render size to print at A1 format

[lucho]

Hi everyone

I need to print a render in a A1 format (33.1 x 23.3 inch), i need a good image quality, it means not pixeled of course and with a nice visual look, my question is: which is the correct render size and the correct dpi quality for an A1 image?, thanks a lot for the answers, this is an important job for the next week.

Best regards

Lucho

[johnvid]

Work it out using photoshop, set the image size to what you need and change the ppi, then figure out how many pixels in the canvas, but 300dpi or ppi will be good, 150 if you cant make the 300, or feel its too much...

[SandmanNinja]

I was looking for some similar information, but was just calculating in my head.

 

Let's say A4 which is about 8x11 inches American.

300dpi x 8 = 2400

330dpi x 11 = 3300

 

A3 is twice the width of A4 (man I love the Metric System and it's handy standards):

300dpi x 16 = 4800

300dpi x 11 = 3300

 

A2 is:

300dpi x 22 = 6600

300dpi x 16 = 4800

 

A1 is:

 

300dpi x 32 = 9600

300dpi x 22 = 6600

 

But I've also heard that 300dpi isn't a MUST - that 150 is acceptable.

 

Question:

If I render out a scene at 9600 x 6600, do I just give the file as-is to the clerk at the camera store and say "print this on A1 paper, please?". Does anything need to be done to have it ready to print on that paper size?

[WAcky]

Your figures are NQR.

 

A4 @ 300dpi = 3507x2480

A3 @ 300dpi = 3507x4960

A2 @ 300dpi = 4960x7015

A1 @ 300dpi = 9933x7015

A0 @ 300dpi = 9933x14043

 

These figures came from Max's print size wizard. Its good. Use it

 

As long as your file has 300dpi then just give it to the printer, tell him the size and he'll print it. I used to work in a print shop and there's nothing worse than printing an image someone got off google search and trying to enlarge it 10X. The bigger the render the better but theres no point trying to print a nice big render if its only going to print out XX size @ 72dpi.

[lucho]

Thanks a lot for the information guys, just another question if i save the image as pdf, the image loose resolution??, the SadmanNinja's question is frecuent, do you have any good suggests to do for a good plotting?

[SandmanNinja]

A4 @ 300dpi = 3507x2480

A3 @ 300dpi = 3507x4960

A2 @ 300dpi = 4960x7015

A1 @ 300dpi = 9933x7015

A0 @ 300dpi = 9933x14043

 

These figures came from Max's print size wizard. Its good. Use it

Wow - great tip! Thanks mate... Never heard of it. Gonna try to render out a 300dpi A1 tonight - just to see how long it takes.

 

edit: just called the local Office Works. They can print up to A3 (sigh - just twice the size of an A4), but it's pretty cheap - less than $9.

 

They referred me to a specialty print shop here in town to print A2's and A1's.

 

If you were going to print a tangible folio (on paper, not just a CD) to take to a client for a presentation, what size would you use? Either selling them on the work you can produce, or showing them the work they've just ordered and paid for (after they've proofed and approved, naturally).

[WAcky]

Never save as .pdf. Your file size will be astronomical. You have to print to pdf. There is a "high quality print" setting which will save it to something stupid like 1200dpi but as long as you set the size correctly you dont need to worry about that figure.

 

Most places will print up to A3. We used to charge about $5 plus a download fee. It is expensive but when you think about it, for 5 or 10 minutes work and having to stop the printer for a one-off print its reasonable.

 

Printing anything over A3 is going to be very expensive. The machines can cost alot more than you could imagine. A1's and A0's can be $80 each depending where you go. These are usually very high quality tho with a nice hot coating laminate. You might just have to call alot of places or look for the places that are online and dont have shopfronts. These places will always do a cheaper job and are generally good quality but don't count on it.

 

If you go to a shop you can tell them you're displeased with the result and also see the proof on-screen before you print saving you time and money and frustration that you may run into with a web based business.

 

Either way, you need to build this cost into your pricing. I had a meeting and printed out some nice renders for the architect and he said "Geez you dont have to pay that much for us!" and i said "I'm not paying for it" hehehe

[SgWRX]

as far as 300dpi (which is really ppi) is concerned, i've had two projects now get printed as 4' x 8' signs and the local sign printer was impressed with a 2600x1300 pixel image. i guess he gets a lot of for-web images

 

but yeah, they looked pretty decent when i checked them out. i don't know for sure but i think the printer's system may have interpolated a bit.

 

normally when i print photographs in the 12x18" range i let qimage interpolate the images up to a printing spec of 720ppi which is a multiple of 360dpi which is the native dpi printing of my epson.

 

ppi is image pixels per inch. dpi is how many dots of ink a printer will drop per inch on a piece of paper.

[lyca]

Maybe you don't have render a 9000 x 7000 pixel image,

if you get the half of it you can use photoshop or PhotoZoom pro ( http://www.benvista.com/main/content/content.php?page=ourproducts&section=photozoompro_1 ) to resize your image.

 

An other thing to know is that printers often interpolate the image for 10 time bigger with minimum lost in quality. for exemple i had to do a billboard that was 5 meters x 4 meters, the guy at the printshop ask me to give them an image witch is 50cm x 40cm in 300ppi, we just got it and it looks great.

[WAcky]

Yes it depends on the viewing distance but generally anything up to a3 is going to be viewed closely. A bill board is a different story.

[lucho]

Never save as .pdf. Your file size will be astronomical. You have to print to pdf. There is a "high quality print" setting which will save it to something stupid like 1200dpi but as long as you set the size correctly you dont need to worry about that figure.

 

 

Wacky, thanks for the suggests, jus a thing, do you mean that i have to save the archive just as jpeg or ps format??, and then open it in adobe to print?? please i didn't stand it, please someone who could explain this?, another thing about the paper, which is the best paper for you guys to print a A1 panel or folio, the best quality option.

 

I have to say sorry, my english is not very good.

Thanks a lot for the suggests...and lyca you generated a 50cm x 40cm image at 300ppi, one question, do you printed the render with that size or bigger?

 

Thanks to all guys for the answers again.

[WAcky]

If you're in PS then do as you would to print the image to a printer but instead of having your printer selected, select the Adobe Acrobat print driver and go from there. You can also just right click and image and create a .pdf from there but you might have to have acrobat pro.

 

Regarding paper; you wont have many options at A1 size so whoever you print with will show you some papers for you to choose (if there is a choice) I always print on 140gsm or higher to make sure the paper isnt trancluscent. Otherwise you lose your nice flat whites.

 

 

 

Wacky, thanks for the suggests, jus a thing, do you mean that i have to save the archive just as jpeg or ps format??, and then open it in adobe to print?? please i didn't stand it, please someone who could explain this?, another thing about the paper, which is the best paper for you guys to print a A1 panel or folio, the best quality option.

 

I have to say sorry, my english is not very good.

Thanks a lot for the suggests...and lyca you generated a 50cm x 40cm image at 300ppi, one question, do you printed the render with that size or bigger?

 

Thanks to all guys for the answers again.