THANK YOU!!! I worked at a print shop with a woman once who refused to print a 4800x3000 personal photo because it was saved as a JPG at 72 ppi. She yelled at the customer who could not provide her with a higher resolution file, "Do you not understand? I can only print if it's a 300 ppi TIFF!" I opened the image that the customer sent, changed the image size from 4800x3000@72 ppi to 2400x1500@300 ppi (the final output size was 8x5 inches), changed the color mode to CMYK, and saved the file as a TIFF. I sent it to her and she printed it without question even though she had less data than the original. She asked me over and over how I managed to find a "higher resolution" personal photo of our customer, as if I broke into her computer or something.
I had the opposite problems... customers would bring me images on their phones and want them printed large, then complain about how jagged they were. I was constantly having to tell people that the 12mp image they had could not be blown up to 24x36 and retain its sharpness. 24MP was the minimum I'd recommend for a 24x36 (about 168ppi) poster.
@Octagian I'm 47 myself, so I'm not sure I appreciate your insinuation 😂. This was back around 2000-2001, and she was maybe 30 then. She's probably mid-50s now.
Reminds of a vendor I dealt with once for a digital ad. Their designer called me to tell me that I needed to resubmit the art because it needed to be 300x600 at 300dpi. It was indeed 300x600 but I couldn’t get why dpi mattered. So I asked if they’re planning on printing it because that’s too small for print regardless and he said “no, it’s for online only”. I figured it’s pointless trying to explain so I just went into photoshop and changed the dpi from 72 to 300 and sent it back. My younger self would have wasted the next 20+ minutes arguing my point but I had enough experience by that point to know better lol.
300dpi did not matter at all. What matters is the resolution. This today still a huge problem with people. That’s why you should never never ask for dpi or dpi or you will endup with a low resolution image or logo stretch to fit inside a big box. Always ask for resolution.
Whilst I would normally totally agree with you, in desktop publishing dpi is represented in the digital file and is used to save someone from having to change the resolution (a 2 second job) but they always ask for x-dpi . Took me a while to get that but if you look at something like Adobe's in-design and import an image at 300ppi and one at 72ppi they're actually displayed at print size, this is completely different to photoshop that would show both as identical images
@@jimdavies I get what you are saying because it would throw the scaling off in a print layout program. BUT in my experience it was happening just when someone needed an asset from me to use on some social media piece. I have to tell them the assets are plenty big enough.
Summary: If you arent going to print anything, dont worry about PPI. And DPI has nothing to do with anything digital, only the printers capability. Great video my guy!
jesus christ! FINALLY - someone that actually explains it well. all those other tutorials - i kept saying "that doesn't even make sense." they forget to emphasize the physical-digital aspect of all of this.
Perfectly explained. As far as I can tell, the confusion often (not always) stems from what printers ask of a customer (who is not into graphics) for e.g. an A4 with a 300 dpi image, who then asks their web designer or digital artist (who often, not always, have no clue about printing) who then argues that the resolution they have used is good enough, citing pixels. The client get confused by the words and demands and that confusion and frustration then seeps back into the mind of both those that print and digital only artists, who both then think everyone else is a moron. I was a client before I was a digital artist, and then I worked in printing. I have seen it all...
I had the same experience! One of my employees is the design expert and we wanted to print some cards and the printer business kept saying the file wouldn't work
8:20 is the key part of this video. PPI is a physical measurement and is (should be) used in hardware specs. Monitor spec sheets used to indicate the PPI. Maybe they still do. Most of the time these days you only hear monitors referred to as a 2k, 4K or 8K display (or whatever) and you are left to do the math on your own. Back in the day, PPI *did* matter in web design as some browsers would display images based on the PPI/DPI and not based on the length & width specified in the code which sometimes threw off the page layout.. For VGA (or was it SVGA?) monitors, 72 DPI/PPI was the norm. It would also cause issues when printing a raw image file (right-click & print). Then the printer would print at whatever PPI or DPI was specified. The only time PPI matters in Photoshop is when exporting and specifying length & width in a physical measurement (ie. inches). That's when PPI might need to be specified. Anymore, though, it's standard practice to export the full, high-resolution document and let the output device or publishing software (be it to print or screen) do the conversion.
@@derekdammann6417 It's the default setting in Photoshop/Image Size, as in many other gfx programs. Seems to have been, and still is, some kind of norm.
Actually back in the day it didn't matter. Ppi has never had any effect on the digital image. What people did was change the ppi so that 1 inch on screen would replicate 1 inch of print. Ppi sets the print size so when you change ppi all you are doing is changing print size. You don't change the image size. 72dpi is actually a myth...... it was used incorrectly. Its never really been a norm. Printers print doors so dpi is only relevant to printers. Ppi sets your print size. Ppi = Pixels / print size It's a simple conversion Dpi is different as that's set at printer level (in the printer driver usually) Not in photoshop
I get your general point but I take issue with one aspect: There is always a physical property to resolution. Unless you plug your brain into your computer directly, you have to convert pixels into linear dimensions. Whether you're viewing the image on a phone, monitor, projector, paper, anything at all, it now has spatial dimensions. Likewise, taking an image also has spatial dimensions with a scanner or camera. Inside a computer, these numbers are arbitrary but when they get rendered to the user, it becomes fixed. Maybe it's more helpful to think of pixels as "dimensionless units" much like degrees or radians.
Technically you're correct but being correct doesn't help when you need a 1000px x 1000px image at 72 DPI (the DPI should be considered irreverent) it's frustrating when the designer gives you a 240px x 240px images because they down samples a 300 DPI 1000px x 1000px file to be 72 DPI not realizing that the "physical property" is irrelevant in a digital environment where pixels are displayed 1:1.
@@AdrianvanWijk Absolutely Adrain, all these are matters when it is practiced for viewing. The more dpi/ ppi the more detail one can add. But our eyes are limited to a certain limit for viewing details. Beyond this level we cannot differentiate the individual unit whether it is in digital form or in printed form. Therefore it is better to use the appropriate density of Pixels or Dots.
Thank you for explaining this. I feel like I've been explaining this to people for 20 years when they talk about PPI incoherently. I feel like at some point this was explained to people incorrectly, and it was never 'corrected' for them. Asking for a 300 dpi image when i send them a 72 dpi image.. because they wanted a higher resolution - but the funny part is, they weren't printing it. they were asking for the wrong thing! they just wanted more pixels in the end.
@@geort45 Ha, yep.. i often used the analogy, of saying "saying this image on a website (all digital) is 72 PPI is the same as saying my room is 12 inches per foot, then asking them, how big is my room?" they were confused, and i said "exactly! so when you ask for that same image in 300 PPI to put on the website, it's completely meaningless unless you're going to print it.
I also faced this issue and Just sent files by changing 72 to 300 in image size just to show it in image description ( as clients just want to see it and have no knowledge of quality )
I also faced this issue and Just sent files by changing 72 to 300 in image size just to show it in image description ( as clients just want to see it and have no knowledge of quality )
How is he so good in explaining stuff? My teachers always seem to make it look, like the most unreachable thing to achieve. But here he is, the calm and explaining perfectly.
wow I got to say, after watching HOURS of UA-cam tutorials. Your are by far the best in terms of getting straight to the point and giving us viewers what we want. this actually taught me something within the first minute, THANK YOU!!
@@YashJain0702 I said the same thing about Unmesh and Adobe Premiere. Surely enough, he replied he was just getting ready to master it enough that he's comfortable to teach it already. It's not impossible.
Thank you. I have to explain this to folks about once a month. Most of my background is in digital pre-press and getting across the idea that there is no such thing as an "inch" in digital graphics can be maddening.
Its always astonishing how subjects that I struggled with to understand for a time, are CRYSTAL clear in the first minute of your video....you have a gift to teach!! Thank you!
*I think this is an important lesson for photoshop, I once had to get a flex board printed for one of my business, I sent the image to the agency in high ppi but not very huge size in inches, the agency person asked for higher size again and again, in the end as the image in high dpi and full inches had the size of 1 GB or something I simply decreased the ppi and increased the size in inches, was thankful it was okay...*
@@rochendlywouters9113 Depends what you're doing, but generally you're correct. I scan at 600ppi most of the time so that when I throw out 3/4 of the pixels I've still got a decent resolution. Sometimes I'll go as high as 1200ppi if I've got a more important image, more image information or there's more noise to contend with. But, 300dpi at that size is frequently more than you'd need or have use for.
Tell me if I'm wrong. My understanding is that pixels only matter on a computer (digital rendering.) Printers don't print pixels. They print dots. That means on a computer, you cannot draw a true arch, but only "stairsteps." A printer though, can print a true arch if there are enough dots per inch because each dot's location is measured from a reference point ("x" dots left or right and "y" dots up or down) with each dot, a different numerical value is assigned to x and y and the count always begins at the reference point. That's like G Code without the "z" axis.
@@strixcz Just yesterday I've been asked by a graphic designer to send the pictures I took for a campaign in 300DPI (they didn't care about the resolution) and in a vector format 🤦🏻♂️ And it's not the first neither the second time I've heard it..
The PPI is used in printing. The idea is if you draw a 1-inch square in Photoshop, it prints 1 inch wide on paper when not scaled. The moment you scale an image to fit a page during printing, PPI becomes irrelevant once again. But if you were printing a template for drilling screw holes to mount a power strip on the wall, for example, you want the scale to be precise. One inch on the screen must equal one inch in the print.
You are gonna be the first one in the world explained PPI like this. Super smart. Sometime artistes need to forget art and use math to understand what they are doing.
OMG. This is the best video I have seen in my life. I never understood the ppi and gave up on it))) But you have changed it all for me! Thank you! Amazing job.
This brought me back to school so quickly! We had a similar debate in class on ppi and resolution. It gave me a better understanding of using a seemingly irrelevant data metric as a tool in my belt to use when determining photo quality when needing to print the final result. Your content is great Unmesh and thank you for reviving my interest in this field! Also, your videos got me to finally budge and buy a graphics tablet... I couldn’t be happier :)
I only wish I could like this video multiple times. This is what everyone needs to learn in school. I have spent 15+ years training new people to stop worrying about dpi or ppi when requesting photos. This should be required watching at any beginning graphic art/design or digital art class.
Why would you bother? You can worry about having X*Y pixels or X*Y inches, or cm, at a given DPI. Both come out the same, but the latter is a lot easier to work with. You know the size and you know roughly the amount of detail that's involved. With the physical dimensions in pixels, it requires more math to figure out. I'm good with math, but it is a bunch of extra work, just to know if the image is the correct size for whatever I'm going to do with it.
@@SmallSpoonBrigade Not really. If you work exclusively with photographers (maybe they know), art directors, graphic artists or printing reps, yeah, they will understand your dpi jargon. But in the industries I work in as an art director, I talk to sales, vendors and customer service to get images constantly. The easiest way for them to get the information is to right click on the image and go to properties>details for windows (get info>more info on a mac). Both operating systems tells the user the dimensions of the image in pixels. Windows goes further and also provides dpi, but I believe that is tied to your screen resolution and your UI scaling, which just adds to the confusion. For example, I opened the properties on an image that is 4032x3024. If you open on windows, it states that it is only 96 dpi. If I requested an image be 300dpi, these people would go on a wild goose chase trying to find a high resolution image. The same goes if I say I need an image to be 8x8 inches. How do they find that information? Now they are asking people all over to try and find that information. But if I request an image be a minimum of 2400x2400, they would instantly understand without math that this example image is big enough to send me. They do not need Photoshop, or someone with an art degree to help them. They can find this information by right clicking on the file they already have. You know that 2400x2400 is an 8x8 inch image at 300dpi, but not everyone has to know that to be productive. Art directors that insist on talking inside technical jargon to sales will not be efficient or productive. They waste everyone's time. That is why I always teach new employees to find the easiest way of getting what you need using the terms most people will understand or reference. Communicating your needs clearly is not taught in college and is the biggest failure in higher education.
I discovered this couple of years ago, but I lack the skill of explanation. Thanks for the video. Now I can show my friends, why I prefer 12MP iPhone rather than 108MP mi phone for mobile photography. Thanks unmesh.
Am half dead explaining this everytime to a new photographer staff, all of your content are most fundamental knowledge to newbie if want to become professional photo / editor, but mostly deny to learn very basic thing! thanks mate made my life simpler
I understand the separation of conceptual PPI not meaning much, but it is always useful to keep in mind as everyone viewing it has to view it on a physical medium, whether it's screen or print.
Pixels per inch is only important in knowing the resolution of your screen. For example, if you know your screen is 150 pixels/inch, you could set the image DPI to that and when you are at 100%, it will be accurately sized for how large it'll print. But yes, PPI is mostly an uninformed conversation topic. DPI is too, to a degree. When people tell me they need an image with a certain DPI, I ask what are the dimensions, and they say they don't care as long as it's a certain DPI. OK, dude, you asked for it.
This is the biggest PITA with clients. My Lightroom defaults to 240dpi so I get clients with who think my 42mp image isn’t going to be good enough for their web application because it’s not 300dpi. SMH!!! I don’t even argue anymore. What’s the point. Go in, change the default dpi handling in Lightroom abs export the exact same freaking file….
Yeah, I feel this video is a bit misoleading. PPI doesn't matter, as long as it is used inside of photoshop and for digital use - as soon as we're talking about phone screen resolution, it makes perfect sense to count displayed pixels per inch. More pixels per inch mean they're physically smaller - so the displayed image is sharper.
I love this video, I'm going to use it every time I have to explain this concept (DPI is not digital so it does not matter what DPI you use for a 1080 x 1920 image - what does matter is the image is 1080 x 1920 pixels.) I can't believe I have to explain this over and over to people who can't comprehend this.
Interesting points. I pioneered digital design since the early 80’s. The “resolution” DOES make a difference when transferring between systems, artists, programs, when scaling an item up, inputting & outputting. PPI or DPI comes into play most from Printing aka “LPI” or Lines Per inch. Most important as an output resolution aka digital DPI matching to printing LPI. Text resolution/vector art is output to film/printing for 150 LPI at 2540 DPI (yes 2540, thats not a typo) and photos at 300 DPI (the actual exact number being 304.8 DPI back in the day) to have a constant output size. Note the imagesetter/printer/plotter have standard sizes it works with, change these sizes and your output will either be the wrong size or get lower quality as you increase it in size. We also had a GIANT book of resolutions and printing requirements for printers all over the world. 150 LPI X 2 = DPI aka 300 DPI. Biggest tip, always make something at the largest size first, scale images only down. Much love & keep on rocking those designs! ❤️🤘
Resolution for sure makes a difference but many mistake ppi for resolution. Resolution is the total number of pixels in your image. Ppi will set the print size for that set number of pixels. Dpi is the dots the printer produces when printing it to paper. Probing vector set isn't quite the same as printing images. You don't need 300ppi for photographs It depends also on the machine type you are printing on....
Where have you been all my life! Thank you (as always) for your clairity, relevance, and, in this case, hand-drawn visual aids (and I'm not even kidding).
PPI = pixels per inch... i.e.; the number of pixels per inch (digital). DPI = dots per inch... i.e.; the number of dots (from your printer) per inch (analog). They both serve their own purpose.
Thank you for clearing that up. In a digital file the PPI is mostly irrelevant when the resolution doesn't change on an image (unless you change it by reducing or increasing the resolution of the. number of pixels with photoshop), however when physically printing the file then PPI is relevant to the actual output paper size (for how close the pixels are together within each inch). Great video!
Look at Photoshop Image size. When you wish to change the image size, it does not mention "resolution". It mentions image size in pixels. The RESOLUTION on that panel is expressed in the correct "resolution" values of pixles/inch or picels per centimetre.
Unmesh you are incredible! This is easily one of the most informative channels on UA-cam or perhaps even one of the most informative sources anywhere on the internet! You are a legend sir.
PPI is also relevant to the point size of the text you write in your PS document. An embedded PPI is also relevant if you mount the image directly in Indesign.
Desktop printing like in-design shows in a digital form exactly how an image would look printed so yes ppi is represented as the physical size of the image. It's effectively showing you your page. So yes ppi does matter for that
Great explanation in the first half and I was about to stop watching to complain that you missed something, when you did the physical paper explanation and said exactly what I was thinking.
Thank you Unmesh. Every once in a while I try to explain this to someone and I always get a look like i’m explaining quantum physics. You just made it so easy to understand! Great teaching!!!! 😅
While I understand your premise, every unit of measurement, in fact every human construct, is imaginary, and is simply a standard humanity has collectively chosen as a unit of reference. Interesting and informative video. Thank you.
Unmesh I have been following your tutorials for a long time and I have learned a lot. The NY image is used in may other PS and design channels. You don't need to say that you "traveled" your content is awesome in itself. Just keep doing what you are doing.
I fight the universe on this subject all the time, especially in the photo clubs I've participated in. I guess because it has to do with numbers and people panic about scary 'MATH'. Nice to see you address it.
Well, the way I had learned this is pixels or picture elements are the physical element in the display. No matter what image you are looking at, the physical display never changes size. Also, remember people used CRTs before Displays. Many of these terms and standards were coined prior to displays being commonplace. Resolution measures the distance between the plates. Think of the image as a stain glass window. Each part of the window is a tile. There is a metal barrier between each tile. You can move the tiles to cover the image you want. So if you want more detail you use a shorter resolution, or a short distance between each plate. If you want to capture more of the image, you want a higher resolution to capture the large image. Resolution is a variable and not a constant. The display and the paper you want to use to put the image on are finite. Dot pitch is a printer standard. That was standardized by Adobe which was a 72 dots per inch for the purpose of scaling vector fonts. Back when people used CRTs like a Sony Trinatron, monitors blended colors. Now-a-days, displays use picture elements which uses a 6-bit element, black, white, red, green, blue, voltage. Displays now use a dithering pattern to display color which is based on how the human eye works. The human eye uses two type of systems for vision, a photopic system and a scotopic system. Photopic uses cones and rods to produce high resolution or high visual acuity. The Scotopic system uses cones, which is black and white. This system is for movement. The human eye uses a combination of light called a tri-color theory, and pigments called a opponent-process theory. The dithering process had been discovered by Edwin Land the inventor of the Polaroid camera. No two humans see the same colors. And colors have more to do with the surrounding textures because it affects the pigments in your eyes. Resolution is really about the human eye and the physical imitation of the eye which is called lateral inhibition. That is why your eye sees lines or contour lines. It is the physical limitation or sensitivity of the human eye. The physical distance of your neurons. Contour lines do not really exist in nature, they are a product of the human brain. To circle back to PPI and DPI, PPI is a standard for displays and CRTs. DPI is a standard for printers. Resolution is a measurement of the neurons in your eyes. Camera resolution goes back to film. Old film uses silver to make a negative image. From that negative, you make a positive image, which is black and white. Spacecraft use this process to take high resolution images from millions of miles away. They take the image in separate channels and then put the layers together in a composite to make a high resolution image. Also, a camera has a film back element and a lens element. The distance between the film back and lens is the focal length. The confusion comes from cameras have one standard, the human eye has one standard, printers have one standard, and displays and monitors have one standard. So when you build a product with all 5 standards, now they all have to speak the same language. Thank you.
@@jimdavies If you have a PPI of say 10 thats a blurry mess at any resolution even a million pixels unless you are very far away. PPI is how we quantify how detailed something looks in the real world not the number of pixels Take a phone screen and a Full HD TV Phones look more detailed than the tv does because the pixels are smaller and is harder to see aliasing and blurry edges in the real world higher PPI looks sharper and better quality than just resolution As you say PPI is the output of image resoultion. Thats when it is real and not just a digital number that means nothing as you can just zoom in Better way of putting it I want something to look good, how do i make sure it looks good? I make sure the resolution is high enough for the size that i want Pixels per inch is how i measure it and quantify how good it looks
@@asweet93 just to take the TV / phone comparison. Let's say you show a 300ppi image at 1920 x 1080 pixels on your phone and TV. What's also important is the resolution of the device. If you're phone has a resolution of 800x600 then it's not really going to look that great either. But this is slightly different to what's being discussed. For a digital image the ppi doesn't matter for exactly the above reason. If you save it at 300ppi, then view on a huge screen that can only display 150ppi what happened to the 300ppi image? Or if you view the 300ppi image at 511ppi on an iPhone how did that happen? It happens because setting ppi does not matter. Its irrelevant to the digital image and changes based in the size you print or view that image
PPI is not imaginary. It is a print reference as well as a screen reference and a sensor reference. Some screens have pixels that are not exact squares so the vertical PPI and horizontal PPI will be different, this is usually corrected in PS or Lightroom when you calibrate your screen. Also Camera sensors have pixels that are not exact squares so the vertical PPI and horizontal PPI will be different, this is usually corrected in PS or Lightroom on import. And finally Printers have different PPI Horizontally and vertically so this needs to be corrected usually in drivers and print calibration. It may appear to be imaginary and is not needed in a digital only world, as the current generation of software deals with the differences automatically but it is most definitely not imaginary.
That's my interpretation as well. PPI is a density measurement for something physical. Your screen doesn't change size and neither do the pixels used to make up that screen therefor the density of the pixels per inch matter. PPI in a file is only a place holder. Otherwise it's like using inches to measure time.
@@WaylonSimpson Mmm. I was trying to figure what the hell the video is on about. It misses some huge caveats if you ignore PPI. Bad advice by video is bad.
THANK YOU!!! I worked at a print shop with a woman once who refused to print a 4800x3000 personal photo because it was saved as a JPG at 72 ppi. She yelled at the customer who could not provide her with a higher resolution file, "Do you not understand? I can only print if it's a 300 ppi TIFF!" I opened the image that the customer sent, changed the image size from 4800x3000@72 ppi to 2400x1500@300 ppi (the final output size was 8x5 inches), changed the color mode to CMYK, and saved the file as a TIFF. I sent it to her and she printed it without question even though she had less data than the original. She asked me over and over how I managed to find a "higher resolution" personal photo of our customer, as if I broke into her computer or something.
I had the opposite problems... customers would bring me images on their phones and want them printed large, then complain about how jagged they were. I was constantly having to tell people that the 12mp image they had could not be blown up to 24x36 and retain its sharpness. 24MP was the minimum I'd recommend for a 24x36 (about 168ppi) poster.
You should take a tall thin glass of water and pour it into a short wide glass, then ask her if some of the water disappeared
@Octagian I'm 47 myself, so I'm not sure I appreciate your insinuation 😂. This was back around 2000-2001, and she was maybe 30 then. She's probably mid-50s now.
oh, my brain!
women 😂😂
Reminds of a vendor I dealt with once for a digital ad. Their designer called me to tell me that I needed to resubmit the art because it needed to be 300x600 at 300dpi. It was indeed 300x600 but I couldn’t get why dpi mattered. So I asked if they’re planning on printing it because that’s too small for print regardless and he said “no, it’s for online only”. I figured it’s pointless trying to explain so I just went into photoshop and changed the dpi from 72 to 300 and sent it back. My younger self would have wasted the next 20+ minutes arguing my point but I had enough experience by that point to know better lol.
300dpi did not matter at all. What matters is the resolution. This today still a huge problem with people. That’s why you should never never ask for dpi or dpi or you will endup with a low resolution image or logo stretch to fit inside a big box. Always ask for resolution.
Same situation for me. So many people in the world don't grasp simple and naturally intuitive mathematical and logical concepts.
Whilst I would normally totally agree with you, in desktop publishing dpi is represented in the digital file and is used to save someone from having to change the resolution (a 2 second job) but they always ask for x-dpi . Took me a while to get that but if you look at something like Adobe's in-design and import an image at 300ppi and one at 72ppi they're actually displayed at print size, this is completely different to photoshop that would show both as identical images
YES!!! Print people don't get it, they get fixated on dpi but disregard the size multiplier!!! I don't get how they don't get it!
@@jimdavies I get what you are saying because it would throw the scaling off in a print layout program. BUT in my experience it was happening just when someone needed an asset from me to use on some social media piece. I have to tell them the assets are plenty big enough.
Summary: If you arent going to print anything, dont worry about PPI. And DPI has nothing to do with anything digital, only the printers capability.
Great video my guy!
jesus christ! FINALLY - someone that actually explains it well. all those other tutorials - i kept saying "that doesn't even make sense." they forget to emphasize the physical-digital aspect of all of this.
The visuals along with the context is outstanding. Your educational abilities are off the charts. You are a fery rare human being Unmesh!
@qurashi akeel It's the notes app for ios
Perfectly explained.
As far as I can tell, the confusion often (not always) stems from what printers ask of a customer (who is not into graphics) for e.g. an A4 with a 300 dpi image, who then asks their web designer or digital artist (who often, not always, have no clue about printing) who then argues that the resolution they have used is good enough, citing pixels. The client get confused by the words and demands and that confusion and frustration then seeps back into the mind of both those that print and digital only artists, who both then think everyone else is a moron. I was a client before I was a digital artist, and then I worked in printing. I have seen it all...
I had the same experience! One of my employees is the design expert and we wanted to print some cards and the printer business kept saying the file wouldn't work
8:20 is the key part of this video. PPI is a physical measurement and is (should be) used in hardware specs. Monitor spec sheets used to indicate the PPI. Maybe they still do. Most of the time these days you only hear monitors referred to as a 2k, 4K or 8K display (or whatever) and you are left to do the math on your own.
Back in the day, PPI *did* matter in web design as some browsers would display images based on the PPI/DPI and not based on the length & width specified in the code which sometimes threw off the page layout.. For VGA (or was it SVGA?) monitors, 72 DPI/PPI was the norm. It would also cause issues when printing a raw image file (right-click & print). Then the printer would print at whatever PPI or DPI was specified.
The only time PPI matters in Photoshop is when exporting and specifying length & width in a physical measurement (ie. inches). That's when PPI might need to be specified. Anymore, though, it's standard practice to export the full, high-resolution document and let the output device or publishing software (be it to print or screen) do the conversion.
There was never a time when ppi ever mattered to the web. 72 was never any norm.
@@derekdammann6417 It's the default setting in Photoshop/Image Size, as in many other gfx programs. Seems to have been, and still is, some kind of norm.
Yes it's not really a norm. But it was incorrectly used as a norm if that's making sense. 72dpi was always a myth.
Actually back in the day it didn't matter. Ppi has never had any effect on the digital image. What people did was change the ppi so that 1 inch on screen would replicate 1 inch of print. Ppi sets the print size so when you change ppi all you are doing is changing print size. You don't change the image size.
72dpi is actually a myth...... it was used incorrectly. Its never really been a norm.
Printers print doors so dpi is only relevant to printers.
Ppi sets your print size.
Ppi = Pixels / print size
It's a simple conversion
Dpi is different as that's set at printer level (in the printer driver usually)
Not in photoshop
@@jimdavies But if you set your ppi lower than the dpi, won't you end up printing out a blocky image?
Some theoretical lessons now and then are always welcome to complement your outstanding practical lessons. 🤓
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I get your general point but I take issue with one aspect: There is always a physical property to resolution. Unless you plug your brain into your computer directly, you have to convert pixels into linear dimensions. Whether you're viewing the image on a phone, monitor, projector, paper, anything at all, it now has spatial dimensions. Likewise, taking an image also has spatial dimensions with a scanner or camera. Inside a computer, these numbers are arbitrary but when they get rendered to the user, it becomes fixed. Maybe it's more helpful to think of pixels as "dimensionless units" much like degrees or radians.
Technically you're correct but being correct doesn't help when you need a 1000px x 1000px image at 72 DPI (the DPI should be considered irreverent) it's frustrating when the designer gives you a 240px x 240px images because they down samples a 300 DPI 1000px x 1000px file to be 72 DPI not realizing that the "physical property" is irrelevant in a digital environment where pixels are displayed 1:1.
@@AdrianvanWijk Absolutely Adrain, all these are matters when it is practiced for viewing. The more dpi/ ppi the more detail one can add. But our eyes are limited to a certain limit for viewing details. Beyond this level we cannot differentiate the individual unit whether it is in digital form or in printed form. Therefore it is better to use the appropriate density of Pixels or Dots.
Thank you for explaining this. I feel like I've been explaining this to people for 20 years when they talk about PPI incoherently. I feel like at some point this was explained to people incorrectly, and it was never 'corrected' for them. Asking for a 300 dpi image when i send them a 72 dpi image.. because they wanted a higher resolution - but the funny part is, they weren't printing it. they were asking for the wrong thing! they just wanted more pixels in the end.
Yup, totally idiotic... reminds me of a time when doing a webpage, the client was asking what PPI was I using for the images...
@@geort45 Ha, yep.. i often used the analogy, of saying "saying this image on a website (all digital) is 72 PPI is the same as saying my room is 12 inches per foot, then asking them, how big is my room?" they were confused, and i said "exactly! so when you ask for that same image in 300 PPI to put on the website, it's completely meaningless unless you're going to print it.
I’ve had similar experiences. When they ask for specific dimension in pixels @ 300 dpi, lol really?
I also faced this issue and Just sent files by changing 72 to 300 in image size just to show it in image description ( as clients just want to see it and have no knowledge of quality )
I also faced this issue and Just sent files by changing 72 to 300 in image size just to show it in image description ( as clients just want to see it and have no knowledge of quality )
How is he so good in explaining stuff? My teachers always seem to make it look, like the most unreachable thing to achieve. But here he is, the calm and explaining perfectly.
wow I got to say, after watching HOURS of UA-cam tutorials. Your are by far the best in terms of getting straight to the point and giving us viewers what we want. this actually taught me something within the first minute, THANK YOU!!
can please do illustrator tutorials. your tutorials are great and on point.
I think he is not a illustrator guy
@@YashJain0702 do you know any, if yes then please suggest some.
@@ratnesh8297 design academy
@@YashJain0702 thank you yash
@@YashJain0702 I said the same thing about Unmesh and Adobe Premiere. Surely enough, he replied he was just getting ready to master it enough that he's comfortable to teach it already. It's not impossible.
I have been blessed with a TON of teachers on UA-cam. Unmesh, you are the best of them all.
As someone who works with printing, knowing the definitions and how these relate to each other is very important.
Thank you. I have to explain this to folks about once a month. Most of my background is in digital pre-press and getting across the idea that there is no such thing as an "inch" in digital graphics can be maddening.
Its always astonishing how subjects that I struggled with to understand for a time, are CRYSTAL clear in the first minute of your video....you have a gift to teach!! Thank you!
*I think this is an important lesson for photoshop, I once had to get a flex board printed for one of my business, I sent the image to the agency in high ppi but not very huge size in inches, the agency person asked for higher size again and again, in the end as the image in high dpi and full inches had the size of 1 GB or something I simply decreased the ppi and increased the size in inches, was thankful it was okay...*
Anything bigger then A2 should not be 300ppi
@@rochendlywouters9113 Depends what you're doing, but generally you're correct. I scan at 600ppi most of the time so that when I throw out 3/4 of the pixels I've still got a decent resolution. Sometimes I'll go as high as 1200ppi if I've got a more important image, more image information or there's more noise to contend with. But, 300dpi at that size is frequently more than you'd need or have use for.
@@constantinosschinas4503 read it again, you should know that dpi and ppi are not the same i said ppi
Tell me if I'm wrong. My understanding is that pixels only matter on a computer (digital rendering.) Printers don't print pixels. They print dots. That means on a computer, you cannot draw a true arch, but only "stairsteps." A printer though, can print a true arch if there are enough dots per inch because each dot's location is measured from a reference point ("x" dots left or right and "y" dots up or down) with each dot, a different numerical value is assigned to x and y and the count always begins at the reference point. That's like G Code without the "z" axis.
@@rochendlywouters9113 Even for A2, 300ppi is low, unless you got a low quality printer.
Im not a native English speaker and I still understood what you said cuz you are a great teacher!
What a great explanation! So many people, mostly graphic designers, are getting confused about it.
@@strixcz Just yesterday I've been asked by a graphic designer to send the pictures I took for a campaign in 300DPI (they didn't care about the resolution) and in a vector format 🤦🏻♂️
And it's not the first neither the second time I've heard it..
I'm not a Graphic Designer or Photoshop Professional but I STILL consider this channel to be one of the best there are. Outstanding every time!
Man, you are a born teacher. You should teach teachers.
Soothing voice, no distracting music, gorgeous brows and very informative. 10/10. subbed
The PPI is used in printing. The idea is if you draw a 1-inch square in Photoshop, it prints 1 inch wide on paper when not scaled. The moment you scale an image to fit a page during printing, PPI becomes irrelevant once again.
But if you were printing a template for drilling screw holes to mount a power strip on the wall, for example, you want the scale to be precise. One inch on the screen must equal one inch in the print.
You are gonna be the first one in the world explained PPI like this. Super smart. Sometime artistes need to forget art and use math to understand what they are doing.
OMG. This is the best video I have seen in my life. I never understood the ppi and gave up on it))) But you have changed it all for me! Thank you! Amazing job.
This brought me back to school so quickly! We had a similar debate in class on ppi and resolution. It gave me a better understanding of using a seemingly irrelevant data metric as a tool in my belt to use when determining photo quality when needing to print the final result. Your content is great Unmesh and thank you for reviving my interest in this field! Also, your videos got me to finally budge and buy a graphics tablet... I couldn’t be happier :)
That explosion you heard was my brain; again. Fantastic digital lesson; ANOTHER thing I learned from a Master practitioner. Thankyou.
I started following you 4 days ago and I can't believe the amount of information I've been learning from you....Love From The Philippines ❤️❤️❤️
I only wish I could like this video multiple times. This is what everyone needs to learn in school. I have spent 15+ years training new people to stop worrying about dpi or ppi when requesting photos. This should be required watching at any beginning graphic art/design or digital art class.
Why would you bother? You can worry about having X*Y pixels or X*Y inches, or cm, at a given DPI. Both come out the same, but the latter is a lot easier to work with. You know the size and you know roughly the amount of detail that's involved. With the physical dimensions in pixels, it requires more math to figure out. I'm good with math, but it is a bunch of extra work, just to know if the image is the correct size for whatever I'm going to do with it.
@@SmallSpoonBrigade Not really. If you work exclusively with photographers (maybe they know), art directors, graphic artists or printing reps, yeah, they will understand your dpi jargon. But in the industries I work in as an art director, I talk to sales, vendors and customer service to get images constantly. The easiest way for them to get the information is to right click on the image and go to properties>details for windows (get info>more info on a mac). Both operating systems tells the user the dimensions of the image in pixels. Windows goes further and also provides dpi, but I believe that is tied to your screen resolution and your UI scaling, which just adds to the confusion.
For example, I opened the properties on an image that is 4032x3024. If you open on windows, it states that it is only 96 dpi. If I requested an image be 300dpi, these people would go on a wild goose chase trying to find a high resolution image. The same goes if I say I need an image to be 8x8 inches. How do they find that information? Now they are asking people all over to try and find that information. But if I request an image be a minimum of 2400x2400, they would instantly understand without math that this example image is big enough to send me. They do not need Photoshop, or someone with an art degree to help them. They can find this information by right clicking on the file they already have.
You know that 2400x2400 is an 8x8 inch image at 300dpi, but not everyone has to know that to be productive. Art directors that insist on talking inside technical jargon to sales will not be efficient or productive. They waste everyone's time. That is why I always teach new employees to find the easiest way of getting what you need using the terms most people will understand or reference. Communicating your needs clearly is not taught in college and is the biggest failure in higher education.
I'm teaching technical aspects of design to future professionnal designers, and i must say that your channel is of great inspiration for my courses.
Thanks for sharing this! There are so many graphic design professionals who dont even understand this very basic concept.
I discovered this couple of years ago, but I lack the skill of explanation. Thanks for the video. Now I can show my friends, why I prefer 12MP iPhone rather than 108MP mi phone for mobile photography. Thanks unmesh.
It's a incomplete video, guess you know why...😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
I think you take the wrong way, how if iPhone have 12mp & 108mp? What will you take?
Am half dead explaining this everytime to a new photographer staff, all of your content are most fundamental knowledge to newbie if want to become professional photo / editor, but mostly deny to learn very basic thing!
thanks mate made my life simpler
I understand the separation of conceptual PPI not meaning much, but it is always useful to keep in mind as everyone viewing it has to view it on a physical medium, whether it's screen or print.
you missed the point of the video entirely
@@JGirDesu nah
@@Ki113dbysw0rd yuh
From your hair to the content you're presenting everything is top notch!
Wow, finally someone who gets to the point right from the start! Well done.
And thanks for this explanation.
You have just explained something that I have been begging the Gods to understand!
Brilliant as always! 🙌 But how in the world do you photoshop your perfect hair?? 😅👍 Keep up the excellent work.
Im having hard time deciding ppi yesterday and this suddenly come to my recommendation today, it helps so much thank you !
God dang I love this guy, straight to the point, concise, and very eloquent. Couldn’t like or subscribe fast enough! Thanks man!
Teaching physics, maths, geometry and Photoshop in one video. This is awesome 👍
Unmesh, you're one of a kind Photoshop Wizard who knows specifics about his work. Kudos man
The best explanation video about resolution I have seen to these days. Thank you Unmesh!
The best teacher ever.
Exactly this should be discussed in any digital course from day 1 of class.
Pixels per inch is only important in knowing the resolution of your screen. For example, if you know your screen is 150 pixels/inch, you could set the image DPI to that and when you are at 100%, it will be accurately sized for how large it'll print. But yes, PPI is mostly an uninformed conversation topic. DPI is too, to a degree. When people tell me they need an image with a certain DPI, I ask what are the dimensions, and they say they don't care as long as it's a certain DPI. OK, dude, you asked for it.
This is the biggest PITA with clients. My Lightroom defaults to 240dpi so I get clients with who think my 42mp image isn’t going to be good enough for their web application because it’s not 300dpi. SMH!!! I don’t even argue anymore. What’s the point. Go in, change the default dpi handling in Lightroom abs export the exact same freaking file….
Yeah, I feel this video is a bit misoleading. PPI doesn't matter, as long as it is used inside of photoshop and for digital use - as soon as we're talking about phone screen resolution, it makes perfect sense to count displayed pixels per inch. More pixels per inch mean they're physically smaller - so the displayed image is sharper.
@@Paciffic it is never relevant on screens of ant type only when you get into print does ppi matter.
I love this video, I'm going to use it every time I have to explain this concept (DPI is not digital so it does not matter what DPI you use for a 1080 x 1920 image - what does matter is the image is 1080 x 1920 pixels.) I can't believe I have to explain this over and over to people who can't comprehend this.
Interesting points. I pioneered digital design since the early 80’s. The “resolution” DOES make a difference when transferring between systems, artists, programs, when scaling an item up, inputting & outputting. PPI or DPI comes into play most from Printing aka “LPI” or Lines Per inch. Most important as an output resolution aka digital DPI matching to printing LPI. Text resolution/vector art is output to film/printing for 150 LPI at 2540 DPI (yes 2540, thats not a typo) and photos at 300 DPI (the actual exact number being 304.8 DPI back in the day) to have a constant output size. Note the imagesetter/printer/plotter have standard sizes it works with, change these sizes and your output will either be the wrong size or get lower quality as you increase it in size. We also had a GIANT book of resolutions and printing requirements for printers all over the world. 150 LPI X 2 = DPI aka 300 DPI. Biggest tip, always make something at the largest size first, scale images only down. Much love & keep on rocking those designs! ❤️🤘
Resolution for sure makes a difference but many mistake ppi for resolution. Resolution is the total number of pixels in your image.
Ppi will set the print size for that set number of pixels.
Dpi is the dots the printer produces when printing it to paper.
Probing vector set isn't quite the same as printing images. You don't need 300ppi for photographs
It depends also on the machine type you are printing on....
Where have you been all my life! Thank you (as always) for your clairity, relevance, and, in this case, hand-drawn visual aids (and I'm not even kidding).
Best Teacher online
You are the perfect Teacher man.
PPI = pixels per inch... i.e.; the number of pixels per inch (digital). DPI = dots per inch... i.e.; the number of dots (from your printer) per inch (analog). They both serve their own purpose.
Thank you for clearing that up. In a digital file the PPI is mostly irrelevant when the resolution doesn't change on an image (unless you change it by reducing or increasing the resolution of the. number of pixels with photoshop), however when physically printing the file then PPI is relevant to the actual output paper size (for how close the pixels are together within each inch). Great video!
Look at Photoshop Image size. When you wish to change the image size, it does not mention "resolution". It mentions image size in pixels. The RESOLUTION on that panel is expressed in the correct "resolution" values of pixles/inch or picels per centimetre.
I roughly knew what DPI was, but I had no idea about PPI, or even know it was a thing. This video is great.
Bro I halfway fell asleep to this, great explanation but your voice is so soothing 😂😂😂 great work thank you
I am forever grateful for these sessions
This was THE best explanation of these things that I've heard. big thanks!! 👏
Unmesh you are incredible! This is easily one of the most informative channels on UA-cam or perhaps even one of the most informative sources anywhere on the internet! You are a legend sir.
u make it so easy to understand. used your video to make a client understand DPI , PPI, Resolution. thanx
broo i really wish he was my maths teacher when i was in school. his explanation is amazing
Strongly agree, I also discover this when I went in to the industry. This is never teach in college and even the lecturer is confusing the student too
PPI is also relevant to the point size of the text you write in your PS document. An embedded PPI is also relevant if you mount the image directly in Indesign.
Desktop printing like in-design shows in a digital form exactly how an image would look printed so yes ppi is represented as the physical size of the image.
It's effectively showing you your page. So yes ppi does matter for that
Unmesh, you are the best teacher I've ever seen. This video is so well done and under 15 mins, it's unbelievable. Answered all of my questions.
Great explanation in the first half and I was about to stop watching to complain that you missed something, when you did the physical paper explanation and said exactly what I was thinking.
Best explanation of PPI and DPI I have seen anywhere. You are a brilliant educator!
As a professional tutor you are a perfectionist. A great tutorial. Thank you.
Thank you Unmesh. Every once in a while I try to explain this to someone and I always get a look like i’m explaining quantum physics. You just made it so easy to understand! Great teaching!!!! 😅
Exceptional indeed! Thanks Unmesh.
That finally makes sense! Thank you so much for this video!
While I understand your premise, every unit of measurement, in fact every human construct, is imaginary, and is simply a standard humanity has collectively chosen as a unit of reference. Interesting and informative video. Thank you.
You are such a great teacher. It is easy to understand and fun to watch
Thank you So Much for this! I really needed this to fully understand resolution better, I had no idea about this.
Thanks for making such a informative video, several doubts are cleared now. Love from India.
best teacher ive seen
What a glorious gentleman, wonderful warm gifted teacher, thank you
Some of the confusion comes from interchanging the use of pixels and PPI to mean the same thing, however, they do not.
Your videos are pure gold.
Unmesh I have been following your tutorials for a long time and I have learned a lot. The NY image is used in may other PS and design channels. You don't need to say that you "traveled" your content is awesome in itself. Just keep doing what you are doing.
Very simple to understand, you makes me to remember my math professor!!!
PS user since v3 and Ill admit I never use ppi but it’s been so long I couldn’t remember “why?”. I appreciate this video. 👍🏼
Take a bow to Master Unmesh!
(I hope someday, Adobe will make you brand ambassador) 😄😄
So streamlined tutorial , I struggled to explain PPI to my friends , well done sir !
I fight the universe on this subject all the time, especially in the photo clubs I've participated in. I guess because it has to do with numbers and people panic about scary 'MATH'.
Nice to see you address it.
I fell back in my math course last year! Funny, I like those "explain videos" than for the cool content!
Genius Unmesh! Amazing tutorial! God bless you man!
Perfectly and coherently explained. Thanks
This video was needed, thanks mate.❤
Ty man this give me a good understanding of dpi for my co2 laser, as i was strugle with it when i needed to engrave pictures... very good keep it up
Love the way he talks.
Well, the way I had learned this is pixels or picture elements are the physical element in the display. No matter what image you are looking at, the physical display never changes size. Also, remember people used CRTs before Displays. Many of these terms and standards were coined prior to displays being commonplace. Resolution measures the distance between the plates. Think of the image as a stain glass window. Each part of the window is a tile. There is a metal barrier between each tile. You can move the tiles to cover the image you want. So if you want more detail you use a shorter resolution, or a short distance between each plate. If you want to capture more of the image, you want a higher resolution to capture the large image. Resolution is a variable and not a constant. The display and the paper you want to use to put the image on are finite.
Dot pitch is a printer standard. That was standardized by Adobe which was a 72 dots per inch for the purpose of scaling vector fonts.
Back when people used CRTs like a Sony Trinatron, monitors blended colors. Now-a-days, displays use picture elements which uses a 6-bit element, black, white, red, green, blue, voltage. Displays now use a dithering pattern to display color which is based on how the human eye works. The human eye uses two type of systems for vision, a photopic system and a scotopic system. Photopic uses cones and rods to produce high resolution or high visual acuity. The Scotopic system uses cones, which is black and white. This system is for movement. The human eye uses a combination of light called a tri-color theory, and pigments called a opponent-process theory.
The dithering process had been discovered by Edwin Land the inventor of the Polaroid camera. No two humans see the same colors. And colors have more to do with the surrounding textures because it affects the pigments in your eyes.
Resolution is really about the human eye and the physical imitation of the eye which is called lateral inhibition. That is why your eye sees lines or contour lines. It is the physical limitation or sensitivity of the human eye. The physical distance of your neurons. Contour lines do not really exist in nature, they are a product of the human brain.
To circle back to PPI and DPI, PPI is a standard for displays and CRTs. DPI is a standard for printers. Resolution is a measurement of the neurons in your eyes.
Camera resolution goes back to film. Old film uses silver to make a negative image. From that negative, you make a positive image, which is black and white. Spacecraft use this process to take high resolution images from millions of miles away. They take the image in separate channels and then put the layers together in a composite to make a high resolution image. Also, a camera has a film back element and a lens element. The distance between the film back and lens is the focal length.
The confusion comes from cameras have one standard, the human eye has one standard, printers have one standard, and displays and monitors have one standard. So when you build a product with all 5 standards, now they all have to speak the same language.
Thank you.
Perfect tutorial. Thank you so much
I am ALWAYS trying to explain this to people. I just gave up on trying it. Its amazing how many people think DPI is meaningfull.
Thanks for this amazing video 😊
Hey, I'm grateful to have you here, Luke!
I love that the title is "PPI is Imaginary" but the PPI is the only thing that equates to the real world quality
No it doesn't actually.
What matters is the image resolution. The number of total pixels.
Ppi is just the output of image resolution/ print size
@@jimdavies If you have a PPI of say 10 thats a blurry mess at any resolution even a million pixels unless you are very far away. PPI is how we quantify how detailed something looks in the real world not the number of pixels
Take a phone screen and a Full HD TV Phones look more detailed than the tv does because the pixels are smaller and is harder to see aliasing and blurry edges
in the real world higher PPI looks sharper and better quality than just resolution
As you say PPI is the output of image resoultion. Thats when it is real and not just a digital number that means nothing as you can just zoom in
Better way of putting it
I want something to look good, how do i make sure it looks good? I make sure the resolution is high enough for the size that i want
Pixels per inch is how i measure it and quantify how good it looks
@@asweet93 just to take the TV / phone comparison. Let's say you show a 300ppi image at 1920 x 1080 pixels on your phone and TV.
What's also important is the resolution of the device. If you're phone has a resolution of 800x600 then it's not really going to look that great either.
But this is slightly different to what's being discussed.
For a digital image the ppi doesn't matter for exactly the above reason. If you save it at 300ppi, then view on a huge screen that can only display 150ppi what happened to the 300ppi image?
Or if you view the 300ppi image at 511ppi on an iPhone how did that happen?
It happens because setting ppi does not matter. Its irrelevant to the digital image and changes based in the size you print or view that image
Wow man, up until around 8:20 I was screaming at you through my phone. "Print duuuude, PRIIIIIIIINT!!" 🤣
That is so true. Since I understand that, I upload my art on 1dpi in my website. And everything is perfect... Perfect, like your tutorial :) !
PPI is not imaginary. It is a print reference as well as a screen reference and a sensor reference. Some screens have pixels that are not exact squares so the vertical PPI and horizontal PPI will be different, this is usually corrected in PS or Lightroom when you calibrate your screen. Also Camera sensors have pixels that are not exact squares so the vertical PPI and horizontal PPI will be different, this is usually corrected in PS or Lightroom on import. And finally Printers have different PPI Horizontally and vertically so this needs to be corrected usually in drivers and print calibration. It may appear to be imaginary and is not needed in a digital only world, as the current generation of software deals with the differences automatically but it is most definitely not imaginary.
That's my interpretation as well. PPI is a density measurement for something physical. Your screen doesn't change size and neither do the pixels used to make up that screen therefor the density of the pixels per inch matter. PPI in a file is only a place holder. Otherwise it's like using inches to measure time.
@@WaylonSimpson Mmm. I was trying to figure what the hell the video is on about. It misses some huge caveats if you ignore PPI. Bad advice by video is bad.
I wish my masters teacher was half as good as you, man... Great work!
It's really like the channel name, perfect