How to resize an image without changing it's quality?

[marygold]

Basically the title. I have never successfully converted a page without it becoming slightly blurry. Maybe on a tablet it's not possible but how is it done on the computer? (Or if possible on a tablet, what apps do it well?)

Thanks!

[Michelle]

When you say resize, you mean shrinking the image down or enlarging it? What kind of file type are you saving your images as?

[JessJackdaw]

Uhh, your question is a bit vague. Like short answer, if you're resizing it up in size and it's a raster image it will always blur. The pixels don't have enough information stored to increase size, so they take what they can from neighboring pixel data resulting in an ugly artifacting blur. Sorry if this is the case, make sure to always go big on your canvas size next time!

So if you want to resize down, that's fine. If you use something like photoshop just do [Image] then [Image size]. Usually because I work with a lot of print ready images and need to resize them for web I just use [File], [Save for Web...]. Then I just size it down from there because it'll automatically spit out a 72ppi image for good web viewing and I like seeing a preview of how big it'll be.

Also, I resize on my drawing tablet all the time... so that shouldn't be your issue. Or do you mean like an iPad? I get those confused all the time. XD Both are flat touch displays... very different tech.

Hope that helps, I wasn't sure what you meant!

[J.Z.Castillo]

If you are making something bigger it will always become blurry. It's like stretching a design on a t-shirt, it becomes all weird the bigger you stretch it, this is because, like the person above me said, there just isn't enough information in the image to become larger, so what the computer does is that it estimates what the image would look like, therefore making it blurry.

If you are sizing down it's really easy, just go to Photoshop and open your image, then go to Image then Image size, there you can change the size of your image at will. Keep in mind that Tapastic's maximum dimensions for updates are 940x4000 pixels.

It's better to go big and size down than start small and then end up with a bigger blurry pic!

@JessJackdaw I have a question if you don't mind answering. I always upload my images at 300dpi... is that fine or is it overkill? What is the preferred resolution for web? And for printing? I always get my dpi and ppi confused...

[JessJackdaw]

@mrjonzap Haha, no, 300dpi works, but it'll just be huge. Like if you want to post in a forum or something and you don't want the image to take up the whole screen it's best to reduce and preview it in 72ppi. Web always converts images to this ratio, so even if you save it as 300dpi, when you upload it, it will change to 72ppi.

Really there's hardly a difference between dpi and ppi. One is pixels per inch (web display format) the other is dots per inch (print format). XD Don't stress on it too hard, because it's mainly for labeling your desired output.

Edit: Oh wait, forgot to say print resolution. Basically 300dpi is fine for print. Some people swear by 600dpi, but I argue, the human eye can only see so much detail especially printed on paper (which you can only get so much resolution out of unless you want a lithographic print).

[AnnaLandin]

Basically 300dpi is fine for print. Some people swear by 600dpi, but I argue, the human eye can only see so much detail especially printed on paper (which you can only get so much resolution out of unless you want a lithographic print).

300 dpi is good enough for printing colour, but when I've been involved in anthologies that will be printed in black and white, they've asked for 600 dpi.

To answer OP's question - when you size something down, everything should be fine; if it turns blurry when you shrink it, I believe it's either a screen-error on whatever computer you're on, or you're probably zooming in too much when you look at it. If you try to enlarge it, I'm afraid that will result in a loss of quality no matter what you do, unless you're working with a vector-file.

[JessJackdaw]

@AnnaLandin Ahh, that's it then. I've never printed something with stark clean lines like you'd see for a lot of black and white comics. I always do painterly stuff and a lot of times printed on textured mediums like canvas. So I guess, know what your end product will be, and plan ahead for the right resolution.

Or just always have 600dpi. Your storage data will suffer but you'll never have to worry. XD

[keii4ii]

@mrjonzap "300dpi" is meaningless without more information. Are we talking 1"x1" at 300dpi, which means 300x300 pixels? Or is this 15"x15" at 300dpi, meaning 4500x4500 pixels?

[J.Z.Castillo]

@JessJackdaw thanks for the crash course! Yeah I've seen 600dpi for print but I was like whaaaaatttt I found it a bit excessive.

@keii4ii I usually work in Print size at 300dpi but then have to make it smaller for updates on tapastic since they don't accept anything wider than 940px

[PotooGryphon]

How big is the original image? H x W and what's the dpi? And what size are you resizing it to?

And is this for print or posting online?

Dpi does really matter when it comes to posting online. A 300 dpi image will look the same on a computer screen as a 72 dpi image.

And please post example pictures.

[ToonDoctor]

You also did not mention if you work with bitmaps or vector. That will affect resizing too.

[katverwho]

Apparently when working in black and while it's important to work at 600 DPI because it helps keep artwork crisp without artifact

[katverwho]

Everyone in this thread would absolutely benefit from listening to this episode of Dirty Old Ladies
http://podbay.fm/show/1019070178/e/1450690469?autostart=1

[nobebocafe]

Note for everybody:

If you are going to upload an image for tapastic, you can do it in 300 ppp (you only must respect the maximum pixel's and megas' size, of course). Tapastic will automatically change them into 72ppp. So better do not save it for web, or your image is going to be "down grade" twice.

Example:
Original upload:

that image downloaded from my wall:

But for any other sites, unless you check that they also downgrade your uploaded images automatically, it's still a good idea to upload your image into 72 or 96 ppp.

off-topoc p.d: no idea why i have no profile image in the forum

[marygold]

Sorry for not replying! My wifi is down and !'m saving service
@Michelle @mrjonzap @JessJackdaw and everyone else

[Ting6]

Hey hello, you can use software like Adobe Photoshop or GIMP. They provide options like bicubic or nearest neighbor interpolation method, which help maintain image sharpness and you can save resized image in a lossless format like PNG to retain quality. On the other hand you can use any third-party application such as https://jpegcompressor.com/ it compress images without losing quality.
I hope it helps you.