It has been a long time since we have used CorelDraw and I wanted to ask a question about it's ability to make a small digital images larger for a large format print.
For example, Photoshop has the feature"resample" whereby an image can be sized up and pixals are added mathematically. This function works pretty well, within reason, say for an example a 5x7 photo scanned at 300 dpi can be printed 15x21 at 150 dpi with adequate results, although digital noise or artifacts become apparent to careful examination.
An alternative we use with good results is a program called "Genuine Fractals" which also uses math to make a small image, digitally bigger. It may be marginally better than photshop's "resample" function but I have never been able to decide which is best.
How is CorelDraw at making smaller digital files bigger for output to larger printers? Do the newer versions use something like a "resample" feature?
We are about to release a whole new series of products for the large format printers that everyone is buying or thinking about buying soon, and in-so-far as many sign folks use CorelDraw, I wondered how your work flow might go with a hi-res photo of 40 or so megs (10x15 @300dpi) if you were to print this photo banner size or larger....maybe 3x4 feet or so.
How big a file to you need to make a good 3X4 foot image? Does CorelDraw help you to achieve this kinf of output?
I am putting the user guides together for some digital products which will soon hit the market and did not want to mention CorelDraw if it was not a popular choice for photo enhancemant.
Thanks for the feedback if you have any...
Andrew
Posted by Checkers (Member # 63) on :
Hiya Andrew, Our primary business is wide format printing for trade show displays. We use Photoshop, Illustrator and Corel Draw for designing in that order. We have clients that use Corel Photopaint or other softeware for designing, but we ask them to export the completed image as a tiff or eps for our output. We use Postershop for ripping and our Encad Novajet 700 for the majority of our printing. The machine prints at 600 apparent d.p.i. with CMYK inks. We have found that Genuine Fractals works best for us when we resample and enlarge an image. Photopaint and Photoshop are capable of doing it, but our results have been marginal. Our typical 30" x 48" "output ready" tiff file is about 55 megs at 100 d.p.i. We've found that a resolution above 100 d.p.i doesn't produce a higher quality print that justifies the additional processing time. Most of our raster clip art is royalty free and comes from Getty Images/Photodisk. We normally purchase the 48 meg. 11" x 17" files.
Havin' fun,
Checkers
Posted by Andrew Holmes (Member # 2064) on :
Hi Checkers,
Thanks for the info. I have noticed that 150 dpi is plenty for both Roland and Epson output, however we usually set the printers at 720 dpi for output.
We have a professional photographer who is shooting a lot of material for us along the central coast of CA with a Kodak 14n Pro and a very good Nikon lens. This scenery is of course some of the most spectecular in the world. The 14 mega pixel camera creates a 38.6 mega bite file (10X15 @300 dpi) of pure RGB data...no scans and fractels involved. We have discovered that we can print these files 3 feet by 4 feet after enlarging in Photoshop with excellent results. We intend to offer a lot of photograhic images on CD as JPEGS, and to make them very affordable. What should something like that sell for per image? What kinds of images are most usefull for signs and banners?
Cheers,
Andrew
Posted by TransLab (Member # 470) on :
Photopaint (corel) also has resample it's called (conveniently enough) 'resample'
Coreldraw (9 and up) will also allow you to resample a bitmap without 'editing bitmap' (opening photopaint) quick and fast plus you get to position print in real time.
Resolution when printing large format bitmaps has more to do with viewing distance than anything else; a billboard viewed from 20 feet or more may be printed at 100 dpi or even much less. In fact puretone colors printed at low res will have a lot more 'snap' (brilliance) when viewed from a distance than higher res prints of the same color. A bill board viewed from 100 feet may be printed with resolutions of 30 dpi or less.
Lots of info on the web on this subject and it is well worth researching.
