Hi Garry,

No tutorial needed since the way to render as "bmp" is all that is needed and is in "render options" as well as the manual. Get your models done, line up the lights, set your "camera" and render to file as bmp. Tutorial finished.

Print requirements depend entirely on printing device/machine. The people who know exactly the optimum file parameters are the people (the Printers) who own and run each device. Go to those people for file parameters. This answer could profitably stop right there but here's some more anyway.

So, render to bmp in RealSoft. Convert to whatever the Printers want or let them do so if needed. Render large file sizes since these can be reduced if necessary at little or no loss in sharpness (resolution) but small files can not be so easily enlarged without image distortions like pixellation, etc., showing.

However don't be scared, if all you have is a small image lifted from a website then that's all you have. Massage it as much as you can in Photoshop or whatever (I use PhotoPaint) and get on with it. The rule is simple what you are looking at will be what is printed unless someone messes up and they usually dont.

For USA Letter size paper and A4 the usual for Offset is about 300dpi so files over 25 megs have more than enough information for top results.

DPI means Dots per Inch, it more or less means pixels per inch, therefore with a calculator in hand you can sort out the dpi for anything you need.

A small confusion might occur if you dig deeper and come across LPI which is an old screen ruling term that Platemakers used when converting photographs to printed dots. These days just let the Printer worry about this side of things since there are optimum rulings for each of the machines on his factory floor plus, if the file is clean enough he might run stochastic ruling which is fun. A good machine will easily handle 175 lpi but unless it's newsprint, flexographics (on cartons usually) or silk screen dont accept anything less than 133 lpi.

A small trick here is a frequency clash that can happen between a printed image that has been printed using dots (LPI) and the reprinting of a scan of that again using dots ... the effect is called moire and can be a horror. Best to press the "remove moire" button in PhotoShop after scanning before handing it over to the Printer ... except they will usually see what's going on and fix it or hand it back to you for fixing.

The file size is the total dot/pixel count multiplied by the number of channels multiplied by the information type in the channels used ... CMYK used Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black which is four channels and if it is in 32 bit format then .. etc. RGB used three channels and is generally 24 bit. Straight "Line Art", or Black and White is One Bit ... so yes, these can be very very high resolution with relatively small file sizes ... I usually run Line Art files at no less than 600 dpi. Greyscale is generally 8 bit ... an 8 bit pixel object can carry 256 values of grey from white through to black.

So, you might want the render to fill an A4, you will render to bmp as mentioned. Your camera aspect ratio will be 1.41 (if the A4 is portrait format and 0.71 if it's landscape) ... I use 1.5 and 0.75 so that I can crop the image if I want to ... anyway, rough enough. A long edge pixel count of 8000 is heaps ... which more or less gives 8000 x 5600 total of 44 megs, almost double the necessary and unless I've been really extravagant with materials and lights etc the render times are easily sorted over night.

Don't worry about CMYK or RGB since most conversion systems these days are good enough and again either shift the file or have the printer do so if need be. The RealSoft bmp's are RGB and I have only one service house that asks me to shift it into CMYK TIFs.

I use High Quality and Press Quality default specifications in Acrobat to make pdf's a lot. The magazines that my clients advertise in and the offset Printers I use all ask for pdf's. These folk will be able to tell you where to download their favouirite pdf specs which you run in Acrobat from the "job option" menu.

Sign writers are all over the place with what they need in file formats however this is settling down a bit more now except for folk with older gear.

But if you're doing the side of a truck then treat it as a very very large file until the people you end up using to do the job tell you to reduce (resample) it downwards. Obviously if you can do the image on the truck at 300dpi then it will look ridiculously sharp (high resolution) but the file would be several gigs. On the other hand if you havent rendered it large enough then the beauty of RealSoft is that you can go back in and re-render it at a higher pixel count, no problem ... apart from the additional days it might add to the job).

Anyway, as I said at the start, talk to whoever is going to be doing the Printing, believe me they want you to ask them since they want to be sure you have every chance to dazzle your clients with a job well done and this starts with optimising the file to suit the machines.

I think that's most of the nuts and bolts covered. So far as TV is concerned refer to a post at the start of 2004 in reply to my enquiry, it had the whole story. So far as feature films are concerned ... can anyone shed light on that ... nope, I'll just talk to the film folk when I'm ready to get into it.

Hope this is in the right direction, sing out if you think I might be able to help more.

Neil Cooke

----- Original Message ----- From: "studio" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2006 10:47 PM
Subject: Re: Happy new year grom Germany and good luck for RS Version 6 :-)) and more "beginner" tutorials ;-)


Hi Neil :

  Please forgive my 'top-post' to your elaborate mail . I
do hope that Realsoft inc takes the time to ponder your sit-
uation , considering how positive a result you are having
with your Renderings-To-Print success story .

  Myself , and my latest crusade concerning the RS community,
I think you may have misunderstood .

  Let me try to make myself a bit more clear ...

Ok :

1) You (for instance) do print work .
2) Could you not elaborate on taking RS renderings to Print ?

  That is to say , could you not write a short tutorial on
what steps are required to help someone (almost everyone here)
get their rendered works out to print ?

  You know what I mean ... what DPI , what rendered size cor-
responds to which DPI for which printing process .

 What about RGB to CMYK ? What has been your experience ?

 This is the kind of stuff that is so important but is very
simply non-non-non-existent in this community !!!

  That's what I'm putting to you ? Could you not enlighten
us to what kinds of things we should look out for when finally
deciding to take our work from bits & bytes ... to Print ?(!!)

 I think you have a lot to share in this area , Hmmm , unlike
Rob I don't seem to have the skills to inspire RS users to share
their particular , current , level of expertise .

Cheers Anyway !!

studio
www.niagara.com/~studio
www.studiodynamics.net



Hi Garry,

What I don't see is a DVD set on getting to grips with RealSoft. I do not
learn well from print, from manuals, from tut's. However, if I see someone
do the trick it usually sticks. Maybe other peoples workflows would work
against someone who could and maybe should head into RS with no safety net I don't know, but an actual voice over ... this button then I hit that thing from there and tweak the dooberry so that the how's your father flicks into
focus, etc .... something like that.

However, even here I'm doubtful. Not even sure I would have looked at such a
thing if one had come packaged with 4.5 when it landed on my desk.
Definitely certain there are many who must and should re-invent wheels at
every turn. As the saying goes, it might not need re-inventing but the dude
sure knows more about wheels.

I can not submit tutorials in RS, or any other app I use because I am
totally self-taught. My workflows would not stand the light of day. 30
seconds on the stage and they'd laugh me right back off into the wings and
out the door ... as in ... "Look, this dude has a thirty step work around
for the thing that the button second from the left does in one hit? Send him
to Jupiter next train!" .....

Outside of RS and the apps I use, my expertise is again nowhere near as
comprehensive or accurate or useful as even the most basic, but structured,
institutional course. More or less works for me but that's as far as it
goes, in fact it would more likely be destructive rather than instructive.

The problem with individualist artists is that the result is the only
criteria. Not how it's achieved. And you can't write a tutorial that smacks a student around the walls a couple of times so they forget all the systems
and make a grab for something from right out past the Oort Cloud.

RS is freedom for me but it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea. For me
maybe the 30 years drawing and scribbling is part of the story, Maybe RS
might seem to lack some kind of sounding board for some younger workers.

In thirty years I have learnt and forgotten more than a handful of
technologies in this trade, maybe one bit of some ridiculous cut-and-paste pipeline will show as useful one afternoon when I'm scratching at a data set but no way would I inflict anyone with the whole trip. Like what we had to do to get tone line with neg film, pos film, mylar sheet or two depending on how thick you want the line, then guess an exposure that takes into account all the extra film layers and press the button ... maybe redo the pos film
to slightly one way or the other ... crazy.

Maybe my advice ... maybe as a local artist here once reckonned as the way
to go: "keep drawing, no matter what".

And with the time honoured words: "Dont talk Painter, paint!", I'll get off
the pot, except to note that all the old quotes need to be upgraded to RS
... "Dont talk, render dude, render!" ...

All the very best for the New Year to you too Garry.

Neil Cooke

----- Original Message ----- From: "studio" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, January 02, 2006 8:40 PM
Subject: Re: Happy new year grom Germany and good luck for RS Version 6 :-))
and more "beginner" tutorials ;-)


> Hi Neil :
>
> ... and all the best in 2006 to you and yours !
>
>  OK , let me ask you this ... is there not a single thing
> about what you do that could go into an online tutorial ?
>
>   Let's face it , not that many of us know a dime about
> 'rendering for print' , right ? Do you know anything on
> this topic (Yes is the obvious answer) ?
>
>   OK , so share it !!!
>
>   Give it up people !!! No mercy , no bull , just give up
> to the community what skills or knowledge you have worth
> sharing .
>
>  Seriously , there may be several people out there that
> could very much use the knowledge to get started on their
> own Realsoft rendering projects .
>
> studio
> www.niagara.com/~studio
> www.studiodynamics.net
>
>
>> A personal view.
>>
>> My wish list for RS is that I want to know everything that Vesa knows >> and
>> I
>> want to know it now. From high level programming through to each and
>> every
>> run-time object and their parameter sets. That's all.
>>
>> I believe RS can do everything and more that I would ever want but >> given
>> my
>> massive lack of knowledge on the subject, I'm not really sure how I >> could
>> know that.
>>
>> Regardless, me and my half a percent depth of understanding, have just
>> destroyed two weeks very happily. Render number twelve on the latest
>> drawing. A massive object count and I just added another light source >> ...
>> but at least this light doesnt need to cast shadows. These are just
>> proofing
>> renders and have been discarded. They have been taking about ten hours
>> each
>> at about 100 megs or so and the end result if I ever decide I'm >> satisfied
>> with the thing will have no commercial value.
>>
>> Do I have a life outside megabyte-land? Nope and it doesnt worry me in
>> the
>> slightest. A natural born graphics addict ... and my shed here is >> showing >> every sign of falling down around me ... maybe it already has. A >> client
>> told
>> me I had to mow my lawns ... however the time spent sorting a >> particular
>> bump map image I needed had greater priority :]
>>
>> Actually yes, there a couple of other interests ... food now and then >> is
>> one
>> ... and sometimes I sleep.
>>
>> Whatever RS decides is useful in V6 is Ok by me, they havent made any >> bad >> calls as far as I am concerned. I'm even getting used to the new >> icons.
>>
>> All the best to List and all for the New Year,
>>
>> Neil Cooke
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Mark Heuymans" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>> To: <[email protected]>
>> Sent: Monday, January 02, 2006 5:36 AM
>> Subject: Re: Happy new year grom Germany and good luck for RS Version >> 6
>> :-))
>> and more "beginner" tutorials ;-)
>>
>>
>> >
>> >>
>> >>   For me , as far as V6 is concerned , I just wish I could begin to
>> >>tap the potential of V4.5 !!! We're constantly bombarded by people
>> >>who love to mention that latest and greatest 3D program , but most
>> >>do not realize that RS is capable of so much much more than we see
>> >>here or in forums or IRC etc etc .
>> >
>> >
>> > Yes, you hit the nail on its head imho: if I had a choice between
>> > A) V6 with tons of new features but incomplete docs, or
>> > B) the current V5 but with more complete and better structured docs >> > &
>> > tuts
>> > I'd go for B in a second!
>> >
>> > RS keep concentrating on programming and keep ignoring >> > accessibility... >> > but somebody has to do it! OK, I volunteer for a few tuts on >> > landscapes
>> > and VSL.
>> >
>> >
>> > Sorry to be inactive lately; I'm still alive but needed a few weeks
>> > without 3d ;)
>> >
>> > Here's to 2006, cheers to all Realers and Realsoft!
>> >
>> > -Mark Heuymans
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> -- >> No virus found in this incoming message.
>> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
>> Version: 7.1.371 / Virus Database: 267.14.9/183 - Release Date:
>> 12/29/2005
>>
>>



--
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