Large size printing

[behzad]

Just wondering for large size banners etc.. Most printers prefer 300 dpi but finding images at that resolution and size can be tricky. Would you do the following:

1) Enlarge the images in photoshop then import them into xara
2) Stick with what you have and output pdf-x at 300 dpi even though the image quality may be 150 dpi or less
3) Output everything no less than 150 dpi in the pdf-x settings

[gwpriester]

Inkjet printing can produce more detail at 150dpi than CMYK commercial printing at the same dpi. And the important thing is how close are people going to get to the banners, etc.?

[behzad]

In this case think of it as pizza menu on the wall and you standing behind the counter. But I guess a 150 dpi picture in xara output as pdf-x at 300 dpi will have no benefit other than file size becoming too big and getting out of memory errors?

[mwenz]

Every large format printer I have worked with desires a resolution of 150 dpi at 100% scale. Xara products won't upscale images (which is good). Talk with whomever is doing the printing.

Accidentally hit the wrong place on the screen...

I was going to also say, target resolution also depends on nominal viewing distance. Which is the reason print billboards typically are at 35 dpi. The signage I mentioned in the other thread, while fairly large for the short viewing distance, are eye-level entrance signs to a park (maps, where to see what, etc.). So the resolution had to maintain 150 dpi at 100% scale. If that same signage had been intended for above eye-level, say a large show booth banner and a nominal viewing distance of 10' and more, I could have likely output at 75 dpi and from 10' it would look exactly like the 150 dpi signage at 3' away.

Mike

[gwpriester]

That's great info Mike.

[pauland]

In this case think of it as pizza menu on the wall and you standing behind the counter.

This week I went to the local KFC (it doesn't happen often). This particular branch had been closed for a few months and has had a refit. It's apparently a bit of a trailblazer in the UK - styled more like a delicatessen. Service is way faster these days.

I was looking over the counter at the menu on the wall above the servers. Nice and bright, backlit panels. I thought they looked good.

Then I looked closer and saw that some parts of the menu were moving.

Then I realised, they weren't backlit panels at all but LED displays and all of the menu panels were digital.

The shape of things to come. Already come.