How do they do that? Large poster on buidlings??

[finaluser]

Hi guys and gals.

I always wondered when they print these massive photo advertisment on buildings. A freind of mine told me they convert photos in to vector, but what I know is the maximun you can get of a photo is a cartoonie 256 color max when you convert.

Any one in here can inspire me on what actually goes on and how do they get that spot on clear photos that size.

Many thnx

 

[jconingham]

The photos aren't converted to vector but, if they were, the 256 color limit is not true.

I don't know all details and all methods for creating those large ads, but one way is to shoot using a chrome film which then allows the photo to be resized as much as wanted without distortion/loss of information.

 

[finaluser]

I think I cracked it. you save the image as bitmap, then trace it in illustrator or in flash but you need to play and tweek with the settings till you get as close as possible to the original photo.. coool

 

[jconingham]

That's one way of tracing photos, but not the way to make those large *photo* ads (a photo will continue to be a photo).

Illustrator's Live Trace (CS2) gives a much better result than Flash's bitmap tracing, although even better is to use the Pen Tool is do the tracing yourself.

 

[dropkickmurphy]

Like jconingham said, a photo is a photo. Though the photo is printed low res because your factoring viewing distance. The larger the ad and further the viewing distance the lower the resolution. Say for something thats small, like 6'w x 12'h id make the images around 100-125ppi. Uber huge stuff, which I have never done, but I would imagine you might be down to 20-50ppi. It then would be printed tiled into strips. If your doing vinyl then the strips are welded together so you get a seamless look.

Im sure there is a formula for that crap. Bet it looks alot like pythagorean theorem

Cheers,
Dropkick Murphy
______________________________________________
Alcohol & Tobacco Quality Assurance Specialist

http://www.bancomicsans.com

 

[blueark]

I do some work for a large format printing company. While I'm sure some people do convert their photos to vector, the vast majority of people don't. The larger the print, the further away you need to be to get the full impact, and the lower the resolution you'll need. If you design a building wrap that's four stories high and half a block wide, you're not going to notice the difference between 300 dpi and 1/2 dpi! Your printer can advise you on a realistic resolution for your requirements.