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Rendering high resolution images for printing

Published date: 2008-Jun-09 ID: TS1073586 Applies to: Autodesk 3ds Max 9 Autodesk 3ds Max 8 Autodesk 3ds Max 7 3ds max 6 3ds max 5 3ds max 4 3D Studio MAX R3 3D Studio MAX R2 Issue You want to know more about rendering high resolution images for printing. Solution Introduction 3ds Max is commonly used to create rendered images and animations. A direct means of printing a rendered image does not exist other than using another image editing program, such as Adobe Photoshop, PaintShop Pro, or Microsoft Paint. The process of printing an image involves creating and rendering your image to a file from 3ds Max, and then using the image editing program to modify and print the image. Overview of printing images The steps below outline the process for printing rendered images created in 3ds Max. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Start 3ds Max and open the scene you want to render. Determine the image size you want on the printed page, and then calculate the output size needed for the image. In the Render Scene dialog box, enter the output size values. Render the image and save it to a file. Open the image editing software and load the image file. Adjust the image qualities and the print output size. Print the image.

Rendering the scene from 3ds Max This section explains the rendering process in more detail. The example used for this document details printing to a printer capable of 300dpi (dots per inch) output. 1. Determine the size of the output. For this example, we have chosen 10 x 7. In order for the printer to create a 10" x 7" print, it must print 3,000 dots x 2,100 dots (as 10 inches x 300 dots per inch = 3,000 dots and 7 inches x 300 dots per inch = 2,100 dots). The following calculations show the actual resolution necessary to print a 10 x 7 document at 300dpi: 1" = 300 dots 7" = 2,100 dots 10" = 3,000 dots

2.

The minimum number of pixels making up the image rendered by 3ds Max must be 3,000 x 2,100 pixels. In practice, printers with higher dpi values than 300dpi often have internal interpolation algorithms that yield good results if the image resolution is based on a lesser dpi calculation. 300dpi is a good rule of thumb for excellent quality output on any printer. However, if you are working with a professional print bureau, you should consult them regarding your plans. Hint: Though rendering to a larger resolution than the one required can take more time, it can offer more flexibility when it comes to printed output and subsequent reuse of the image, perhaps in a larger format. Smaller output sizes though, will obviously be faster to render.

3. 4. 5.

Start 3ds Max and open the scene that you want to print. On the Rendering menu, click Render. In the Render dialog box, add the new values to the Output Size section. To do this, highlight the existing numbers (such as 640 and 480), and then type over them. The Image Aspect Ratio value may change with your new Width and Height settings. In this case, 3,000 divided by 2,100 = 1.429 as shown below. The Pixel Aspect Ratio should be set to 1.0 when rendering for a printer. Pixel Aspect Ratio is used to compensate for the size of pixels on various display devices, and it is commonly used when working towards broadcast output. For example, a pixel that is taller than it is wide would stretch the rendered image vertically, which would look wrong when printed, but would look correct when corrected by the broadcast output device.

6.

In order to verify whether the resolution of 3,000 x 2,100 has cropped the image, display the Safe Frames in the viewport. Select the viewport you intend to render (usually a Camera viewport), and right-click on the viewport label. Choose Show Safe Frame from the menu that displays. You should now see three additional rectangles overlaid on the image. The largest rectangle defines the actual limits of the rendered image.

7.

In the Render Scene dialog box, click File and enter a name for your rendered image. Note: The file type should compatible with your image editing program. Formats that offer lossless compression, such as TIFF or TGA, are good choices because the image output is compressed, but this compression does not affect the image quality. JPG uses a compression that uses lossy compression, which makes for considerably smaller file sizes. However, there is a loss of detail, so it is a good idea to avoid using this file format for your initial rendered output.

Printing from the image editing application Although the specific steps to adjust the print output size varies from program to program, the process of changing the resolution of your image varies little between applications. This following section describes how to do this in Photoshop. Using Adobe Photoshop Photoshop also allows you to adjust the image output size and resolution without changing the size of the original image in pixels. For this document, the basic steps needed to print the image will be covered. To print the image from Photoshop CS3 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Start Photoshop. On the File menu, click Open to load the image. On the Image menu, click Image Size. In the Image Size dialog box, clear the Resample Image check box. Under Document Size, change the Resolution to 300 pixels/inch. Note that the Width and Height change to 10" x 7". Click OK. On the File menu, click Page Setup. In the Page Setup dialog box, under Orientation, select the Landscape option. Click OK. On the File menu, click Print.

Considerations This section discusses various considerations for printing rendered images. Histograms Many image editing solutions permit you to view the distribution of color throughout the image. A good way at looking at this distribution is as a histogram. Ideally, your image should have a fairly even distribution displayed in the histogram, unless it is predominantly light or dark by design. If you make adjustments to curves, levels, color balance and so on, check your results by viewing the histogram. The following images show examples of histograms.

Histogram with concentration of values at the lower end means that your image is predominantly dark.

Histogram with an even concentration of values means that your image has an even distribution of color values.

Histogram with concentration of values at the higher end means that your image is predominantly light. Image resolution and dpi It is important to understand that there is no direct relationship between the pixel size of an image and the printed image size, such as 10" x 7". The factor that determines this relationship is the dpi that your printer requires for the desired level of quality. If you try to print a 300 x 210 image at a size of 10 x 7 you are effectively only allowing 20 dots per inch, so these dots will be apparent and your printed output will be blocky and pixelated. Working backwards from your print size using your printers preferred dpi value will give you the resolution that you should be outputting from 3ds Max. Rendering high-resolution images can require large amounts of memory to process, and take far longer to render, so in determining your optimum resolution, you are rendering your file using as high a resolution as is required and no more.

Low resolution (20dpi)

High resolution (300dpi) While you can work within image editing applications, such as Adobe Photoshop, to save the dpi value into the image file, 3ds Max renders most images at 72dpi, as it is assumed that the output is for broadcast. As such, adjustments must be made to the files dpi setting before printing in an external application. A 3,000 x 2,100 image rendered out of 3ds Max will initially be set to 72dpi and will print at 41.67" x 29.17" (13,000/72 x 2,100/72). The image editing application used to print the image has the ability to alter the dpi to change the output size. Changing this setting does not alter the actual resolution in pixels, just how many of these pixels are used per inch, and hence the size on the printed paper.

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