GIMP Version: 2.6.11
Operating System: Windows
OS Version: XP - SP3
GIMP Experience: Intermediate Level

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Kind of frustrated ...

I do not own a printer and if i did i think i could find out what i want to know by trial and error. But seeing how i don't, i guess i will have to give it time. I think this should be a simple question and answer, but over my life i have found out that that's hard to find. Here is my problem, this forum is great. But it can make a simple question be complicated. So i am not sure if i should ask this again on here. But here i go. I had another thread where i talked about this, and i started this one cause that one was just not helping me at all. I have made several pictures and have posted some on here since i have joined this forum. well at some point i would like to print out some of the work i have done. and here is where my problem comes from. today i took the day off from work, took one picture i had on my computer that i had made using gimp. and took it to the UPS store and had them print out a copy to see if i had figured out the scaling of my pictures. in order for me to do what i need to do, i need to know and learn how to make pictures a certain size and know that they are gonna be printed at this size when i take them to be printed. i have ideas for posters and other things i want to do.

Now, i am not gonna get into the image that i had printed today cause it will only confuse me. i will just say that the three images i had printed was from the same exact picture. each was different in size only and in dpi only. but all three images were the same size when printed and pretty much the same quality when printed. So i am wondering how that happen. Am i the only one who prints out pictures that they have made in gimp on here. My worry is that i will make a poster, go print it out and it be blurry and not the size i wanted it to be.

In gimp there is three different sizes to play with. there's canvas size, there's print size, and then there's image scaling. So right now i am ready to throw up my hands and forget the whole think.


Now please don't take offense to what i am about to say, but i feel a need to. Before you try and help me by posting a reply, Please, do not leave me a one sentence reply. and please don't leave me some math to go by. forget about that other thread and any picture i have posted in that thread. Someone please explain to me how to scale my work so i will know what size it will print out before going to a printer. Please do not get into other matters other then the image size. please. Right now i could care less about the darkness of the image or lack there of. I'm trying to figure out do i set the canvas size to what i want? and i will be working with inches or do i need to be worried about the print size? cause from what i saw today image scale doesn't seem to matter and Dpi doesn 't seem to matter either. I really need someone who does this a lot. thanks. i am willing to give someone my phone number through a private p.m. to figure this out. i have unlimited long distance inside the U.S. so i can call anywhere anytime on my cell phone.

i just need help with this. Thanks

While you are waiting for a 'real' answer, I can at least tell you what I do in regards to printing. I make stuff for a friend (like invitations,etc) because she is busy and I love to use my gimp! What I do is set my 'new' gimp file to the inch size she wants, and I set the ppi to 150 as that is usually ok for non-professional printing. Then I make what ever it is she is wanting, and send her the file. When she prints it, it usually prints out fine. If the sizing is off somewhat, then she sets the printer to print at the size she wants.

Ok you say 'new' gimp file to the inch size she wants. What are you speaking of? This is where this gets confusing for me at. i know when you open a new file it ask you to set the size. Is this what you are talking about?

yes....exactly. I choose NEW, not open. Then I set the parameters to the size in inches, and the resolution to 150, and I usually choose transparent for the background.

what is the biggest piece of work you have done? in inches.

Print shops very often resize the picture to fit the requested format, so you can't deduce much from what didn't happen under your control.

The math between pixel sizes, print definition, and print size(*) is the only thing that lets you predict the print size, as long as all involved in the print chain don't try to be smarter than necessary. Unwanted smartness often occurs when the required print size is too big for the media/paper printable area.

(*) which is abysmally simple:

Sorry, I just saw this question. The largest canvas size I have done for printing is 12 inches x 18 inches.
I made a NEW project in gimp, set at 12" x 18" and 150 ppi. Then I did the graphic in that canvas, then exported as a .png file and sent it on to be printed by someone with a printer that can print that large of a paper.
If you take a project to a printer, they can adjust the size if your project isn't the right size. As long as it isn't enlarged very much, it should print fine. If you would be unsure of size, then you should set your ppi to 300, so that if it needs enlarging more than a little, it will still look decent.
Any printer should be able to adjust the size for you, whether it's a home printer or a commercial business.

To keep things short and simple, let's say you want to print in A4, 300 ppi quality, ok?
Then when you'll open gimp, choose this:

I never really knew what sizes those templates were, such as A4! This is definitely an easy way to set for any size in the template list!

And it's easy to set up more of them, just take note of sizes in milimeters of the format you want (list of format) and create your template, here is how you create B5 300ppi template:

I wish I knew what all the A templates were, and that they had their inch size in their titles

I realise this thread is a bit old but here goes. I am trying to create images 9 x 9 cm but no matter what I do, change print size, change canvas size,scale image I even tried creating a new template 90 x 90mm 300dpi but that was going to come out at 6.3gb!I downloaded gutenprint but couldn't figure out how to install it, do you just drop it into plugins? The photos have been cropped and squared off but I can't get them to print to size I need. This is driving me mental.

Have you tried setting the cm size in the drop down for a new file?

Wondering what you are doing wrong/ To create a 9x9cm image at 300DPI you just do:

and you get:


How many pixels is your image?

If it is a py file, it goes into your plug-ins folder. If it is a scm, it goes into scripts folder.
Are you using Windows, Mac or Linux? If you are using Linux, make sure you turn on the permissions for that plug-in.

You might find rich's guide to installing Gutenprint useful: http://gimpforums.com/thread-gutenprint--4040

Kevin

Now first you SHOULD NOT scale down the imagine to print , you give the desired size
in the Printer dialog (if you print for yourself, if not will be done by who print )

About canvas size if you don't need to crop to a different image ratio i can't see why to change

Last 300dpi , now weird as may sound dpi doesn't have any effect on your image file size, that is only a simple info for the printer BUT 300dpi is very very low , you may raise to at least to 900dpi ...

About file size of the image the final file size is much less of the "working size" calculated by Gimp , even if you chose to save in a looseness format (ie .png) to assure high quality the final file size would be much less

Saving as jpg may be more problematic because image loose quality every-time is saved as jpg, this even choosing 100% of quality in the saving setting, jpg have smaller files but that is their only advantage.

Anyway if still may be handled decently by your computer why you worry about the file size of the image to be printed .?

As simple rule of thumb , for images saved in same format and with same dpi (that again is just a info for the printer and doesn't effect file size ) the bigger the file the higher will be the quality