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T
TheZoDiiaK
Participant
November 17, 2016
Answered

Need help with measurements

  • November 17, 2016
  • 3 replies
  • 394 views

Hello, I hope someone can help me with this one.

I'm going to make a banner for my friends company, thats supposed to be 1000cm x 2000cm in real life. How do I set the correct measurement settings in Photoshop? I want good wualitye. The final product is supposed to be in pdf format.

Thanks!

- Z

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer D Fosse

    Ah, 2 x 1 meter, that's a different kettle of fish altogether. Initially you said 20 x 10 meters!

    Set up a new document 200 x 100 centimeters at, say, 240 ppi just to pick a number out of the hat. That's a file of 18898 x 9449 pixels. Big, but any decent machine should be able to handle that.

    Photoshop works with pixels only. Physical dimension is metadata, just an instruction to the printer how big those pixels will print. The relationship is given by ppi = pixels per inch. Consider this simple equation for a while, once you understand that you also have the answer to your original question.

    Any photographs you put into this will have their own pixel dimensions. These pixels will align to the base document pixel grid, and the relative size determined by that.

    I would really recommend InDesign for this! Photoshop is not a good tool for things like this, but if it's all you have, make sure text stays as vector until you make the final press-ready PDF. Don't flatten or rasterize it.

    3 replies

    D Fosse
    Community Expert
    D FosseCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    November 17, 2016

    People always overestimate the resolution needed for such big banners. Start with the number of pixels your machine can comfortably handle, then let the resolution come out as it will at those dimensions.

    As a general rule of thumb, anything above 20000 pixels or so should get you asking if you really need that much. Usually you don't. Viewing distance is the key! In a normal situation, viewed from a few meters away, 20-30 ppi is plenty more than good enough.

    For this, a file of 24000 pixels x 12000 pixels will come out at roughly 30 ppi. In other words, each individual pixel is 1/30 inch, or a little over one millimeter. You'd need pretty good eyes to spot that!

    Of course, if you're starting with a real photograph, you won't have nearly that much to begin with, unless it's a panorama stitch from a lot of individual frames.

    Trevor.Dennis
    Community Expert
    Trevor.DennisCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    November 17, 2016

    One point I'll make is if the content is 100% vector, like graphic lines and text, the DPI is not terribly important if you are exporting to PDF with the High Quality Print preset.  If the banner has photographic content, then that's another story.

    To give you meaningful advice, we need more information:

    Where will it be displayed, and from what distance, and on what media?

    What is the banner content going to be?

    T
    TheZoDiiaKAuthor
    Participant
    November 17, 2016

    The banner will be used in a company showcase stand. It will include photograhps and text. 2 meter x 1 meter big. How should I do it in Photoshop?

    D Fosse
    Community Expert
    D FosseCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    November 17, 2016

    Ah, 2 x 1 meter, that's a different kettle of fish altogether. Initially you said 20 x 10 meters!

    Set up a new document 200 x 100 centimeters at, say, 240 ppi just to pick a number out of the hat. That's a file of 18898 x 9449 pixels. Big, but any decent machine should be able to handle that.

    Photoshop works with pixels only. Physical dimension is metadata, just an instruction to the printer how big those pixels will print. The relationship is given by ppi = pixels per inch. Consider this simple equation for a while, once you understand that you also have the answer to your original question.

    Any photographs you put into this will have their own pixel dimensions. These pixels will align to the base document pixel grid, and the relative size determined by that.

    I would really recommend InDesign for this! Photoshop is not a good tool for things like this, but if it's all you have, make sure text stays as vector until you make the final press-ready PDF. Don't flatten or rasterize it.

    Mylenium
    Mylenium
    Legend
    November 17, 2016

    You need to read up on DPI/ PPI/ LPI and how it is relevant for print reproduction in relation to e.g. the viewing distance. This has been explained several times here on teh forum and its sub-communities and I'm sure you can find enough advise on the web as well regarding "poster printing" or "large format" printing. Likewise, different reproduction techniques have specific requirements. You can't do vinyl/ foil cutting with pixel images. In any case, I would suggest you do a bit of reading on this stuff and then come back with more specific questions. Of course there's nothing wrong with playing it save and creating a hunky 300 DPI document, it may just bog down your computer. In your case, 180 DPI or even 120 DPI could be sufficient just as well if it isn't meant to be a fine art print.

    Mylenium

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