Repeating image again and again, efficient doc help needed pls!

[kate_charlwood@adobeforums.com]

I am having to make an illustrator doc and am having trouble big time.

Basically the document is this: print size 300mmx300mm. then an image approx 9mm wide is repeated 33 times along top x 33 times down side - therefore this image appears 1089 times! Basically it's like an end paper.

The background colour is pale green, the image is white.

The original image is a large tiff (4.28M), 600 dpi, and the image is in black.

So I've been converting it to white in photoshop, scaling it down to only 9mm wide (the size becomes 162k) but I've just noticed the resolution is still 600dpi.... is that my problem??

Anyway, then placing it and repeating it again and again. I did make a document, which worked for a while, but now it crashes all over the place. Re-made it linking the image (thinking it will make the doc smaller), got it to print once and now that one won't open.....

I'm NOT an illustrator expert (as is probably obvious), does anyone have any advice on how to make this document?

I have been using illustrator 9, but now I have access to Illustrator CS

[jonf@adobeforums.com]

So you have photoshop? You'd be better off, I think, creating the background image as a single document in Photoshop before importing it. (For standard high-resolution use you normally won't need it to be above 300 ppi.)

Otherwise, you could try placing the multiple images onto a single layer in Illustrator, then rasterizing that layer to 300 ppi. I suspect the problem is that AI is needing to work with data for 1089 images instead of one image.

Or if the image can be traced in AI, you can create a Pattern Fill out of it and use it to fill a box built to your page size.

[Doug_Katz@adobeforums.com]

Make the image a symbol, and place the symbol in your grid rather than repeatedly placing the image itself.

[ImJeffP@adobeforums.com]

300 mm x 300 mm @ 300dpi is a 37Mb image--I'd do it in Photoshop. Make the reduced image a pattern, then fill with the pattern.

[Doug_Katz@adobeforums.com]

Fine. Make the image a symbol. Place the symbol in upper left. Use Effect>Distort & Transform>Transform to duplicate symbol 32 times across. Apply same Effect a second time to duplcate 32 times down. Works great. No mess. One actual object for 1089 instances.

[kate_charlwood@adobeforums.com]

Thank you for info - it worked wonderfully!