Looking for large print (from multiple images) suggestion

[OneTraveler]

Before I go down a long rabbit hole of a lot of trial and error, thought I'd ask the collective knowledge for some advice.

Will be printing a large image (9x14 feet...in panels 42" wide- that's not the problem/issue. The final image will be a montage of approximately 120 images supplied to me. These images will be a variety of sizes and resolutions and sadly aspect ratios (because apparently they couldn't be bothered). The viewing distance will be approximately 10-12feet off the ground, from 15-30 feet away so I will have some quite a bit of leeway in dpi. As for the low number of images supplied, I don't mind if a few get "recycled" a few times.

Can anyone think of a way using any Adobe app (or anything really) that would handle the multiple image sizes and resolutions? Or have any suggestions? I've printed large panel based images before, but always with my own sources.

TIA

 

[Coheebuzz]

Not sure what the question is, if you drop them all in the same Photoshop canvas they will appear in the size/resolution they came and from there you can resize them up or down depending on their quality.

As for the overall poster dpi, 100-120 dpi would be a good balance between quality, performance and file handling.

 

[AppleSmack]

Personally, I'd use InDesign for this.

Drop the files into InDesign - make sure they're linked, not embedded, to keep the size/speed of the InDesign document manageable.

No need to worry about mixed resolutions. By "aspect ratios", do you mean orientation? It won't matter if your images are portrait or landscape orientation, just drop into InDesign and resize and crop as required.

At the intended viewing distance, I'd be satisfied with even 30-50 dpi. You can easily check what the resolution is for whatever scale you've placed the picture - go to the links palette, and look for the "effective PPI" value for that particular picture.

Before believing whether the minimum effective resolution should be 30 dpi or 100 dpi as in the answer before me, you should check for yourself. Just print out a section at your intended size, and stand at the viewing distance. That'll determine what's best for you. At the viewing distance you give, I reckon you could go far lower with the effective resolution, if necessary.

And then finally, output a PDF or whatever format given in the print specs from the print supplier.

Good luck with it, and let us know how you get on!