I am trying to take a picture (jpg, bmp) and enlarge it a bit for printing without losing the integrity of the picture (pixelation).

Is there a way to do this?

5/21/2010 2:04:09 PM

obviously you need to get on CSI and say "zoom in" and "enhance" a few times to the Asian guy

but no, not really. hard to make something from nothing.

edit: how much are you trying to enlarge it? i mean, if you're talking 20 or 40% or something yeah, you can enlarge it and it won't look that bad. if you're trying to make a 10' x 12' plot out of a cell phone pic then no, you can't do shit

[Edited on May 21, 2010 at 2:21 PM. Reason : asdf]

5/21/2010 2:20:42 PM

^ ahahahahahaha


what's the resolution of the image, and how large of a print are you looking for?

5/21/2010 2:21:44 PM

^^, gg

There are a couple basic questions that will help us with your problem.

1) How good is the source
2) How big is the product
3) (and maybe most critical) What is your viewing distance on the final

If you get 3 high enough you can just feed it through rastorbator and you'll have a 'larger' image. In terms of source->product I wouldn't put it under 180 pixels/inch all the way up to say 18"-24" on it's longest side. Past 24" you really need a high quality source or you can forget it. The print methods used above almost require it (unless you're going for something specialized like canvas.)

5/21/2010 2:38:28 PM

Print it out at it's current size, then take a high resolution picture of that.

5/21/2010 3:37:27 PM

rasterbator

http://homokaasu.org/rasterbator/

5/21/2010 4:56:05 PM

^^ unless it's a dye sublimation printer I doubt that will work

5/21/2010 5:51:32 PM

I've never used this, but a lot of research goes into making it work:
http://www.ononesoftware.com/detail.php?prodLine_id=7

5/21/2010 5:55:09 PM

5/21/2010 6:16:14 PM

^^Genuine Fractals is generally regarded as the gold standard in enlargement. Their Photoshop plugin can be found on almost every system I've used (for someone who is doing it as a business.)

But it ain't cheap

5/21/2010 6:24:44 PM

^ that and I've also used Alien Skin Blow-up plugin

5/21/2010 6:34:33 PM

yeah, it depends on the quality of the image, resolution of the image and the printed output like others have said here before. That being said, Genuine Fractals is a good program if you need 800-1200% increase in the image size, beyond that and it'll start looking funky. If you don't need that amount of increase, then the ole 10% photoshop trick usually works till about 200%.

Its basically increasing the image size by 10-20% and smart sharpening in between each step. After a few times, you will start degrading the image quality and area's of contrast will start looking ultra funky.

5/21/2010 7:03:22 PM

here is the image guys - i need it to be printed about 7 inches high or so

http://www.charlotterunning.com/racefest/images/partnersforparks.jpg



[Edited on May 21, 2010 at 7:39 PM. Reason : .]

5/21/2010 7:38:52 PM

why don't you just ask http://www.partnersforparks.org for it? it's a vector logo surely - they can blow it up to any size.

and if not, it would take like 30 minutes to recreate that, IF that much.

5/21/2010 7:56:40 PM

Try your local CSI

5/22/2010 12:30:26 AM

The image is a perfect candidate for http://vectormagic.com/home
Convert that into vector art and scale to any size you want without a reduction in quality.

5/22/2010 2:04:48 AM

You can do the same automatic vector tracing in adobe illustrator using the live trace tool

5/22/2010 5:42:39 PM

yeah, it'd take no time to just re-create that picture in a vector format

5/22/2010 5:47:41 PM

oh yea. You're in fantastic shape. Artwork can scale almost infinitely - it's photos that struggle.

5/22/2010 8:23:03 PM

Quote :

"yeah, it'd take no time to just re-create that picture in a vector format"

5/22/2010 8:31:14 PM

first you have to create a GUI interface using visual basic

5/25/2010 9:36:30 AM

Helpless people ITT.

5/25/2010 11:46:32 AM

or helpful...

5/25/2010 11:57:11 PM