There are many ways for achieving “BIG formats” in graphics. One is using very high resolution images. Another one is using vector graphics which is scaleable without artifacts and is great for logos and simple elements. But what if we have a pretty small photo and we’d like it to be big anyway? For a while there weren’t many options but a couple of years ago I found something that I want to share with you.

Rasterbator!

Rasterbator is a tool that you can use to make large prints from small graphic files such as posters, photos etc. How large can it be? Well let’s quote their website:

The Rasterbator creates huge, rasterized images from any picture. Upload an image, print the resulting multi-page pdf file and assemble the pages into extremely cool looking poster up to 20 meters in size.

20 meters is quite large, isn’t it? And it’s all done by creating lots of little (and bigger) circles of many colors that when viewed from a distance create the image we want. It’s actually quite simple, a technique that was known before and used in print (old newspapers) in a slightly different way. Here it’s an algorithm that enables you to convert your photos from simple pixel x pixel ratio to something much, much bigger using dots. And many of them. What’s great about it is that it’s free to use for commercial purposes as well, so another good thing coming from the so called “community” for the fun and usage by the masses. And it’s pretty easy too.

It even can divide the image into smaller portions (let’s say A4 page format) and export a PDF with a4 pages that you can print on your home printer and then hang in the proper order to have the whole big image. Now that’s creative!

You can check out rasterbator at http://homokaasu.org/rasterbator. Don’t forget to see the amazing photo gallery!