Quick question from a new Fw user:

Is Fireworks capable of or the appropriate tool to design and create large TRADE SHOW BANNERs. I need to design 3'x6', 4'x8', maybe 5'x10' banners for a couple wireless industry tradeshows. I'll need to email a .AI or .EPS file to vinyl banner printers.

If possible, please provide explanation on defining the canvas or image size to accommodate those large sizes. And what's the appropriate resolution?

Thanks in advance, Jim


PS Each time I try to define a canvas I get a limit at 33.33 inches at 300 pixles/inch or 10000 maximum. Is that the largest possible canvas?

the first thing you need to do is query the sign maker...they may have art specifications for art reproduction that would make any suggestions here a moot point...usually sign makers(at least we do) work in vector files for obvious reasons(portional enlargements naming one) plus even large vector graphics are relatively small files that can be e-mailed even through dial-up connections....if you must have a bitmap do to shading, reflections or photos a 3'x6' or larger file would be enormous in size and stress a t1 connection...best thing to do is call them ...maybe send a normal size file and ask what and how they need the art prepared....just as a side note fireworks can work in theory as a program to make banner art if your making one that contains bitmap images....but you will be very limited...photoshop, illustrator are far better for this application if you need a bitmap image...and illustrator or corel are best for vector

I'm not sure that fireworks is suitable for large scale print projects. In fact I think they say as much in thier help files. For large vector projects you really ought to be using something like Illustrator by adobe as Nlsstar mentions.

Fireworks is really designed for web designers/web based vector graphics that never see print media. This was found in their help files:

Tip: Although CMY is a color model option, graphics directly exported from Fireworks are not ideal for printing. To repurpose exported Fireworks graphics for print, you can import them into FreeHand MX, which automatically performs CMYK conversion of RGB images when output to digital color separations. For more information, see FreeHand MX documentation.