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BeckieKhani
Participant
February 7, 2025
Answered

Photoshop workflow for XL printing

  • February 7, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 421 views

Hi everyone, I need to create a massive 48m x 54m banner to cover a ceiling, designed to look like an underwater scene with fishes, a whale, divers, and other sea creatures. The artwork will be printed in two parts (each 24m x 54m). What’s the best workflow for this? I need to design the full artwork first and then split it for printing. I'm currently working at 1:10 scale with 300 DPI, but it's really slow. Would it be better to start at 1:100 scale, then upscale the final design using Adobe AI for the print files? Any advice or suggestions? Thanks!

    Correct answer D Fosse

    You need to keep things separate here.

     

    Photoshop doesn't work with physical sizes, it only works with pixels. The physical size is determined by whatever ppi value you assign to the finished work - or vice versa. Ppi is a measurement of pixel density on the printing medium. Pixels per inch. It's a very simple formula, and it means exactly what it says. 

     

    You don't need to do the math, the Photoshop Image Size dialog will do it for you. Put in two values, and it will tell you the third. Just remember to uncheck "resample" (important!).

     

    Forget about scaling. It's just confusing matters here. You can't "upscale" pixels. You need to have enough pixels to begin with. But most likely you don't need nearly as much as you think.

     

    What is the distance up to this ceiling? The farther away, the lower the ppi needed. My guess is that you could probably do this at 10-20 ppi and it will look perfectly sharp - but that depends on the distance.

     

    That said, this will be a huge file and you will need a high-spec computer to handle it.

     

     

    2 replies

    D Fosse
    Community Expert
    D FosseCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    February 7, 2025

    You need to keep things separate here.

     

    Photoshop doesn't work with physical sizes, it only works with pixels. The physical size is determined by whatever ppi value you assign to the finished work - or vice versa. Ppi is a measurement of pixel density on the printing medium. Pixels per inch. It's a very simple formula, and it means exactly what it says. 

     

    You don't need to do the math, the Photoshop Image Size dialog will do it for you. Put in two values, and it will tell you the third. Just remember to uncheck "resample" (important!).

     

    Forget about scaling. It's just confusing matters here. You can't "upscale" pixels. You need to have enough pixels to begin with. But most likely you don't need nearly as much as you think.

     

    What is the distance up to this ceiling? The farther away, the lower the ppi needed. My guess is that you could probably do this at 10-20 ppi and it will look perfectly sharp - but that depends on the distance.

     

    That said, this will be a huge file and you will need a high-spec computer to handle it.

     

     

    B
    BeckieKhaniAuthor
    Participant
    February 7, 2025

    Great answer, thanks a lot for your reply! Since the ceiling is at least 10 meters high, I don’t actually need an ultra-sharp image.

    kglad
    Community Expert
    kgladCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 7, 2025

    in the future, to find the best place to post your message, use the list here, https://community.adobe.com/

    p.s. i don't think the adobe website, and forums in particular, are easy to navigate, so don't spend a lot of time searching that forum list. do your best and we'll move the post (like this one has already been moved) if it helps you get responses.



    <"moved from using the community">
    B
    BeckieKhaniAuthor
    Participant
    February 7, 2025

    @kglad Thanks for moving my message. Hope I could get some responses 🙂

    kglad
    Community Expert
    kgladCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 7, 2025

    no problem.  and the photoshop forum is pretty active so you'll probably get help today.

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