Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 4:12 am Post subject: Weird sizing problems - help needed.
I've been using photoshop at work to create covers for CDs, but we have two types of CD case, the normal kind, and on that's kind of a smaller version of a DVD case.
When I created the cover for the normal CD cases I measured up the correct sizes and inputted them when I create the new file. The cover looked much bigger than actual size when it appeared on screen, making working on it much easier, but then when it printed, it printed at the correct size.
When I came to make the cover for the second kind of case I did everything exactly the same as far as I can tell, but the cover doesn't look bigger on screen this time, it appears on screen at actual size, making working on it much harder. Then when it prints off, it still prints at the correct size but looks terribly blurred.
I have no idea what has caused the two different projects to behave so differently. Any one have any ideas? Have I accidentally changed some setting somewhere?
You don't have the Image Size settings set up correctly. If the image looks OK, regardless of apparent size, on the screen, but prints "blurry," the culprit is probably the PPI setting. Here's how to set the image size up correctly to get the print size you want with good fidelity.
Get a ruler and measure the actual physical dimensions of the CD cover you are targeting. Just for this discussion, let's say it's 4" x 4". OK, here's the calculation. For a 4" x 4" print at the standard printer resolution of 300 PPI, you need pixel dimensions of 1200 x 1200 pixels (4 * 300 x 4 * 300 = 1200 x 1200). When you create your new document, enter those values. Actually, since that 4" x 4" was a guess, use the actual measured value times 300 in the calculation shown above.
Double-check when the file opens. Look in Image|Image Size and make sure that the PPI setting is at 300 and the Document Size is the actual physical dimensions you want in your printed output. Now you should be able to View|Actual Pixels and have a nice large image to work with, and when you print it out, it won't be pixellated because you were working at the screen resolution of 72 PPI and printed at the printer resolution of 300 PPI.
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