Is it a common problem?

[Achachante]

Hi all.........I am new to this field and I got a PDF file to produce a 8x8 foot size banner. The top portion of the file is a small jpeg photograph and the other portion is vector based text. The size is scaled to 2 x2 foot. I tried to print it in 8x8 size and the photograph portion seems destorted with jaggered edges. How can I make a 8x8 print with sharp pictures from that small picture?

[Dusty Pony Design]

Howdy,

I work at a sign company and we run into this problem too. Ug, bad file set up is annoying! Especially when we get full scale photoshop documents!

See if the customer can supply a 300 dpi photo - even if your printer doesn't print at 300 dpi, (I think ours are 150 max) this will help maintain the quality of the picture as you scale it up, then can save it at lower dpi if necessary for the printer. Pixels just don't scale well unless you have a lot of them!

Always before printing we send out a proof of the artwork and the specs on what material it will be printed on, etc... If we get a bad quality photo, I will proof to them a sample of how it looks at the scale they want it printed at. Then if it comes out bad, they had full knowledge of how it is going to look. Always make sure the client knows what they will get before printing- it should be their call, not yours if you are going to print a bad image enlarged.

Hope that helps!
~Anne-Marie

[Achachante]

Hi,
thanks for the reply. But I got it from another designer to print. I've lost that work and another company printed it. Its a good print. I thought It was my fault and I went to a more experienced designer. He also said the same thing that we cant produce good quality print from that file. That whole file was a PDF file. Will it make any difference when scaling up?

[Achachante]

Hi,
thanks for the reply. But I got it from another designer to print. I've lost that work and another company printed it. Its a good print. I thought It was my fault and I went to a more experienced designer. He also said the same thing that we cant produce good quality print from that file. That whole file was a PDF file. Will it make any difference when scaling up?

[Dusty Pony Design]

If the pdf is saved at a print quality and is vector based art, it should be fine to scale up. The problem is still just with the resolution of the particular photo. Glad you figured it out!

[Achachante]

Hi Thank you for the response. But still..is there any particular software can do it?

[AdobeAce]

But still..is there any particular software can do it?

Take a look at Genuine Fractals from OnOne Software -- http://www.ononesoftware.com/detail.php?prodLine_id=2

It's a Photoshop Plugin that does a great job of blowing up images. On their website, they say you can blow up images up to 1000%. I've never tried increasing the size of an image quite that much, but have had great success at 400-500%. A word of caution however -- If an image looks bad at "Pixel View" size, it will look absolutely awful if you use Fractals to make it bigger.

Hope this helps!

Ace
:D

[Achachante]

Thank you for that valuable advice. I'll try it and reply soon.