Starting out

[ThePhotographer]

You would generally want a final piece at 300 ppi. That doesn't mean that you can't start out with a lower resolution, then size it up and rework some details before printing.

If you read the CGTalk's recommendations, it will be something like 2500 x 3600 pixels at 300 ppi at the end - please read the recommandations yourself as what I just said here is not 100% precise ! Of course it will probably also depend on how big you will be able to print.

Also don't resize just to get bigger without reworking your resize. You'll not get a better picture that way and perhaps even pixelisation and/or too much blur. Best way to know what you're doing is to print your work and see if you're satisfied with it.

[Lunatique]

If you're just having fun and your computer isn't very powerful, working smaller (roughly your desktop size) is perfectly fine. But if you want to do print work (for cover of magazine, books, posters..etc) or highly detailed work, and your computer is pretty fast, then work as large as you need to for the designated print size. I typically work at 8.5 x 11 inches, 300 DPI, as that's a pretty good middle ground for most print work, but I also have 2 GB of RAM and my P4 2.8 Ghz is still considered fairly fast, although not bleeding edge.

[aggie93]

If you're just having fun and your computer isn't very powerful, working smaller (roughly your desktop size) is perfectly fine. But if you want to do print work (for cover of magazine, books, posters..etc) or highly detailed work, and your computer is pretty fast, then work as large as you need to for the designated print size. I typically work at 8.5 x 11 inches, 300 DPI, as that's a pretty good middle ground for most print work, but I also have 2 GB of RAM and my P4 2.8 Ghz is still considered fairly fast, although not bleeding edge.

What would be an 8.5 x 11 in dpi x dpi like it asks at start up? My computer can handle it and I want to produce gallery products just as I would in traditional work.

[Jinbrown]

What would be an 8.5 x 11 in dpi x dpi like it asks at start up? My computer can handle it and I want to produce gallery products just as I would in traditional work.

PPI (pixels per inch) is the term to use when creating digital art.

DPI (dots per inch) is a term used in relation to printing.

If you want to open a new 8.5 x 11 inch Canvas at 300 ppi, you can do one of the following:

Change the unit of measure for Width and Height to inches, then type:

Width: 8.5
Height: 11 inches
Resolution: 300 ppi (pixels per inch)

Or....

Calculate the number of pixels for Width and Height by multiplying the number of inches by 300 ppi (pixels per inch):

8.5 inches x 300 ppi = Width: 2550 pixels
11 inches x 300 ppi = Height: 3300 pixels

Once you've calculated the number of pixels for Width and Height, open your new Canvas at:

Width: 2550 pixels
Height: 3300 pixels
Resolution: 300 ppi (pixels per inch)

Either way, you'll have an 8.5 x 11 inch Canvas at 300 ppi.

[DigArts]

What would be an 8.5 x 11 in dpi x dpi like it asks at start up? My computer can handle it and I want to produce gallery products just as I would in traditional work. Most gallery stuff is being done on inkjet, often Epson (or was until recently anyway). The point being, you don't need to work at 300 for injet on watercolor papers. Most printers I've worked with or spoken to advise 180 ppi for this kind of product.

You may find it less confusing to deal with simple pixel dimensions rather than ppi resolutions, at least when working on screen. A 10" square 300 dpi printed magazine cover or 16.6" 180 ppi fine art print both started out as a 3000 pixel image.

Dennis @ DigArts
http://www.gardenhose.com (http://www.gardenhose.com/)
electronic paints for art professionals

[Cris-Palomino]

Hi, Dennis...nice to see you.

The best thing to do is know what size you ultimately want to print at. Dennis is right about the inkjets and many other commercial printers...it gets very confusing when they then start saying things like 2400 - whatever picoliters.

Ultimately, if you know the size you want to print, say 8x10...(8x300=2400/10x300=3000), as long as the dimensions remain 2400x3000, it doesn't matter if it says the resolution is 300 or 72 (the monitor will only see it at monitor res no matter what, which is why if you zoom a large document out to 100%, you end up having to scroll the image because it's larger than the monitor screen size); for print it will still come out the same. And...because it is at 2400x3000...especially now, if you are using a good printer, you can safely print the same image at twice that size and are likely to see no degradation.

The larger you work, the more space for details. The reason I work at image sizes of 4000-5000 is because if you have a figure in that image, the head is going to be a small percentage of the whole image and the larger it is, the more detail I can put in. So, often, the nature of your image will determine if you need/want to work larger.

Of course, if you have many layers (my work can have 20-50 layers), it can be cumbersome for your computer to handle. So you have to be aware of that as well.

Cris

[Mu]

all of the experts answering your thread, aggie, me lil noob is just adding something...:D

Of course, if you have many layers (my work can have 20-50 layers), it can be cumbersome for your computer to handle. So you have to be aware of that as well.

I don't have that much RAM and that's where incremental save (ctrl+alt+s, IIRC) comes in handy... I can save a stage of my painting, drop the layers and if I really messed up I can always go back to an earlier version where the layers still existed...

Hope you're having fun, btw...:)

[BaronImpossible]

I know it's been said already in this thread, but it's worth repeating because so many people get it wrong -

Unless you are planning to print your work, don't bother about DPI. You can have a canvas at 72 DPI or 600 DPI or 1 DPI and it won't make any difference to your on-screen image, or to the size of your image file on the disk.

The concept of dots / pixels "per inch" doesn't have any meaning for images on screen, simply because everyone's monitor is a different size, and the software you're using doesn't know what size your monitor is.

If you intend to print then you do need to be aware of what DPI you want to print at, and how to calculate image size based on it (this has been covered already). From my experience 100 DPI will suffice for basic painterly posters, whilst 300 DPI is needed for most quality publications, or intricate images or images with text.

IMO you don't really want to be working with an image with width or height less than 1500px. The reason for this is that if your canvas is too small you will need to work with very small brushes for the detail work, and when brushes are too small they lose their characteristics. For example, say I have an oil brush that simulates a number of bristles. If I have a large canvas the smallest size brush I will use is, say, 8px, which is enough for the brush to retain its oil-paint look. But if I use a small canvas I may need to use a 1px brush, and a brush that is a single pixel obviously can't replicate the bristle effect that a larger brush can. This applies to all most characteristics - e.g. bleed, resat, texture.

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