GIMP Version: 2.6.11
Operating System: Mac OS
OS Version: XP - SP3
GIMP Experience: Beginner Level

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Hey everyone,

I'm a total beginner when it comes to Gimp, so this might seem like an easy problem for a more experienced user. Anyway, I want to make images really, really BIG. I am interested in street art (LEGAL street art, that is) and I want to make big images so I can then take those images to my local print shop on a disc and they can be printed. I'll then take those images and paste them up walls, sort of like papier-mache posters. I want my posters to be over 10 feet high probably. Any help would be appreciated.

the scale feature lets you choose inches (and maybe feet - I forget)......I just hope you have enough memory for all that

You'll just have to use really large sizes when going to File New Image, I would suggest atleast doubling the intended size and then shrinking to get better quality, but idk thats just me (has never printed anything).

But I have also found that when working with large images GIMP lags on me and sometimes crashes, best of luck!

A print shop should be able to scale an image to the size of paper you want. Call the printer and ask them for guidance and specs. I do know they prefer tif format images.

It all depends on the kind of images. If they are close to logos, a vector image editor (Inkscape or else) would be more appropriate because the image can be blown up without losing sharpness. On the other hand, billboards are printed with a rather low resolution (10DPI) because the image isn't mean to be looked at close range. Ask the printshop for the size in pixels they would require.

I did some murales time ago but i was mainly using a episcope ,it was a old model very heavy butit solved well

Anyway you ask about gimp, i have no idea how much are 10 feet ( i understand meter no inch or feet ) BUT i may say that with a old computers and only 500MB ram the limit of the image i could save with gimp was about 3 GB

Now i have much more RAM but apparently that just made the process quicker (when Ram is insufficent gimp use swap space, then everything become really slow and gimp and the computer may look as frozen ,but ,if avoiding to do anything (as click ) the images was saved (BUT again very slowly...i mean hours no minutes )

Back to the 10 feet, i let to you the calculation the bigger image i successfully saved was a xcf of 3600x 2400 WITH ABOUT 300 layers...that as file size should correspond at least to the sum of 300 3600x 2400 px images...but note save that took a the whole night ,with the computer fans screaming in agony and the computer unusable (any click ,any attempt to do something else then wait would have crashed, at least that happened once, in that case i was simply trying to surf the web during the waiting time, )

Also note that not all gimp filters may work when the ram is not sufficent, some,i believe most of 3rd party plugin instead then may just crash if the ram is insufficent instead then use swap space
More if the image WORKING SIZE (that is much bigger of the final file size of the image when saved) is more then the free RAM everything become painful slow

Would using a vector image editor require more ram?

It could maybe when you go to color, but if it is truely vector, it probably will not be as detailed.

Definitely not... A vector image is little more than a set of instructions to produce the image by stroking lines. A PostScript file is a vector image, a font is a bunch of vector images... you can scale them at will and they will remain clean and sharp. To draw a triangle with a side of 10px, you define 3 points, to draw a triangle with a side of 10000px you also define 3 points, the set of instructions is the same. To work on a vector image, you don't need anything bigger than what is comfortable to work the finer details. 4000px by 3000px would already be pretty big (in photography, it is assumed that the eye won't see details smaller than 1/1780th of the diagonal), so at that size you finest details is already 3px).