Many many years ago I made a poster to be printed (at a professionel print-place). I remember putting the size of the image as I wanted when creating it but when I went to have it printed, they told me it would be grainy/pixilated (or something) and I’d have to have it printed in a smaller size than my original dimensions. I remember feeling a bit disappointed.
Now I want to make an A2 poster for a friend as a gift. And I am feeling wary of how to set up my image as per previous semi-forgotten experiences.
So given I want to create an A2 image to be printed onto real poster paper at a place I assume have professional printers, should I do something about the resolution in advanced options when creating image?
300dpi is normally ok, they normally ask for 3mm bleed extra round the edges of anything printed at a print shop, if you are getting an inkjet print then it might not be important
No, resolution is the DPI. It has nothing to do with the actual size in pixels. The dimensions are under Image Size. You have already set the size in cm, which GIMP then translated to pixels using the DPI. You can also set it using other units, such as pixels directly.
DPI stands for Dots Per Inch, and refers to how many pixels should be printed per inch on the paper. I’m on my way to bed, so not going to find them for you, but there should be something like a gazillion articles and videos explaining the difference between pixels and DPI and how they relate. That’s what you need to understand to answer your question.
An digital image typically uses pixels-per-inch (PPI often referred to as dots-per-inch dpi) for printing resolution. Not to be confused with an inkjet printer which spits out ink with an actual dpi.
If years ago, the printing company complained about a low PPI value then your small image must have scaled up a lot to A2 size.
A poster size print does not have to be photo quality - typically 300 PPI. It depends on the viewing distance. There is an equation for this, image size vs viewing distance PPI = 1/((distance-in-inches x 0.000291) / 2)
Looking at similar size I have on the wall, viewed at about 1.5 m (say 72 inches) PPI = 95 say 100 PPI You do not really want to go below that and probably 150-200 PPI is better.
If you use Gimp then you can find the printing resolution for the image in Image → Print Size.
Edit: Pulled this out of my notes, (amazingly still there)
In the video as far as I understood there is not a difference between size of image and when setting the PPI because when he sets the PPI it also changes the size of the image to match up… but then somehow when it goes on physical print, suddently they do not interplay.
So the DPI is the printer’s physical capability and 300 DPI means it can make smoother/finer detail than 150 DPI, I suppose. I’ll just assume the printer place can at least print the same details as a normal printer which to my standard and purpose is good enough ^^
I checked out your link - thanks for that! I put in my numbers but nothing really happened, haha - however, the examples it gives further down are good.
That’s a really neat chart. I think though I’d like people to go up close to the poster and look : ) Unless it affects the price of the print too, but I am guessing it is easier to go down in resolution than up!
As I remember it, I made a larger size back then (like max A3) for the print but in the actual print we had to go down in size (maybe A4, or something slightly larger) else it’d be grainy, so something might have been off from the get-go in the resolutions.
I’ll just try and go with the standard else I will never get started:
I will keep you guys posted how it goes if I finish : ) And gosh, I don’t think I will make something amazing, I draw like a toddler. This will probably end up as an “expectations vs, reality” meme but if one does not dream and gamble…
