See the physical printing size and appearance before printing

[alin33]

I'm creating printable art that comes in different sizes and should be printed well in big sizes also  - I want to be sure that there won't be pixelization in big sizes so I want to check the appearance of the file- the closest possible to the final print result. I found the actual print size in photoshop option and I wanted to understand if it's enough to use it-I understand that I I should set up the screen resolution in rulers and guide before I use this option-Is it right? I'm a newbie and just trying to find the optimal way to be sure that my prints will look good as a final product without pixelization.what is the best way to achieve that assurance?

[Joe]

Look at the image resolution in Photoshop. You can view the size of height and width in different units. Look at the size in inches. (or the metric unit if you aren't in the USA). That is the size the image will print without doing any kind of scaling. Once you start enlarging the image it starts pixelizing. The more you enlarge it the worse it gets.

[Joe]

You also need to pay attention to the resolution in there as well. If it is less than your printer resolution you are printing at the software will have to upscale the image when printing. This will cause pixelization as well.

[Possum]

With raster art, it's much better to design for your large sizes and scale down than to start small and try to enlarge. When I worked at one newspaper, their rule was not to enlarge any photo over 25 percent, and a newspaper's results are much less critical than art-type reproduction.

[ninjaPB_43]

I agree with Possum - design for large and go down in size always.

I would highly recommend getting together with your print vendor and defining your parameters for your very largest print - make sure you always design to that specification, and you should never have an issue scaling down for the various smaller sizes.

[Tracy]

These are great questions to ask! Gold Star for you!!

Create in photoshop at the big size, resampling or resizing an existing smaller file can cause enlarged pixels.
Just be mindful!!

[Joe]

I assumed the art was an image since you mentioned Photoshop but if it is vector art (don't open it in Photoshop) you can scale vector either up or down with no loss of quality.