I have an image of which I would like to make a large trace, around 3 feet
by 3 feet perhaps, and then print.  I was thinking of sending it to a
professional photo studio and have them make a photographic print hard copy.
I think I remember someone discussing this very question a few months ago.

My questions:

1 Is this a sound idea?

2 Anyone know of a photo studio near Detroit, Michigan (or anywhere else in
the US for that matter) which could do such a thing?

3 Any advice as to how to render?  The image I have looks great on the
screen, but will it print more or less the same?

4 Any advice as to how to send the thing?  I presume they will ask for a
JPG.  Should I optimize it at all or am I going to end up with significantly
lesser quality on the print?

If anyone wants to take a look at the image, some test runs are here:
http://www.geocities.com/hershelsr/povray/povray.html
(I apologize for the advertising)

By the way, I am a real beginner so any advice as to how to render, i.e.
global options or anti-aliasing, is much appreciated.  I am using this for
now, but I copied it from someone else and don't really know what most of it
means.  I am learning more all the time, but I need to print this out now
for a gift:

global_settings

  max_trace_level 20
  assumed_gamma 1
  ambient_light 1
#if(1)
  // ini_option "+QR"
  radiosity

    pretrace_start 16/image_width
    pretrace_end   4/image_width
    count 50
    error_bound 0.1
    recursion_limit 1
    normal on
  }
#end
}

Thanks,
Hershel

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in news:3be82921@news.povray.org Hershel Robinson wrote:


> 1 Is this a sound idea?

Depends on your budget, prints this size won't be cheap.
 
> 2 Anyone know of a photo studio near Detroit, Michigan (or anywhere
> else in the US for that matter) which could do such a thing?

You'll need to find a pro photolab that can print digital images to 
photo negative and does manual printing of the poster. Here are a few 
labs mentioned, I have no idea what they can do, as I live on the other 
side of the globe.
http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=000vJf
 
> 3 Any advice as to how to render?  The image I have looks great on
> the screen, but will it print more or less the same?
 
> 4 Any advice as to how to send the thing?

First find a lab, discuss with them what is needed. Resolution, gamma, 
file type and how to supply the file. Then render it to that format 
with the best possible anti-aliasing setting.


An alternative may be looking for a 'small' (silk-screen)printshop that 
works for the advertisement industry. They make the big stickers on the 
sidepanels of trucks an busses etc. They generaly have big high-res 
inkjetprinters to print on vinyl or canvas.

Ingo

-- 
Photography: http://members.home.nl/ingoogni/
Pov-Ray    : http://members.home.nl/seed7/

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ingo wrote:

> First find a lab, discuss with them what is needed. Resolution, gamma,
> file type and how to supply the file. Then render it to that format
> with the best possible anti-aliasing setting.

And before spending the big money on a large print it might be best
to try a few smaller prints first to get feel for what works best.

-- 
Ken Tyler

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