How do you create a .xar file and convert to .jpg w/o changing it's size

[Avi]

I'm creating a business card with the page set at 1088pix wide and 638pix high with 1/16 in. bleed. When I export to jpeg file and change the dpi to 300 per the printers requirements the size of the card changes. How do I create the .xar file with the correct size and dpi so that it exports to jpeg with the same specs?

[gwpriester]

Hi Avi and welcome to the Xtreme Conference.

Create your business card to the print size, for example in the US 3.5" wide by 2" tall.

Export your design at 300dpi.

That's all there is to it.

Don't export as a JPEG, however. Export as a TIFF file. The quality is better. Or better still, export your card as a PDF file. Here's a link to a tutorial for how to do this A Printer Ready PDF File.

The advantage to a PDF file is all vector objects including text, are exported as outlines and will create a sharper cleaner image.

Gary

[Avi]

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. I will do the PDF export for sure. I did experiment a bit; when I first started I went to page set up and set up the width, as per the printers, to 1088pix and the height to 636pix. I created my design and exported. That's where I ran into my problem. After I sent my Thread out I went back to page set up and changed my page size and units to inches. I then realized that even though I set up my page originally in pixels XARA created the page as 6.75 inches x 11.5 inches. Is there something wrong with my software?

[handrawn]

Hi

I was going to reply to your first post, but Gary beat me to it, and I've nothing to add to his succinct reply.

As to your second post - you should always set your page up in inches [or other linear measurement units eg centimetres] and not pixels if you are going to print.

The reason is that xara works internally at 96dpi only, this cannot be changed.
So 1088pixels at 96dpi is 11.33 inches. Sounds about right - you said 11.5 inches - does bleed account for the difference?

Edit - strictly that should be 96ppi - pixels per inch? - this stuff can be confusing

[Avi]

Thank you for all of your help.