Resolution Question

I have an image file that is 72dpi. I want to use it for a business card design that I'm designing in Illustrator CS2. Is it possible to open this in Photoshop and change the res. to 300dpi?

I have heard different theories on this. I have heard that you cannot add resolution/pixels and I have heard the opposite. Just wondering what other people think. Would love to hear other's thoughts.

Another question - Isn't 300dpi the minimum to use when using for printed materials?

Thanks, Karen

 

You could open up a 300 dpi document and paste it on. Since the image is originally 72 dpi, it will appear pretty small compared to what it used to look like. I'm guessing the only way you could get it to look bigger is through resizing it, but that comes out pretty blurry. Correct me if I'm wrong though..

And yes, most printed materials are at 300 dpi. I learned that the hard way

 

Thank you - I realize that I can size it, but I was wondering if by increasing the resloution in Photoshop from 72dpi to 300dpi, is this the same as having an image that is originally 300dpi? Can you add dots per inch or is this impossible?

Karen

 

The best thing to do is to

1) Create a new document in Illustrator for 300dpi
2) Create a new layer and place your design on the artboard
3) lock that layer
4) create a new layer and trace the old artwork
5) remove the first locked layer
6) Save your work as vector

300 dpi is your typical standard for vector-based print jobs.

 

when you save a pixel-based image, it has a grid of pixels and record what colour you saved them at. If you have a large grid, like 72, whe you print it it will be pixellated. You have to start your original work for print with a finer resolution like 300.

I mean, photoshop has the ability to change resolutions in images, but it doesn't have magic tools that will triple the quality of the work. It will still have the same visual appearance if you were to print it.

Now, here's the benefit of vectors. When you create vector images, it doesn't save the pixels at all, it saves the shapes, their location and their colour. Think of it as a connect-the dots. You place this on a canvas, but every time you zoom in, it redraws the entire image at that level of zoom so it never gets pixellated.

If you have your stuff as a vector, from that one file you could render it at 72 DPI, or you could render it at 300DPI. You could save it the size of a billboard and it would just re-draw it that big for you.

Adobe Illustrator, which you may or may not have is Adobe's vector program. If you already know photoshop, it works the same way. Otherwise I'd realy recommend a free alternative: Inkscape.

Inkscape is open-source, like firefox, but that doesn't mean it's lower quality. I know groups of professional designers that do top quality stuff and do all of their work in inkscape.

There's also a large community around inkscape and you can go to irc.freenode.net #inkscape on IRC and chat 24/7 and get help.

inkscape can be found here: inkscape.org

best of luck, hope this helps!

 

Actually there are even lower standards but only for stubborn customers ;-)

Print on Paper 300 lowest 150
Print on Fabric 150 lowest 80

 

Yeah, you can print in any resolution actually, but of course, the quality will vary.
300dpi is recommended since it's the 'real size' image.

But i have printed many times my art in 96 dpi and it looked perfect.
Another tip, there's a cool application called photozoom pro to resize images without loosing too much quality.
For example, i sometimes resize from 72 to 100 dpi with a min. quality loss. but not more than that.