Resolution or Print Quality

The resolution – also called print quality– is displayed in dpi (dpi = “Dots per Inch”, 1 inch = 2,54 cm).

Therefore, the maximum resolution of 4800 dpi – exclusive for Art Printing – is equal to a spatial dot density of:

(4800 dpi / (25,4 mm/Inch))² = 35712 dots per square millimeter or, for uncompressed image files in CMYK color space:

140 Kilobyte per square millimeter,

corresponding approximately to the total size of a usual image file.

When choosing the printing quality, bear in mind, that at a high resolution, the file size of the provided image files can get huge. Please consult chapter “Huge files”.

At the logical screen resolution of 96 dpi, documents will be displayed having exactly the same size as the original. The resolution of 96 dpi is indicated for testing and archiving only, and should not be used with “Extra Plus” formats.

It is recommended to print images with a higher resolution, at a higher Ipi-number (e.g.150 Ipi) onto paper using a printing press.

Smoothing vector graphics

When a graphics engine like GDI renders vector graphic elements on differently colored backgrounds, it must decide for each dot whether it should be either foreground-colored or background-colored.

This means that when the GDI renders, for instance, black writing on a white background, there will be only either black or white pixels, but no gray ones or of any other intermediate color. This gets more obvious especially when looking at enlarged letters in text editing programs. The rounded letter edges appear disturbingly serrated, while the dimension of this serration is always 1 pixel, regardless the resolution or font size. (This phenomenon appears only for vector graphics and must not be mistaken for Pixelation, which appears only for matrix graphics, and whose dimension or order of magnitude increases along with resolution increase.)

EXTIF pro offers a helping hand also in this situation, by optionally coloring pixels located exactly on the outline with a mixed color, whereby the mixture portions of foreground and background color correspond exactly to the geometrical area portions of foreground and background of the area of the pixel square:

In the frequent case of black writing on white background this intermediate color is always neutral gray. Therefore, it is recommended to choose the Gray excerpt setting “R=G=B=x% -> K=(100-x)%“

Of course, smoothing also improves other vector graphic elements like Bezier curves and polygons.

Please pay special attention to the outlines of the Mexican dog’s eyes.