20m artwork

[Squeaky]

I have been commissioned to do a mural that is 27m x1.8m

For a start XDP will not allow me to set up a doc that big so I am using scaling. 1cm =1m this is all well and good but the client wants the Artwork delivered as a pdf/illustrator file. I am using a lot of radial gradients and transparencies which don't export as vectors (Or don't open in Illustrator as vectors) My concern is that because of the scaling any exported bitmaps will be way too small to be usable. (still in the cm range even if 300dpi)

Does anyone else have any experience of working at stupidly large sizes and could give me any tips?

[mwenz]

you won't need high-res image output. experiment to see how high of effect dpi you can go before the pdf engine pukes out. but at a drawing size of 27 cm, you likely can keep it at 300 dpi on the effects.

as for the gradient/transp. issue, the pdf is probably being flattened. which is fine--perhaps even a good thing. there will be less liklihood of transparency artifacts in the print out.

i have done banners that size for a software company that included screen shots, which were captured at 96 ppi [screen res]. the large format printer we used output it just fine.

take care, mike

[Squeaky]

Thanks Mike. By effect dpi do you mean Options - View - Dpi when auto generated. or. the Rasterization Resolution (dpi) in the PDF export options..or both.

I had thought to change my doc to 2m width which is the max doc size of XDP. Do you think this is needed? (Basically I am paranoid as most of my illustration exports as bitmaps and this is for a mural which people will get very close to)

[mwenz]

bitmap effects such as shadows, etc. keep the options setting as high of dpi as you can and you should be fine. if it causes issues down the road, back off a bit. for close-up banners, i rarely go above 150 dpi because the large format printer i use outputs using stochastic screening and that helps. i would have a conversation with whoever will be printing the piece.

i typically make the page as large as i can. but it might take a little experimenting on your part to see just how large that is and still produce the pdf of the result. i would begin at 1/10 scale, so 2.7m x .18m. and i would save incrementally very often. last large-scale job i did i went through the alphabet almost twice...job1-a through job1-zw for filenames. that way if something happens along the way i don't loose too much work and can take appropriate action.

take care, mike

[Squeaky]

Cheers Mike.
I think 2.7 m sounds good. I'm having some strange behaviour at 27cm. Some of my fills on the smaller shapes are going strange. They look like they are being clipped or something and converting to bitmaps even though they are linear fills. This is just a mock up and I've budgeted the time to sort this out and as you say multiple work files are the way forward (Plus back up versions on an external drive :-))

I'll get the client to connect me to the printer once I know what I am doing. Thanks again for the help it is much appreciated

Huge Regards
Dave

[Albacore]

You might also think about flattening your transparencies before exporting to PDF (Shift+Ctrl+C) if your not going to edit it in Illy then you have control of the dpi. Mike has given you good advice but if you have any more questions don't hesitate to ask.

[Squeaky]

You might also think about flattening your transparencies before exporting to PDF (Shift+Ctrl+C) if your not going to edit it in Illy then you have control of the dpi. Mike has given you good advice but if you have any more questions don't hesitate to ask.

That is create bitmap copy? That would be a bit of a pain as I have so many and it doesn't directly replace the vectors. Surely the bitmap settings - 'DPI when auto generated' would do that and keep them in the correct position?

The artwork is based off some animation I did so I'm having to go through and correct all the colours with 'simulate print colours' turned on. It will be a while before I get to any exporting. No doubt I will be back to squeeze some more advice :-)

Huge Regards
Dave

[Squeaky]

Bah. The pdf export is just not usable on this file. Elements go missing and I get some strange dark fringing on some of the shapes. Bitmap export is just not big enough for the printer (or rather my machine can't cope with it - even cutting the artwork into panels using clip view.)
So after much messing around I have given up and I gone with AI export. I am going through eliminating transparencies and tricky stuff in my Xara doc. In Illustrator (CS3) my colours are way off even though I have been working with print preview on so I am having to go through and tweak them. That certainly makes me appreciate Xara. Illustrators way of handling gradients and named colours is way primitive (Retarded). Any named colours are not respected in gradients so I tweak a named colour that is in a gradient the colour in the gradient is not altered. Apparently this is the same in the latest CS. Unbelievable!
Adobe - Why click once when you can click five times.

[mwenz]

If you desire, feel free to upload to dropbox or yousendit and PM a link to me or Albacore to take a look at the file.

Not an imposition, so no worries there.

Take care, Mike

[mwenz]

PS--yes, AI does love clicking and clicking, doesn't it!

It's a program I love to hate.

Take care, Mike