Another new one!

Ok, just got photoshop this week, and I need designs that can be printed at a size of 24 x 12 foot.
Now how do I set the image sizes for a task like this? (Please don't leave anything out! This is very important!)
Thanks!

What the heck are you making? a billboard? The only thing I can think of is make it a 2x1 foot image and have it at a good resolution, make it as small as possible, but to scale because I dont think there is a computer on earth that can handle a 24x12 foot image in photoshop unless you zoomed WAY out and even then things would be REALLY slow.

Maybe im wrong here, but thats a MASSIVE picture... :P

That is huge....I couldn't even fathom how much memory you would need for that. I don't know how you would do this.

yeah.. see, angel, when you are considering doing print work, things become a lot harder. You have to work at a higher dpi (dots per inch) than what you intend it to be. Subsequently, just a small printed piece of work - say 3 by 3 inches - would appear much larger on the computer screen and subsequently would whore a lot more memory and such.

like these guys said, 2 feet by 1 foot is a huuuuuuuuuuge job to tackle. You probably need a lawnmower of a machine to do it.

Not so everybody, you have to understand the principles of resolution. At 24' x 12' it more then likely is going to be something like a billboard or something viewed at a distance. That being said, there is no reason it needs to be printed at a high resolution. Even if its set at 150 dpi (most newspapers print at this resolution) it will look fine, because the further away you are, the less likely you are going to notice the fuzziness of the image. Printing any image that big at 300dpi or higher is a waste of file size and time. Unless it needs to be extremely detailed at a very close range, you can work with a smaller resolution. This will speed your workflow up considerably.

I would call up the printer you will be working with and ask them specifically what resolution you need to set these at. With your details, they should be able to give you an idea at what will work the best. Once it comes to the working file, since you more then likely will not be using photos or what ever at these dimensions, either you can A: make a smaller, scaled file at the appropriate scaled up resolution for them to blow up, or B: Just set the dimensions in PS and start enlarging the picture. Then set your type or whatever. Even if you are working at 10% on your pasteboard, it doesn't matter, its all what you see.

Yes, it's a billboard...the company said that they print at about 300 dpi.
I was speaking to someone yesterday and he said that as long as it appears clear on the computer, and is printed at a high dpi, it will print clearly, because a good printer will print what it sees. Is that right?

Ok, I work with large files on occasion. A 24' x 12' billboard is 288 square feet, thats 3456 inches, at 300 dpi, thats 1,036,800 pixels, at eight bits per pixel (256 colors) its 8,294,400 bits, at 16 bits ("True Color") its 16,588,800 bits. Roughly a 16Mb file, that doesn't seem all that big but photoshop saves a lot of other information with your image, and if you use layers the files' size will multiply by the number of layers you have.

I would suggest trying to talk directly to the person who will do the printing, often the contact people for printing companies don't really know what is needed of a file for the printers.

Now I've never done anything as big as you are trying, but last week I made a banner 2'x8' at 150 dpi and it turned out to be a 3Mb tiff file that looks great from two feet away. Closer and it starts to get a bit grainy.

I'm 99% sure that you don't need the resolution that they are telling you need, if it is going to be 16 feet in the air (I'm guessing here), then it probably doesn't even need to more than 72 dpi. (I know, I know...... "Sacrilige!" "72 dpi? are you insane?"). But look at the facts, where is the viewer going to be really.

Incidentally, I have some 8"x10" files on my computer in PSD format with somany layers they are 150Mb or more. 12' x 24' at that resolution with layers would be murder.

Maybe you can do it with vectors?