Inches to resolution pixels...

[Willypill]

Hi.

If my marquee needs to be 25 13/16" x 6 3/16", how do I find out how big of a image I need to make.  How do I convert the inches to the resolution?  I hope this makes sense.  Thanks.

[vornar]

To send a marquee out to be professionally printed, a good rule of thumb is to go for 300 dpi (dots per inch).

[PoDunkMoFo]

The above size at 300 dpi will result in a file that is 41 Megs.  Waaaayyyy to large for a Marquee.  120 dpi will be more than enough and will result in around a 6 Meg file.

You can design at a higher resolution if you wish but the best way to see if you have enough resolution is to zoom in until the image is aprox. actual size and see how the pixels look.

[Rahzel]

There's nothing wrong with a 42 meg file, a CD can hold 700 megs. I'de go with at least 300 DPI, you will notice a difference when you look at it around 2-4 feet away. In photoshop, just set your canvas size to about 1 inch larger than your artwork so you have room for error when trimming. You can make it whatever resolution you want it will still output the actual size, just don't mess with the resolution after you've started designing it.

[Felsir]

Aaah, the joy of vectors... Marquees the size of 60 kilobytes. The Frankenstein sideart is about 263 kilobytes and will print nicely full size at 600 dpi 

Like Rahzel said: the size is really limited to the media your printshop accepts (oh and the memory size your computer has when designing).
Don't let the software fool you: a 200x200 pixel @ 72 dpi looks the same on screen as a 200x200 @ 300 dpi image but gives different results on a printer.

You need a canvas of 6093 x 1857 pixels for your marquee. Basically you take the number of inches and multiply it by the resolution (300 dots per inch) to get the number of pixels you require.

[PoDunkMoFo]

There's nothing wrong with a 42 meg file, a CD can hold 700 megs.

Except that the poor schmo who has to print it is going to have to deal with unnecessarily long RIP times due to the fact that the file you sent him has way more information than his printer can even use.

As far as noticing it.  In the marquee described above there is no way you will see a difference between 300 and 120 at 2-4 feet away.

I print graphics for a living believe me.

Remember the most important fact printer DPI and screen DPI are two completely different things.

[Willypill]

Ok, PoDunkMoFo, I believe you.  So what does my canvas size need to be in Photoshop for a 25 13/16" x 6 3/16" marquee?

[BobbyG66]

Willypill,

I think I know what you are asking for...
...You are looking for image size in points or pixels.

You may have Photoshop setup to measure in points.
Go to Edit-Preferences-Units & Rulers.
Change your ruler to inches.
That should do it.

You can also create a new file and specify the exact size for your document.

Like Rahzel said, make an extra border that will be cut to fit after printing.

Hope this helps!
BobbyG66

[Willypill]

Bobby, that's what I needed.  Thanks man.

[Rahzel]

There's nothing wrong with a 42 meg file, a CD can hold 700 megs.

Except that the poor schmo who has to print it is going to have to deal with unnecessarily long RIP times due to the fact that the file you sent him has way more information than his printer can even use.

Sorry then I didn't realize he was asking how to save the printers' time by compromising the quality of his marquee.