make big tiffs with AI?

(illustrator 12 win)
Trying to export 12x9ft banner to tif..

"the combination of artwork size and resolution exceeds the maximum that can be rasterized."

any solution for that? (other than corel draw :p )

thanks,
mika

Do you have Photoshop? If so, just open the AI file in Photoshop and then save it as a TIF.

A couple suggestions, because I have to work around this stuff all the time.

1. Try opening the AI file in photoshop. Photoshop will rasterize it more readily than Illustrator, or copy it in Illustrator, switch to Photoshop (Photoshop will rasterize whatever is on the clipboard), make a new file and paste it into that (this may take a while depending on your machine).

2. What resolution are you trying to save it at? I recommend trying 72 dpi. It should still look good, especially since (I assume) people won't be looking at it really close up like they will a magazine.

3. If neither of these solutions work, there is a more complicated fix, and this is one of my special tricks of the trade. I have used this alot and it seems to work for almost everything. Put each element of your artwork on a layer in Illustrator. Then you can export each element in turn, just make sure you turn off all the layers except the one you are exporting. Open up all your elements in Photoshop. They should all have transparent backgrounds, so you will not need to try to select them out of a white background. Go back to Illustrator and turn on all your layers. Select the paths for all your elements. If you have any photos or special effects on anything, make a simple path for them or Photoshop will try to rasterize them, you will be stuck waiting as it converts them, and then you won't be able to do the next step. Go back to Photoshop and use the paste command. You should get a dialogue box that says "Paste As: Pixels, Paths, Shape Layer". Select "Paths". Then line up your background path with the edges of your background image in your Photoshop file. You can then use all those paths to place the other elements from your other files. Flatten image and voila, your new tiff!

I hope that was clear. If you have any more questions, feel free to sitemail me.

wow..thats too easy, opening in photoshop

although black color seems to come out bit strange in photoshop side. looks like brown?
(*got it, assign color profile fixed that)

I think I'll save that tip.3 for later~

Thank you both!

number three is nice...never thought of that, but that will be handy for doing color seps for screen printing, too. thanks.

It is absolutely true that necessity is the mother of invention.

I have had to rework alot of large scale graphics so I am constantly coming up with new ways to work around various problems that arise. Opening an Illustrator file in Photoshop or simple copying and pasting doesn't always work (especially with the more complex artwork), sooo...number 3 was born.

Edited to say "You're welcome". That was one of my top secret tricks, and one that keeps me valuable to my main freelance client.

(Edited on 2005-02-22 10:05:14 by caspixel)