Pixels ,Pixels Pixels !

BABYDIABOLICAL · 03-23-2008, 12:17 PM

I am not quite grasping how pixels relate to size ..like inches , or resolution for that matter. My work is ending up the wrong sizes ...gigantic and more gigantic mostly.Someone please explain this to me ..like you were talking to a child please!
Sarah

alyCe · 03-23-2008, 02:13 PM

pixels are dots on a screen, and a screen has a set point of these dots that are projecting light in different colors, so that you can see pictures, text etc on your screen. How many active pixels are used on a screen depends on your resolution, you can test it yourself by setting your screen to 800 x 600 px and see that everything will
a)be much more 'pixelated'
b)become much bigger
it's point b that is the clue because when I resize a picture to, say 500 x 500 pixels, I set that a screen should use 500 of it's pixels to show it. Therefore, if you are on a small screen with the resolution 800 x 600 it would fill up 5/8 of your screen (width), but if you were on a newer/bigger screen with 1280 x 800 then it would appear much smaller.

It's the same thing with sizes of monitors, if you have one 15" monitor with 1024 x 768 and one 21" monitor with 1024 x 768 then on the 15" everything would appear smaller, since you are "cramming" more pixels into a smaller physical area.

It's pretty hard when you are used to mesuring everything in pixels to suddenly look upon things in physical size. There is, in every file a "ppi" or "dpi", dots/pixels per inch. (I am moving on thin ice here, so if I am terribly wrong then correct me, and diabolical baby, don't hit me if I misinform you!!) - a picture has, say 300 dpi, 300 dots per inch, Then a compter screen will read 300 pixels (which will be 50% of the height of your screen if you are running 800 x 600, regardless of the physical height of your monitor) for every inch of the picture. So a picture that is 900 pixels wide with a dpi/ppi of 300 will be 3 inches wide.

And may I had what a MAJOR pain the bum this is if you are living in places that uses the metric system >_<

ChrisLy · 03-23-2008, 03:57 PM

Essentially, you just need to remember that pixels are for monitors and dots are for physical products.
If you understand dpi, then you can easily make the jump to understanding pixels.

A printer prints in dots and a monitor displays pixels in a similar manner. 1 color per dot, 1 color per pixel. Pixels do not correlate to physical measurements (they can if you know your monitor's settings and your documents pixel per inch setting, but then you are going into a world of math that is outside of this post).

The best way to work, if you don't have a full comprehension of pixels and their relation to physical products, is to simply change the document settings in photoshop (or whatever image editor/pagination program you are using) to using inches as its base unit. Then you never have to even think about pixels.

Hope that helps.

BABYDIABOLICAL · 03-23-2008, 08:49 PM

I believe everything I need to know about pixels is contained in those two responses ! I am going to have to read them a few more times to fully get it . I usually do end up just setting everything to inches , but every now and then the pixels just bite me in the butt ,and I had no idea what I had done wrong. I hate that. thank you both , I am all ready less confused.....I think ...

alyCe · 03-24-2008, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BABYDIABOLICAL

but every now and then the pixels just bite me in the butt ,and I had no idea what I had done wrong. I hate that.

I hereby nomiate that to quote of the century, millenia, all times!!!

leon_nerd · 03-24-2008, 09:18 PM

All I can say is when you are making something for printing then you will have design measurements in inches. Like when I make a business card I generally ask the client what card size he wants to use and the layout (potrait or landscape). I then use those measurements in inches.

But when I am working for computers....like say website, then I go by pixels. I ask the client what resolution he/she is targetting. If they don't have an idea then I ask them what kind of designs they like? Wide ones or short centered ones. For wide ones you can set the width to 1000px and for short ones to around 780px wide.

You monitor can support different resolution modes (640x480, 800X600, 1024X768, 1200 X 800 for wide etc). I generally test my designs in 1024X768 & 1200 X 800. If designs look fine in these then they will pretty much look good in all others.

I have tried to explain it a bit using example from my experience.

03-23-2008, 12:17 PM	#1
BABYDIABOLICAL Designer Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 42	Pixels ,Pixels Pixels ! I am not quite grasping how pixels relate to size ..like inches , or resolution for that matter. My work is ending up the wrong sizes ...gigantic and more gigantic mostly.Someone please explain this to me ..like you were talking to a child please! Sarah

03-23-2008, 02:13 PM	#2
alyCe Super Moderator Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Norway Posts: 558	pixels are dots on a screen, and a screen has a set point of these dots that are projecting light in different colors, so that you can see pictures, text etc on your screen. How many active pixels are used on a screen depends on your resolution, you can test it yourself by setting your screen to 800 x 600 px and see that everything will a)be much more 'pixelated' b)become much bigger it's point b that is the clue because when I resize a picture to, say 500 x 500 pixels, I set that a screen should use 500 of it's pixels to show it. Therefore, if you are on a small screen with the resolution 800 x 600 it would fill up 5/8 of your screen (width), but if you were on a newer/bigger screen with 1280 x 800 then it would appear much smaller. It's the same thing with sizes of monitors, if you have one 15" monitor with 1024 x 768 and one 21" monitor with 1024 x 768 then on the 15" everything would appear smaller, since you are "cramming" more pixels into a smaller physical area. It's pretty hard when you are used to mesuring everything in pixels to suddenly look upon things in physical size. There is, in every file a "ppi" or "dpi", dots/pixels per inch. (I am moving on thin ice here, so if I am terribly wrong then correct me, and diabolical baby, don't hit me if I misinform you!!) - a picture has, say 300 dpi, 300 dots per inch, Then a compter screen will read 300 pixels (which will be 50% of the height of your screen if you are running 800 x 600, regardless of the physical height of your monitor) for every inch of the picture. So a picture that is 900 pixels wide with a dpi/ppi of 300 will be 3 inches wide. And may I had what a MAJOR pain the bum this is if you are living in places that uses the metric system >_< __________________ glunge

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03-23-2008, 03:57 PM	#3
ChrisLy Designer Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Illinois Posts: 19	Essentially, you just need to remember that pixels are for monitors and dots are for physical products. If you understand dpi, then you can easily make the jump to understanding pixels. A printer prints in dots and a monitor displays pixels in a similar manner. 1 color per dot, 1 color per pixel. Pixels do not correlate to physical measurements (they can if you know your monitor's settings and your documents pixel per inch setting, but then you are going into a world of math that is outside of this post). The best way to work, if you don't have a full comprehension of pixels and their relation to physical products, is to simply change the document settings in photoshop (or whatever image editor/pagination program you are using) to using inches as its base unit. Then you never have to even think about pixels. Hope that helps.

03-23-2008, 08:49 PM	#4
BABYDIABOLICAL Designer Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 42	I believe everything I need to know about pixels is contained in those two responses ! I am going to have to read them a few more times to fully get it . I usually do end up just setting everything to inches , but every now and then the pixels just bite me in the butt ,and I had no idea what I had done wrong. I hate that. thank you both , I am all ready less confused.....I think ...

03-24-2008, 09:18 PM	#6
leon_nerd Learner Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Earth Posts: 22	All I can say is when you are making something for printing then you will have design measurements in inches. Like when I make a business card I generally ask the client what card size he wants to use and the layout (potrait or landscape). I then use those measurements in inches. But when I am working for computers....like say website, then I go by pixels. I ask the client what resolution he/she is targetting. If they don't have an idea then I ask them what kind of designs they like? Wide ones or short centered ones. For wide ones you can set the width to 1000px and for short ones to around 780px wide. You monitor can support different resolution modes (640x480, 800X600, 1024X768, 1200 X 800 for wide etc). I generally test my designs in 1024X768 & 1200 X 800. If designs look fine in these then they will pretty much look good in all others. I have tried to explain it a bit using example from my experience.