This guest article was written by Cassel.
What do those two have in common? More than you think!
There is often discussion in the digital scrapbooking world about resolution of elements in a kit; about the fact that quality checking has to make sure each element has a resolution of 300 ppi (pixels per inch). Unfortunately, this seems to stem from a misunderstanding of what “resolution” is.
In cross-stitching, whether you get a pattern printed on a tiny paper, or a wide paper, it does not change the number of stitches, right? Whether you stitch on a tightly woven canvas or a loose one, won’t change the number of stitches, right? It is because each stitch on the pattern has no size in itself. What the weave of the canvas will change is how big your final project will be, whether you will end up with a 4”x4” frame or a 12”x12” one.
In the digital world, it is the same thing. A pixel is a pixel and has no size in itself. A button that is 300 pixels wide will still be 300 pixels wide, whether it has a resolution of 300 ppi or 72 ppi. It means that if you manipulate a 300 pixels button on your layout, it will always be 300 pixels, and if you are working on a 3600 pixels project, the button will always be 1/12th of the size of the page.
One place it will make a difference is in the transfer from the computer to another medium, namely, the printer. If the element is printed at a resolution of 72 ppi, it means that my button will have 72 of its pixels printed in a one inch length (meaning my button will need almost 4 inches to get all the 300 pixels printed). But if it is printed at 300 ppi, all those 300 pixels will fit into one inch. You see the result? So the resolution will only be meaningful when you are talking about how you display those pixels on a piece of paper. What you see in your graphic program is mostly irrelevant since you can zoom in and out at will.
Why do we so often see the 72ppi? What is so special about that number? It is because that is the resolution for your monitor. Unlike printers, monitors can only squeeze 72 little dots in a one inch space. But we just said that a pixel is a pixel, no matter the resolution, right? Yes, a pixel is a pixel but if you display your 300 pixel button in your signature, on the screen, it will take 4 inches of monitor to display the same button that is ONE inch while printed. It is like cross-stitching on a much wider canvas and those 300 “stitches” will span much wider than on a tightly woven fabric.
This explains why “tagger” kits are so small; they don’t need 3600 pixels wide. On screen, that would mean 50 inches. That would definitely be an overkill! But a 1000 pixels wide paper would translate into just under 14 inches, which is probably close to the size of most monitors.
What happens if you have a button that is 72 ppi in a kit and you want to use it on your layout? If the button has 300 pixels in width it will still be 300 pixels wide and if the final setting of your layout is 300 ppi resolution, it will be printed as 1 inch wide at 300 ppi and will look just fine.
Look at the image above. Aren’t they both identical in size? Check with the properties, and you can see that one has a resolution of 72ppi and the other has a resolution of 300ppi. What does it tell you? A pixel is a pixel and when you are working in your graphic program, the 300 pixel button will look and behave the same whatever the resolution setting.
A 72ppi element is not a lesser quality than a 300ppi element if it has the same number of pixels. A pixel is a pixel and the resolution only means something when you need to display your work: on screen, you need 72ppi; on paper, you need 300ppi. And to work with them in your graphic program, it just does not matter!
Cassel has been an avid Paintshop Pro user for the past 10 years and is now script writer for Creation Cassel, teacher for the Scrapbook Campus, and scrapbooker when time allows it. Cassel has also been doing karate for 14 years, earning a black belt in Shotokan karate in 2007, and likes the adventures of geocaching.
this was very informative!! im a tagger who is just beginning to scrap. i have no idea what size i should be saving my pages for printing. im so confused LOL
I can see how that would be confusing to change from one to another, Shelly. Think of it like this – 300 pixels = 1 inch printed. So if you want to make something 4 inches printed, it should be 4×300=1200 pixels. a 12×12 page is 3600×3600, 8×8 is 2400×2400. Creating for scrapping we always assume people may be printing, so everything is made to 300 pixels per inch. I know, it’s math, but it’s not that bad!! You can do it!
I actually disagree with this article somewhat. Resolution can definitely be a problem with a digital scrapbook item is created/scanned at 72ppi to a certain *size* dimension rather than an absolute *pixel* dimension. If a 1 inch button is made at 72 ppi and then brought into a 300ppi document (for instance a 12″ inch paper / 3600px) then it will no longer be a 1″ button….because its pixel size is only 72. You said — “A 72ppi element is not a lesser quality than a 300ppi element if it has the same number of pixels” But a 72ppi item WILL be low resolution if it does NOT have the same number of pixels. In your example, the 72ppi item was 4 times the document size…so yes, it acts the same. But if someone makes the mistake of designing to document size (like the 1″ button) rather than pixel size, the user will not get the same result.
I think that’s what Cassel is talking about – stick with the pixels and you can’t go wrong. 300 pixels is 300 pixels, no matter what resolution!
Generally, I stick with full size kits, and seldom download tagger size. Most of my stuff is expected to print. I do have a few ‘tagger’ kits though. most are 300 ppi, but a few are 72. I do OFTEN mix and match kits for a page.
IF I were to use an element from a 72 dpi kit on a page based on a 300 dpi kit, would it mess me up??
Would it show on the sceen layout as smaller than I thought it would, or would it just print at a poorer resolution?
Would I ‘see the difference’ when I pull it onto the page?
Should I be disposing of my 72 dpi kits, so that I do not have an issue?
Joanne, it depends on the pixel dimensions of that item.
Tagger kits are usually created to view on screens, so the elements are made with fewer pixels – for example: a button that you want to appear one inch wide on the screen you would make 72 pixels in diameter.
That same button when dragged onto a 3600 pixel layout for printing would appear as less than 1/3 of an inch wide.
But if you have a tagger paint splash that appears 8 inches wide on the screen it would have 576 pixels. On a 3600 pixel layout it would be nearly 2 inches, which might be useable.
As a rule, though, you probably won’t want those tiny graphics. The easy way to tell is to hover your cursor over the file icon and a little bubble pops up that will show the dimensions of the file. If it’s less than 300 pixels wide, it’ll probably be smaller than you’d want to use.
And your next question is… can’t I just drag them bigger?
Well, if you take 72 pixels (one inch on screen) and drag them out to cover 300 pixels (one inch printed) then the computer has to invent more than 2/3 of the pixels, which never goes well!
So the short answer is – you probably won’t be able to use your tagger stuff to create printable layouts. Put them in a separate folder in case you end up wanting to make a cool siggie for our forum, and start a new stash!
Thanks Cassel! Will share this with our readers today.