How do I blow up an image?

A silhouette.  I can dance a piece of paper across a copier, eventually ending up with 6 or so pages that can be taped together, but I need more.  Take n 8 1/2 X 11" image and make it 14 feet tall?  Love to hear from you artists out there.

You need a program that can rasterize the image.

There used to be one on the web.  Ill see if I can dig it up.

Edit: LOL.  Rasterbator is your google search.

Are you okay with taping together sheets of paper?   If so, search for "Poster generator"... You may need to add something like "Scale" to that nowadays as there'll be a bunch of hits for AI poster generators.

Here's two examples:

https://suncatcherstudio.com/block-poster/

https://www.blockposters.com/

No affiliation :)

Otherwise, you'll need to contact a sign shop either locally or online and get a banner made.

I tried Rasterator, thought I would get side tracked to PornHub.  I want this blown to 14 ft or so and use as a template for metal cutting.

You can turn it into a scalable vector graphic (SVG) file. Inkscape is a full-feature (as far as you and I are concerned), free tool that you can download that can help you do that.

It has features that allow you to lock onto pixel shading to identify the actual image, and since you've got a black and white silhouette, it should lock on just fine. Export SVG. Embiggen maximally. Win at giraffe-making.

I use Inkscape all the time to take photographs, get rid of the background, and most of the detail, and export something that I can shoot with a laser onto jewelry. Like your car onto your watch face. Or your neighbor's dog onto your necklace.

I could convert that image to a raster in about 2 min (I suspect a few other here could also), but you still have the issue of printing it 14 ft tall.  By the looks of it, it would need to be about 14 ft wide.  Plotters can print on wide paper, but 14ft is VERY wide (maybe 4 feet wide is about as wide as you will commonly find).

Raster results (showing points).  If you want me to send you the file, let me know.  Honestly, I could be cleaned up a bit, e.g. the cut on the right ear (the original image is a bit funky also)

Can you make a small silhouette of the image and project it onto a wall? I have used this method before to make patterns. Attach paper or cardboard to a wall. Set up a light and put the giraffe in front of the light and adjust until you get the size you want. Then trace the silhouette onto the paper/cardboard. 

In reply to imgon :

That's what I was thinking, projection. Then you can trace it straight on to the metal. Although this is a loose enough shape that you might be just as effective redrawing it by eye using masking tape. You might even improve it.

Or the classic grid solution. We don't need a lot of technology for what we're trying to do here.
https://www.art-is-fun.com/grid-method

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Ohhh projection is a great idea! Even if you don't adjust the image itself you can make the projection bigger or smaller. Saves alot of time, energy and even a few trees. Plus you get to keep the projector after. Do I hear race watch parties? 

A projector is your best bet. 

You can get a cheap one for about $50. It will have to be dark to use it but you can throw your image as big as you want it, trace it, and done. 

Works for graphics on cars as well. 

Are you cutting this by hand or waterjet/laser/CNC?  If you're not cutting by hand, why not convert the image to a .DFX file and let a machine do the work?

aircooled said:

Plotters can print on wide paper, but 14ft is VERY wide (maybe 4 feet wide is about as wide as you will commonly find).

That particular image is heavily slanted -- rotate it 45 degrees in software before printing and it'll get a lot narrower and might fit.

If you're willing to tape pieces of paper together you could just use Photoshop.  Load it in, rescale the image, chop it up into a bunch of pieces, then print those pieces separately.  It'll be a manual process but if you're only doing one then it's not that hard.

Photoshop and Rasterbator are my go-tos

Cutting by hand, hopefully a Plasma Cutter, I no longer have access to a Waterjet.  I've seen this silhouette as a mylar decal; maybe I could stick it to a piece of glass with a bright light behind it. 

    =~ )

I would 100% beg/borrow/steal a projector for something that big, just project it onto the steel, trace it with soapstone, and have at it with the plasma.  

Dealing with a 14' x 14' template made from 8.5x11 sheets will be maddening.  

93gsxturbo said:

I would 100% beg/borrow/steal a projector for something that big, just project it onto the steel, trace it with soapstone, and have at it with the plasma.  

Dealing with a 14' x 14' template made from 8.5x11 sheets will be maddening.  

Aren't there little cheapo projectors on Amazon for under $100?  Feels like something that a DIYer might use semi-often

interesting project .....

random thoughts ,

overhead projector like you had in school , 

slide projector  but then you need to figure out a slide , 

you can buy a white 15x15 tarp at Harbor freight  pretty cheap .

and  where are you getting 14 ft long metal to plasma cut ?

You don't need a projector, you need one printed out on regular cardstock (or printed and glued to cardboard) and a work light.. This isn't exactly precision here, guys :)

Here's a narrower image and some used overhead projectors on Ebay, some as little as $50.

ebay.com: overhead projector

bing.com/images/search: giraffe

Projection from 35 mm slides is one of the techniques my dad used. He had to adapt the image a lot, to adapt the single lens of the camera to the binocular vision of the human brain. 
 

all these suggestions and not one of "Shotgun" or "C4". Slackers

stafford1500 said:

all these suggestions and not one of "Shotgun" or "C4". Slackers

I was going to say fireworks...

In reply to 914Driver :

There used to be a thing called an opaque projector.

I'm going to be doing our church logo on a 4x4' piece of luan. I'll just project it on the wall and mark the outline...

You may be able to paste into Visio 

eh.... I just did.
Enlarged. I can adjust to whatever specific dimension you need.

Then here's the printout (you print & tape together):
Giraffe1.pdf (link is good through 2/14/2025)

+1 for vectorizing in Inkscape. That will give the silhouette infinitely sharp edge lines for easy infinite scaling. From there, unless the place doing the metal cutting has a gigantic plotter or waterjet table that can do the whole thing in one piece, the projector trick might be your best bet.