2 questions, DPI and Bottle image

Chat about the original Pixelmator.
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2018-02-01 04:39:53

Hey Everyone!

Good Evening from sunny Akron Ohio! (not really sunny) I am new to Pixelmator and computers in general. My newly started business asks a few things of me that i am currently outsourcing but would like to know how to do myself so any help with these 2 questions would be MUCH appreciated!

I am in charge of creating labels for my new supplement company. I believe i have the very basics down and just need a little help with the 2 biggest things giving me problems at the moment.

When i finish a label, my manufacture/fulfillment center asks me for an image that is 300dpi. How do I get them an image that is 300dpi? or are they meaning 300ppi and just using the wrong terminology/abbreviation?

I know that dpi is used when printing, im just not sure how to deliver an image that is 300dpi.

My next question is, does anyone know how to create bottle images using Pixelmator? If i create the label how then do i ad it to a 3D bottle without actually printing it out and taking a picture that way?

Again, any help on these 2 would be greatly appreciated! I look forward to hearing from you soon and hope that i move fast and can return the favor in the future!

Thank you for your time,

Greg
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2018-02-02 09:21:37

Hi Greg! Good morning from sunny Lithuania (snowy and slightly wet, to be more precise). They do indeed mean 300 PPI, nearly everyone calls it DPI even though that's a print term and most apps use PPI or pixels/inch for the name of that setting. If there's one thing I could rant about, it's all the confusion and misunderstandings about printing terms and processes in image editing. But now's not the time...

Anyway, if they're asking for an image to be 300 PPI/DPI, what they mean is that the image should be sufficiently large to be able to print 300 pixels per inch of paper. Essentially, when you create a new image, you can choose to create it in pixels or a print unit (like inches, cm, and so on). When you create it in pixels, you tell an image editing app explicitly how large you want the image to be. The reason for that is because all digital (raster/bitmap) images are composed of pixels. When you create an image using inches, for example, you have to also give the app a resolution in pixels per inch so that it could create an image for you with the correct amount of pixels. Say, you have a 5 x 5 inch image and you need to print it at 300 pixels per inch. 5 multiplied by 300 is 1500, so your image will be 1500 by 1500 pixels.

With all that information out of the way, how do you deliver a 300 PPI image? The most basic way is to start working on the size of the image you need to deliver from the very beginning (by entering a size in inches and your required resolution in the New Image dialog). If you already have an image with the right physical dimensions (size in inches) but the wrong resolution (PPI), then it matters whether you have more pixels than you need (over 300) or less (under 300). If there are too few pixels, there isn't really a way to increase the quality of the image unless your design has only text or vector elements, because increasing the pixel size will reduce the quality of the image.

Finally, how do you change the PPI of an existing image? If you choose Image > Image Size, you can enter a new resolution there. To avoid any changes in quality, you can deselect the "Resample image" checkbox and enter 300 PPI. Then you'll see what the current physical dimensions of your image are at 300 PPI. If you leave that checkbox selected, you can choose inches as the unit and enter 300 pixels/inch as the resolution and resize the image. Your results will depend on all the factors above.

As for creating a mockup of the image on a bottle — I'm afraid there isn't really a tool that lets you warp the perspective of layers according to a mesh, which is what you'd need to create a curved warp, but you can transform the perspective of a layer using the following steps:

1. Choose Edit > Transform
2. In the Tool Options bar above your image, click the Action pop-up menu (the gear icon) and choose Perspective...
3. Move the corner handles to change the perspective of the layer

Hope that helps!
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2018-02-03 00:40:26

Andrius,

Thank you! This does help a tremendous amount, and i will give the "transform" a go and see what i can come up with. Ive been outsourcing and spending thousands on getting labels and bottle images created and i really would like to do it myself and be more hands on. So again, i thank you, and maybe one day ill be able to return the favor my friend but until then, stay warm and dry over there!!

Greg
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2018-02-05 08:58:03

No problem, glad my rather confusing answer was of use — good luck with the bottles! 👌