Computer Graphics with Photoshop - PSD to GIF-Reduces Resolution & Increases Size??

Author

PSD to GIF-Reduces Resolution & Increases Size??

news

2004-10-04, 7:14 pm

We are trying to save a file originally in PSD as a GIF files. Image size
must be 2400 X 1650 pixels with 300ppi resolution. 8X5.5 Inches.

When we save it seems ok...THEN when we re-open the GIF file the resolution
is 72ppi and the image size is now 33.333 X 22.917 INCHES! The pixel
dimension remain the same 2400X1650. What is up with that? Why won't it stay
as I saved it?

Alex

Thomas G. Madsen

2004-10-04, 7:14 pm

news wrote:

> When we save it seems ok...THEN when we re-open the GIF file
> the resolution is 72ppi and the image size is now 33.333 X
> 22.917 INCHES! The pixel dimension remain the same 2400X1650.
> What is up with that? Why won't it stay as I saved it?

See: <news:20041001103029.18589.00001731@mb-m29.aol.com>

--
Regards
Madsen

Tacit

2004-10-04, 11:14 pm

>When we save it seems ok...THEN when we re-open the GIF file the resolution
>is 72ppi and the image size is now 33.333 X 22.917 INCHES! The pixel
>dimension remain the same 2400X1650. What is up with that? Why won't it
>stay as I saved it?

Becausae there is no such thing as a 300 pixel per inch GIF. The GIF
specification does not store resolution; only pixels. If you want a 300 pixel
per inch GIF, you're out of luck; the GIF format is the wrong format to use.

What is the image for? What is your goal? If the image is for print, you're
making a mistake saving it as a GIF in the first place...

--
Art, literature, shareware, polyamory, kink, and more:
http://www.xeromag.com/franklin.html

Smart-Alex

2004-10-05, 12:14 pm

Thank you. We thought we knew that 72ppi was max for GIF files but we were
beginning to doubt ourselves because the client insists that other designers
send 300ppi GIFs to him.

My wife is Graphic Designer and I'm trying to help.... It's a rather unique
creation as far as I know.

First of all...yes and no.... the GIF is not part of the final product but
is a template to catch the images and locate them in the final design on web
site. This is the client's request and other designers have done this for
him. What she is doing is designing greeting cards where she must create a
template (mask). In other words, she designs a greeting card with a square
area in the middle where a customer uploads a family photo to the client's
web site and the photo automatically gets placed into the design. The trick
is to design it so that the border of the card and bells and holly etc in
the design create a shadow on the family photo...making it look like the
photo is part of the card. Finally the cards are printed for the customer
and mailed.

The client wants the 2400X1650 8inches X 5.5 Inches. HE says it has to be
300ppi. Thats why we second-guessed ourselves because he insists thats what
his other designer do. When she converts it from PSD to GIF it becomes HUGE
33x23 INCHES.

You can see the cards at www.premier-photo-cards.com

Does any of this make sense?

Alex

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tacit" <tacitr@aol.com>
Newsgroups: comp.graphics.apps.photoshop
Sent: Monday, October 04, 2004 6:34 PM
Subject: Re: PSD to GIF-Reduces Resolution & Increases Size??

>
> Becausae there is no such thing as a 300 pixel per inch GIF. The GIF
> specification does not store resolution; only pixels. If you want a 300
> pixel
> per inch GIF, you're out of luck; the GIF format is the wrong format to
> use.
>
> What is the image for? What is your goal? If the image is for print,
> you're
> making a mistake saving it as a GIF in the first place...
>
> --
> Art, literature, shareware, polyamory, kink, and more:
> http://www.xeromag.com/franklin.html
>

"news" <smartalex@zipspots.com> wrote in message
news:l4i8d.11533$jj2.495832@news20.bellglobal.com...
> We are trying to save a file originally in PSD as a GIF files. Image size
> must be 2400 X 1650 pixels with 300ppi resolution. 8X5.5 Inches.
>
> When we save it seems ok...THEN when we re-open the GIF file the
> resolution is 72ppi and the image size is now 33.333 X 22.917 INCHES! The
> pixel dimension remain the same 2400X1650. What is up with that? Why won't
> it stay as I saved it?
>
> Alex
>

Andrew Morton

2004-10-05, 12:14 pm

Smart-Alex wrote:
> Thank you. We thought we knew that 72ppi was max for GIF files but we
> were beginning to doubt ourselves because the client insists that
> other designers send 300ppi GIFs to him.

Could it be that GIF and TIFF have become confused over the phone line?
Especially since the GIF format only supports a maximum of 256 colours.

Andrew

Tacit

2004-10-05, 7:14 pm

>First of all...yes and no.... the GIF is not part of the final product but
>is a template to catch the images and locate them in the final design on
>web site. This is the client's request and other designers have done this for
>him. What she is doing is designing greeting cards where she must create
>a template (mask). In other words, she designs a greeting card with a square
>area in the middle where a customer uploads a family photo to the client's
>web site and the photo automatically gets placed into the design.

How big is this template? A GIF is suitable for on-screen display, but not
suitable for printing, and an image that is suitable for printing in any format
is going to be far too large to view in a Web browser.

The best way to approach this is to use TWO files--one for the Web, then
another for print. The one for the Web would be smaller than the image used for
print; the image used for print would be high-resolution, not a GIF, and would
print with higher quality. (A GIF can have only 256 colors; this means a GIF is
going to do very poorly art reproducing photographic images or gradients of
color.)

>The trick
>is to design it so that the border of the card and bells and holly etc in
>the design create a shadow on the family photo...making it look like the
>photo is part of the card.

You can do this with a hard shadow, but not a soft shadow. The GIF format does
not allow translucency. Something is 100% transparent or 100% opaque; that's
all that is permitted.

>Finally the cards are printed for the customer
>and mailed.

How are they printed? Inkjet printer? Laser printer? Printing press?

>The client wants the 2400X1650 8inches X 5.5 Inches. HE says it has to
>be 300ppi.

Well, 2400x1650 pixels is indeed 8.5x5.5 at 300 pixels per inch. But your
client is mistaken if he believes that he has 300 pixel per inch GIF images;
the GIF specification does not permit it. The GIF standard has no provision for
saving resolution. A 2400x1650 pixel GIF is 2400x1650 pixels, that's it--no
pixel per inch information is stored.

>When she converts it from PSD to GIF it becomes HUGE
>33x23 INCHES.

Of course. Image editing programs assume a default resolution of 72 pixels per
inch for image formats that do not support resolution. But your client should
not be printing the GIF anyway.

>You can see the cards at www.premier-photo-cards.com

Visited the site. The templates on the Web site are not high resolution; they
are 369x250 pixels. (By the way, the Web site does not appear to work correctly
with all browsers. The "Preview" button does nothing for me, when I use
internet Explorer, Netscape, or Safari for the Mac, or Internet Explorer for
Windows 2000--this is after I've uploaded an image and cropped it.)

Your client does not understand image formats or resolution. The best advice I
have is to get your hands on some of the files that other designers have
created,a nd find out how they were made--what format, what resolution, and
what pixel dimension.

--
Art, literature, shareware, polyamory, kink, and more:
http://www.xeromag.com/franklin.html

Xalinai

2004-10-05, 7:14 pm

news wrote:

> We are trying to save a file originally in PSD as a GIF files. Image
> size must be 2400 X 1650 pixels with 300ppi resolution. 8X5.5 Inches.
>
> When we save it seems ok...THEN when we re-open the GIF file the
> resolution is 72ppi and the image size is now 33.333 X 22.917 INCHES!
> The pixel dimension remain the same 2400X1650. What is up with that?
> Why won't it stay as I saved it?
>
> Alex

It stays as you saved it. A GIF, like all GIFs, without DPI information.
And PS cheats: It doesn't say "There is no DPI information" but rather
presents a default value (72dpi).

Michael

Xalinai

2004-10-05, 7:14 pm

Smart-Alex wrote:
[color=darkred]
> Thank you. We thought we knew that 72ppi was max for GIF files but we
> were beginning to doubt ourselves because the client insists that
> other designers send 300ppi GIFs to him.
>
> My wife is Graphic Designer and I'm trying to help.... It's a rather
> unique creation as far as I know.
>
> First of all...yes and no.... the GIF is not part of the final
> product but is a template to catch the images and locate them in the
> final design on web site. This is the client's request and other
> designers have done this for him. What she is doing is designing
> greeting cards where she must create a template (mask). In other
> words, she designs a greeting card with a square area in the middle
> where a customer uploads a family photo to the client's web site and
> the photo automatically gets placed into the design. The trick is to
> design it so that the border of the card and bells and holly etc in
> the design create a shadow on the family photo...making it look like
> the photo is part of the card. Finally the cards are printed for the
> customer and mailed.
>
> The client wants the 2400X1650 8inches X 5.5 Inches. HE says it has
> to be 300ppi. Thats why we second-guessed ourselves because he
> insists thats what his other designer do. When she converts it from
> PSD to GIF it becomes HUGE 33x23 INCHES.
>
> You can see the cards at www.premier-photo-cards.com
>
> Does any of this make sense?
>
> Alex
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tacit" <tacitr@aol.com>
> Newsgroups: comp.graphics.apps.photoshop
> Sent: Monday, October 04, 2004 6:34 PM
> Subject: Re: PSD to GIF-Reduces Resolution & Increases Size??
>
>
>
>
>
> "news" <smartalex@zipspots.com> wrote in message
> news:l4i8d.11533$jj2.495832@news20.bellglobal.com...

You save the GIF with a DPI value of >nothing<. When you load the gif
the default dpi value you set for images without dpi setting is
applied. Set your default dpi value in PS to 300 and everything will be
fine.

And then: the GIF becomes a 300dpi GIF once you specify a print size of
8 inches wide and 5.5 inches high in the layout application that uses
the GIF.

Michael