Ive been designing graphics since I was 12. Ive dealt with everything. But I never really work with sizes over 1000 pixels for any kind of designs for websites or anything.

So the thing is...I'm not used to it. and I'm having a hard time finding things that will fill a 2000 pixel space besides a logo.

Does anyone know what I'm talkin' about? have you had this same problem?

I just started this and am still learning how this all functions. I just upgraded to a premium shop so if you have any advice for me lemme know. I'm still at $0.00 for sales :P

It'll come, just takes time

If you are having trouble "filling" a 2000 x 2000 space it is most likely because you are working at a standard for the web 72 dpi. Filling a square is filling a square, all tools are relative. I guess my answer is, nope, never had trouble working at 2000 x 2000. That is actually small for me. I typically start at 3000 x 3000 sometimes up to 5000. If you change the ppi or dpi of your canvas to 300 then it will feel relatively smaller.

I've never had an issue with it either. However I come from a background in print graphics and it's much different then web or motion graphics (which I also do).

I think I know what you mean though, you are pulling in other images into your design and finding them small in relation to your 2000 x 2000 pixel sized document?

The answer is to create from scratch at that resolution to begin with, or find bigger graphics that you can legally use in your design.

I also work sometimes at different viewing percentages if I want to see "the big picture" or zoom into it to see more detail in what I'm creating.

yeah, ur both right. Thats what I am talking about. I know the owner of a website that holds many nice graphics that I am allowed to use. But most of them are no bigger then 500X500. So It's hard to go all out on my designs.

Most of my web designs never exceed 800X800 so I have got use to that and am just now learning how to incorporate things into a 2000X2000 design.

just to add,
this is why i do a lot of my work in adobe illustrator now. it depends on the sort of designs you do, but i scan in hand-drawn images, trace and paint them, and can output them at any resolution.

adobe illustrator is vector based (and so "scale/size independent", whereas adobe photoshop is pixel based.

Hi,

I made my first design on Photoshop, on a 2000x2000 pixel canvas, with the default 72 dpi.

The design includes photo and text. I saved it in PNG.
It looks very good and clean full size, but when I'm zooming out the text gets fuzzier and fuzzier.

Do you have any idea why?

i use 2000x2000 200 dpi

I tried that one too, but then I had to set the font size smaller to be able to write the text on the template.

With 2000x2000, 72 dpi the font size I used is 250pt.
With 2000x2000, 200 dpi the font size I had to use 90pt to fit the text.

After saving it as PNG, I open it with IrfanView and
both give me the same fuzzier texts.
Only the 2000x2000 zoom show nice sharp text. When I go with the lower zoom than the edges(fonts) begin to show fuzzy.

quote:

After saving it as PNG, I open it with IrfanView and
both give me the same fuzzier texts.
Only the 2000x2000 zoom show nice sharp text. When I go with the lower zoom than the edges(fonts) begin to show fuzzy.

That is because you can't really ever see a resolution of 200 on your display. Your display is not capable of that resolution. So there is some approximation going on. How it looks depends upon the relative size it is being viewed at. Can't find an article that explains it right now, maybe this will help a bit. http://www.balloontales.com/tips/photoshop/index.html

I think I've got it now!

Tanith, I would like to clarify the dpi question, since what I read here is a bit confusing to me. If I understand it correctly, it does not matter if my program (photoshop) have the setting as 72dpi, as long as I use the right pixel dimensions, in this case is 2000x2000.

Am I right?...or I totally misunderstood your tutorial.

quote:

Originally posted by Marianna:
I think I've got it now!

Tanith, I would like to clarify the dpi question, since what I read here is a bit confusing to me. If I understand it correctly, it does not matter if my program (photoshop) have the setting as 72dpi, as long as I use the right pixel dimensions, in this case is 2000x2000.

Am I right?...or I totally misunderstood your tutorial.

Hi Marianna,
Diane is clearly the expert here (her tutorials are great if you haven't gone through them yet!), but maybe I can help clarify a bit.

RE: the difference with 2000x2000:
Computers "see" things differently than humans, and more importantly, printers. DPI stands for "dots per inch", which is how many "dots" will print in a one inch square. As you and J-2 have figured out, 72dpi is the maximum a PC computer can see, which is why web graphics are generally that resolution. But when printing there is a major difference in the quality of 72dpi and 200dpi.

Imagine a painter using only 72 'dots' of ink on a canvas as opposed to using 200 'dots' of ink to create the same image on the same size canvas. The resulting image might look something like this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointillism

Comparing a 2000px by 2000px image:
72 dpi, the image size is 27.778 inches
200 dpi, the image size is 10 inches

You can see the difference for yourself in Photoshop by comparing Actual Pixels vs Print Size using the magnifying glass (zoom tool). If you have access to an older model ink jet printer, you can really see the quality difference too.

As far as the problem you're having with fuzzy text, the link she provided shows how to turn off anti-aliasing in Photoshop, which should solve your problem. I recommend trying a test print yourself to see the difference in quality for the text too.

I hope that helps and I'd love to know how any experiments go!

(Please feel free to correct me if I've explained anything wrong.)

You should be able to set a default of 200 dpi or 300 dpi in your program rather than 72. I use Paint Shop Pro and have my default at 300 dpi.

What you use as a default dpi in creating the image is irrelevant to the final result. Whether your program reports the image as 72 dpi or your program reports the image as 300 dpi all that counts for the finished product is number of pixels. DPI is the relationship between how many pixels you have, and how you spread them out over the print area. It isn't a pencil drawing. Images in pixels have no fixed size. It is much easier to understand graphically than in words. http://tutortanith.com/#imagesize

I guess I didn't explain it well. All of my new images are set up at 10" x 10" at 300dpi or 3000 pixels square by 300 dpi. I have this set as a default.

I understand that this can be set in the program - and it helps with dimensions. The effect of setting dpi when you have defined image size in pixels is to change the relationship of the ruler to match your intended print size. It is just that people panic when their "default" shows up as 72 (or 96) dpi when they look at the saved png. I was simply reminding folks that the dpi showing won't affect how the image prints on CP because only the pixels matter. Sometmes they then make the mistake of changing the dpi to 200 (or 300) thinking that is what it "should" be. The result is that they add many more pixels and reduce the quality of their image. That would be the opposite of what they were expecting. So ... keep an eye on those pixels, sneaky devils.