[nycdunz]

i have a question about doing a 4 feet by 6 feet banner in photoshop, at work i did a 4x6 postcard at 300dpi, but now my boss wants me to make a 4x6feet banner out of it, if i remake this in ps at 48inches x 72inches @ 300 dpi it will be unbelievably large file size and so slow on my computer that i cannot do anything...

im running powerbook 1ghz 17" 2gb ram...

is there another method/technique i can use in order to make the file smaller n more manageable but also print sharp on a banner of that size? I don't want to do it in illustrator, because the postcard ive design has a lot of layer masking, compositing, effects that i've used in photoshop, so i want to stick to it. Please help.

[andi*pandi]

banners aren't usually printed at 300 dpi, more like 150, but check with your vendor for specs. Otherwise, flatten what you can to keep the file size down.

[Westbo]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi

banners aren't usually printed at 300 dpi, more like 150, but check with your vendor for specs. Otherwise, flatten what you can to keep the file size down.

Andi is correct. Most banner output is in the 100-150 dpi range. Flatten and provide a CMYK JPG or TIF.Your final file can be 300dpi at 50% production size.

W2

[nycdunz]

what if i design it in illustrator? do i set it to 100-150dpi too?

[th3ph17]

if it is vector in illustrator, you could print it the size of a house as it would be resolution independent.

the thing to remember about banners and billboards and such is that they aren't designed to be looked at closely. The bigger it is, the further away the viewer will be--in theory. For 40' wide billboards i'd make a 20" wide file with 300 dpi image and vector text.

But yeah, definately check with the vendor. They don't want a 50 gig file.