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"I have to make a 2x1 meter big picture in Photoshop, but my computer is too slow. What should

For a better reading experience, I would recommend going to Quora for my original answer.

 

Hmm. Comparing to the dimensions you had in your previous question, which was 20,000 by 20,000 pixels, this one is a lot more manageable. I’m not sure what the specs on your computer are so I’m just taking your word that it is slower than your average workstation.

1 meter = ~3,750 pixels at 72 ppi (standard monitor pixel density)

If you are using your graphics on your computer only, leaving it at 72 ppi, then you're looking at a 7500 by 3750 px image file, which is only roughly 80MB. Try turning off other software and processes while working inside Photoshop to ensure that maximum available resources are dedicated to the software.

If you want this to go to print, however, it will usually bump the pixel density to 300 dpi, which leaves you with a 31,500 x 15,750 px. This one has a file size of ~1.4GB.

It’s certainly bigger, but I would say still manageable. You’d need to be careful when working with it, of course. Save a lot, save often. Turn off other background stuff and you might be able to make it work.

Without getting into too much details, you can certainly reduce the pixel density (ppi, dpi) down to 200 or 150 to make the file size smaller at the cost of some quality reduction. If you are using this as a printed banner, I would say you can even drop the pixel density to around 100 if viewers are not expected to inspect the banner up close. The mental logic is this: The farther the viewers are away from the banner, the few number of pixels or dots you have to fit in there. It’s the reason why your phone screen packs over 300 ppi while your 1080p 40-in TV has less than 60 ppi. So, the same logic can be applied here depending on the need of the project.

If all else fails, ask a friend or a colleague, or maybe borrow someone else’s computer for a few to make the files. Good luck!

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