Real World Print Production with Adobe Creative Suite Applications

Resolution and Image Fidelity

The resolution of an image is generally measured in pixels per inch (ppi) unless you speak metric, in which case it’s expressed in pixels per millimeter. Determining the proper resolution for Web images is simple: 72 ppi at final size. But there are strongly held (and hotly debated) beliefs regarding the appropriate image resolution for printing. Some hold that 150 percent of the final screen ruling value is sufficient, and some believe twice the final ruling is preferable, largely because it’s easier to calculate the resolution. For example, an image that will be printed at 150 line screen should have a resolution of 300 ppi. When typical hard drives held 80 MB, networks were glacially slow, and RIPs choked on 15 ...