Large format printing

EGG

New Member
Hi

I am printing at 2m x 8m and need a suitable image resolution. Unfortunately it mostly will be viewed at quite a close distance.

The highest appropriate image I can find is 4664 x 6988 px at 300 dpi is this suitable? My calculations suggest that id need an image that would be ruddy massive so not really sure what to do....help ha

I have suggested to the client to use vector artwork but they are having none of it but at a last resort I can insist.
 
Hi
I print large format images for car wrapping and red-carpet fabric banners with 9m width from time to time. The image you have is good, just open it in photoshop, go to image size and increase the dpi to 600. This will increase the size of the image not the quality and will give you a print.
What software you use to print from?
 
I would not force the resolution increase as this will unnecessarily add pixels to the file and interpolate the image. Generally, large format flat bed printing and roll to roll processes require much less dpi than litho printing (which required 300DPI). When setting your file up you can get away with as little as 110dpi with no visible loss of detail. It's an educational issue that many designers need to get up to speed on. If you speak to a good large format printer such as <removed>, they will be able to advise you on the best way to keep your image sharp when enlarging the file for large format reproduction. There are other advantage to a smaller file which are obviously that they are quicker to work and save and also easier to send to your printer. So in answer to Egg's question, see what dimensions the file size will go up to if you allow the dpi to drop to 110dpi. Then hold the dpi at 110dpi and make the dims bigger from there (rather than forcing to say 300dpi). You can use the image size settings in Photoshop.
 
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Yeh I'd go with Olstar here - they're dead right!

Tom Wright - not sure what you mean at all - opening in photoshop and increasing it to 600 ppi is a fruitless adventure... if you want to blow it up then large format rips have much better interpolation than photoshop or other software.

@four 4664 xx 6988 px at 300 dpi is equal to

394.89 mm x 591.65 @ 300 dpi

That's what size it would print using 300 dpi.

If you wanted 2m x 8m then the image would need to be 23622 px * 94488 px

This would result in an image of roughly 6gb! Which is way overkill.


In truth you can get away with a lot more - You could go with something like - 2000mm x 8000m @ 100 PPI which would give you about a 800mb file.
 
Surely if something is stated a pixels by pixels the dpi is irrelevant

As suggested I would use the biggest file you have and let the rip sort it out. I never upscale anything in ps. A lot depends on the quality and sharpness of the photo.

Also just noticed this is two years old so I guess it's ben printed by now :)
 
Well if it was a 6gb file then it's probably still printing...

Well people mix up dpi and ppi all the time and interchange, which is wrong.

If it's 300 px * 300 px @300 PPI - then it will print at a physical size as 1 inches by 1 inches.

If it's 300 px * 300 px @ 72 PPI - then it will print at a physical size as 4.167 inches by 4.167 inches - but it would be very pixelated looking.

Nothing to say that you can't take that exact same image at 300*300 @72 PPI and print it 1 inch by 1 inch and it would then resample to 300 PPI.


But yes - of course let the RIP do their thang! That's what they're for! But we also need to be concious of how many pixels height and depth + how many pixels per inch - which accounts for the quality of the output.
 
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