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Suggestions File size

Claytons

New Member
I recently designed and printed a 7 x 1 meter banner for a customer, the photoshop file size was 6gb which made my computer struggle when I wanted to make changes.

Do you designed full scale?

Does anyone have any tips for reducing file sizes?

Thanks
 

Jeff grossman

Living the dream
I hate when that happens , had a client give me a double sided DVD for a 4 x 25 banner , took 10 minutes for my computer read . was done by professional graphic designers they said :oops:
 

jochwat

Graphics Department
I hate when that happens , had a client give me a double sided DVD for a 4 x 25 banner , took 10 minutes for my computer read . was done by professional graphic designers they said :oops:
Professional Graphic Designers rarely carry the same skill set as a Professional Pre-Press Technician. The designer's primary purpose is to create the image, with no cares about the technical end of it (file size, color space, number of layers, etc.). It's the pre-press tech that wrestles with the file to make it more manageable and print as intended. So that 9.5 gig file could very well have been done by a pro designer. It's just up to pre-press to deal with the mess. Bill accordingly!
 

rjssigns

Active Member
Professional Graphic Designers rarely carry the same skill set as a Professional Pre-Press Technician. The designer's primary purpose is to create the image, with no cares about the technical end of it (file size, color space, number of layers, etc.). It's the pre-press tech that wrestles with the file to make it more manageable and print as intended. So that 9.5 gig file could very well have been done by a pro designer. It's just up to pre-press to deal with the mess. Bill accordingly!
BOOM!!!! This right here^^^^^^^^

I try to tell students to remember "Where used?"(poor grammar on purpose) If you aren't putting your nose on it it doesn't have to be killer resolution. They're shocked when I tell them some billboards are in the range of 22 DPI and most do just fine at 28 to 32 DPI.
 

unclebun

Active Member
The required dpi for printed output needs at most to be 1/4 of the printer's output dpi. So for most jobs, that means you never need 150 dpi at final output size. But the reality is that you are unlikely to need more than 100 dpi at final output size for most signs and banners. And depending on viewing distance, that can drop to 72 or even 25 for billboards, as mentioned above.
 

myront

CorelDRAW is best
#1 mistake - designing in photoshop. A vector program with raster elements from photoshop is acceptable.
#2 - designing at full scale 300 dpi. Using a vector program design at scale but any raster images not to exceed 150dpi.
 

BigNate

New Member
We printed a backdrop of the New York skyline for a banquet... the closest observers were going to be 50 feet away and we could only pull 4dpi from the originals at the size needed... it looked awesome from 50 feet! it looked like a good reproduction of the actual sepia print photo that we used.... some people who saw it up close afterword could not believe it was the same thing they just spent 2 hours staring at thinking it was a good print!... so yes, you can use very low-res files if it corresponds to the viewing distance.

Vector artwork is much better whenever possible.
 

Claytons

New Member
Thanks for the replies, I need to do some tests at different dpi's and get over my idea that every print should be high quality.
 

Solventinkjet

DIY Printer Fixing Guide
We printed a backdrop of the New York skyline for a banquet... the closest observers were going to be 50 feet away and we could only pull 4dpi from the originals at the size needed... it looked awesome from 50 feet! it looked like a good reproduction of the actual sepia print photo that we used.... some people who saw it up close afterword could not believe it was the same thing they just spent 2 hours staring at thinking it was a good print!... so yes, you can use very low-res files if it corresponds to the viewing distance.

Vector artwork is much better whenever possible.
One of my pet peeves is seeing someone rasterize vector art.
 

BigNate

New Member
.. we did not rasterize any vectors.... but please note, if you are doing digital printing - not plotting - then you ARE rasterizing every single vector file when you send it to print... that is exactly what the RIP does. (and every modern printer has either an internal or external RIP...)

and unless you have something very odd like an old Picture II or display from the Star Trek video game (both have vector CRT displays) then you are also viewing all of your vectors as rasterized images on your screen.
 
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