Flatness

As vector images are processed and printed, any curves present in the image are actually converted to a series of short straight line segments. The length of these lines are so short that your eye can not decipher anything other than a curve. The setting that determines how long these straight line segments are is "flatness". The equation that calculates your specific flatness is:

Flatness = printing resolution / EPS file resolution setting

This is can be a bit confusing, because resolution is not typically associated with EPS files. While this is true, this resolution setting is merely an indicator of your intended imaging resolution.

Assuming that we use 2400 as an output resolution, and using the stated equation, the maximum flatness of an image should be no more that 3 device pixels. This leads us to determine that the minimum resolution setting for an EPS file should be more than 800 dpi.

To access the document resolution setting in Adobe Illustrator, go to the File menu, then to the Document Setup option.

Once in the Document Setup dialogue box, select the "Printing & Export" options. This will show the document's assigned Output Resolution. This number should be at or above 800.