Mural Help!!!

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  • scoops

    Ok, here's the deal. i have this wall installation that i did. It's 9 feet by 90 feet! I scaled it down, but the file is still HUGE. I did a bunch of it in illustrator, and dropped the photos and some effects in indesign. the problem is now i can't send the client any kind of meaningful proof. I can't make a pdf (it's too big), i can't make an eps, i can do anything with this file! So if any one has ever done any thing like this, please feel free give me some pointers.

    Thanks!!!

  • 4cY0

    can't you make a copy and scale that one?

    'save for web' is not really an option, now is it?? hehe

  • scoops0

    the problem is that here are a bunch of drop shadows from placed images in InDesign. it CRUSHES my computer when it trys to render the transparencies. It was the only way i could think to do it, because i tried to do it in illy but the file got corrupted the first time, so i had to recreate it.

    in the recreate, i tried using the effects in InD, but now that's screwed me too. At this point i would just recreate it again in photoshop, but even at 1/2 size photoshop won't let me make a large enough doc :(

  • rasp0

    screen grab

  • scoops0

    Is there an app that is meant for projects this big?

    How do others go about doing something like this? Be gentle, it's my first time :)

  • del_razor0

    Hey scoops...

    hmm.. i had this problem once before when working on something similar.. for a personal project though.. i wanted to show family and friends how it looked and get ideas.. but i had no way of showing them..

    here's a couple of ways to do things..

    #1) if your computer can handle it.. print out each page.. then send those.. via mail or fax.. all taped together to show length and quality..

    #2) if you are familiar with premier or after effects, place the file in there.. and pan across it.. and save that as an avi.. compression will help you there.. the file could be like a 200 frame quicktime.. (very fast pan) and just allow for the client to scrub the video to look at each section..

    think about this... 9x90... not feet.. just think those numbers...

    why not give them an image... that is ... say... 1600 wide by 640 tall?

  • scoops0

    del, thanks for the suggestions.

    my main problem is that i can't get it out of InD in any fashon. I tried sending it to our proofer, but i think it ate up all the memory, so it got kicked back.

    Right now i'm just wondering if there is a way i should have done this from the begining that i didn't know about. It's not too terrible to recreate..

  • 4cY0

    "#1) if your computer can handle it.. print out each page.. then send those.. via mail or fax.. all taped together to show length and quality..
    "

    lmao!

  • 4cY0

    btw. a good friend of mine does huge murals as well, but he's a graff-artist, and he usually makes the designs on his computer for letter/A4 size and prints it on a transparency and projects it on the wall and then traces it.

    how will your final output be?

    i mean, if it is printed it'll prolly be in vertical parts?

    can't you somehow slice it up in those parts already?

    another very good solution would be, if you use linked (raster)images, you scale those images really small and for the preview file scale the vectors and link to the scaled images.

    just a thought.

  • industry730

    since it is vector just scale it down to 8.5x11 and save that as a PDF to send to your client. They can still ZOOM in to look at the details.

  • woodyBatts0

    How about using after effects to turn it into a movie and print a scroll onto vhs?

    I've done this before for an installation, also the Guggenheim used it for the James Rosenquist F-117 painting.

  • toqueboy0

    i do large things like this a lot for print onto glass. depending on the amount of raster data you're using, really makes a difference to how you're going to handle the files.

    is there any reason why you're cheating to indesign instead of just staying in illustrator? indesign isn't really meant for this type of project.

    if you're desperate to export, chop it up into 3 or 4 panels.
    and then export each individually. you'll find this is an easier way to work on projects like this anyhow.

    but the above suggestion to work in scale is obviously the way to go next time.

    i'd reccomend calling your local 'outdoor sign company (pattison for instance http://www.pattisonoutdoor.com/ ) and getting them to send you their design requirements...
    you'll find that they get you to design at 600 to 1200 dpi at a fraction of the actual size (most output at 72dpi). it ends up creating reasonalbe to civil file sizes if you're including raster content.

    *as above: screen capture is always an okay (i.e. last resort) cheat.

    toquer

  • laurus0

    I do a lot of large scale work.

    usually it's done at 1:10 scale at 560 dpi. Since it's not meant to be looked at from 12'' distance the blowup of the resolution is ok.

    Even so a PSD doc with layers for a 50 ft. wall I did recently was more than a gig (ended up as a 40 mgb CMYK JPEG best quality, FTP'd to the printer).

    The client got a scaled down JPEG for the proof (which is ok since their colors never change and they knew what to expect). Otherwise I would suggest to print a proof (fiery or iris) and not send it by e-mail.