Print Resolution

[Milady]

Hey all.

I did just do another post, but on another subject, but was wondering about sth else too.

Could anyone tell me how people generally work at this mad resolutions for print? Do they have super amazing machines or sth? Or is everything vector and scaled up and anything bitmap is put in at the last minute? I have a number of books on design and publishing and none of them mention this!

Thanks!

Ayesha

 

[Manic]

what rez are you creating them in ??
and what is the final output for??

If it is for something less than magazine printing it is generaly best to work at 300dpi andything over that is overkill. you can get away with 150dpi if needed, although this does look a little ropey.

if u give me more details I could give u a better answer.

As for the main question a lot of printers/designers have realy decent macs.
Manic
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I've broken it again !!
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lee.gale@virgin.net

 

[artdirectoreric]

And PC's.

 

[Milady]

Hello Manic,

Its for a brochure and each file (two files for the two sides) consists of three a4 pages all running together. The file is currently at 106M (with layers). I am just scared to scale up (bad practice I know! but little choice) because of the insane file size. It is only at 72dpi now. and I think it would have to be 300.

hmmm!

Thanks

Ayesha

 

[funkymonk]

You are correct, you should be working at 300dpi for print. I did a leaflet for a friend recently and I first did it at 72dpi (I usually do graphics for the web) and the result when printed was awful. I had to start over a create it at 300dpi, now it looks great...... funkymonk B-)
rod@sameplanet.co.uk

 

[Manic]

you could probably get away with 200 dpi.

if you are using a lot of layers try breaking them off onto other files and put them togterher when you need them. Ths might seem a little confusing to start off with but it is just that same as when you were first getting used to layers.

I.e. have any images positioned and saved off in another file and use oultines for placement marks.

if I thnk of any other ways I will let you know.


Manic
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I've broken it again !!
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lee.gale@virgin.net

 

[Milady]

That is a really good idea actually. Thanks

A.

 

[Greg25]

I don't under stand i have an old 9500 power pc
and can handle very large files 3,4,600 dpi
and as large as 3,400 megs

my video card handles up and over millons
of color + over 100 megs of ram , and a 5gig
scratch disk dedicated to photoshop and
it seams to work fine

Most of my work is for print


Greg X-)Ê

 

[askIllustrator]

"Handling" and image is a subjective term. If your incredibly patient, even the oldest Mac will seem fast to you. Lots of drive space and RAM will help in any case. Work efficiently, if your low on resources, work in one app at a time. If your on a Mac, allocate as much RAM to photoshop as you can. As far as resolution goes, the Scitex standard is 302.8 dpi for continueous tone images (raster based). 150 dpi is the lowest you wanna go for any print work but only if you absolutly have to. Try to work in layout apps like Quark, ImageReady, and if you have no other choice, Rage-er-PageMaker will do. These apps work with thumbnails of your hi-res image and will make laying out large numbers of graphics very easy as well as keeping fonts used your vector apps crisp and clean.
Oh, and to answer your original questions, we do have awesome rigs!

 

[Milady]

*grins*
Just stuffed my computer full of RAM and is working a treat. I guess as long as the platform is stable you can just leave it chugging away!

Thanks a lot for all the help!

Ayesha