72 DPI - Noooo!

[ginno]

Well the artwork was the only component of my cabinet i did not do much reading up on before i started...

And now that it is complete i find all my work is @ a miserable 72 DPI, instaead of up around 300, serves me right i guess.

I want to get my artwork printed @ mamemarquees, has anyone printed low res pics like this (cp overlay, marquee, instructions) and if so how did they turn out??

I really don't want to fall short @ the last stage of the cab by putting dodgy artwork on it but i also don't really want to redo all my artwork... :S

Cheers guys...

[Veinman]

If you zoom in to 100% after scaling it up to the size you need, I think you will see that you really do want to redo that art. Sorry.

[skybluestav]

yep, only way to see if its OK at 72dpi is to zoom 100% in photoshop. but im afraid it will look too blurry      . 6 years in graphic design and i cant remember when a 72dpi image was good enough, sometimes customers would bring me images that looked ok to them  but would be no way printable and having to explain why.

thats why always designing in vector is the best way! 

sorry mate

[M3talhead]

Whenever you're designing artwork for an arcade cab, 150 should be the MINIMUM acceptable dpi for printed pieces. Unless of course you dont give a damn. 

[RayB]

You might think it looks ok at a distance...

[PoDunkMoFo]

Resolution depends on size.

If for instance you created the artwork actual size at 72 dpi you might find that you can live with the resolution.  If you created the artworked scaled at say 10% of actual size then 72 dpi will definitely not look good.

As stated by others the best way to check is to try and view it at full size on your screen.  If it looks clear then the print will look good.

Some people go overboard with resolution and in some instances it's a case of too much information.  The printer RIP winds up throwing a lot of the info out and the overall result is a print that takes much longer to print than it should.

[ginno]

I did my artwork actual size @ 72 dpi,

I found it look quite good on the computer scrren @ full size (even when zoomed in)

Also from the printing proofs I did (just onto normal paper at a normal speed) it looked quite good as well.

It was not until i attempted to print my instruction card with 8pt Verdana font did i notice it was unclear.

Since then i have gone back and reprinted some of my work namely this piece:



on photopaper @ high quality, to my horor the outcome was completely different, with a bad speckle effect occuring as the ligthning fades into the black background.

I have come too far to pull up short @ the last phase so back to photoshop it is, 300dpi here i come... sigh.

Cheers.

[ginno]

Now even more woes,

With the DPI 3x larger then before it is having a dramatic effect on the way my lightning filters act, 3 times the pixels, 3x the effect.

As seen in this picture, both these images are the same actual size in CM but the one on the left is 72 DPI, the one on the right is 300.



Pity i want the lightning to look like the effect in the 72 DPI image.....

Well now my choices are high res bad pictures or low res good pictures....

Yay.

Any idea on how i can get the lightning to look better @ 300 dpi?

This effect is done via -

Gradient Tool, white foreground and black background color.
Select Angle Gradient for the gradient tool
Insert about 11 color points into the graident alternating white -> black -> white ... etc.
Fill the canvas with the gradient.
Filter->Render->Difference Clouds
Invert Image Colors
Image->Adjust->Levels (set to 0, 0.2, 255)
Image->Adjust->Hue/Saturation (set Colorize checked set values Hue: 230, Sat: 30, Lightness: 0 )

Please help guys, i'm soo close to finishing and now its just getting me peeved...

Cheers.

[PoDunkMoFo]

Maybe what you could do is this -

Create the lighting effects at 72 dpi

Upsample to 300 dpi blur if needed

Add text and other elements after upsample

It's worth a shot.

Still don't know why those speckles did not show up on a regular print unless it's a dot gain issue.

[skybluestav]

i think your problem is here:

Filter->Render->Difference Clouds

isnt there a setting where u can set it lower?

if not, I would suggest what PoDunkMoFo said,

big up the 72dpi  to the size of the 300dpi image, then blur it or just blur the 300dpi lighting effects.

i hope u get it!

[AlanS17]

He was saying he has a problem with the lightning blurring into the black, though. Even if he up-samples, he'll likely still have that problem. He'll have all this crisp pretty text over a blurry background.

[ginno]

Yeah there is no setting for the difference clouds filter, thats the problem.

So I upsized to 300DPI, replaced all the logos etc with vectors (pasted them in as smart objects)

[skybluestav]

u must feel better now that u have finished it!

nice one, well done!

[ginno]

when its on the cabinet, then i'll feel better....