[clue-tech] gimp fonts for [printed] graphics

[Jed S. Baer]

On Thu, 23 Dec 2004 10:05:04 -0700
Jeff Cann wrote:

> > I do all my artwork for Linux Format magazine (and probably
> > Tux too though I don't think they've specified the requirements yet)
> > at 250 DPI.  That works out well since a typical screen shot of a GIMP
> > window gets down to about 1.5" to 2" on a page, which is good sized
> > for an article.
> 
> I'm a bit confused.  Do you set your monitor DPI to 250 or the DPI of
> your new images to 250?  I'm assuming the latter, but please confirm. 
> The reason I'm assuming this is because I didn't think you can change
> the DPI of a monitor - by I'm totally ignorant about this stuff
> [obviously].

Heh. You're right. You can't change your monitor. Printers can change
their effective DPI in various ways. Some years ago, inkjets were using
some "partial dot" sort of thing to get greater effective DPI. It was kind
of a dithering sort of thing -- I don't recall the gory details.

Think of it this way. If you create an image that's 3 inches and 100 DPI,
and print it on a 300 DPI printer, it'll be 1 inch on the page, unless you
specify some other scaling in the transition from your computer to the
printer, such as telling the printer to use 200 DPI.

The 250 DPI Michael mentioned probably has something to do with the
resolution of the print technology used by the magazine, but I'm just
speculating there. Here's a little factoid. Back when National Geographic
switched to digital image processing (which let them move a Pyramid, if
you recall that little kerfuffle), they used 2400 DPI scanners, because
otherwise the quality wasn't up to their standards. I wish people who make
wild claims about how good their 3 megapixel camera is would realize the
nature of statements like those.

jed
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