High Quality still from video

[Steve Roberts]

Get the specs from the print guy:
a = desired image size in inches
b = desired dpi

axb=your desired comp size.
For instance, a 24×20 poster at 300 dpi needs an AE comp that is 7200×6000.

Now you see why these sorts of things should be determined by the client ahead of time. 🙂
It’s not a matter of just pumping out another image … you need to dupe the comp and make it bigger, then scale everything up and render.

You could also use a plugin such as ReSizer, which may or may not work at such a high res.

I’d make a bigger comp, scale up everything, and render it.

[Richard Bachman]

The first suggestion would be the best IMHO – depending on the detail in your frame. Another option could be to res it slightly and clean it up in PS (shadow/highlight is your friend) then run it through one of the ‘artistic filters’ to help hide the artifacting/lores look.

There’s also the concept of bringing it into Illustrator and use the ‘live trace’ function. Again – it would be an artistic interpretation (aka: posterized) but could make for an interesting and resolution independent work around.

Just thoughts…

[Joseph W. bourke]

There’s a software package called Genuine Fractals that, if you can get a single frame that’s 15 to 20mb, you can get an image that will cover a billboard and hold up just fine.

Take a look at:

https://www.ononesoftware.com/detail.php?prodLine_id=2

Read the sidebar line which says “How many pixels do I need?” and you’ll get an idea of what it does. I regularly send out images from After Effects and Photoshop (bitmaps that are from 72dpi frames) that are used to make everything from 36 x 36″ lightboxes to bus wraps. As long as you can give Genuine Fractals a reasonably good image, you can get a great image on the other end. It’s only $159. and you can probably get it paid for by your client, since they shouldn’t expect a hi-rez image out of a low-rez project. Good luck!

Joe Bourke
Art Director / WMUR-TV

[Accountneedsrealnameupdate]

I’ve been playing around with Genuine Fractals and it can do some really cool stuff, it does get an “artistic” look to it which I recognize from large poster and billboards. I tested it against Blowup and it was hard to pick one over the other as far as results go, they both have demos available and are worth checking out, one job could pay for them.
Is it just me or does anyone else have a deep seated hatred of people talking dpi in reference to digital imaging, for scanning and print it has a purpose but otherwise I find it confusing and meaningless…
Glennser

PS I didn’t mean anyone here was misusing dpi, just that I’ve had some bad experiences trying to explain to people that unless you’re printing or scanning dpi is meaningless, or had them explain to me that a 1000px square image can’t be used in an after effects comp for standard def because it only has 72 dpi…

[Sam Moulton]

I have a print guy friend that uses AE all the time for his arty stuff because things like trapcode’s shine and 3D stroke just don’t work in photoshop. He just builds really big comps. Posters are hardly ever 300 ppi. They are usually between 150 and 200 pixels per inch, trade show background panels, those big 8 footers, are somewhere between 72 and 150 ppi, and those big vinyl decals they put on semi trucks and billboards are usually between 20 and 50 ppi. AE can easily handle those sizes if you just measure your output, make reasonable expectations and assumptions about viewing distance, and go from there.

Think about it, HD looks very good when projected on a 60 foot screen in the theaters here for the first look previews they show before the previews. Let’s see 60 feet is 720 inches, hd is 1920 pixels so in effect you’ve got a whopping 2.6 pixels per inch. Double that to about 5 pixels per inch and you’re good to go for a great looking billboard….