Rendering for print. PLEASE HELP!

[Slash5]

Hey guys,

I need to render some of my 3d work for print. But I don't understand how I can render a frame at a nice high resolution for print.
What is the best way to do this?

Cos even when I render a frame at a screen resolution of 1600x1200, open it in photoshop at 300 dpi, and then enlarge it to A5 size dimensions, I can start to see the pixels.

Is my only option to render a frame at screen resolutions higher than 1600x1200 so that it will look great at 300 dpi in photoshop?

I would really appreciate any help.

Thanks in advance

Chris

[Mylenium]

Of course you will have to render at print resolution. First of all you need to know how the final print resolution is. This is not necessarily always 300 dpi. Sometimes it's more and sometimes less depending on the quality requirements. Then you need to know the print size. With those two parameters at your disposal you can use LW's dpi-calc tool to get the final pixel dimensions or use Photoshop in the same manner. After that ignore any dpi info you see and just input your pixel dimensions into LW's camera properties. Internally LW will always store its images at 72 dpi so you later will need to convert it to "true" 300 dpi in Photoshop. If you are not sure, render in 16 bit (PSD, TIF, OpenEXR). This will give you more flexibility if you need to do color corrections later on.

Mylenium

[Lightwolf]

Hi there,
quite right, except for this tiny bit:
Originally posted by Mylenium
Internally LW will always store its images at 72 dpi ...
LW doesn't use dpi at all for its images, only the size in pixels counts. It also saves images without any dpi information, so Photoshop assumes the images to have 72dpi upon loading.
While many people like to associate dpi with screen graphics as well, it has absolutely no place there, especially since the dpi of current monitor / resoltuion combos can be anywhere between 72 and 120, with variations to either side in extremes.
In print, to determine the size to render in, lpi is the prefered measurement, usually lpi*2 as a rule of thumb.
dpi measures the single ink dots that make up the raster which in turn is measured in lpi (simply speaking). Rendering using dpi is overkill.
We tend to get away with 100-150 lpi in most cases, large print can be as low as 30-50 lpi (I mean very, very large ;) http://www.newtek-europe.com/uk/community/lightwave/wolf/images/att00055.jpg ).
Cheers,
Mike

[txbob]

I've always been a bit confused by print people... they alway get hung up on dpi issues....I usually just ask them if there needs to be a different feed for a 13" tv vs. a 26"...

[js33]

To keep it simple just use 300 dpi. Just multiply what ever your final size is by 300. If you want 8" x 10" output your lightwave dimensions should be 2400 x 3000. Can't just any easier than that.

Cheers,
JS

[Lightwolf]

js33:
Yeah, but try that with 5x10 metres (15-30ft) ;)
Cheers,
Mike

[gjjackson]

There's a print assistant in Layout "Joe Zeff Print Assistant 1.0". I'm not sure if it comes with Lightwave or not, and I don't know if it would help, but FYI.

[js33]

Originally posted by Lightwolf
js33:
Yeah, but try that with 5x10 metres (15-30ft) ;)
Cheers,
Mike

Hehehehe. Well obviously it depends on what you are printing.
The 300 dpi rule generally applies to books, magazines, etc...
If you are printing billboards you obviously need to scale down the dpi as you are going for size rather than quality.

Cheers,
JS

[js33]

Originally posted by gjjackson
There's a print assistant in Layout "Joe Zeff Print Assistant 1.0". I'm not sure if it comes with Lightwave or not, and I don't know if it would help, but FYI.

Yes it comes with LW but all it does is multiply the inch value by 300.

Cheers,
JS

[gjjackson]

Originally posted by js33
Yes it comes with LW but all it does is multiply the inch value by 300.

Cheers,
JS

I only knew it was there, but that seems pretty useless. Why even have it taking up space in the generics folder.

[Noclar7]

A really cool plug I always use when doing print work is called Print assistant

http://www.flay.com/GetDetail.cfm?ID=1277

[gjjackson]

Since I know nothing about print rendering I'll mention this anyway. There's a plugin from Eki's PlugPak called DPI Camera Setting. I don't know if this is helpful or not but I just ran across it. It uses templates such as A4 etc, format in Landscape and Portrait, Add cutaway etc.

Eki's got a lot of other features and it's a pretty good price for it.