posted
Howdy y'all. I was wondering: For large format prints, is it more efficient to resample the design in draw or just let the printer's software enlarge it?
-------------------- Felix Marcano PuertoRicoSigns.Com Luquillo, PR
Work hard, party like a tourist! Posts: 2274 | From: Luquillo, Puerto Rico, USA | Registered: Nov 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
resample to somewhat improve 'clarity'. It'll only improve up to 300% or so, so you should try to scan (if you're scanning) at the size you want the finished output. A minimum dpi of 150 should do it.
posted
In my experience, and after many tests, the resampled images were much better than RIP enlarged images. There seems to be a lot less pixelation. Obvoiusly, it takes a bit longer to rip, but if you're going 300% or more, it's worth the wait. Our last job was a 300dpi image 14" wide, enlarged to 81" wide, and small sectional test prints of the enlarged image told us resampling was the way to go. John
-------------------- John Stagner Action Graphics Salem, MO agraphics02@earthlink.net Posts: 98 | From: Salem, Missouri | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Talking dpi is totally irrelevant to digital printing , dpi applys to an output devices "dots" it can lay down per inch and has nothing to do with the quality of a digital print. A digital printer or any CMYK printer for that matter can only print 7 colours and no one pixel can be mapped to a "dot" , it has to be mapped to a *cell* of dots which prints those 7 colours at various densities and overlaps to simulate the colour of that pixel , that "cell" fools our eyes into seeing the particular colour but it is way bigger than one "dot" You will need from 75 to 150 pixels per inch of printed output to get acceptable results. Thus if you scan a 10" x 10" print and want to print it 100" x 100" you need to scan at a minimum of 750 DPI or in actual fact PPI (pixels per inch) The SIZE of the file determines how big you can print with acceptable quality , a 2" x 2" file scanned at 600 ppi will not print well at 2' x 2' regardless of its "DPI" resolution. Divide the pixel size of the file in a direction by the inches of final print you want in that direction and if you dont get a figure of 75 or more , you are going to get pixelation!!! Its actually pointless to resample a print if its resolution is way too low unless you are using specific software that resamples using complex algorithms to "guesstimate" pixel values. Upsampling software has to take that pixel and split it into more pixels "shades" that fade from one adjacent pixel to the next. RIP software cannot possibly do this , all it CAN do is map the pixel colour it sees to a halftone cell. It is totally dependant on the upsampling software on how these transitions are managed. Some software does it well and some upsampling in cheap software is totally unacceptable. NEVER use the RIP to try upsample , it just cannot!!!
-------------------- Rodney Gold Toker Bros Posts: 57 | From: South Africa | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic