A quote is a manufacturing decision written down. Before anyone can price a part, someone has to decide how it gets cut, how the edges get finished, how it goes together, how the graphics get applied, and where it sits in the schedule. Each of those is either answered by the file you send or filled in by an assumption — and assumptions are why two quotes for the same part come back with different numbers and different dates. Good file prep is not paperwork; it is removing the assumptions.
Format policy, stated plainly
For quoting, PDF is preferred. A dimensioned PDF drawing is the front-office standard because it is unambiguous — it carries the geometry, the callouts, the title block, and the revision in one document that everyone from estimating to the shop floor reads the same way, with no interpretation layer.
DXF and DWG are accepted for cut geometry. These earn their place where the profile matters more than the annotation: true curve data, radii, and internal cutouts arrive machine-readable rather than as a picture of a curve. That is the honest tradeoff — a PDF communicates intent better, a DXF communicates a contour better. On complex profiles, sending both is faster than either alone: the DXF for the shape, the PDF for the callouts.
Print and branding artwork comes in as AI, EPS, SVG, PNG, or JPG. The distinction that matters is vector versus raster, covered below.
You do not need any of this to start a conversation. A description, a sketch, a reference photo, or a sample we can measure and reverse-engineer is enough to begin — the CAD gap is ours to close. But the consequence is worth stating: a described part quotes as a range with questions attached, while a dimensioned drawing quotes as a number. If you are comparing vendors or building a budget you intend to hold, the drawing is worth the hour.
| What you have | Send this | What it gets you |
|---|---|---|
| A dimensioned design | PDF drawing, plus DXF/DWG if the profile is complex | The fastest, most accurate quote |
| Cut geometry only, no annotation | DXF or DWG, with material, thickness, and units stated in the email | Accurate on shape; we will confirm the finish callouts |
| A concept or sketch | Images, dimensions where you know them, and the application | A scoped quote with the open decisions named |
| An existing part | The sample itself, or photos with a scale reference | Reverse-engineered geometry and a matched build |
| Branding to apply | Vector artwork (AI, EPS, SVG) and your brand references | Print method, placement, and color confirmed at proof |
What makes a drawing quotable
A drawing can be beautifully drafted and still not be quotable, because quoting needs a different set of facts than drafting does. Six callouts carry most of the weight.
- Material and thickness. Not just “acrylic” — clear, colored, frosted, or mirrored, and cast or extruded where it matters. Cast gives the cleaner polished edge on display-facing surfaces; extruded is more consistent in thickness and more economical at volume. Thickness drives sheet yield, cutting method, bonding approach, and part weight at once, so leaving it off the drawing leaves four decisions open instead of one.
- Overall dimensions. Stated on the drawing, not implied by scale. Part size relative to standard sheet size determines yield, and yield is a real cost factor — a part an inch too large for two-up nesting costs meaningfully more than one an inch smaller.
- Quantity, and quantity breaks. Setup, tooling, and fixturing amortize across a run, so the same part behaves very differently at prototype quantity than at program quantity. If you are still sizing the program, ask for the breaks — comparing them is usually more useful than a single number.
- Quality grade. The cosmetic target is set by viewing distance, not by adjectives. Our Acrylic Quality Standards define three grades by Inspection Distance — Production at approximately 4 feet, Display at approximately 2 feet, Museum Archival at approximately 1 foot — the distance at which the piece must show no visible cosmetic defects. Name the grade that matches how the piece will actually be viewed and the quote reflects exactly that much finishing effort; leave it open and the estimator has to pick one for you.
- Edge finish. Edge treatment is a named method, not a feeling. The Edge Finishing Standards define six classifications, from a raw saw-cut edge through diamond-polished, and the method is best called out per edge. Edge finishing is labor-intensive and scales with linear inches, so calling for diamond-polished on every edge when only the two front edges are seen is a cost decision you probably did not intend to make.
- Required date and tier. If the date is real, say so on the drawing or in the email. Only Reserved Production, of the three tiers defined by Production Scheduling, guarantees a ship date — and it has to be arranged at quote, not discovered later.
For multi-part assemblies, add one more: which dimensions are fit-critical. Dimensional bands are published per process in our Fabrication Tolerances, and an assembled dimension stacks the bands of everything inside it — so knowing which interfaces must go together predictably lets us hold tight ranges where they matter instead of everywhere. Where parts are bonded, the Joint Clarity standard governs how the seam is judged — separate from the surface grade, and worth stating on any build where the joint is visible.
Vector versus raster for print
Vector artwork — AI, EPS, SVG — stores shapes as mathematical curves. A logo saved as vector is a set of instructions for drawing that logo, so it can be scaled from a business card to a full display panel and reproduce at exactly the same crispness. Nothing degrades, because there is nothing fixed to degrade.
Raster artwork — PNG, JPG — stores a fixed grid of pixels. That grid holds a finite amount of detail, decided when the file was made. Enlarging it does not add detail; it spreads the existing detail across more physical area. This is why the logo pulled from a website, which looks sharp in a browser at the size it was made for, arrives at flatbed print scale with soft edges, fuzzy type, and jagged curves. The file was not damaged in transit — it never contained enough detail for that size, and no software can invent it.
The practical rule: logos and type should be vector. Send the original AI, EPS, or SVG your brand or agency holds. Where only raster exists, send the largest original you have — the file straight out of the camera or design tool, not one that has been placed in a document, emailed, screenshotted, or exported for the web, each of which discards detail permanently. Photographic content is legitimately raster and prints beautifully from the original; it is small, re-saved logos that cause trouble.
We review the files at quote and flag anything that will not hold at final size, before anything prints — faster and cheaper for both of us than a proof round spent discovering it. Artwork gets judged against its final printed size in the same pass that sets the surface grade and names the edge method, so resolution is settled with the other cosmetic decisions rather than at proof. How graphics get applied to fixtures and panels is covered on our retail and POP displays page.
Specifying color
Color is specified as color-managed CMYK matched to the brand references you supply, and confirmed at proof approval before the run. Send your brand standards along with the artwork — the reference values, a printed sample you consider correct, or an approved piece from a previous run. Having them at quote means the proof round confirms a decision rather than starting a negotiation.
Two substrate factors change how color reads, and they belong in the conversation early. Clear, colored, and frosted acrylic each change what sits behind the ink, so a white layer — printed as a flood or as an under-base beneath the color — is often what keeps graphics opaque rather than translucent. Second-surface printing, where the graphic prints on the back face and reads through the material, protects it from handling and shifts its appearance. Tell us the application and we will recommend the print order at spec stage.
Formed parts: send the finished geometry
For thermoformed parts, send the finished-part geometry — the shape as it will exist after forming — and note which faces are critical: display-facing surfaces, faces that seat against something, faces that carry graphics.
Do not attempt to supply a flat pattern. Developing the blank is the fabricator’s job, because it depends on the tooling, the material behavior, and the forming process we will actually use — a pattern developed against different assumptions has to be discarded and redone. Give us the finished shape and the critical faces, and blank development, radii, and draft come back to you as part of the design review.
File problems that stall quotes
These are the recurring ones. Each turns an answer into a round of emails.
- Unstated units. A DXF carries numbers, not units — the format has no reliable way to say whether “24” means inches or millimeters, and a part imported at the wrong assumption is off by a factor of 25.4. State the units in the email and put one overall reference dimension in the file; if the reference checks out, everything else can be trusted.
- Open vector paths. A cut path has to be a closed contour to be interpreted as a profile. Paths that look closed on screen but carry a hairline gap at a corner read as ambiguous geometry and have to be repaired before anything can be nested or priced.
- Unconverted strokes. A stroke is a line with a width property applied for display, not a shape. Until strokes are expanded to outlines, the file describes a centerline rather than the actual cut or printed geometry.
- Title block conflicts. When a dimension in the title block disagrees with the drawn geometry, neither one is obviously authoritative — the drawn size and the stated size are equally plausible intentions. This always generates a question, and a final check against the model before sending prevents it.
- Live type in artwork. Fonts that are not outlined or embedded reflow or substitute on another machine, silently changing the artwork you approved.
- Revision ambiguity. Several similarly named files with no revision marking means the quote may be built against the wrong one. One clearly marked current revision beats a folder of candidates.
Send your files or describe the project and we will come back with materials, finish grade, edge treatment, tolerances, and a production tier — and flag anything in the files worth adjusting before it becomes a change order. If pointing is easier than describing, find the closest match in the gallery and send that.
