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Need help with figuring resolution

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crny1

New Member
I am completely dumb when it comes to figuring out DPI and what resolution something will be at when enlarged. I have a customer wanting a 8'wide by 12'tall window done in perf. Most all the high resolution photos that I have found to use for it are 20" by 26" at 300dpi. If this was blown up to 8'x12' would it look ok? I know i saw a formula at one time but cant seem to find it now. Just trying to avoid a pixelated print and a unhappy customer.
Thanks in advance.
 
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unclebun

Active Member
It really depends on how far away you will be viewing the sign from. A billboard can look perfectly fine when photos are 25 dpi at final size. Most signage will be perfect with photos that are 100 or 150 dpi at final size. And you can often get away with 50 or 75 dpi and the sign still look OK. Bear in mind that perforated vinyl is going to coarsen the picture anyway.

DPI means dots per inch. So calculating changes with scaling is really pretty simple. If it's 300 dpi at 20" wide, if you triple the width to 60", you will cut the dpi to a third, or 100 dpi. 96" is 4.8 times the width, so the dpi would be 62.5. At that level, as long as the original image was sharp and clear with good contrast, it should look fine.
 
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