Illustrator 10 -Image print difficulties

[md_doc]

Seems every other time I use Illustrator, I run into issues when it comes to just saving and printing images - something most $30 programs glide through.

For about the past 10hrs I've been trying to figure out a way to save an image, that is being used for a business card in a way that it can be printed.

Tiling the image with Publisher/Word is no problem.

Been through most of the formats:.pdf, Jpeg, Giff, Png, svg resaving in Photoshop (tif) . Both CMYK and RGB.

Yet the images always print blurry once saved.

Pushed output all the way to 800 dpi.

What could be the problem? I guess the simple question is what/how to save and image in Illustrator so that it can be printed on a business card?

[famousartguy]

Ok first question i would ask is--was this image created in Illustrator? Is it a vector image?

If YES, then most printers will work with a PDF image saved at 300dpi.

If you are trying to work with a bitmap image in Illustrator you will have to open it in Photoshop and save it as eps file (Binary and 8-bit), then place or embed (pasting) it into Illustrator.

Are you printing this on a home printer or somewhere else. Sometimes the home printer itself may not give you the quality you are looking for.