What are the best settings to design poster at 2.6m x 3.05m in Photoshop?

Question

I have to design artwork to go on a sheet 3050mm wide by 2600mm high and placed on a building to be viewed at about 15-20 meters.

The scene will be a living room with pictures of various furnitures cropped and placed in the scene.

I don't really know how to set up my document to make it easier to edit as my PC is finding it difficult to handle such a large file.

I have it currently set at 150dpi. I'm thinking about reducing the scene in half so 1500 x 1300 and setting dpi at 300, so when I double the size it will half the dpi. Not sure if this is how it works or the final result will be the same. Any guidance would be great.

Answer 1

Best photoshop settings... Do not make in Photoshop. :o) Unless of course it it your only resource, or you are manipulating the images in specific ways.

Normally for adding texts and doing simple collages of photos try to use a vector based program and insert there your photos, so you have a resolution independent project. This way you have sharp texts all the way for example. You can for example link the images externally.

3050mm wide by 2600mm

1) If you still want to use Photoshop, you could make a file 3050x2600 pixel file and the final resolution would be about 25ppi, wich at that distance is lets say just ok. One pixel measuring one mm.

2) But lets try 2x. 6100 x 5200 px at 50 ppi at that distance is more than enough. This would be half mm. you can not see that pixel at 2-3 mts.

3) If your computer can handle this try 3x. A 9150 x 7800px at 75 ppi. That could be viewed at 1m and still look good.

Edited:

Based on your comment on the performace of your computer, I would say you play with proportional values between 3050x2600px and 6100x5200 px.