[Sowler]

Our local kinko's printing service has a color laser printer for use by the public, its on kinda crummy computers but i'll deal hehe.

Now my question is I will be printing on an 11x14inch gloss coat paper, but I am unsure as to what DPI I should use, what would you recomend? Is there a point where say 500dpi will not look any better than 150dpi due to the printer?

I created a 150dpi file to start with, but the res looks a litte to small for the details I would like to put into the file, but will increasing it show any benefit?

I do not recall the type of printer in use, but it is high high quality, or so im told.

I used it once before at 150dpi and was very impressed at the result, just curious if it will improve greatly at say 200 or 300, not sure the computers they have can handle any higher than that.

your imput is very welcome.. so please share experiences/ideas if you can!

thanks a ton in advance
Sowler
a.k.a BoogieQ

[Trance-R]

I zink higher DPI is better, But of courze you'll have to put in extra detailz and clean up thingz. It'll be definitely photo quality.

[Zaph0d]

ha ha ha
well i ounce encountered the exact same problem, and me not nowing a single thing about printers went ahead and saved it in 3000 dpi, thats not a typo, not 300, 3000, the girl at kinkos just laughed at me and said come back with it in 300dpi, apperently thats the optimal level, hope that helps
Zaph0d

[kig]

Yeah, laser printers usually have dpi's of 300dpi or 600dpi, so I think good resolutions would be 75, 150, 300, 600, ie. the max res divided by one/two/four/eight to get the best pixel reproduction.

The thing to remember when using the dpi is to enter the picture size in cm/inches (duh), unless you can do the math from pixels at a certain dpi to cm/inches on paper. But I digress.

300dpi is quite a sure bet though.

[Spitfire]

It's really simple : small-size photographic/digital art kinda prints allways in a minimum of 300dpi and CMYK color. Line-art prints (intricate typography, pencil drawings) in 600dpi because otherwise the fine lines wont come out good. Anything above A4 format (a3, a2, etc) can be printed in 150dpi because you will be watching it from a distance.

In general : when you are making something for print, allways make it at 125% and 300dpi. That way you have enough flexibility to print it sharper or larger depending on the application. Never work in 72dpi and print it in 300 cause then it'll interpolate and your pic will come out ugly as fuck.

Hope this helps a bit...

[Sowler]

Ok cool, seems 300 is the champion

150 just got it's @ss kicked hehe

Thanks for the thoughts guys, i will probably post the pic once its made *smaller version of course hehe*

cya
Sowler
a.k.a BoogieQ

[Danny]

Sowler,

Don't bother going higher than 300 dpi for colour stuff. The average eye won't notice the diffirence between (for instance) an a4 colourprint printed from a file at 300 dpi or at 600 dpi. Don't be confused about dot sizes or DPI sizes that are specified for the printer itself.

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Trust in Trance

[Dfuse]

So if i have an image in regular 72 dpi i cant print it right? not even in postcard size?

[Spitfire]

Well you can print it, but in 72dpi-print it will be butt-ugly, interpolated in 300dpi it will be just as butt-ugly and when you convert it to 300dpi it'll come out like 2 by 2 centimeters