Hello,

I am about to start a giant poster designed using Inkscape. The size (36 inches by 48 inches) is much bigger than I have ever worked with.
I'm worried Inkscape will crash, or exporting file size (PDF) will be too large, or it will simply just be hard to do.
Anyone have any tips before I get started?

Do you think it would be helpful for my "eyes" to create the poster in a smaller size, then as it is a vector, I could make it the dimensions it needs to be once complete?

Is there anything other potential problems with regard to size that I could avoid before I get started?

Sorry if this is a dumb question..

There are two "sizes":
a) the canvas size in mm,cm or inches
and
b) the file size in kB, MB, GB.
Since Inkscape is a vector drawing program, in terms of file size it shouldn't matter e.g. whether your objects are 1x1 millimeters or 1x1 meters in size (whereas this would matter in high resolution raster images).
Only if you are adding thousands or millions of objects, paths, images, filter effects, etc. there might be a limit in memory. Although, to be honest, I haven't worked with really large sizes (as defined by b) ). So, I don't see any reason for not starting with a scale 1:1.

I would work full-scale. If you are using bitmaps, the final file size could be large.

Ok, thanks all. Time to dig in and give it a try.

Well, "full size" is kind of relative. That's a 3 feet by 4 feet poster! So if you work on it at full size, you'll only be able to see a section the same size as your screen, at any given time. Personally, I would find it hard to be creative without being able to see the whole thing, at least periodically during the process.

As you would learn using Inkscape, no matter what size of image you're making, you'll have reasons to zoom in close for some work, and zoom out for other things. Personally, I need to see the whole image from time to time, as I work. And there would just be no way to see it full size, on a computer screen. So whether you work in the full size units; or work on a smaller scale, and make it larger when you're finished; you'll still be zooming in and out all over the place, while you're drawing.

For me personally, whether I use real size units, or work on a smaller scale and enlarge it later, would depend partly on the contents of the drawing, and partly what my goal is. If a lot of precision is needed for the drawing, I would work on it with whatever units or scale is the most convenient, and later scale to finished size. However, as td suggested, if you're going to either export a PNG (or PNGs) at any time during the process, or import any raster images, using the real size could be a problem. Importing raster images at that 3 x 4 foot dimension could result in performance issues.

Several years ago, we learned there IS a limit to how large a page size Inkscape can handle. Was a long time ago, but something like 12 to 15 feet wide sticks in my memory. Someone was making a banner for a storefront, iirc. But (a) my memory could be wrong, and (b) that was a few versions ago, and could have changed by now (for larger or smaller).