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How to render an image for print

sinfanysinfany Posts: 190
edited December 1969 in New Users

Hi,

How can I render an image to have it suitable for print if I'm using only a portion of the work window? At 72 dpi it doesn't look good unless I really scale it up.

Thanks

Comments

  • fixmypcmikefixmypcmike Posts: 19,583
    edited December 1969

    Multiply the desired DPI by the desired dimensions in inches -- if you want an 8x10 inch image at 300DPI, render 2400x3000

  • ifourdezignifourdezign Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    I don't know if you plan to print the work yourself or you are relying on an online print store. But, I usually render my commercial prints at anything over 6000 / 7000+ pixels - the DPI matters little. And I have learnt that the hardway, as I started out rendering at much smaller sizes.

    But aim for as big a size as your machine can handle. It may make your render times longer but will help you generate a wider range of sizes for your prints. And they don't have to be 300dpi.

    Often or not I upload maximum quality jpegs that are 72 dpi pieces but are very large in pixels. (well over 3000 at least)

    Example of recent work was a piece sized at 5897 x 7714 - 72dpi - this gave me a print as large as 28" x 35" inches!

    However, I'm not mathematically minded so often or not stick with a size that I know works :)

  • sinfanysinfany Posts: 190
    edited December 1969

    Thank you for the detailed reply, i4dezign73.

    I make illustrations for children's books so they have to look good in print! Not mathematically minded myself, I have often struggled with the pixel/dpi equation. You explain it very well!

  • jestmartjestmart Posts: 4,449
    edited December 1969

    Actually fixmyPCmike's answer was the detailed and correct reply. It really is just a simple matter of doing the basic math as he said.

  • SpottedKittySpottedKitty Posts: 7,232
    edited December 1969

    Note that the final render in the proper calculated size will still be 72DPI — it's because D|S ignores DPI so whichever viewing program you use to display the render will use the standard display value of 72. If you do actually need a 300DPI image for printing, then simply use your image program (whether a full paint program like Photoshop or GIMP, or a viewer like IrfanView) to change the DPI setting. Be careful NOT!!! to rescale the image, your final file should have the same pixel dimensions, only the embedded DPI value will be different.

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