X3 export preference

[Joop]

I'm going to be printing a huge wall mural soon (if they buy it) and I have a mix of vectors and rasters in it... even some vectors converted to Bitmaps with effects on them.

In the past I have just exported as a tiff at 300 dpi, cmyk... then pulled it up on my rip and started printing.

This mural is so huge in physical size and GB size I am wondering if I am going to be able to do the same.

What I was thinking... and please tell me if these are legitimate ideas or just plain stupid! haha

I could export the tiff at a lower dpi to save disk space,
I could publish as a pdf... although I don't know if the file would be smaller
and.... that's about all I got.

Any ideas?
Anything that would bring the file size down without sacrificing quality?
This is going to be my first big job (with my own printer). I haven't even done a vehicle wrap or anything yet.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Shovelhead]

Depending on your viewing distance, 300dpi for something at that scale
is overkill.

What is the final output and what scale are you working in?

 

[Joop]

Depending on your viewing distance, 300dpi for something at that scale
is overkill.

What is the final output and what scale are you working in?

Well every mural (there are 3 total) you can walk right up and touch it.
There is one at the entrance @ 54 sq ft
one on an interior wall @ 158 sq ft
and one at the exit @ 234 sq ft...
...yes they have a separate entrance and exit for some reason, good for me!

I am designing these at full size in Draw X3...
What do you suggest would be not overkill?

thanks!

 

[bob]

What dpi are you printing? You want to print at a resolution at least 4 times the ppi of the image. For 720dpi a 150 ppi image is about optimum. There isn't a human being on the planet that can discern pixelization at 150 ppi without instruments.

The reason to print at 4* image resolution is because you get 16 printer dots for every image pixel. This computes to 2^16 possible color combinations per pixel. This allows for any sample of the entire color gamut per image pixel.

For something as large as you're doing you can get by with 72 or 96 or whatever.

 

[Shovelhead]

1/4 scale @ 300DPI

 

[ChiknNutz]

We just did to mall barricades and exported them as full-size PDFs @ 150 ppi.

 

[crdsigns]

hello, sorry to interfere, but i have a big problem with coreldraw X4 suppose im exporting at 200mb image from coreldraw(eps) to my printer roland colour rip, the printer and computer runs out of memory and stops printing any ideas? By the way, i have a roland versacamm sp 300

 

[Joop]

What dpi are you printing? You want to print at a resolution at least 4 times the ppi of the image. For 720dpi a 150 ppi image is about optimum. There isn't a human being on the planet that can discern pixelization at 150 ppi without instruments.

The reason to print at 4* image resolution is because you get 16 printer dots for every image pixel. This computes to 2^16 possible color combinations per pixel. This allows for any sample of the entire color gamut per image pixel.

For something as large as you're doing you can get by with 72 or 96 or whatever.

1/4 scale @ 300DPI

So are you guys saying the same thing pretty much? I am relieved to see that I can print at 100 dpi and have it look good... I guess 1/4 scale at 300 dpi will turn out about the same once you blow it up on the rip?

I am just used to designing large things at full scale, I used to design casino signage at full size. It was just easier to output to the plotter for layouts, and to the cnc machines (enroute and such). I enjoy full size, but I also enjoy not having my computer slow down to the pace of my dad after thanksgiving dinner.

Thanks for the input guys!

 

[Shovelhead]

So are you guys saying the same thing pretty much? I am relieved to see that I can print at 100 dpi and have it look good... I guess 1/4 scale at 300 dpi will turn out about the same once you blow it up on the rip?

I am just used to designing large things at full scale, I used to design casino signage at full size. It was just easier to output to the plotter for layouts, and to the cnc machines (enroute and such). I enjoy full size, but I also enjoy not having my computer slow down to the pace of my dad after thanksgiving dinner.

Thanks for the input guys!

probably, but Bob articulates much better.

 

[ChiknNutz]

300 ppi at size for almost ANY sign is generally considered overkill.