#3DS to print
14 messages in this thread
I've been wanting to print my stills, but cannot figure out what is a good
resolution setting to get a photo quality print. I have the use of a color
laser printer at another location however when I print my 3DS files the picture
comes out in poor quality.
How do I go about setting the proper resolution — is it possible at a high
resolution to put it on a 1.44 disk?
The printer is capable of 300 dpi and my picture right now is at 640 x 480 and
is about 900k.
Any help would be sincerely appreciated.
JB
John,
You just aren't going to get good output from any of the color laser printers
or ink jet printers. I demoed a HP color laser printer and was disappointed.
I've used HP 500s, 550s, and 560s and they're terrible. For home use I have a
Epson stylus color for the 720 dpi output and thats pretty good. Its the best
of the ink jet printers.
At the office I have a Fargo Primera Pro with the dye-sublimation option and
that's terriffic. I use it for presentations and its only 300 dpi.
The limitation is your printer technology and not you. Dye-sub printers blend
the individual color dots together so that it looks like a photo and not a
bunch of dots. Ink-jet printers just print dots.
You're limited to 300 dpi by the printer. It doesn't make any difference what
you output from 3DS, the printer is the key.
Normally, I set my resolution to standard TGA output, save the image to disk,
then exit 3DS to either Photoshop or Corel. I then pull up the picture and
print. Almost always turns out good the first time off the Fargo.
Have fun!
Also, standard uncompressed TGA output will fit on a floppy, about 1 meg.
If you can, call Fargo in Eden Prairie, Minnesota (area code 612) and get then
to send you some samples of the Primera Pro and the Pictura 310. The Pictura
outputs 11X17. I think it will knock you socks off. It did ours. How do they do
it for only $1395? Sure beats the Tektronic Dye-sub we looked at for $8000.
Anyway enough of this gibberish. If you need good output, get a Epson. For
great output you have to do dye-sub.
bye 🙂
John:
It's NOT true that quality output cannot be obtained from inkjet or laser
printers. What is true is that you will have to decide if it meets your
particular requirements. Quality of output can be objectively discussed but in
the end it is your subjective opinion which matters. With that in mind you can
obtain quality results from an Epson Stylus, A Canon color copier hooked to a
Fiery interface, an HP Designjet plotter or an Encad Novajet just to name a
very few. All of these devices offer completely different results and may do
the trick for you. Thermal Wax, Dye Sub and other technologies offer a
different look which is often superior but can also cost a bit more.
With the above in mind you can gear your image resolution to max out the
devices capability. Often there is a diminishing return when you approach the
devices maximum res. For instance, your eye may not be able to detect enough
difference in a 200dpi image vs. a 400dpi image which is printed via the Fiery
box. The image size for a 400dpi image could be in the hundreds of mb's vs. a
200dpi image which may only be in the twenty's. The more pixels you render the
sharper the image will be in general. There's no reason to render an image
larger than your ouput device can handle as all of the extra information will
be resampled down and consequently lost.
JPG format can help you get smaller true color files but know your output
devices limitations for color. Some can only print 256 colors simultaneously
which can make for banding to show in gradual color changes. You can ZIP your
images to span several diskettes thus avoiding the 1.44mb ceiling. I love
WinZip for this as I don't have to remember the PKZIP switches, just make sure
Disk Spanning is enabled when you run it.
– Bob Ritger
Robert I agree with you on the output question. Dye-sub is only an option. For
us it was the only solution. For a ridiculous low price it was impossible NOT
to buy the Fargo. We are going to get the Novajet later this year since we need
the large output. I'd love to buy a really good dye-sub but I can't justify
$8-12000.
Thanks for the Canon color copier idea though…saw one at an auction three
weeks ago for $500 and didn't take it. Stupid here didn't think. I didn't think
you could hook them up to a PC. Goes to show what I know… More auctions are
coming this week…
But my experience with the low-end ink-jet stuff, even with Superprint, was,
"thats nice dear…at least its in color".
We needed the photorealistic output. The Epson is fine for drafts, but eveyone
here (the laypeople) want Fargo output.
Send me your thoughts… Bye.
Mark:
I'd print IRIS prints for everything if I could afford it. Personally I prefer
dye-sub (glossy photorealism appeals to me) but I have a local photo shop
friend who thinks that the Tektronix thermal wax Phaser is worth a look.
Personally I think the Fargo is the best deal out there bar none. It may not
be the answer for those that need quantity or need prints in a hurry or for the
home hobbyist who is also looking for a printer to spit out word processing
pages. For a general purpose color printer the Epson Stylus is my favorite and
perhaps the best value in its low-priced category.
I'm guessing but I think you will much prefer dye-sub over the Fiery output.
The Fiery interface is quite expensive and works with only certain copiers.
However, its pretty quick, works very well as a network printer, can double as
a scanner and can be outfitted to do slide scanning as well.
At Siggraph I saw a couple of different RIPs sending plots to the Novajet III.
Throw in some glossy film media and the poster size prints were breathtaking.
You will not be disappointed IMHO.
– Bob Ritger
Thanks for the info.
We're not that sophisticated yet and I'm still doing research on all the print
options. We have some Epsons and one Fargo. I would like to see some IRIS
output. Read some things about it, thats all. Is it superior to the Phaser
dye-sub output? Couldn't justify the cost of any Tektronix printer this past
year so bougth the Fargo. Now that I've proven the value of dye-sub (no one
will except anything but dye-sub for final output) I'm going to try and get a
high-end printer.
I have a demo print of the Novajet and the office crew was screaming! I need to
print out high-resolution aerial photos (2400 dpi) and the Novajet looks like
the ticket.
Later… 🙂
Mark:
>> I would like to see some IRIS output… Is it superior to the Phaser
dye-sub output? <<
I can only offer my opinion and yes I believe it offers the best quality print
I've ever seen. There are a couple of added benefits to the IRIS plotters.
First, the larger machines handle very wide media >36". (The resolution is so
high I forget the actual numbers. ) Second, one can print on many different
media such as canson paper, cloth, and who knows what else. These plotters are
not found too often outside the professional print houses as they can cost in
the six figure range. A lot of smaller print shops and bureaus will contract
the work and send it out to these bigger outfits. They may charge you bit
more, prints alone can cost in the 25$ – 30$ per square foot range. For large
format and hi-res the IRIS may be the way to go.
Another method for getting top notch photorealistic output to large format is
through the digital negative/transparency. A 4"x5" digital negative can be
made for fairly cheap say $40. Once made you can have 18"x24" or larger
photographic reprints made which can be very impressive.
I don't recall the Novajet having a resolution of higher than 400dpi, you may
want to verify this if you really need to print 1200 dpi output as you
mentioned. Just to re-iterate, if your desire is to have the printer in-house
then I thing the Novajet will be a good quality choice and a very economical
choice as well.
– Bob Ritger
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Robert,
I'm sitting here with the Novajet III sales brochure and its 300 dpi for color,
600 for mono.
I have (are you ready?) 8"X10" color and b&W film negatives…don't ask who I
work for…and they produce super prints. I think the Novajet will be OK since
the blowup will not be that great (to 24 or 30'').
I'll try to find a IRIS shop here in town and do a sample.
Thanks for the help!
Just FYI, Epson is coming out with 2 new Color Stylus printers, and
discontinuing the current model. New models were suppose to be out at the end
of last month, but I haven't seen them yet.
LAM
Larry:
What's your take on the Stylus? I have one at home and it does nicely but
always has a "soft" look
– Bob Ritger
I don't have a Stylus <g>. I was out looking at the different printers,
decided on the stylus (after 20 minutes of the salesman giving me his pitch),
and was ready to put the credit card in his hands. He then looked in his
computer and found the last one in stock was the demo one and that they were
not ordering any more until the new models were in. To give him an A for
effort, he did then try to push a Cannon <g>.
LAM
Larry:
>> he did then try to push a Cannon <g>. <<
You know what I say, "Weasels abound!"
– Bob Ritger
Yeah. I was going to compliment him on his nice recovery, but he probably
would have taken it the wrong way <g>.
LAM