InDesign software is used to design brochures, posters, magazines, newspapers and comics. Also, you should note that InDesign is very limited in showing images. Moreover, in the normal mode, InDesign shows the images of other media in the average mode (Typical Display). And, sometimes we need to change the settings to see the original quality of the images. So, in this article on Face Converter, we try to let you know how to set PPI in InDesign in order to see and print the best quality of the original images.
How to Change PPI in InDesign?
As you now, PPI is the resolution of an image or document and it shows how many pixels are exit in one inch of the image. And, it is very essential when you want to print a design or wherever the quality of the image is very important. In general, the resolution of 300 pixels per inch is supposed standard and we can print in high quality. If the PPI is low, the image may seem blurry when you print it. But we have both actual and effective PPI that you should know their differences and then change them in InDesign according to your need. Therefore, in the following parts, we will discuss first their differences and then we will tell how to change it.
The Differences between effective and actual PPI
Effective and actual PPI are terms that are used for resolution of images and printing.
- Actual PPI refers to the resolution of an original image. It is usually set for images that created or captured. And It doesn’t change if you don’t resize whether or not changing pixel dimensions.
- Effective PPI is resizing image that you do within a design application like InDesign. By placing an image in layout, sometimes you need to resize it to fit in a specific space that is called effective PPI. If you want to resize the image in the layout, the effective PPI changes but the actual pixel dimension remain the same for the image file.
Knowing about these terms is necessary when you work on print projects for keeping the quality of the image. Usually, it is suggested that start your project with high resolution image (high actual PPI) for having a good print quality, and then resizing it within the layout without changing the resolution too much (maintain effective PPI that is reasonable).
Changing effective PPI in InDesign
You can change effective PPI in a layout by resizing the image indirectly by altering the size in your layout. The dimension of the final image that you set influence on effective PPI. In the below part, you can see the procedures that you need for changing the effective PPI in InDesign:
- Choose the image by clicking on the image in your InDesign layout
- Use the selection tool or V for resizing your image. In order to keep the original pixel dimensions, press Shift and hold it while move slowly the corner of the image frame handle.
- Then go to Window and choose Link. After selecting the image in the panel, you should check the information about its effective PPI
Some point that you should take into account for using effective PPI:
- For having a high-quality print, the effective PPI should be 300. This value is supposed standard for professional print output. When your print production such as posters and magazines consist of images with an effective PPI of 300, it ensures you to have visually and clear result.
- If the image is sized down in your layout, you should try to use a higher effective PPI for saving the quality of the image. This help to decrease significant pixilation.
- Generally, a safe choice for different methods of printing is 300 PPI.
- If you decided to have a large format print, such as poster, you have to evaluate a more effective PPI to make sure of having a quality at larger dimensions.
Note: You should note that InDesign is very limited in showing images. Also, the fonts of this program do not respond properly in a system other than the source system. Therefore, the best way to move the InDesign file and the InDesign output for printing is the PDF file. And the best way is to change the format of your image file and convert it for example from JPEG to PDF.
Conclusion
As you got from this article, knowing how to set PPI in InDesign help you to increase your print design attempt. If you have the knowledge of actual and effective PPI, you made ensure to create a visual remarkable print that memoizable. And, I hope that you could understand how to set PPI in InDesign here in this article for having the images in the original quality in your printing output. We are very glad to see your other steps to set PPI in InDesign if there are, and share them with others and us in comment here on Face Converter.
