Help exporting huge size artwork!!!

[lithium258]

Have you tried exporting as PDF/X?

Hi Sledger...what size should I use? If I resize the artwork to 215" Xara quits unspectedly or get an Acces violation error.

[steve.ledger]

Most printers require 200 - 300dpi so that they can resize via their RIP at print time and not loose too much detail or quality.
You should not need to supply the finished size.

[mwenz]

For that size poster, all vector, I would do 1/4 size. DPI means absolutely nothing with an all vector PDF. If your printer does not understand this, find another printer. The PDF can be scaled at print time from within either Acrobat to the RIP, or from within the RIP software.

Convert all text to curves. Save this copy under another name so your original can be edited should need be.

I just produced a sample PDF of your size poster at 25% scale, pretty much everything on it has some sort of transparency. I can upload to my server if you want to examine it.

I have never worked with a printer who did not expect a scaled PDF--once PDFs became a norm for hi-res posters. Before that, I would send pure PS files at scale. Largest banners I ever made were printed 50' wide and the scaled working files were about .75 gig.

Take care, Mike

[lithium258]

For that size poster, all vector, I would do 1/4 size. DPI means absolutely nothing with an all vector PDF. If your printer does not understand this, find another printer. The PDF can be scaled at print time from within either Acrobat to the RIP, or from within the RIP software.

Convert all text to curves. Save this copy under another name so your original can be edited should need be.

I just produced a sample PDF of your size poster at 25% scale, pretty much everything on it has some sort of transparency. I can upload to my server if you want to examine it.

I have never worked with a printer who did not expect a scaled PDF--once PDFs became a norm for hi-res posters. Before that, I would send pure PS files at scale. Largest banners I ever made were printed 50' wide and the scaled working files were about .75 gig.

Take care, Mike

Ok, I tried this and have the following findings:

At 25% Xara shows an error message, Internal Error. So I try 15% and the message is gone, however I get pixelated objects if they have certain things like drop shadows, feather edges, etc. Any ideas?

[lithium258]

Hey, I made it! This is what I found:

To avoid pixelation:
a) No feathering edges
b) Transparency type needs to be Mix
c) No drop shadows

(maybe feathering/shadows are rendered as images?)

To avoid object mislocation:
a) Reduce transparent and layered objects as possible
b) Avoid Clipview with complex objects inside

Save the file as SVG --I got a 300kb file--, "Place" it in an Illustrator document and save it --got a 500kb file if artwork is scaled, 1.5MB file if I put the artwork full size.

I also tried PDF/X export, very cute output as well but file size is bigger, 7.6MB scaled...

The colors seems to be somehow different between SVG and PDF output; SVG shows them more vibrant while in the PDF they are a bit pale.

Thank you all guys!!!

Aram

[Cloud]

If it's all vector then you can supply it to the printer as a pdf at any size, vectors can scale up to any size

[gwpriester]

Replace the feathered shadows or shapes with vectors. For example you can create a blend from the shadow color to white. The blend is a vector. Same thing with a Contour which is also a vector object.