We’re trying to create a banner that’s 5’ x 3’, and print it at kinkos.
Yes I know kinkos sucks. But that’s what my boss likes.
They want a PDF file.
We can’t get distiller to make a PDF file that big! It cuts pieces off
and everything. How disappointing! We’re creating this thing in m$
publisher to begin with.
So we tried using Pagemaker and it won’t make a file that big… huh?
Any ideas on what to do here? Is it ok to make the banner a smaller
multiple of 5’x3’ and print it out? won’t we lose quality? Any tips?
“Shena Delian O’Brien” <shena@darklock.com> wrote in message news:3D1247F0.2090605@darklock.com…
> Hi,
>
> We’re trying to create a banner that’s 5’ x 3’, and print it at kinkos.
> Yes I know kinkos sucks. But that’s what my boss likes.
>
> They want a PDF file.
>
> We can’t get distiller to make a PDF file that big! It cuts pieces off
> and everything. How disappointing! We’re creating this thing in m$
> publisher to begin with.
>
> So we tried using Pagemaker and it won’t make a file that big… huh?
>
> Any ideas on what to do here? Is it ok to make the banner a smaller
> multiple of 5’x3’ and print it out? won’t we lose quality? Any tips?
>
> Thanks
>
Ah, large format. It’s a perennial problem. I’ve wrestled with these
issues for years, and the sad truth is there still isn’t a good answer.
Oh, the pros do it quite well, but the problem is speaking a common
language with someone like Kinko’s.
If at all possible, I would really, really recommend going to a sign shop
instead, keeping in mind that you absolutely have to find one that knows
what it’s doing. There are a lot of small start-ups that go out of
business in a year or two. If you can find one that does a lot of work
with conventions, you can save yourself a lot of heartache. They can tell
you exactly what kind of format they can use and what resolution, etc.
Couple things to keep in mind: It makes a huge difference how far away
the banner will be viewed. 72 dpi is more than adequate if it will be
viewed from say 10 feet or so. Don’t aggravate yourself trying to make a
600 dpi with 24bit color for a 3’x5’ banner. My thumbnail calculations
tell me that would be over 2 gigs (sign dimensions always have the
vertical dimension first, btw) If it willl be primarily a photograph, use
a lossy compression file format if they will take it. (lurawave is
becoming more common in the industry, but you may need to use jpg) If you have to use pdf, explore distiller’s settings. You may have to create
the pieces independently and assemble them in Acrobat. However, a pro
shop should be able to take any AI eps file, so you shouldn’t have to
muck with distiller (which sucks, btw).
“Shena Delian O’Brien” <shena@darklock.com> wrote in message news:3D1247F0.2090605@darklock.com…
> Hi,
>
> We’re trying to create a banner that’s 5’ x 3’, and print it at kinkos.
> Yes I know kinkos sucks. But that’s what my boss likes.
>
> They want a PDF file.
>
> We can’t get distiller to make a PDF file that big! It cuts pieces off
> and everything. How disappointing! We’re creating this thing in m$
> publisher to begin with.
>
> So we tried using Pagemaker and it won’t make a file that big… huh?
>
> Any ideas on what to do here? Is it ok to make the banner a smaller
> multiple of 5’x3’ and print it out? won’t we lose quality? Any tips?
>
> Thanks
>
Wow, they’re on photoshop 7 now? I’m still using 4 and/or 5 depending
on which computer I’m on.
Tony Ranieri wrote:
>
> i believe photoshop 7 can edit pdfs
>
> “Shena Delian O’Brien” <shena@darklock.com> wrote in message
> news:3D1247F0.2090605@darklock.com…
> > Hi,
> >
> > We’re trying to create a banner that’s 5’ x 3’, and print it at kinkos.
> > Yes I know kinkos sucks. But that’s what my boss likes.
> >
> > They want a PDF file.
> >
> > We can’t get distiller to make a PDF file that big! It cuts pieces off
> > and everything. How disappointing! We’re creating this thing in m$
> > publisher to begin with.
> >
> > So we tried using Pagemaker and it won’t make a file that big… huh?
> >
> > Any ideas on what to do here? Is it ok to make the banner a smaller
> > multiple of 5’x3’ and print it out? won’t we lose quality? Any tips?
> >
> > Thanks
> >
Illustrator and Freehand can save/export large format .pdf files.
Photoshop will rasterize a pdf, and let you edit the resulting image, but
you cannot save or export to pdf from photoshop.
> Illustrator and Freehand can save/export large format .pdf files.
> Photoshop will rasterize a pdf, and let you edit the resulting image, but
> you cannot save or export to pdf from photoshop.
Photoshop will save .pdf’s but your limited to a single image. that should
work fine for a banner.
So it does. I did not know that. But is it limited to raster elements? Saving a
large format design as a raster image will make a huge file.
“John R. Marshall” wrote:
> On Friday 21 June 2002 11:36 am, Bill wrote:
>
> > Illustrator and Freehand can save/export large format .pdf files.
> > Photoshop will rasterize a pdf, and let you edit the resulting image, but
> > you cannot save or export to pdf from photoshop.
>
> Photoshop will save .pdf’s but your limited to a single image. that should
> work fine for a banner.
>
> –
> John R. Marshall - Web Developer
>
> JRM Studios - http://www.jrmstudios.com
> The Hotrodding Network - http://www.hotrodding.net
> So it does. I did not know that. But is it limited to raster elements?
> Saving a large format design as a raster image will make a huge file.
It’s limited to photoshop formats.
“Photoshop PDF files can contain only a single image. Photoshop PDF format
supports all of the color modes and features that are supported in standard
Photoshop format. Photoshop PDF also supports JPEG and ZIP compression,
except for Bitmap-mode images, which use CCITT Group 4 compression.”
Just tried it… Photoshop PDF file supports Shape layers, layer styles, font
embedding… all that good stuff, and it displays correctly in Acrobat Reader,
except for a text block with an embedded font. File size for a 3 x 5’ 72dpi w/
6 shape layers, plus a raster layer and a text layer, was less than 5Mb.
The font that I embedded (according to the ‘save as’ dialog) appeared in
Acrobat Reader as a line of open rectangles.
Bill wrote:
> Just tried it… Photoshop PDF file supports Shape layers, layer styles, font
> embedding… all that good stuff, and it displays correctly in Acrobat Reader,
> except for a text block with an embedded font. File size for a 3 x 5’ 72dpi w/
> 6 shape layers, plus a raster layer and a text layer, was less than 5Mb.
> The font that I embedded (according to the ‘save as’ dialog) appeared in
> Acrobat Reader as a line of open rectangles.
>
Except turned the wrong way. I’m not talkabout about mb size problems
I’m talking about height and width size problems. Trying to create a pdf
file bigger than 3 feet wide is impossible for me no matter what I do.
Bill wrote:
> It would be the same size file.
>
> Shena Delian O’Brien wrote:
>
>
>>5’ x 3’ not 3’ x 5’
>
>
The pdf file I made to test photoshop’s pdf-making ability was 5’ wide by 3’
tall. I’ve never heard of the sign-makers’ convention of expressing the
height before the width, and I’m used to saying it the other way around.
Shena Delian O’Brien wrote:
> Except turned the wrong way. I’m not talkabout about mb size problems
> I’m talking about height and width size problems. Trying to create a pdf
> file bigger than 3 feet wide is impossible for me no matter what I do.
>
> Bill wrote:
> > It would be the same size file.
> >
> > Shena Delian O’Brien wrote:
> >
> >[color=darkred]
> >>5’ x 3’ not 3’ x 5’
> >
> >[/color]
Bill wrote:
> The pdf file I made to test photoshop’s pdf-making ability was 5’ wide by 3’
> tall. I’ve never heard of the sign-makers’ convention of expressing the
> height before the width, and I’m used to saying it the other way around.
All I know is when I’m typing it into the boxes in my programs, it does
the width x height. That means 5’x3’.
My programs are the same way. x then y. Basic cartesian geometry. Ned was saying
that signmakers express the height first.
In any case, the point I was trying to make was that photoshop let me make a
5’ wide pdf.
> My programs are the same way. x then y. Basic cartesian geometry. Ned
> was saying that signmakers express the height first.
Yeah, it’s kind of goofy. It hearkens back to the days when the more
important dimension was how high the sign was, and therefore, how much it
stood out against the background. It wasn’t until designers started using
computer illustration that there was any impetus for change. When I started
in this industry, there were still quite a few hand illustrators. Now,
modern sign manufacturers generally know what you mean when you express it
in the more universal x y coordinates. If you want to act like you’re an
old pro, tell them “3 feet tall by 5 feet wide”.
