will turn your file into a gobo, but a clean file gets you a better gobo, faster, with fewer rounds of proofs. Most of it comes down to sending vector art at full size and thinking about where the light goes.

Send vector art if you can

Logos and text should go as vector files: Illustrator, EPS or PDF with the fonts converted to outlines, so the maker does not need your fonts. Rosco calls a native Illustrator file ideal and EPS a close second. Apollo prefers .ai, .eps or .pdf and asks for fonts converted to outlines. Projected Image prefers editable vector artwork.

Photographic designs for glass have to be bitmaps, so send them big: Rosco asks for 600 dpi for black and white glass and 800 dpi for multi-colour, and Projected Image asks for at least 600 dpi and 3000 by 3000 pixels. Apollo will not accept .bmp, .cdr, .doc, .dxf, .dwg, .gif or .png files, so check a maker's list before exporting.

Think in light, not ink

A fixture cannot project black: it can only leave areas dark. Light passes where the gobo is open and is blocked where it is not. Apollo's advice is that a dark logo on a white background will throw a big bright shape with your logo as a shadow inside it, and that reversing the artwork, so the background stays dark and the logo lights up, is usually what people want. Apollo calls these white-field and black-field gobos.

No maker publishes a rule for which colour in your file means "light", so say which you mean when you order and check it on the proof.

Size and detail

Send artwork at 100% of the gobo's image size, or larger. Apollo asks for clean black and white line art at full size; Rosco asks for hard copy at no less than full size. Small text and hairlines are where gobos fail: Rosco notes that small steel gobos with detailed art or several characters may need changing, and Projected Image says its studio adjusts line widths before sending a proof.

None of these makers publishes a minimum line or bridge width. Gobo Designer uses its own cautious defaults (0.5 mm for lines and bridges on steel, 0.2 mm for detail on glass) to flag anything likely to be trouble, and it measures them on the gobo itself, after keystone correction, which is where they matter. Treat its warnings as a prompt to ask your maker, not as the maker's own limit.

Maker by maker

• Rosco: native Illustrator preferred, then EPS; PSD or TIFF for photographic designs. Steel artwork at 150 dpi; black and white glass 600 dpi; multi-colour 800 dpi. Glass from a 4 mm image area up.
• Apollo Design: vector line art at 100% size, an 1800 by 1800 file for metal, fonts outlined. Accepts .ai, .eps, .jpg, .pdf, .psd and .tif. Custom orders go through Apollo dealers.
• Goboland: you upload your design and receive previews and a quote. No written artwork specification is published.
• Projected Image: editable vector preferred, otherwise 600 dpi and 3000 by 3000 pixels, compressed to about 5 MB for upload. You get a proof before production.

Exporting from Gobo Designer

Gobo Designer exports at 1:1 as PDF, SVG or DXF (R12), already keystone-corrected for your fixture position. PDF and SVG suit most makers; check the list above, as Apollo does not take DXF. The app's "As exported" view shows exactly what the maker will receive.