Posters
whispers65
Posts: 952
Hiya...another question came up today. I was showing a friend some renders (no more than about 2 people every see anything I do lol) and she said hey you aught to make that into a poster and have it printed.
I never thought of it. I don't know if it is possible, feasible, or even worth the time and effort if it is possible.
I know I'd have to check the usage limits. It's fairly simple - 3 figures, same clothing set, and one background image. Oh yeah and I t hink some lip and nose hardware. 99.999999% of everything I've ever done or will do is for myself. But in this case, it could stretch it.
I do plan on doing photographs, posters, paintings, etc as mentioned in another thread but still all of that is strictly for personal use as I create environments and fill up living spaces for a couple Day in the Life type series.
So whatcha think? Has anyone tried it before? Take something they rendered and had it printed as a poster?
Now it would be cool to come up with some kind of movie poster design for my novels. I'll give ya that. That'd be over the top fun. So this does give me ideas.
As always thanks for your time and consideration.
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Comments
Although it will depend on the size of the poster you want, it shouldn't be hard to do. Most photo development places offer poster size enlargements of your digital photos. But instead of a digital photo, you can summit a digital render.
Below is the recommended size requirements I found online:
for 8 x 12 in: 1200 x 1800 pixels (2 megapixels)
for 12 x 18 in: 1800 x 2700 pixels (5 megapixels)
for 16 x 24 in: 2000 x 3000 pixels (6 megapixels)
for 20 x 32 in: 2500 x 3750 pixels (9 megapixels)
which you could simply set up in the Render Settings in Daz Studio
Before I found the above size requirements, I had a couple of renders made into 11" x 14" mini posters.
My render setting was 6600 x 8400 pixels. The equivalent of a 55 megapixel camera. LOL, a bit of an overkill. But they turned out great.
NOTE: When calculating the pixels per inch, the 20 x 32 inch poster comes out to be less than 150 ppi.
I'm assuming the recommended pixel dimensions they gave is the minimum required to get an acceptable image.
You can (and probably should) always go higher to ensure better quality.
Thank you for your response. Since I haven't thought about it much and I don't currently have any posters. I think I will scope out a place and try and see some samples and so forth and tell them my plans and see what they say.
This is really good information. I just didn't have any idea until she saw the pic yesterday and asked.
It is also a good idea to talk to the service provider as to final print file format. Most of our print houses prefer the files be submitted in TIFF or Targa format.
From what I know the good print quality is 300dpi, not 150dpi. 75-150 dpi is closer to newspaper.
Deviant art has a print service, and they sell prints from users too. Sometimes you see an image that you can buy. I haven't though, but you can check it out here:
http://help.deviantart.com/179/
Another thing to keep in mind is brightness and contrast if it looks fine on your screen 99% of the time it will be too dark for a print.
As a rule of thumb the print will be 10-15% darker.
Also, printwork is done in CMYK paints (unless we speak of prohibitively expensive pantones), while screen is in RGB mode - some colors in such situation will not look the same way on print as they are on screen; usually some adjustments are done in Photoshop for CMYK version. I don't know how DeviantArt deals with this, - maybe they have some advanced service for this.
A long time ago I tried having the exact same photo printed at several different places simultaneously (I don't remember which sites I chose, except that Zazzle was one of them). Every single print had different colors and brightness, none of which matched each other nor my monitor. (I don't recall if the monitor was color-corrected at the time.) The green from a tree ranged from emerald green to olive drab. So do a test print first, maybe something smaller and cheaper, to verify you are happy with the result before shelling out the big bucks.
Also consider how long you want it to last. Depending on the ink and paper used and how much light the print is exposed to, it will change color over time more or less. Presumably cheap ink and paper in bright sun will fade right away, and archival-quality ink and paper under coated glass in the dark will last dramatically longer (and cost a lot more.)
This is also a truth - when any printed product is made, several proofs will be done on the printer that is going to print this product later. Each printer is different.
True. Good print quality is around 300 to 400 dpi.
Which is why I was assuming the recommended pixel dimensions they gave is just the MINIMUM required and not the IDEAL, as most people were probably only interested in standard size photos and later decided to create a poster size enlargements as an after thought.
In my own case, the 6600 x 8400 pixeled render for an 11" x 14" mini poster comes out to be 600 ppi.
600 dpi isn't always ideal either - highly depending on what you use to print and how.
Something else to keep in mind is to NOT have large areas of gradation. Like having a whole background just consisting of one color fading to another color.
It looks great on your monitor, but can cause banding patterns when printed.
I have read that using a Gaussian blur or overlaying a texture above the gradation can lessen the banding effect, but have never tried it myself.
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If I remember correctly, deviantArt outsources the printing to another company. But since dA has to make some money too, you're also paying a middleman. Granted dA is a place to advertise your prints for others to buy, but if you just want one print for personal use, it cheaper to go another route.
I use snapfish.com
For price comparison:
A 16 x 20 unframed, matted print at Snapfish is $14.99 plus $2.99 shipping.
A 16 x 20 unframed, matted print at deviantArt is $21.99 plus $5.00 shipping.
Actually, the size of the print effects the ideal dpi because you base dpi on the ideal viewing distance. I don't have a formula, but if you have a poster that's 24 x 36 for example, you can print it at 150dpi. First, 300dpi would produce a huge file, and secondly, anyone who stood close enough to such a large poster to see it's fuzziness is standing too close to ideally view the entire thing anyway. The same is true of your tv screen. So don't just get caught up in the numbers. There's a practicality aspect to consider as well.
And 600dpi is very often overkill depending on the print method used. Most people's eyes just aren't that discerning when the resolution gets that high.
LOL. The 600 was overkill. It came about because Customer Service gave me the generic answer of "The higher the better." when I asked them what resolution is required for the mini poster.
Not only that but depending on what you use to print and what inks and paper you use such high density might cause artifacts in the print itself and sometimes the inks might soak the paper way too much.
Hey all. Thank you so very much for the responses. I really do appreciate everyone's time and effort.
This gives me a lot to think about. A lady I work with mentioned a printing place by where she lives and close to where we work so I may start there.
I think I'm going to take the idea and start with something small and see how that goes first. I was wondering about the colors and so forth. I mean on my monitor, pics look pretty good but they don't always look good on someone else's monitor so that is something to take into consideration. I didn't think about the difference between the monitor and printed also.
I just have never thought about how all of this works and I'm glad I can come to you guys with questions and get pretty insightful advice.
Because printing presses use half-tone screens to lay the ink on the paper (in traditional CMYK printing) we need to distinguish between Lpi (lines per inch) and Dpi (dots per inch or pixels per inch). The printing press will output in Lpi while our digital file will be in Dpi.
A typical newspaper will be 85 Lpi, while a typical 4 color piece will be 150 Lpi or sometimes higher depending on the press and the desired quality of the output. You need a higher Dpi than Lpi because the halftone screen is translating that image to the plate.
There is a formula, which I forget offhand, but the bottom line is this: the minimum Dpi you need for a 150 Lpi screen is around 240 Dpi. Lower than that and you will see pixelation and blurring. Most of the time you want higher, because you never know when you will need to zoom in on an image, but most of the extra pixels will be wasted. We used to use 300 dpi as a good ballpark number for a 150 Lpi screen, just to be safe and to get the crispest image.
If that sounds pretty low res to you, well you may be right, but if you are talking about a large image, those pixels add up pretty fast. And remember this, Macintosh screens (not retina displays) have a 72 dpi standard, and Windows has a 96 dpi standard. Retina displays are higher, and thats why they are easier to read off of.
I don't know if other image editors can do it, but if you use Photoshop and save files for web view using Save for Web option, you need to uncheck "embed color profile" option and check "convert to sRGB", this way, I believe, it keeps picture consistent for web-view between almost all devices. But Save to Web usually only used for creation of websites, I'm not sure how gallery work should be treated.
After working for a print shop for 5 yrs I'd say the best way to get quality prints is a combination of factors. In my experience its always easiest to deal with a print shop local to your area, if cost isn't a factor you will pay more (than online) but the hands on experience and relationship with the printer may save you in the long run.
Firstly the file media; check with your printer regarding things like bleed, dpi, format preferred, etc.
Second Printer technology and costs; well maintained and newer printers will generally give a higher quality print then older tech you shouldn't be afraid to ask how old the printer is or if you can see examples of prints. Also remember to ask if there are any extra costs on proofs, file setups, delivery etc.
Lastly the mediums used; The stock and inks used can dramatically effect your final product things to consider with paper stocks are things like glossy, matte or canvas. Weight or thickness of the stock. Cheaper stock will often form dimpling with heavy coverage especially with black. Be aware of four color blacks in your image as this much ink can cause smearing or stock dimpling when not setup correctly(Don't worry about this in general pictures but be aware if you place borders around the image) Ink quality can vary quite a lot from cheap and nasty to UV resistant long life inks and toners. Ask your printer for details on the ink used as this will effect the life and quality of your print. Cheaper is often cheaper for a reason.
Even if proofs cost extra its best to get one to avoid disappointment in the final result ask if its possible to have a reduced version printed on the same printer alongside a 100% strip proof(a small portion of the image at 100% final size). Be aware some printer will charge almost the same as final prints for proofs others will provide for free, make sure to ask.
Theres also some good quality eco ink and recycled stock available these day if that concerns you.
So good luck and mostly if you have any questions for your printer its always better to ask then get it wrong by guessing.
:D
It probably can't hurt to check if your monitor is calibrated and representing stuff correctly.
Canon claims their ink will keep the color for 100 years. Whether that's true only time will tell, I guess. :)