Help exporting vehicle wrap!!!

[lithium258]

Hello young lads I have a problem delivering a vehicle wrap I designed with XDP 7. The thing is 215" long x 72" height and includes some bitmaps, so it is not 100% vectorial. Now, how do I export that for the printer? They say they need the file 100% scale @ 300 DPI, when some other online dudes say they can do with ~150DPI, to scale the image 1/4, etc. I'm just very confused.

When I try to export full size, XDP doesnt let me put anything beyond 70 DPI or so, even if I type 300 in the box, it gets rid of the last zero

So....how do I do it????

Thank you in advance

Aram

[steve.ledger]

Where exactly are you typing the 300 for dpi?
Which format are you trying to export to?

[gwpriester]

You may have trouble exporting an image that large. You might have to export as JPEG with some compression.

See the attached for the resolution setting in the export bitmap dialog.

[lithium258]

Where exactly are you typing the 300 for dpi?
Which format are you trying to export to?

The printer is asking JPG, full size, 300 DPI. That's 215"x72" @ 300 dpi for the side of a van vehicle.

I'm typing "300" or choosing 300 in the export dialog's Bitmap Size tab where it says Bitmap Size and Resolution. I can confirm the following:

Whatever the resolution I type in the box, exporting as JPG, even 95% quality...

* When trying to export full size, it always exports to 76 DPI
* When trying to 1/2 size, it always exports to 96 DPI
* When trying to 1/4 size, it always exports to 96 DPI
* Exporting at 10% of the size it accepts 300 DPI however later in Photoshop if I do Image -> Image size and change the Document size to 215" width, keep Resample unchecked, the resultion drops to 30 DPI.

Any ideas?

[lithium258]

You may have trouble exporting an image that large. You might have to export as JPEG with some compression.

See the attached for the resolution setting in the export bitmap dialog.

Exactly. But whatever I type or choose there won't work and Xara will export with other resolution. It seems it uses the higher available resolution value it can provide. At 10% of size, it would do 300 DPI but not bigger. If I put 1200 DPI for 10% (about 20" width) it will take out the latest cero and export at 120 DPI only.

[Gamerprinter]

At least Xara Xtreme 4 has a size limitation on what it can export at 300 ppi. I often export 24 x 36 full color to 300 ppi TIF or JPG. However, Xara won't let me export much larger than that. I don't think Xara is the best application for full color vector/photo as it applies to large format applications like vehicle wraps. I create maps in Xara for large format printing. While I'd like to do 300 ppi 36 x 48 or larger, Xara won't let me. If XPD 7 is an exception - forget what I'm saying. But Xara always had a maximize size/resolution - I know, I've tried.

[Albacore]

Why is everyone talking in bitmaps? Why not download some form of PDF maker and send it to print to the PDF engine! If the Aram can't find suitable maker, mind you there're plenty of them about, then they could always PM me and I could do it for him.

[steve.ledger]

Cool, freebies !

[lithium258]

Why is everyone talking in bitmaps? Why not download some form of PDF maker and send it to print to the PDF engine! If the Aram can't find suitable maker, mind you there're plenty of them about, then they could always PM me and I could do it for him.

Ehem...can you tell me more please? PDF maker? Do you mean something like a PDF printer, like Adobe Acrobat's? I have the CS5 suit with Adobe Acrobat 9...do you mean I can print the artwork to PDF and there configure it to output like the printer guys ask (215x72"@300dpi? How do I do that!

Sorry my ignorance in this theme...I have being designing and coding for almost 20 years but have never ever done something bigger than a wall poster; worked like 5 years for a printer in the 90's but thats it...

[gwpriester]

Well the first thing you could try is to export the document to PDF from Designer Pro. I would try the Commercial Printing PDF/X 300dpi) setting.

If you can output that file then this should be sufficient for your printer. Try this an let us know.

What Peter was recommending is more complicated.