Adobe text and bitmap sizes

[Charles Moir]

To quote Aeneas from another thread:

For bitmap work, I use Photoshop 7. As I often have to work on websites and have too much experience with Photoshop's poor font anti aliasing, I thought I'd import the bitmap I created in Xara and use Xara's font handling as it's really much better. To my surprise, my 760 pixels wide bitmap didn't fit on my 760pix wide document. I found out that this is probably caused by my importing of a 72pix/inch bitmap that xara displays too big as it takes 96pixels/inch. So how can I either have Xara not look at the inches but at the pixels, or how can I change that 96 into 72?

The 96 / 72 dpi issue is a bug in all Adobe applications, and a serious one at that. Adobe have decided to ignore the actual Windows screen resolution settings (96dpi) and try to get away with pretending it's really 72dpi instead (the very old, and very outdated Mac standard) The result is chaos and incompatibility with all Windows software. (Evidence; all font sizes in Adobe application are wrong compared to the same font in Windows such as Office (and Xara of course). Or just draw an object 1 inch long and see how it compares with the same 1in in say Microsoft Office. Or view the same bitmap in Photoshop and Windows Picture Viewer @ 100%. They are both completely different sizes. Adobe gets it wrong. Xara gets it right. On Windows 1in should be 96 pixels. Adobe thinks it should be 72 pixels.

When importing bitmaps Xara looks at the dpi of the bitmap and scales the image to the correct dpi. We now realise this is probably the wrong thing to do (although technically the right thing to do) because it means bitmaps exported form Photoshop or the Mac come in at the wrong size (well wrong compared to Photoshop). So in future we're looking to ignore the dpi settings of bitmaps and always scale 1:1 pixels on import.

The easy way to solve the bitmap size is this: If you know the actual pixel size of the bitmap, when you've imported it, just enter the pixel width into the Infobar, and the bitmap will be scaled to the correct pixel size and the same as in Photoshop. Or alternatively scale the bitmap to 75% (just as easy, just enter 75% into the scale field on the Infobar). Now the Xara pixel measurement, and screen size will match that in Photoshop.

Compare the same font written in 4 different applications. Note the metrics exactly match in Xara and Microsoft Word (Microsoft Cleartype anti-aliasing is really excellent, as you can see)

[Squeaky]

Any chance you can look into doing something similar for SWF export? I only ever use exported swf's in Flash (72dpi) so it would be handy to have them export at the right size without all the work arounds.

[jens g.r. benthien]

Here is the solution:

under options -> scaling set the values as shown.

The *.xar file is not from me, someone else had posted it here several months ago, so this is not my credit

[Squeaky]

Thanks Jens. I think I have this already.

I guess my problems really have to do with having to mix bitmaps and Flash vectors inside of Flash. Something I have to do quite a bit in animation.

What I end up doing is exporting my Docs as a bitmap at the correct pixel size, opening that in Flash and then rescaling my exported swf's to match.
Life would be so much simpler if Xara could export swf's to Flash at the correct size.

Actually the Flash issue is more of a problem to me than the Bitmap one as I always seem to work in pixels.

(Ideally Adobe would sort themselves out and enter the 21st century. Not much hope of that now they are basically a monopoly. Hurray for Xara and the other rebels!)

[MerryOtter]

On Windows 1in should be 96 pixels. Adobe thinks it should be 72 pixels.

I know you're right, but 72 is a lot better for those of us who were raised to believe there are 72 points in an inch and that one pixel on-screen is like one point in the real world.

So in future we're looking to ignore the dpi settings of bitmaps and always scale 1:1 pixels on import.

This would be awesome. I hope you implement it.

[jens g.r. benthien]

I know you're right, but 72 is a lot better for those of us who were raised to believe there are 72 points in an inch and that one pixel on-screen is like one point in the real world.

Huh? Though your statement is correct, why do you still use the base 2 system?

The metric system is a lot more precise! In addition, more people are using the metric system than the 'royal base 2' system.

Mankind wouldn't have reached the moon with feet, yards, inches and fractions of inches...

Even the military in the US uses the metric system. Isn't that weird, and wouldn't it be time to convert the graphic systems to metrics as well?

10 pixels = 1mm, 100 pixels = 10 cm and so on. Just try to imagine how this would simplify our life.

OK, I know, there are still some folks driving on the wrong side of the roads (but they implemented the metric system), these are the odds of our society

[MerryOtter]

...why do you still use the base 2 system?

Do you get the Simpsons? Grampa Simpson once said, "The metric system is the tool of the devil!" What about Napoleon, who delayed adoption of the metric system in France, saying conversion was, "tormenting people with trifles?" Actually, like most evils plaguing this country today, the blame lays with Ronald Reagan, who killed the US Metric Board in the 80s.

...Mankind wouldn't have reached the moon with feet, yards, inches and fractions of inches...

Didn't we lose a Mars probe for that reason? (oops!)

...Even the military in the US uses the metric system.

Ah, one more reason I didn't join the military (in addition to that pesky requirement you have to be willing to kill people!)

...Isn't that weird, and wouldn't it be time to convert the graphic systems to metrics as well?

Oy! My head hurts just imagining it! LOL

...OK, I know, there are still some folks driving on the wrong side of the roads (but they implemented the metric system), these are the odds of our society

Isn't it enough that we buy our soda in 1-liter and 2-liter bottles now? (Or is it litre?) Oh, and why don't we have a metric time system? We can't even tolerate it in our science fiction! (Remember the original Battlestar Galactica with its "Centons" and "Yarons?" They don't use those anymore in the new series!)

This town wouldn't be so bad if a quart of milk were still a dollar, or even if a quart of milk were still a quart.

[crag_dolomite]

There is an article called "Say No to 72 dpi" that has some useful info.
http://www.scantips.com/no72dpi.html

Though I do not know if it applies here precisely.