Illustrator changes the ppi of an image when i rotate it.

[SM810]

Hello, i've been having this issue for quite some time now. Whenever i place an image into my illustrator file and then rotate it, the ppi changes. It's caused issues with our printing facility as they won't print when the artwork is less than 300ppi. Can someone help me with this issue? I'm attaching screenshots for reference.

[Ton Frederiks]

I see what you mean, but if I save such a rotated image in a PDF file, Acrobat preflight shows the correct resolution.

[marliton]

It seems to be a bug. If you verify the Dimensions, that values don't change so the resolution is not affected.

[John Mensinger]

"It's caused issues with our printing facility as they won't print when the artwork is less than 300ppi."

1. It's a false report caused by the software's inability to account for pixels that have been rotated off the pixel grid, even after they are re-rotated back into alignment. This is one in a series of reasons Illustrator can be considered an inferior choice for composing layouts that include raster images.
2. Disallowing anything under 300ppi is a ridiculous restriction to apply in such blanket fashion. The ubiquitous 300ppi rule-of-thumb is a dumbed-down catch-all intended for people with limited understanding of image-to-print mechanics. It's disheartening to hear of print professionals who don't know better.

[Josephy5FF8]

Maybe this is a day late and a dollar short.

If you rotate your images in photoshop before placing in illustrator, your ppi will show correctly and problem solved.

Now those pesky print professionals can't bark at your files any longer.

Why not convert to a smart object before saving as well?!

[dino camponi]

For those of us who live in the real world, these opinions are not terribly helpful...

1. AI is the defacto standard app for packaging design and prepress. So we can't just ignore these "bugs" and resign ourselves to the idea that it's an "inferior" application. Adobe needs to address issues like this.
2. The 300ppi rule of thumb exists because many of us have workflows that are automated to one degree or another. Downstream processes like preflight software and RIPs use rule-based parameters for processing incoming files, which are in place to prevent work from sneaking through that doesn't meet quality standards. The parameters require values, and 300 dpi is a pretty good rule-of-thumb for offset printing at 200 lpi. But the bottom line is, if these automated workflows get tripped up by bugs like this, it's not an ideal situation. Again, Adobe needs to fix this damn bug, if that's what it is.

Please Adobe. Fix this. Or if it's not a bug but instead some kind of "feature" that we just don't understand, then please explain the rationale.

[Doug A Roberts]

It seems to have been posted to uservoice some time ago, and was listed as 'Added to Backlog' in 2019

https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-desktop-bugs/suggestions/32853844-image-...

[dino camponi]

Thanks, Doug. Helpful to know that Adobe is at least aware of the issue. You'd think this fixing this particular bug would be a higher priority than it apparently is. I'm not a software developer, but it doesn't seem like it would be a tough fix... it's just math, right?

[Doug A Roberts]

I can only guess that it's easy to lose track of things that not many people seem to be concerned with. Only eight people including me have voted on the issue. Make sure you vote on it too.

[Ton Frederiks]

I thought I voted, but I did not, but now I did.

I was told that a bug needs at least 10 votes to be noticed.

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

If you are submitting a PDF as final artwork, then this will not be an issue. Unless you are downsampling when you make the PDF, the image is still full resolution whether you see it or not in Illustrator (A Preflight in Acrobat will confirm this)

Based on your images, it looks like you might be doing a display panel of some sort (like a pull up banner?). If that's the case, your printer requesting 300dpi is actually waaaaay overkill for that process anyway. If you are giving them a raw Illustrator file with the linked graphics, and they refuse it, they really don't know anything and you should find somewhere else to go. ;).

Another thing to note: Your image is a linked file anyway. Nothing you do in Illustrator is changing the resolution of a separate file.

[dino camponi]

Hi Roaring Mouse,

With all due respect, the issue raised by the OP has nothing to do with the suitability of 300 dpi resolution... it has to do with AI's failure to properly display the effective resolution after rotation of an image. If you see this for yourself and have the time and inclination to vote for a fix, please do...

https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-desktop-bugs/suggestions/32853844-image-...

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

Already voted.  I was just adding to the reassurances that the OP's file will be fine, despite the bug. Sorry for the editorializing, I was being a bit tongue in cheeky, but my point is, if the printer still brings this up as an issue, the OP might want to point them in the direction of this thread.

[Konrad5CB3]

It's very annoying indeed, especially considering Indesign does not have this issue within their Links panel. In Indesign Actual and Effective PPI is displayed correctly no matter what transformations you do to it. I see this is a thread from 2020 but it's half way through 2022 now and this still hasn't been fixed. Surely it can't be that difficult, relatively speaking?

[Catsz27328627pbi3]

Interesting I found this issue more than 10 years ago and it still around...

[Jennifer34735256qdg6]

Here we are now in January 2024 and I have this problem. I Googled the solution and I came to this forum so still not fixed.

[Doug A Roberts]

I hope you also voted on the issue at the Uservoice link.

[Jennifer34735256qdg6]

No idea how to do that - just joined

[Doug A Roberts]

See the earlier posts:

https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-desktop-bugs/suggestions/32853844-image-...