Whoops! 300dpi mistake?

gamesfuagamesfua Member Posts: 723
edited October 2012 in Working with GS (Mac)
Hey all, quick question.
I recently read that all image files apparently need to be 72dpi. Well unfortunately mine are all 300dpi. Is this an issue? I've made succesful ad hocs with it and not seeing any issues. Tested on many devices. No problems.
Can anyone explain if this is a problem, and why?
Many thanks!

Comments

  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598

    @anatomyofdreams

    Hi, it's only a problem if you consider a small amount of time wasted in re-sizing images: an image as 72dpi will go in as same size into GSC, whereas a 300dpi image will be reduced in size to over a quarter of its size, so you have to resize it back up again.... not sure if you lose any quality either, by doing this....(I think you used to but maybe not now)... anyway, just extra time wasted, I guess, is the only problem.

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • gamesfuagamesfua Member Posts: 723
    Many thanks gyroscope. But I haven't had to resize anything in GSC. In photoshop I would set my dpi to 300 and then just make everything 512x512, 256x128, etc. (following the bit rules). SO correct me if I'm wrong here, but essentially nothing is wrong. But in the future I should adhere to the 72dpi rule.
  • tenrdrmertenrdrmer Member, Sous Chef, Senior Sous-Chef Posts: 9,934
    are you images not blurry as hell when you size the actors up to the right size? I have always had image quality issues if the dpi was not set to 72
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  • gamesfuagamesfua Member Posts: 723
    tenrdrmer- that's just the thing, I haven't had to resize anything. Perhaps I'm doing something crazy here. Here's what I do in photoshop. For an actor that will let's say be 256x256- I go to photoshop, create a new image. Set pixels to 256 by 256 and set resolution to 300 (pixels/inch). When I go into GSC, the image comes in at the exact same size. So either I'm lucky here or am doing something drastically wrong. Is the resolution perhaps not DPI?
  • SlickZeroSlickZero Houston, TexasMember, Sous Chef Posts: 2,870
    Are you importing Photoshop files into GS, or are you exporting them out as .pngs first?

    And I don't know if I would press my luck. You may just want to go back and re-size your images. Takes a while for a lot, but it will be worth it in the long run. Just set the dpi to 72, and re-size it back up to 512x512 or whatever, in Photoshop, and you'll be good to go.

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  • gamesfuagamesfua Member Posts: 723
    I'm exporting as .pngs first.
    Everyone keeps talking about resizing. I haven't needed to resize anything. Also I've made 2 ad hoc builds and sent to 7 beta testers with zero problems whatsoever. Can anyone explain why this is so dangerous? Does apple not allow games with 300 dpi graphics? Ad hocs seem to handle it no problem. From here on out I will definitely do 72dpi, but I'm not getting the urgency of potential disaster if these have been tested on 7 different devices via ad hoc with zero problems.
    What am I gaining by re doing hundreds of images to 72dpi? Is there a performance boost? Is it that apple won't accept it? Etc. I'm lost on understanding the alarm.
    Uber confused.
    But as always, all you guys are the best!
    Any info would be super helpful!
    Thanks!
  • TesseractEngineTesseractEngine Member Posts: 180
    The only thing that matters with PNG is the physical width and height of the image in pixels.

    It doesn't matter what DPI you set in Photoshop, the PNG will still be the same size in pixels regardless. A 256 x 256 PNG is the same size whether it is 1dpi, 72dpi, or 35,734dpi.

    If you were to actually re-size a 72dpi image to 300dpi, it'd be BIGGER, not smaller!

    A 256 x 256 72dpi image actually re-sized to 300dpi would be 1067 x 1067.
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  • tenrdrmertenrdrmer Member, Sous Chef, Senior Sous-Chef Posts: 9,934
    @tesseractEngine Unless GS has changes something in how the import images what happens is anything higher than 72 gets scaled down. to almost 1/3rd of the size. hence the resizing that all of us who have been here for years have experienced. and since it has scaled the image down when its stretched back out to the right size its blurred and low quality.

    @anatomyofdreams Im pretty sure in PhotoShop she you export to .png there is a setting in that menu to choose the dpi/ppi again for your export. are you sure you have not inadvertently been setting your .pngs to 72dpi by mistake?

    Open one of the .pngs in preview and check the dpi there. you may have accidentally been doing the right thing all along.
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  • TesseractEngineTesseractEngine Member Posts: 180
    To possibly further confuse and bamboozle. The DPI of an image only really comes into play when it's printed. The pixel dimensions is important for screen, the DPI for print.

    For example, a 256 x 256 set to 72 dpi would print at 9.03cm x 9.03cm.

    A 256 x 256 set to 300 dpi would print at 2.17cm x 2.17cm.
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  • TesseractEngineTesseractEngine Member Posts: 180
    edited October 2012
    @tenrdrmer Ooh, I see! How strange - not something I've ever encountered in GS.

    ETA: just tried a 300dpi PNG, and it still came in at pixel size in GS...doesn't look blurry at all. I wonder if anything has changed?
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  • gamesfuagamesfua Member Posts: 723
    Well well well tenrdrmer, you magnificent so.b.- you're right! ;)
    Checked my images and they were output at 72dpi. I do FILE>SAVE FOR WEB AND DEVICES. And I can't find any settings to make the resolution different... only the physical width and height. Hmmm. So here's a new question, has there been any benefit of me making the images 300dpi and then outputting (unknowingly) png 72dpi? Or from now on should i begin working on an image at 72dpi and then output at 72dpi. Let me know if i'm confusing anyone here because I'm beginning to confuse myself ;)
    Thanks again everyone!
  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598
    edited October 2012
    @TesseractEngine
    To possibly further confuse and bamboozle. The DPI of an image only really comes into play when it's printed. The pixel dimensions is important for screen, the DPI for print.

    For example, a 256 x 256 set to 72 dpi would print at 9.03cm x 9.03cm.

    A 256 x 256 set to 300 dpi would print at 2.17cm x 2.17cm.
    You're perfectly right, although to say the terms dpi and ppi are often mistakenly swapped (I did it in my previous post in this thread!) but it doesn't really matter, they are "the same but different": the amount of pixels on screen isn't a direct comparison with the dots of printing but the mathematical amount is the same. Just thought I'd clarify that!

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • tenrdrmertenrdrmer Member, Sous Chef, Senior Sous-Chef Posts: 9,934
    If its working for you I would say stick with it. Im not an art guy but I would guess that keeping your original at a higher dpi then you could possibly get a larger 72 dpi image out of it if needed. No idea though. And yes normally saving for web and devices does change it to 72 since most devices want that setting
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  • TesseractEngineTesseractEngine Member Posts: 180
    @gyroscope Yeah, I still always say 'DPI' having come from (over twenty years ago) a print background. :D At this side of the press, of course, dots and pixels are quite synonymous.
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  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598
    edited October 2012

    @anatomyofdreams

    Another penny's worth from me: I' d stick with the advice from @tenrdrmer and the other guys and always bring in images at 72ppi, that way you'd be certain of no problems, especially if Resolution Independence is used; also it may not be a problem for you now but might just be in the future...

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • gamesfuagamesfua Member Posts: 723
    Thanks to everyone in here. Love this product and love this community! You're all incredible so thank you!
  • SlickZeroSlickZero Houston, TexasMember, Sous Chef Posts: 2,870
    edited October 2012
    One more thing. When you export from Photoshop using "Web and devices" it automatically sets it to 72ppi since that is all that the internet can display. And you may not have this problem, but using "Web" as an output can alter your colors. Since there are only a number of colors that can be displayed on the web, it changes your colors to the nearest web safe color. Sometimes the change is drastic, sometimes not. I know there is "Export for web" and "Web and devices" so i don't know if the "devices" part has something to do with color preservation or not.

    I just do "Save as" and change the format to PNG in Photoshop. That way all your original colors are left to their original values. Just in case.
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