dpi help

[sreedster]

Hi, I'm new to this adobe forum and not sure how it works. I have a client who wants all of the files to be in dpi but I only see the ppi option in illustrator. How do I convert ppi to dpi? Or does it really matter? I see so many different answers on the web. He primarily needs the files for a website he is making so I don't think he would need dpi anyway but it would be nice to know how to change from ppi to dpi. Thank you!

[Peru Bob]

I've moved this from the Using the Community forum (which is the forum for issues using the forums) to the Illustrator forum so that proper help can be offered.

[Just Shoot Me]

DPI is Dots Per Inch which is a Printing term.

Your Client doesn't know what they are asking.

Knowledge is a terrible thing. The Lack there of is even worse.

[Jacob Bugge]

s,

Further to what Ed said, D in DPI is for dots, P in PPI is for pixels.

So, at least on the surface, for your purpose, DPI = PPI.

However, it is quite possible that the DPI/PPI requirement is something that will hinder the right solutions.

"He primarily needs the files for a website he is making"

The primarily part may be devious and ruin the other uses, and sometimes the designer must (try to) rescue the client from himself.

Just to mention one aspect, CMYK print will never look like RGB seen on screen, and at least it is important to have that very clear, best shown. A sound approach is to have a CMYK version for non office printer print and an RGB version for screen/web use. Use for non PostScript office/photo printers is special because they apply an RGB>CMYK conversion, so if you create a CMYK version you will get a double conversion CMYK>RGB>CMYK with certain uglification.

[Doug A Roberts]

Lots of people, especially on the web, seem to use DPI and PPI interchangeably. If someone is asking for a pixel image, and they mention DPI, chances are they really mean PPI.

PPI is simple = Pixels Per Inch. It is unambiguous what that means.

DPI means Dots Per Inch. Some people use 'dots' as synonyms for 'pixels', but if we want to keep these terms distinct in our heads it's best to keep this in the realm of printing dots where it belongs.