Making a .jpg HUGE - suggestions?

[DrewKaree]

I need help....I've read Frosty's vector tutorial and after seeing that, I've realized THERE'S NO WAY I can vectorize this image I wanted to use for my CP background.  I didn't even understand the difference vectorization (?) made, but after reading, I see the shading and effects in this image can't be vectorized.  

Is there a way for me to take this image from the current size to something about CP-sized?  (about 4' wide, at this current time)  If so, how would I go about that?  I've got Photoshop 6 at home, and can use/borrow Illustrator 11 if needed.  

When I enlarged it, it looks OK, but after reading Frosty's tutorial, it's made me realize the night/day of graphics for my project, and I'd like it to look as sharp as possible.  

ps Thanks for giving me the knowledge, Frosty! I was content to wallow in slop until you HAD to go and show me how good a clean pig looks!

[mahuti]

Maybe. Sometimes.

Why don't you post a link to the image. That will help.

[Pete Harcoff]

Yeah, post the image.  Without knowing how big an image you are starting with, nor what it looks like, it's hard to offer specific advice.

[DrewKaree]

sorry, didn't think to do that...here

*edit* didn't realize they'd show up THAT big!  resized both of the attachments

[RacerX]

That's a very cool image.  And you weren't kidding.  That would be a nightmare to vectorize.  Wow.  

[Pete Harcoff]

I think your best bet would be to find someone who might be able to re-render a similar image, but at a very high resolution (i.e. one suitable for printing).  The image itself isn't complicated from a rendering perspective (flag background, bubbles in the front).  But as it is, it's not suitable to blow up to 4' wide and then print.

[DrewKaree]

Also attached is what I have already set up as my CP.  I moved it around a bit until I liked what I saw.....I also added a gradient or two until I got what I wanted.....don't know if this will help, but I didn't want a solution to be posted and then not be able to use it!  (ok, I just wanted to show off )

I may be using this same image on my 2p CP's as well, so I figure if I can get help enlarging it to fit my 4p CP, I can figure out the rest from there.

[TalkingOctopus]

Unfortunately, you will not get a good quality print out for your cp overlay with that image.  It has too low of a resolution.  Most computer wallpapers will look awful stretched out over an entire cpo.  

You could use that image on part of your cp (instead of all of it) or maybe even put in on your marquee.

[mahuti]

I agree. That is a REALLY bad image to start with. It's already jaggy at size. Let alone REALLY blow up. If you wanted to, since it's already stylized, you could maybe blow it up, add a gaussian blur really heavy. It'd have a simlar feel, but none of the crispness. Might actually make for a good background with less detail.

[DrewKaree]

All the jags and pixels are because I had to resize this thing to make it less of an eyestrain on the board here.  The actual image is 800 x 600.  

If I change the image size to 60" (constrain props too) wide In Photoshop, it starts to look bad to me @ 70+%.  That would make it look good up to 42" wide.

I say "good" because I'm hoping there's a way to clean it up @ that size.  If there's not a way, then the quality would be to my satisfaction @ ~35".  

I don't know if that information helps, but everyone's commented on how bad it looks at it's current size, and I just wanted to add the "resized and lowered res for the board's sake" info.  Mebbe that'd help.

OTHER than that, does someone have an image of a flag that WOULD look good @ 60"?  I've got Photoshop and Illustrator now, and I figured out what the person did to get this image, so I can do it myself, just need a flag @ this size.  Google image search has thus far failed me in a decent image for this size.  Perhaps someone knows a better image search place for me?

[Stingray]

Regardless of how good the image looks at 800x600 it's almost certainly 72 dpi and would look awful at 60 inches wide. I agree that if you can find a large scale image of a flag and start over that would be your best bet.

-S

[Jakobud]

I can easily make a similar image for you in photoshop from scratch if you want me to.  It's just an American Flag with some filters on top of it.

[DrewKaree]

Jakobud, I'd appreciate the help!  I used a tutorial on how to make a rippling/ruffled flag in photoshop to try to do the same thing, and it just didn't look right..perhaps your approach to the thing would be better.  Mine just came out looking fake (the flag part) and more blotchy (wrong bubble filter, and I don't know what other filter would work).  

I need it to be 50" x 24".  I've not decided on what version of CP I'm going with yet, and that size should cover the larger of the two, and I can always resize down, if need be.

The gaussian blur idea kind of worked.  I never thought to use a blur to make it look better.  I was kinda hoping to keep the edges, but surprisingly, that didn't look half bad!

[Pete Harcoff]

I can get you flag pics that are 2400 pixels wide (that's 8 inches @ 300 dpi).  It's still a lot smaller than you'll need for printing (50 inches @ 300 dpi = 15000 pixels).

[DrewKaree]

Sounds like this is starting to become what I envisioned!  I'd appreciate that Pete!  Can you drop a few on me, ya know...something to choose from?

I'm tooling around trying to find  different filters.  Any comments on Eye Candy?  I don't want to get a fistful of filters, it seems as if I already don't/won't use half of them, I don't want MORE I won't need!  I'm just looking for the specific one to create the bubbles.

[DrewKaree]

So far I'm not having much success with this.  I feel for every step I take forward in creating something close, the very next thing makes it look like it wouldn't even be good as a pattern for toilet paper!  

Has anyone had an idea or solution for me?  Appreciate it.  Thanks a bunch.

[Pete Harcoff]

edited

[DrewKaree]

Pete, thanks a bunch.  I'm going to use the 4th one and see if there's something I can come up with that I like.  

I REALLY appreciate the pics!  If I DO come up with something, I'll be sure to post it and show you what I did with your contribution.  

Did you take actual pictures of that flag?  If so, you did some pretty good work with exposure, framing, and composition.  Are those from digital or film?  I don't have a tripod, so moving subjects are HORRID from my digital camera at this point.

[Pete Harcoff]

No, I didn't take those pics.  I took 'em from a photo site I subscribe to.  (Though I don't think I'm supposed to give 'em out like this, so don't tell anyone, k? )

[DrewKaree]

I see NOSSINK!  What site izzit you got 'em from?  Webshots?  I found a bunch of stuff there I dig while searching for this.  

Thanks again, and, uh....tell anyone about what?!

[Pete Harcoff]

Photos.com.   You need a subscription to download anything from them, though, and it's a bit pricey to get one (although, way cheaper than buying individual photos from places like Getty Images).