Adobe Illustrator - Screen Resolution in Illustrator CS2

Author

Screen Resolution in Illustrator CS2

googlee07@yahoo.com

2007-06-21, 6:14 am

I'm pulling my hair out.

Is there any way to adjust the pixel resolution within illustrator so
that when i view my work online, AI ruler inches approximate "real
inches"? My AI on screen ruler inches are always smaller than real
life inches (just hold up a real ruler to the screen and it's
obvious).

that's frustrating because when i view my AI document at 100%, my
document is always a lot smaller than 100% when printed.

when i work in photoshop, if i hold up a real ruler to my screen, it
matches photoshop's ruler. Which is a good thing. Obviously, my
monitor must actually be 72 ppi, which matches the document resolution
of 72ppi which is why the rulers are equivalent (i think?).

However, i don't have an option (or at least i don't know where it is)
in AI to set my resolution / pixels per inch. I think that's part of
my problem though i'm not sure.

What's odd is if i save the AI document to pdf format, when i view the
pdf document on screen the inches are correct????? But the rulers are
always displayed smaller than actual size for the same exact document
when viewed in AI???

Is there a way to fix this?
Why does AI do this and not my other apps like PS, PDF, etc?

HELP!!! :-)...

thanks

googlee07@yahoo.com

2007-06-21, 6:14 am

fwiw, my monitor is a large 22" with 96 dpi. That might be the
problem. I'm still confused why ps inches look right and ai's ruler
never does

steggy

2007-06-21, 6:14 pm

googlee07@yahoo.com wrote:
> I'm pulling my hair out.
>
> Is there any way to adjust the pixel resolution within illustrator so
> that when i view my work online, AI ruler inches approximate "real
> inches"? My AI on screen ruler inches are always smaller than real
> life inches (just hold up a real ruler to the screen and it's
> obvious).
>
> that's frustrating because when i view my AI document at 100%, my
> document is always a lot smaller than 100% when printed.
>
> when i work in photoshop, if i hold up a real ruler to my screen, it
> matches photoshop's ruler. Which is a good thing. Obviously, my
> monitor must actually be 72 ppi, which matches the document resolution
> of 72ppi which is why the rulers are equivalent (i think?).
>
> However, i don't have an option (or at least i don't know where it is)
> in AI to set my resolution / pixels per inch. I think that's part of
> my problem though i'm not sure.
>
> What's odd is if i save the AI document to pdf format, when i view the
> pdf document on screen the inches are correct????? But the rulers are
> always displayed smaller than actual size for the same exact document
> when viewed in AI???
>
> Is there a way to fix this?
> Why does AI do this and not my other apps like PS, PDF, etc?
>
> HELP!!! :-)...
>
> thanks
>

Because it is not about resolution. The rulers are just a
help for you to measure things out, be it in centimeters,
inches or pixels.

Illustrator is vector not raster, raster works with ppi
and/or dpi. Vector does not.

dorayme

2007-06-22, 3:18 am

In article <5e088mF33nltcU1@mid.individual.net>,
steggy <steggy@me.privacy.net> wrote:

> googlee07@yahoo.com wrote:
>
>
> Because it is not about resolution. The rulers are just a
> help for you to measure things out, be it in centimeters,
> inches or pixels.
>
> Illustrator is vector not raster, raster works with ppi
> and/or dpi. Vector does not.

Cannot see how this matters? It would not be brain surgery to
have the ruler (and artwork) display at real size when 100% is
chosen. Vector affects only that one can view at other %s with no
loss of clarity. It is either a simple lack in the Illustrator
software (to get feedback about the resolution from the system
and display ruler and art work at real scale when viewed at 100%
- and, as a sophistication at least alter the ruler to reflect
real scale when viewed at other scales.

On my monitors, Illustrator does in fact reflect well on the CRT
but not on another linked monitor. I have assumed this is because
it takes note of the primary AGP card (on which I have the CRT)
in my Mac over the PCI graphic card (on which I have the LCD
screen)

--
dorayme

jbl

2007-06-22, 6:16 pm

On Thu, 21 Jun 2007 02:31:41 -0700, googlee07@yahoo.com wrote:

>I'm pulling my hair out.
>
>Is there any way to adjust the pixel resolution within illustrator so
>that when i view my work online, AI ruler inches approximate "real
>inches"? My AI on screen ruler inches are always smaller than real
>life inches (just hold up a real ruler to the screen and it's
>obvious).
>
>that's frustrating because when i view my AI document at 100%, my
>document is always a lot smaller than 100% when printed.
>
>when i work in photoshop, if i hold up a real ruler to my screen, it
>matches photoshop's ruler. Which is a good thing. Obviously, my
>monitor must actually be 72 ppi, which matches the document resolution
>of 72ppi which is why the rulers are equivalent (i think?).
>
>However, i don't have an option (or at least i don't know where it is)
>in AI to set my resolution / pixels per inch. I think that's part of
>my problem though i'm not sure.
>
>What's odd is if i save the AI document to pdf format, when i view the
>pdf document on screen the inches are correct????? But the rulers are
>always displayed smaller than actual size for the same exact document
>when viewed in AI???
>
>Is there a way to fix this?
>Why does AI do this and not my other apps like PS, PDF, etc?
>
>HELP!!! :-)...
>
>thanks

I haven't spent a lot of time trying to figure out why but;

I am using a dual monitor set up with 2 19 inch monitors. Screen
resolution is 1280 X 1024 (80 % as high as it is wide)

Say I am working on an object that is 5 inches square.

To get that object to measure an actual 5 inches wide on my screen
with a ruler that I am holding in my hand I have to set the screen
zoom to 127%. Now it measures 5 inches with my ruler also.

Uh Oh, but it measures only 4 and one half inches high.

4.5 inches divided by 5 inches equals 90% as high as wide.

Nothing is proportional.

Go figure.

jbl

jbl

googlee07@yahoo.com

2007-06-23, 6:15 pm

> Because it is not about resolution. The rulers are just a
> help for you to measure things out, be it in centimeters,
> inches or pixels.

i beg to differ. it's all about resolution

> Illustrator is vector not raster, raster works with ppi
> and/or dpi. Vector does not.

i beg to differ as well.

googlee07@yahoo.com

2007-06-23, 6:15 pm

> Cannot see how this matters? I

Well it matters a lot if you don't want to print everything out to
see the actual size of the output.. it's a question of SIZE
NOT QUALITY [read below for more details].
and even more important in a setting where you don't have access to a
printer.

> t would not be brain surgery to
> have the ruler (and artwork) display at real size when 100% is
> chosen.

OK. so instead of telling me THAT it can be done, could you please
tell me HOW.
SPECIFICALLY..

That's what i asked originally. Maybe i'm missing something. If it's
that easy, it should
be very easy and quick for you to explain it... It's not obvious to
me for whatever reason.

> Vector affects only that one can view at other %s with no
> loss of clarity.

I think folks are missing the point. I KNOW that vector quality does
NOT
change regardless of the size. What I want is to see what the REAL
SIZE
is actually going to be regardless of the fact that it will always be
pristine quality.

THIS IS NOT A QUALITY ISSUE, IT'S A SIZE ISSUE AND THERE IS A REAL
NEED TO SEE WHAT REAL SIZE IS GOING TO BE WITHOUT PRINTING
THE ARTWORK!

Hasn't anybody ever had a need for this?

I'll give you a perfect example how it came up the other day:

I'm designing some artwork (text based) for a tshirt.

Well. wouldn't it be nice to see what 10x3 REALLY looks like on the
screen
so i can hold the tshirt up to it to eyeball if the size adequately
fills the shirt the way
i want to? maybe at actual size, i should decrease the logo or
increase a tagline for
proportioning, emphasis, whatever?

When 10x3 on screen is LESS than 10x3 in the real world it's very hard
to do that.

I could try to bump up the zoom to greater than 100%, But how do i
know i'm still NOT under
real 10x3 or over it? How do i get 100% to be 100%? or calculate
some exact percentage over 100%
to equal true 100%?

Most important, displaying my design at REAL size (which i did by
actually printing versus
eyeing on the screen which is what i wanted to do ) allowed me to
discover one
flaw in my design that you can NOT do when 10x3 is less than true
10x3.

ACTUAL SIZE REVEALED THAT ONE LINE OF TEXT'S PNT SIZE WAS
TOO SMALL TO BE OF MUCH USE AT ACTUAL SIZE ON A TSHIRT
FOR A PASSERBY TO SEE!!!!
NOTE this has nothing to do with the fact that DESIGN WAS VECTOR
AND WOULD SCALE WITHOUT LOSS OF QUALITY AT ANY SIZE....
b/c IT"S NOT A QUALITY ISSUE. IT'S A SIZE ISSUE!!!!!

THAT POINT SIZE WAS JUST TOO SMALL AND THERE'S NO WAY TO ACCURATELY
GAUGE THAT UNLESS YOU PRINT THE DESIGN AT THE FULL RESOLUTION
OR YOUR RULERS REFLECT REALITY ON THE SCREEN.

> It is either a simple lack in the Illustrator
> software (to get feedback about the resolution from the system
> and display ruler and art work at real scale when viewed at 100%
> - and, as a sophistication at least alter the ruler to reflect
> real scale when viewed at other scales.

Obviously. What you just stated seems to contradict your earlier
statement
since it implies you can't change teh resolution?

So back to the simple point of this thread: how do i fix my rulers to
reflect reality
since you said it was a no brainer?

thanks

googlee07@yahoo.com

2007-06-23, 6:15 pm

On Jun 22, 4:32 am, jbl <jbl0...@SPAMhotmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, 21 Jun 2007 02:31:41 -0700, google...@yahoo.com wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> I haven't spent a lot of time trying to figure out why but;
>
> I am using a dual monitor set up with 2 19 inch monitors. Screen
> resolution is 1280 X 1024 (80 % as high as it is wide)
>
> Say I am working on an object that is 5 inches square.
>
> To get that object to measure an actual 5 inches wide on my screen
> with a ruler that I am holding in my hand I have to set the screen
> zoom to 127%. Now it measures 5 inches with my ruler also.
>
> Uh Oh, but it measures only 4 and one half inches high.
>
> 4.5 inches divided by 5 inches equals 90% as high as wide.

That doesn't sound right. Are you sure about this?
is your original square actually a square? check the info palette when
object is clicked.
do you need to reallign the origin (reset 0,0) after the zoom?

Manuel

2007-06-23, 10:14 pm

In my monitor when I zoom to 122% the horizontal rulers reflect real world
distance but the verticals don't. It would be neat to be able to adjust them
to reflect actual size both ways like you do in Corel. I use this feature a
lot.
--
Manuel Rivas
www.doctorbirdmund.com

<googlee07@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1182633048.674209.196410@m36g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
> On Jun 22, 4:32 am, jbl <jbl0...@SPAMhotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> That doesn't sound right. Are you sure about this?
> is your original square actually a square? check the info palette when
> object is clicked.
> do you need to reallign the origin (reset 0,0) after the zoom?
>

dorayme

2007-06-23, 10:14 pm

In article
<1182632908.655266.192340@m36g2000hse.googlegroups.com>,
googlee07@yahoo.com wrote:

>
> Well it matters a lot if you don't want to print everything out ...

Actually I was supporting you! You have misunderstood the context
of my remarks.

(BTW, it makes things hard, - I assume you are using Google for
newsreading? - when you do not quote who you are replying to or
the context...)

>
>
> OK. so instead of telling me THAT it can be done, could you please
> tell me HOW.
> SPECIFICALLY..
>

Again, you are misunderstanding my meaning. I was saying in
effect the software makers might have done a better job on this
one so that you can get what you want. I share your frustration
on this and have learnt to live with it.

>
> THIS IS NOT A QUALITY ISSUE, IT'S A SIZE ISSUE AND THERE IS A REAL
> NEED TO SEE WHAT REAL SIZE IS GOING TO BE WITHOUT PRINTING
> THE ARTWORK!
>
> Hasn't anybody ever had a need for this?
>

yes, indeed, did I not say this at some point? Perhaps i didn't?
Never mind. One just needs to either work on a res setting that
matches the real size or get used to simply reading the ruler and
trusting it without "seeing" the real life inches. As long as it
prints right, one can adjust ones judgements while working on
screen.

Here is a tip for you. Once you establish the error margin,
suppose the postcard you are designing is displayed at 100% but a
real metal or plastic ruler measures it on screen at not the
actual size, you can set the view to be a % more or less (bottom
left box of Illustrator window) till it actually measures on
screen what it should print at. Remember this % and always apply
it when you want to get an accurate on screen look.

Best I can do to help.

--
dorayme

googlee07@yahoo.com

2007-06-24, 3:14 am

On Jun 23, 6:51 pm, dorayme <doraymeRidT...@optusnet.com.au> wrote:
> In article
> <1182632908.655266.192...@m36g2000hse.googlegroups.com>,
>
> google...@yahoo.com wrote:
[color=darkred]
> Actually I was supporting you! You have misunderstood the context
> of my remarks.

sorry, it didn't seem that way :-)....

> Here is a tip for you. Once you establish the error margin,
> suppose the postcard you are designing is displayed at 100% but a
> real metal or plastic ruler measures it on screen at not the
> actual size, you can set the view to be a % more or less (bottom
> left box of Illustrator window) till it actually measures on
> screen what it should print at. Remember this % and always apply
> it when you want to get an accurate on screen look.
>
> Best I can do to help.

yeah.. i figured this much but i wish there was a better and more
precise way. i like the simplicity of CTL + 1 to zoom into actual
size. I guess it's possible to remap a shortcut key for a near 100%
REAL equivalent.

Wonder why adobe never incorporated this as a feature?

thanks

Doug Winger

2007-06-24, 3:14 am

> Well it matters a lot if you don't want to print everything out to
> see the actual size of the output.. it's a question of SIZE
> NOT QUALITY [read below for more details].

[Lotsa snipping]

Check your screen resolution. It should be set to achieve a 72 DPI
square pixel display. Odd resolutions/display DPI/pixel ratios play
merry hob with WYSIWYG on screen display.

There's a reason a 21" monitor at 1152 x 872 was called a "two page
display" and why the electronic publishing point- or Postscript point-
is exactly 1/72 of an inch instead of the traditional 0.013837"

- Doug

googlee07@yahoo.com

2007-06-24, 3:14 am

On Jun 23, 9:33 pm, Doug Winger <justd...@socal.rr.com> wrote:
> Check your screen resolution. It should be set to achieve a 72 DPI
> square pixel display. Odd resolutions/display DPI/pixel ratios play
> merry hob with WYSIWYG on screen display.

as i said earlier my monitor is a 23 or 24". by default it is set to
92 dpi which totally explains why 1 inch is actually less than 1 inch
if 1 pt is set to 1/72.

not sure if you know the answer or not doug.. is it cool to set my
display to use 72 dpi? first wondering if it will destroy the hw.
second if i set it to 72, i'm probably going to lose a fair amount of
screen real estate (which is why i bought the big monitor in the first
place) right?

thanks

> There's a reason a 21" monitor at 1152 x 872 was called a "two page
> display" and why the electronic publishing point- or Postscript point-
> is exactly 1/72 of an inch instead of the traditional 0.013837"

Doug Winger

2007-06-24, 6:14 am

In article <1182663038.517842.254600@k79g2000hse.googlegroups.com>,
googlee07@yahoo.com wrote:
[color=darkred]
> On Jun 23, 9:33 pm, Doug Winger <justd...@socal.rr.com> wrote:
>
> as i said earlier my monitor is a 23 or 24". by default it is set to
> 92 dpi which totally explains why 1 inch is actually less than 1 inch
> if 1 pt is set to 1/72.
>
> not sure if you know the answer or not doug.. is it cool to set my
> display to use 72 dpi? first wondering if it will destroy the hw.
> second if i set it to 72, i'm probably going to lose a fair amount of
> screen real estate (which is why i bought the big monitor in the first
> place) right?
>
> thanks
>

That loss of real estate on modern monitors is the price you pay for
accurately sized previews. It's a holdover from the antediluvian days
of DTP, when it was getting started.

Adobe, Apple, et al decided that shaving that printer's point to exactly
1/72" was not merely a way of simplifying the math, but would allow for
a one-to-one display onscreen when the monitor was running 72 DPI- and
those were some pretty good monitors for the time, too. :)

It worked out very well: one postscript point of measure to one pixel of
screen, with 72 pixels measuring one inch on the screen, or close enough
for Government work. True WYSIWYG and DTP was then born and most
applications follow that legacy to this day- which is what I think has
bitten you on the tender and juicies.

If seeing accurately sized images when at 100% view in most applications
is important, then set the monitor accordingly. I have two preset
resolution configurations for my monitors on my machine, and swap
between them according to need; the one that gives 72 DPI for when I'm
checking size by eye or doing layout, the other for more working room
for when I'm puttering around online.

Note that this situation is slowly changing, as application frameworks
are starting to become aware of the display environment and scaling
things appropriately, so if you expect to see a one inch line, that's
what you see on your screen, whatever its current resolution. That's
certainly not the norm, though.

However, until then, it's play the prepress game and set your hardware
up as required by the applications. And no: you won't destroy your
hardware if your display is multisync and can handle the necessary pixel
dimensions. It should, as 72 DPI is less load than the 92+ DPI many run.
You might confuse your browser, though. :)

- Doug

googlee07@yahoo.com

2007-06-24, 6:14 am

On Jun 24, 1:27 am, Doug Winger <justd...@socal.rr.com> wrote:
> In article <1182663038.517842.254...@k79g2000hse.googlegroups.com>,

> That loss of real estate on modern monitors is the price you pay for
> accurately sized previews. It's a holdover from the antediluvian days
> of DTP, when it was getting started.
>
> Adobe, Apple, et al decided that shaving that printer's point to exactly
> 1/72" was not merely a way of simplifying the math, but would allow for
> a one-to-one display onscreen when the monitor was running 72 DPI- and
> those were some pretty good monitors for the time, too. :)

[snip..]

doug thanks for your explanation.

i think you've helped me understand what's going on behind the scenes
and what my options are. i probably will continue to work in 92 dpi
mode purely because i'm more productive when i have more screen real
estate with apps like AI and PS.

However, when it's time for prepress and when exact size matters, i
can then switch my monitor to 72 dpi and then
tweak my work as needed.

thanks for sharing. hopefully others will find this thread via search
and save themselves a future post :-).

steggy

2007-06-24, 6:14 pm

dorayme wrote:
>
> yes, indeed, did I not say this at some point? Perhaps i didn't?
> Never mind. One just needs to either work on a res setting that
> matches the real size or get used to simply reading the ruler and
> trusting it without "seeing" the real life inches. As long as it
> prints right, one can adjust ones judgements while working on
> screen.
>
> Here is a tip for you. Once you establish the error margin,
> suppose the postcard you are designing is displayed at 100% but a
> real metal or plastic ruler measures it on screen at not the
> actual size, you can set the view to be a % more or less (bottom
> left box of Illustrator window) till it actually measures on
> screen what it should print at. Remember this % and always apply
> it when you want to get an accurate on screen look.
>
> Best I can do to help.
>

And remember: selecting the postcard and looking at your
Transform box gives you the exact measurements. And you can
change the sizes, but do remember proportionality.

steggy

2007-06-24, 6:15 pm

googlee07@yahoo.com wrote:
> On Jun 24, 1:27 am, Doug Winger <justd...@socal.rr.com> wrote:
>
>
> [snip..]
>
> doug thanks for your explanation.
>
> i think you've helped me understand what's going on behind the scenes
> and what my options are. i probably will continue to work in 92 dpi
> mode purely because i'm more productive when i have more screen real
> estate with apps like AI and PS.
>
> However, when it's time for prepress and when exact size matters, i
> can then switch my monitor to 72 dpi and then
> tweak my work as needed.
>
> thanks for sharing. hopefully others will find this thread via search
> and save themselves a future post :-).
>
>

I do understand your problem Googlee, but I never had any
confusing matters with this. Maybe I am one of the few who
uses that Transform pallette a lot, not a lot, always! It
gives me all the sureness I need, to know I work precise, to
the millimeter or less when needed.

Papa Joe

2007-06-24, 6:15 pm

On 2007-06-21 06:31:41 -0300, googlee07@yahoo.com said:

> I'm pulling my hair out.
>
> Is there any way to adjust the pixel resolution within illustrator so
> that when i view my work online, AI ruler inches approximate "real
> inches"? My AI on screen ruler inches are always smaller than real
> life inches (just hold up a real ruler to the screen and it's
> obvious).
>
> that's frustrating because when i view my AI document at 100%, my
> document is always a lot smaller than 100% when printed.
>
> when i work in photoshop, if i hold up a real ruler to my screen, it
> matches photoshop's ruler. Which is a good thing. Obviously, my
> monitor must actually be 72 ppi, which matches the document resolution
> of 72ppi which is why the rulers are equivalent (i think?).
>
> However, i don't have an option (or at least i don't know where it is)
> in AI to set my resolution / pixels per inch. I think that's part of
> my problem though i'm not sure.
>
> What's odd is if i save the AI document to pdf format, when i view the
> pdf document on screen the inches are correct????? But the rulers are
> always displayed smaller than actual size for the same exact document
> when viewed in AI???
>
> Is there a way to fix this?
> Why does AI do this and not my other apps like PS, PDF, etc?
>
> HELP!!! :-)...
>
> thanks

Illustrator is different than photoshop in the fact that it's geared to
run at 72 PPI,
any image you embedd in illustrator is actually set at 72 PPI and size
is adjusted to match the real PPI.
your monitor should stay at 72 ppi if you want a closer exact size as printed.

--
Welcome to Papa Joe's