72dpi? or 300dpi?
VolontaArts
Member Posts: 510
I'm very confused. every time i think i have this image thing correct i start seeing a bit of pixelation.
so I'm saving in illustrator and then opening in flash so i can export the animations as pngs in the correct locations as drawn(illustrator moves them for some reason.) anyways when i do this it asks to save in 72dpi and thats what i always have done... until i noticed it looks a bit pixelated. idk what is being don wrong.
any help or suggestions appreciated....
Comments
72 dpi is correct.
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Are you using your images within GameSalad at 100% (a 1:1 ratio) ?
For example are you importing a 216 x 288 pixel image and using it on a 216 x 288 pixel actor - or is there a disparity between the two sizes ?
The ppi (pixels per inch, rather than dots per inch) is largely irrelevant if you are using your image correctly, that is to say applying them to a same sized actor ('sized' here means the same pixel dimensions) , whether a 512 x 512 pixel image is 50,782 ppi or 14 ppi is irrelevant, they will be identical when placed on a 512 x 512 pixel actor.
Actually if your not set to 72dpi GameSalad messes up your images when they are imported.
Makes it tiny and blurry.
Cheers
The ppi has no effect on image quality, it's only metadata, if your image is tiny (or blurry) it's simply at the wrong size.
Within GameSalad the ppi of the image has just one function, it tells GameSalad what size to make the image, it has no effect on image quality or resolution (assuming we have the absolute pixel value we want) - but even if GameSalad doesn't know what size the image should be (let's imagine we accidentally left the ppi set to 300ppi in Photoshop) all you need to do is set your actor to the right size.
So, a 400 x 400 pixel image at 256,000 ppi is identical to a 400 x 400 pixel image at 8 ppi - they are both 400 x 400 pixels . . . . . if you know you've been working on a 400 x 400 pixel image and it's meant for a 400 x 400 pixel actor (you should know this kind of stuff !) then whether the ppi is set to 256,000 ppi or 8 ppi is irrelevant (and it certainly won't impact on image quality).
If on the other hand you are just working in Photoshop at any old arbitrary size and haven't really considered what size the actor is going to be in your GameSalad project (you shouldn't really ever work like this!) - then setting the ppi at 72ppi offers you a single advantage, it means when you drag your imported image into the Actor's pane it will give you an actor whose size matches the pixel count of your image 1:1.
But even in this terrible-way-of-working scenario if you forgot to set the ppi to 72ppi all you would have to do is to check the size of the image in pixels and make your actor the same size.
Besides this hypothetical terrible-way-of-working scenario, the ppi is largely irrelevant.
ok so i wanted my actors at 87.5 x 140.... i think i messed up by not making a whole number huh @socks
so what i did on illustrator was 175 x 280...
i actually started at illustrator wight the size not noticing it would not divide by 2 evenly.
I'm going to see if changing my actors to 180 x 280 will make it sharper
Yes, actors (ideally) should reflect the image size . . . . and there is no such thing as a half pixel when it comes to image size.
Not only should the actor (ideally) be the same size as the image, but it also needs to be equally divisible by 4 (assuming a Retina device is the target).
So here I would go for 88 x 140 pixels.
Also make sure your actor is placed on an exact pixel value . . . . so X = 407, Y = 332 . . . . rather than X 407.34, Y = 331.093.
wow... did not know the placement part... but makes sense..so my artwork should be 88 x 140 in illustrator... dpi doesn't matter 72 is good. Ok @socks i think i finally got it. thank you very much and everyone else
Unless something has changes with GameSalad when you import an image with anything but 72 it jacks it up and makes it blurry. Cause it scales it down or something to achieve the 72. Try it . Import an image at 300 and then drop the image into the actor window to create the actor. It will make your the exact size of the image unless to is check off then it will make the actor half the image size.
Again I have not imported an image with the wrong ppi for a long time and they may have fixed this but that's been the rule ever since I've used GS and I have seen it happen with my own two eyes.
ok so its looking like I'm going to have to draw everything all over again? i tried resizing a few different ways but still no luck. still have this pixelated look. i thought illustrator was suppose to be resizable without losing resolution?
Illustrator is but it's how you export them. I'm not really familiar with illustrator but I'm sure someone here will be able to help you out
If you make your artwork 88 pixels by 140 pixels then the ppi is irrelevant, making it 72pp simply means that when you drag it into the Actors pane GS will make a 88 x 140 pixel actor for you, but beyond this small convenience ppi is irrelevant.
It will make a 88 x 140 pixel actor no matter what ppi the image is.
Same goes for creating an actor by dragging the image from the file system to the actors pane, or by first dragging it into the library and the into the actors pane.
The only time it is different is when you first create an actor (which will give the actor its default 100x100 dimention) and then drag an image onto it. In this case the image is scaled to fit the actor.
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There is no such thing as a wrong ppi ! (except for 666ppi which can cause issues) ; P
That's kind of my point, the ppi is irrelevant, it's metadata, it's having no effect on the image's resolution, quality, blurriness, sharpness, colour gamut, bit depth or nationality ! It's as relevant to image quality as is the title of the file !
This is always how GameSalad has worked as far as I know (and it's how all other software that imports or references external media works), I've never knowingly made any effort to make my files 72ppi as I always work in absolute pixel values so it seemed pointless, basically if you have a 400 x 200 pixel image and you know you are applying it to a 400 x 200 pixel actor it seems like a needless detail to tell GameSalad "by the way here is the metadata that tells you what size this image will be displayed at on an old CRT monitor (which is where the 72 ppi standard came from) I don't want you to use this information for anything, I just want you to be aware of it"
Three versions of the same file, one at 2 ppi, one at 72 ppi and one at 6,000 ppi:
Yep, and even in this case it's trivial to change your actor's size to 88 x 140 (or whatever the relevant image size is).
Here an extract from Websters, not verbatim -
ppi abbreviation
perfectly pointless information - only used in print media, but who still reads books
MESSAGING, X-PLATFORM LEADERBOARDS, OFFLINE-TIMER, ANALYTICS and BACK-END CONTROL for your GameSalad projects
www.APPFORMATIVE.com
Ok I had some test it and the issue I have been talking about apparently has been fixed. See we get so used to bugs sometimes we never realize they are fixed.
And so the resolution wars raged on for centuries. With the two camps divided on how to interpret the ancient scrolls of Photoshop, there would be many a merciless battle among the tribes. Low the outcome was much the same as any, a victor would one day be claimed and the kingdoms would be joined together once again. So say-eth we all.
Oh and I generally copy from illustrator into a pre-sized photoshop document myself retaining the vector format in the layers.