Expert: Kevin Stohlmeyer - 3/28/2011

Question
I have a Mac OSX 10.6.6, 3.2 GHz, 8GB and ai CS2 version of illustrator and photoshop. I am starting with heavy images in a png format averaging 16,000 x 9,000 pixels with resolution of 150.012. I drag them into photoshop to trim away white background and then place them into an illustrator document and rescale the images to fit onto a 22 x 17 in. sheet. I send this file (anywhere from 22 to 122 MB) to print on an epson styluspro 4800. The re-scaling maintains very high detail.
In 3 out of 10 instances I get a "can't print illustration" box.

Answer
Hi Sandra,

Your issue is your file is probably much larger than 122 mb if you are placing PS files into your document and it is 22x17". Your printer probably is having issues keeping up with such a large file printing from your computer. Normally larger prints like this are sent through a system called a RIP, which is basically another computer that buffers the print to the speed necessary for your printer to process it appropriately. When you print directly from your Mac, it may be sending the information too fast for your printer to handle. This is a common issue with printing physically larger sized files to printers.

Also, why are you scaling images in Illustrator? Just because you place a png or Photoshop file into Illustrator does not mean that it is scaling as a vector image, it just resamples it down to a lower resolution file...

Thanks

Kevin