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easmythe0025
Participant
April 8, 2013
Answered

Blurry text, not an anti-aliasing or resolution issue

  • April 8, 2013
  • 1 reply
  • 27078 views

Whenever I type in Photoshop for the last few months, all the text is pixelated and blurry. The problem is impervious to anti-aliasing and resolution changes. The only difference is that with anti-aliasing the image is blurry and pixelated and without, it's just extremely pixelated. I have no idea why this problem started, I have no memory of changing a setting that would have caused this.

I've done everything I can think of, including re-setting Photoshop completely to original settings. Even files that I created before the problem began now have blurry text when opened. I esentially can't do anything with Photoshop right now and it is extremely frustrating. The following images are of the text WITH anti-aliasing and then without, both at 12 pt, 400%, 300 ppi.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Silkrooster

    The problem I am seeing is you did not mention the pixel dimentions. That is the true resolution of the text. If it is too low the text will look like that. At a low resolution the ppi is not going to help much other that reduce the physical size giving it the illusion of a higher resolution. But when you zoom in to 400% you are defeating the purpose of increasing the ppi. The physical size, the ppi and the pixel dimentions are all tied together.

    forumla:

    width in  inches X ppi = pixel dimentions

    With that forumla you can determine any of the values by knowing the other two.

    1 reply

    Silkrooster
    SilkroosterCorrect answer
    Legend
    April 8, 2013

    The problem I am seeing is you did not mention the pixel dimentions. That is the true resolution of the text. If it is too low the text will look like that. At a low resolution the ppi is not going to help much other that reduce the physical size giving it the illusion of a higher resolution. But when you zoom in to 400% you are defeating the purpose of increasing the ppi. The physical size, the ppi and the pixel dimentions are all tied together.

    forumla:

    width in  inches X ppi = pixel dimentions

    With that forumla you can determine any of the values by knowing the other two.

    E
    easmythe0025Author
    Participant
    April 13, 2013

    You are a beautiful, beautiful genius. I can't believe it took me so long

    to ask this question, wish I'd done it sooner!

      Silkrooster
      Silkrooster
      Legend
      October 27, 2016

      I've had this same issue since switching to Photoshop CC. But the answers above still aren't clear to me.

      Even old files previously created in older Photoshop are now coming in with blurry text.

      My files are set to 300dpi, but is ppi the same thing? And where in Photoshop CC do you actually change the ppi? I assume it's not the same spot as where you change the dpi. Please help!

      I have projects that are now set back because I can't figure this out!

      Thanks!

      **UPDATE** I figured out how to change the ppi when doing a search on the topic. I opened Image size, unchecked the "Resample" option and changed my resolution to 600dpi, instead of the 300dpi it was already at and no luck. So, this did not solve my problem. My text is still blurry.


      Changing the ppi doesn't necessarily affect how blurry the text is. If resampling is unchecked, the size in inches will change. The size in inches is the for printing. Technically by reducing the size the sharper the image. However zooming in will show the text never changed, it just was smaller giving the illusion of being higher quality.

      For the blur to be truly gone, the pixel dimensions must be large enough to make the edges appear to be smooth. However once again because it is pixel based, zooming in far enough will show the pixelation. Photoshop uses an anti-aliasing process that blurs the edges giving the illusion of a smooth edge.

      So the answer is if the image is small enough or has enough pixels, the can not tell.

      Ppi is changed in the image size dialog box. (Image>Image Size)

      Dpi is set in the print dialog box. This may or may not be changed depending on the printer.

      On a 5 X 7" print the common answer for ppi is 300. However the ppi can be less as the true answer depends on how far away the printed image is from your eye. The further away the lower the ppi.

      The dpi should be set to the default of the printer. Most printers today are over 600dpi. This can also be reduced if the image will be farther away from the eye than normal, the need to speed up the printing process ex. To look at a proof. Finally the last reason is lack memory on a laser printer may force you to lower the dpi.

      Other than that someone else will be needed to expand on the difference between ppi and dpi if you need a more detailed explanation.

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