Making a low res image Hi res

[Lee Schierer]

Is there any way to make a low res image into a high res image? Our Miata club has a logo that was made in a low resolution format. We want to get a 4 x 5 banner made with the club logo, but we need a high resolution image to do it. Here is the current logo.328390 The goal is to get a high resoultion image that is identical in appearance to the current logo.

[Bradley Gray]

If you convert the image from pixels to a vector image (such as in Adobe Illustrator) you can enlarge it without making the pixelation worse.

[Art Mann]

I don't think a straight raster to vector conversion would produce satisfactory results. One's expectations would have to be very low to use that method. The current image is already pixelated at computer screen resolution. A complete recreation is what is needed. The lettering and map are a slam dunk. We would just recreate those in Adobe Illustrator. That might be a 30 minute job if the original map is available. We might even be able to obtain a suitable shape from tracing a Google Earth photo. If the image is to be silk screened in a single or spot color type process, then someone is going to have to manually trace and add details to the car images to obtain a good illustration. That would take a long time and a skilled designer to accomplish. I'm not sure whether flag printers have the option of printing full color directly on the fabric but if they do, then that might be a good choice. You could just locate the original photographs and recreate a color image for import into the Illustrator file. That would save a lot of graphic design work.

[Scott Shepherd]

Lee, I'll take a whack at it shortly. PM your email address. It may or may not be possible. The thing about banners is they are meant to be viewed from a distance, so as long as it's around 72 dpi at size, you should be fine. I have a program that helps with enlarging images, but I'm not by that computer at the moment.

It'll probably look great from 5 feet or more. If you need something to be viewed closer than that, it probably won't work without creating it from scratch.