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darn illustrator artboard is too small

signguy35

New Member
What is everybodys way of sizing up vehicles in illustrator? i think the max is like 227 inches wide or somewhere around there. I have a 27' boat i have to wrap and I am wondering if i just make it 1/4 to scale then it should all be good right? or is there something else that everybody does. Im used to Omega from my old job and i can make that as big as i want. this is just going to take some time to get used to. Thanks.
 

TheSnowman

New Member
I normally do it all full scale, I've only had once that I couldn't when I did a logo on a giant ammonia storage tank. That one time, I just went to 1/2 size because I suck at math.
 

SightLine

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In Illustrator, if it's over 227" you cant, period. Realistically many other apps will not even be able to deal with the artboard being over 200" in Illustrator. Work at 1/20th, 1/4, 1/2 scale or whatever. Then scale it to it's full size in your RIP prior to final output.
 

rjssigns

Active Member
One quarter to one half scale in Ai. If it is simple I can do it full scale in Flexi. Although I have "built" the individual components and "assembled" them in Flexi. Not smart workflow, but I needed to get around an issue.
 

ucmj22

New Member
I usally work at 1/12 scale in illy. it keeps the file size small, and 1in = 1ft so it saves me brain power from having to multiply inches by 4
 

rfulford

New Member
I like 1/10 scale. No major math needed, just move your decimal point 1 place. 455'x108" becomes 45.5x10.8. Piece of cake.
 

Bigdawg

Just Me
I like 1/10 scale. No major math needed, just move your decimal point 1 place. 455'x108" becomes 45.5x10.8. Piece of cake.

That's how I do it. That way I can have lots of artboards still sized correctly in one Illustrator file. We proof most jobs in position, so I size the picture to 1/10 scale for all the signs and then pull the artwork to a new file when it's time to print or cut.
 

Custom_Grafx

New Member
Don't forget, you can also type in mathematical input into your dimension fields. I do this to avoid error.

For example, if you have something that's 100mm, and you want to make it 1/8 scale, you can just go into the field that says 100... after it, type"/8" and enter, and illy will do the math for you. Great for avoiding errors with adding bleed as well... instead of doing +6 in your head, just type it after the value in the field and hit enter. Although these sums are easy, after 10 hours of it in a day, yes, sometimes I have trouble adding 6 to a number. lol.
 
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