Large format image export coming out black

[Woofinator]

I'm running win200pro with a gig of ram and more HD space than I'll ever use. I
am using the newest (I believe) version of Freehand MXa.

I'm trying to export an image that will be put on the side of a truck. It
needs to print around 72" long @ 150dpi minimum and contains lots of Fades
(chrome & metal FX) and Raster FX (gaussion blurs).

All the export features (providing they work at all) limit me to 72 DPI and or
I just get a black screen (which I receive more often than not). So far the
only thing that has worked is the .psd export @72 dpi but I can't display
anything larger than 72" (tried doubling the size to make up for the loss of
DPI but only got a black screen). Eps files aren't doing well either, when I
open them up in Photoshop the raster effects are pixelated and unusable.

Kinda in a bind here. Been reading everything (over the last 4 days) I can
find to arrive at a solution but I'm out of time and the file needs to go to
print by Monday...if it doesn't I'm F*'d and I lose a client to boot.

Oh yeah I tried to create a pdf as well, I just get an error message.

Thanks in advance for any help given,
B+

[Judy Arndt]

Did you set File > Document Settings > Raster Effects Resolution to 150
ppi?.

What happens if you save as a new file, select all and 'Convert to Image'?

Judy Arndt

Woofinator wrote:

> I'm running win200pro with a gig of ram and more HD space than I'll ever use.
> I
> am using the newest (I believe) version of Freehand MXa.
>
> I'm trying to export an image that will be put on the side of a truck. It
> needs to print around 72" long @ 150dpi minimum and contains lots of Fades
> (chrome & metal FX) and Raster FX (gaussion blurs).
>
> All the export features (providing they work at all) limit me to 72 DPI and or
> I just get a black screen (which I receive more often than not). So far the
> only thing that has worked is the .psd export @72 dpi but I can't display
> anything larger than 72" (tried doubling the size to make up for the loss of
> DPI but only got a black screen). Eps files aren't doing well either, when I
> open them up in Photoshop the raster effects are pixelated and unusable.
>
> Kinda in a bind here. Been reading everything (over the last 4 days) I can
> find to arrive at a solution but I'm out of time and the file needs to go to
> print by Monday...if it doesn't I'm F*'d and I lose a client to boot.
>
> Oh yeah I tried to create a pdf as well, I just get an error message.
>
> Thanks in advance for any help given,
> B+
>
>
>

[Woofinator]

Yes and I got an error message "could not complete request because an unknow command was encountered".

what do you think?
B+

[Judy Arndt]

Just ran a test file here on my elderly Mac G4/533. Page size 36 x 72
inches, Raster Effects Setting 144 ppi, two-step gradient fill background,
five gold stars with gaussian blur raster effect, 25 point radius. The
document took so long to redraw that after waiting five minutes for the
first three stars to draw, I invoked a 'Force Quit'. Obviously I didn't even
get around to exporting an image.

In my opinion, the Raster Effects were only designed and tested for small
web graphics. FHMX memory management simply can't cope with high numbers of
calculations.

Is there any way to allocate more memory to FHMX on your OS?

Do you have Photoshop? If it were my project on my pokey machine, I would
build the file there.

Judy Arndt
--
FHMX 11.0.2 (Build 92)
Mac G4, OS 10.3.4


Woofinator wrote:

> Yes and I got an error message "could not complete request because an unknow
> command was encountered".
>
> what do you think?
> B+

[Woofinator]

Well here's what I ended up doing. I removed all the Raster FX I used. Then
exported 5 layers as .eps files (which worked fine now) and layered them in
photoshop (72" W @ 150 dpi) I then went in and re-did the FX of light bursts
and steam on their own layers and composited from there.

Looks beautiful, Too bad though that the Raster FX didn't work at that large a
scale. At least it came out fine and I can keep the client for future projects.

Thank you for your suggestions and help, Judy. By the way, your last name
looks really familiar.

Take care,
Blair
[url]http://www.blairwolf.com[/url]

[Judy Arndt]

Woofinator wrote:

> Well here's what I ended up doing. I removed all the Raster FX I used. Then
> exported 5 layers as .eps files (which worked fine now) and layered them in
> photoshop (72" W @ 150 dpi) I then went in and re-did the FX of light bursts
> and steam on their own layers and composited from there.
>
> Looks beautiful, Too bad though that the Raster FX didn't work at that large a
> scale. At least it came out fine and I can keep the client for future
> projects.

Thanks for reporting back to the forum. I'm glad you were able to salvage
the project in Photoshop.

Raster Effects memory management is clearly an outstanding issue that
Macromedia needs to address. There's a huge mismatch between FH document
size capability and Raster Effects capability.

> Thank you for your suggestions and help, Judy. By the way, your last name
> looks really familiar.

There's a German Olympic cyclist, Judith Arndt. That's not me,
unfortunately. I rode for an hour yesterday and my average speed, factoring
in a few stops, was a 13 km/h (8 mph). :-)

Judy Arndt