Skip to main content
C
camiP_ENA
Participant
November 7, 2018
Question

Setting up a 3 Banner Display in Illustrator

  • November 7, 2018
  • 1 reply
  • 1262 views

Howdy AI community .... I've laid out a number of print pieces, and even large form single roll up banners for trade shows, but now I have a demand to do a 3 banner continuous image project, and quickly .... When I try to set up 3 artboards in the actual size, I get an error message stating that it's too big for the canvas. So, do I create one artboard and set up guides to identify the spacing? Or do I need to create these banners individually and splice the graphics in photoshop before dropping them in?  Sorry ... new to large format, just trying to learn best practices.  Thanks in advance!

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

John Mensinger
Community Expert
John MensingerCommunity Expert
Community Expert
November 7, 2018

You haven't offered enough information for specific recommendations with regard to direct methods, but generally, I'd say it would be "best practice" to use InDesign for this rather than Illustrator.

Are there 3 banners? End-to-end? Side-by-side? How wide? How tall? To be hung? To be mounted? Photo(s)? Vector graphics? Text?

C
camiP_ENAAuthor
Participant
November 7, 2018

Thanks, John, for the start .... I'll offer more detail.  First, however, I was always advised that Indesign was the WORST option for large format printing and layout because of restrictions on size, limited output files, etc. .... and not just from one source, from multiple.  So I've put together single banner stands in Illustrator..... figuring the same would be true for a triple set up.

Anyway, 3 banner stands, side by side, to create a continuous image "backwall" for a simple 10' booth space.  All are retractable banner stands.  Each stand is 31.5"X 78.5" visual height (85" total height, 6" bleed at bottom, .05" bleed at top).  When put side by side, there will be a 1.5" space between each stand. So, in order to have the graphic continuity, it seems most appropriate to design them all on the same canvas, but I get an error when I try to set up 3 artboards, stating that it's too big. Just trying to figure out best way to get this laid out and proceed.

John Mensinger
Community Expert
John MensingerCommunity Expert
Community Expert
November 7, 2018

First, however, I was always advised that Indesign was the WORST option for large format printing and layout because of restrictions on size, limited output files, etc.

Hmm, a large format specialist with whom I work almost strictly demands native InDesign files.

In any case, every app has size limits (as you're discovering with Illustrator), and I have no idea what you could mean by "limited output files." The core reason I'd choose InDesign is the likelihood of placed raster images. While I understand Illustrator has served many people just fine as a layout tool, for my purposes, it is a vector graphics creation and editing app. Any mixture of raster images and vector graphics/text happens in InDesign; that's what it's designed to do, while Illustrator's handling of raster images and text are rudimentary in comparison.

You can't do that 6" bleed in either program, so I'd set up a single page; 84" high with 0.5" bleed all around (and a horizontal guide set at 5.5" from the bottom) x 97.5" wide (31.5 x 3 + 1.5 +1.5, with vertical guides at the spaces). InDesign handles it no problem, and so does Illustrator.

And, having now verified it, either program can also set up 3 pages/artboards of 1:1 size in a horizontal spread if you'd rather have it correspond exactly to the physical output. I'm not sure why Illustrator's giving you trouble. What version?

Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices