Resolution Confusion

[Nancy]

I want to supply a gif to someone and they have asked me to make sure it is at least 300 resolution. I must confess I don't know much about this subject. Loading the .gif in PaintShop Pro and looking at the Image information I see the following:

Dimensions 381x372 pixels
5.292x5.167 inches
Pixels per inch 72
pixels depth/color 8/256

How many pixels an inch do you need for the 300 resolution? Thanks

[GLITCH]

Originally Posted by Nancy

How many pixels an inch do you need for the 300 resolution?

Hi
the answer you are seeking is 300.

Laters
Glitch

[Nancy]

I am a little confused - I actually need 300 pixels in an inch to give me the 300 resolution?- Looking at the figures in my original post I seem to only have 72 pixels in an inch - which is not enough. How do I increase it? (Sorry to be so thick!)

[thelamberts]

Originally Posted by Nancy

I seem to only have 72 pixels in an inch - How do I increase it?

Hi there

Open the image in Paint Shop Pro
Select "Image" and then "Resize" from the File Menu
Select the 3rd section "Actual/print size" by clicking the radio button to the left of the 3rd section
Change the "Resolution" to 300
Click Ok

Done!

PS

I use PSP Version 7.0 ( hope the instructions to the commands are similar to yours)

[Nancy]

Thank you!! It's so easy when you know how. I've been using PSP for years and never quite understood the more techie aspects of it.

[thelamberts]

You are welcome!

This is a pretty good PSP help site.....

http://www.psphelp.com/

Take Care

[unclejunebug]

Nancy, one thing you should be aware of when you're increasing the resolution of an image. If you're sending this file off to be printed then you should never just increase the resolution the way that you did. And in my opinion it's bad practice regardless of what you're using it for. Principally because when you add pixels like that it doesn't make it truly a 300 dpi image. Yes, the file now exists as 300 dpi, but it will not have the quality of an image that was originally created at that resolution. If you printed out the 72 dpi image or the 300 dpi image they would both look bad. Now, the opposite of this is true. You can always take away pixels and still maintain a level of quality. Of course you can't go too low. So the best thing to do is create an image larger than you need and scale it down, never the other way around.

[Nancy]

So I'll have to start over again and redo my graphic and save it in a higher resolution - now I'll have to learn how to do this!! Goodness this is getting very techie.

[unclejunebug]

If it's anything to be used for print then yes, I would say you should start over. Believe me I know it's a pain, but the difference will be huge. If it's something that's going to be used for a website or somewhere on the internet than 72 dpi is fine because that's what it will end up as on the web anyways. But even still it's good practice to start larger and have to scale down if necessary.

[Nancy]

Thanks for your help - I'll give it a go!!