DPI for banner

[149motorsports]

I'm sending out a 3ft by 6ft banner to be printed. Whats the rule for how many DPI I should make it? i can choose from 72, 150, 300 from flexi sign. I want it to be crisp since it was all vector. Thanks!

 

[GAC05]

If it is all vector keep it that way and send it as a PDF or EPS file.
If you don't trust Flexi to export a good PDF/EPS (and who would) 100 at full size seems to work fine.
(you should be able to rasterize it to any dpi/ppi you want)

wayne k
guam usa

 

[149motorsports]

Its a jpeg back ground with vector text. I tried the pdf last time and it chopped colors in half and doesnt weird things. Atteched in the picture a lot of the red was missing. Happens all the time colors get cut off in half.

I exported at 0 compression, 3ft by 6ft @ 300 dpi. Would that print nice?

 

[GAC05]

300 seems like overkill but it should work.

wayne k
guam usa

 

[149motorsports]

Thanks. I dont have any experience with the printing side so I guess you can say trial and error.

 

[bob]

150ppi RGB image assuming it will be printed at 720dpi, at which most civilized people print. This gives you an ~1:4 image to print resolution, the ideal place to be color-wise having a 4x4 dot matrix for each image pixel. RGB because any RIP worth of the name coverts everything to LAB space then to CMYK and can do as close to what you see is what you get as you're ever likely to achieve using RGB input. Not so much with CMYK.

 

[HandsomeBob]

If the JPG background was EVER saved with compression then the compression remnants will show up even if you now save the image with zero compression.

Do not turn the banner into a JPG for printing. Save it as a PDF. As a PDF the vector parts of the banner will stay vectored and print the best they can. Likewise for the JPG parts of the banner.

 

[bob]

If the JPG background was EVER saved with compression then the compression remnants will show up even if you now save the image with zero compression.

Do not turn the banner into a JPG for printing. Save it as a PDF. As a PDF the vector parts of the banner will stay vectored and print the best they can. Likewise for the JPG parts of the banner.

Depends.

First, when a JPG is saved with or without compression it becomes a new JPG, there are no 'remnants', it is what it is. Unless the compression was somewhat severe you'll never notice the difference unless you're printing a copy of the Mona Lisa and there will be a side by side microscopic comparison. Every time you save a JPG you get a new JPG, still it's always best to do so with no compression.

Next, a PDF is supposed to be merely a container for disparate objects but with non-bitmap objects there can be an annoying color shift. If you turn the entire thing into a JPG, no compression, then you'll know pretty much exactly what you're going to get. Unless whomever is doing the printing does something silly like converting it to CMYK before printing it.

Whether or not to convert an image to a bitmap depends for the most part on whether or not it's going from your screen directly to the printer or it's going to a file to be sent to the printer. If the former, just print it. If the latter, convert the entire thing to an RGB bitmap. That's been the rule around this shop for years and it's worked out just fine. No complaints to date and I'm about as critical a person as you're ever likely to come across. Remember that the client usually has never seen the image outside of looking at a monitor or some low resolution proofs and has no idea of what it's supposed to look like. It's self-defining.

 

[Solventinkjet]

I have used EPS as my output file type for 10 years and have never had any issues with file translation. PDF is a good proof file format but it messes up when going from RIP to RIP about 10 - 20% of the time. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people use expensive vector design software and have a beautiful, scale-able file and then they ruin it by rasterizing it before output! Honestly the solution should be as easy as saving as an EPS rather than PDF but you could always send both to the printer and have them print a sample and see which one translates better.

 

[Oroscoe]

300 DPI is great but why downgrade your art when you can export as a vector EPS file.

 

[myront]

If your file has both raster and vector, eps is not the way to go. The file will be huge. PDF is damn near perfect. If it isn't something is going wrong with your pdf settings on output.AS stated too, rgb @ 150, any more is overkill.
Also if all vector AND gradient fills, DO NOT USE EPS.