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Scale and ppi

Bluedog

New Member
Can someone please explain if I design something at 1/10 scale at 720 ppi , I have seen articles saying you would scale it up 1000%..............I'm lost someone please explain this for me? At full size this would be 72 ppi ??? I'm lost I guess because the math doesn't seem to make sense?
 

Bluedog

New Member
Found one, but it still confused me! 1/20 scale is 20 times smaller? Would you multiply by 20? Where does 2000% come in ?
 

Bluedog

New Member
So if my truck is 200" long, I would divide by 10 to give me 20" on screen, which would be1/10 scale, I get this part! It's the 1000% part I don't get, or is it that 1000% equals multiplying by 10 to get it full size? I think I get the whole ppi thing , at 1/10 I would design at 720ppi, for a full size output of 72ppi?
 

fresh

New Member
100% = x1
200% = x2
1000% = x10

If 1 unit equals 10 units, and you want to scale it so 1 unit equals 1 unit, you need to multiply by 10.

To change a multiple to percent, you have to move the the decimal to the right two places, so 1 = 100%
so if you need 10 x 1, you need to multiply 10 x 100% = 1000%.

Does this help at all?
 

jfiscus

Rap Master
:omg:

If you're running a Cray supercomputer maybe. You do this for 8ft-20ft files?

I do it for full wraps all the time. Just did two ambulance wraps that way. (2+GB files!)
My computer is around a year old, and I'm running CS4 (32bit) still; I wish I had a SSD!
 

genericname

New Member
I do it for full wraps all the time. Just did two ambulance wraps that way. (2+GB files!)
My computer is around a year old, and I'm running CS4 (32bit) still; I wish I had a SSD!

There's the exception that proves the rule I suppose; do what works.

I think your process is crazy overkill, but if you get good results, do it.
 

mark in tx

New Member
Once you have that 2gb psb file, try saving it as a flattened tif at 120 dpi, LZW compression for printing.
Your RIP might thank you, or at least stop choking.
 

jfiscus

Rap Master
Once you have that 2gb psb file, try saving it as a flattened tif at 120 dpi, LZW compression for printing.
Your RIP might thank you, or at least stop choking.

yeah, it's all saved in panels as the flattened artwork before it's printed. I usually do the paneling manually to eliminate as many seams (or at least seams in bad places) as possible.
 

SignBurst PCs

New Member
yeah, it's all saved in panels as the flattened artwork before it's printed. I usually do the paneling manually to eliminate as many seams (or at least seams in bad places) as possible.

^ This is a great way to do it.

By the way, 2GB Photoshop file is a relatively small file for a lot of shops. I have several customers designing 10-12GB files on a weekly (if not daily) basis.

The ppi and scaling thing can be hard to get your head around, but it isn't rocket-science. The math in the OPs first post makes complete sense and seems reasonable for most applications.
 

Christian @ 2CT Media

Active Member
Scale to PPI for those who struggle with understanding the relationship.

For a print at 1/1 Scale 72ppi:
1/10th Scale Divide the Full Size image by 10 but multiply the PPI by 10
1/20th Scale Divide the Full Size image by 20 but multiply the PPI by 20
This can be done for any scale ratio and ppi, and you just reverse the process before printing.

It is simple math but can be confusing for some
 
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SignBurst PCs

New Member
Scale to DPI for those who struggle with understanding the relationship.

For a print at 1/1 Scale 72dpi:
1/10th Scale Divide the Full Size image by 10 but multiply the DPI by 10
1/20th Scale Divide the Full Size image by 20 but multiply the DPI by 20
This can be done for any scale ratio and dpi, and you just reverse the process before printing.

It is simple math but can be confusing for some

Although they sound similar, DPI (dots per inch) is not the same as PPI (pixels per inch). In most cases, PPI is going to relate to digital design, whereas DPI will pertain to the actual printing process.

This is not a huge deal, but switching the two terms often leads to confusion in understanding the entire process.
 
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