Create clean 10pt. type in 72dpi document

[Edmund 108]

I created a 72dpi construction drawing, thinking I'd keep it light for web transfer and readable for printing on A4 size paper at a 1:10 scale for engineers' reviewing. My lines are 1px, which works for our situation. However my preferred 10pt. type doesn't render satisfactorily. If I upsize to 150dpi retaining A4 printed size my drawn lines blurr although the type works. If I upsize to 150dpi I must use an uncommon paper size to render the drawing in print.

Am I missing something, or not using a vector programme - which I don't have?

[Derek Cross]

This is very confusing, for example PPI (not DPI) is irrelevant for images displayed on screens.

The look of a typeface will often depend on the x-height of the selected font.

The rule-of-thumb for printing is around 200 to 300ppi, depending on the line screen of the printing, which depends on the substrate (newsprint low, coated stock high).

InDesign would be the best choice for this job – place the drawing (that's been produced in Illustrator, Photoshop or another application)  in InDesign where you can add the text and produce a PDF for printing and a JPG for the web.

[Edmund 108]

Thanks Derek, I'm saying type created at 72px/in. prints blurry, whereas at 150px/in. reads acceptably. I assume that's because there's 2x as many dots per inch?

[D Fosse]

Not dots per inch - pixels per inch. Clarity of terms aids understanding. Your document consists of pixels.

Point size is a physical size unit, inherited from lead typesetting. A point is 1/72 of an inch.

To translate that to pixels, and thereby determining the size in the document, the pixels per inch figure is used. It turns out that 10 point type in a 72 ppi document is 9 or 10 pixels high.

So no wonder it's blurry...here's how it looks when viewed at 100% in Photoshop:

[Edmund 108]

Thanks for this explanation, Mr. Fosse.
How do I get readable type onto my document without changing the scale?

[D Fosse]

Very simple: you need more pixels. Type that is 10 pixels high will never be crisp.

A higher resolution document, or bigger type.

[Edmund 108]

The issue is simply there's no space for bigger type and the document should have been created as 150ppi in the first place. I'm looking for a creative workaround which avoids redrawing the work entirely.

[Derek Cross]

I'm not sure how you're going to use the document. One possible solution is you could produce a PDF of the document; this could be ready on screen by any device and could be printed out to a desk-top printer. But you may have other requirements, that you haven't explained.

[Edmund 108]

It's basically one version as the file I send will need to be printed by the client.

[Derek Cross]

I meant to write this:

I'm not sure how you're going to use the document. One possible solution is you could produce a PDF of the document; this would be easy to read on any screen (computer, tablet or smart phone) and could be printed out to a desk-top printer. But you may have other requirements, that you haven't explained.

[Edmund 108]

I would like to send a printable document with typed annotations, as is standard for engineered drawings.

[Derek Cross]

So why not a PDF?

[Edmund 108]

I will send the file as .pdf, but first it must be annotated. It cannot take anything larger than 10pt. type and that's blurry. I'm just curious if some clever person can figure a workaround here.

[D Fosse]

This is actually a good demonstration why Photoshop is the wrong tool for anything with type or vector content. It is a raster image editor, and everything will ultimately always be represented as pixels, at base resolution.

If you did this in InDesign, you could have the low resolution graphic as is, and then have live type, not rasterized. This could be exported to pdf and avoid the whole issue.

With some effort and consideration you can export pdfs from Photoshop with live vector content, but once it's rasterized it's gone. You need to keep text layers intact and editable. I don't think I have ever done it with Photoshop, but it should be possible.

[G_Hoffmann]

Edmund,

if you really need very small text like 10pt on a 72ppi device*, then you could use

a raster font = bitmap font = pixel font:

Bitmap, pixel, screen fonts, small fonts, userbar | dafont.com

Glyphs in these fonts are represented by pixels and optimized (as good as possible)

for appearance.

Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann

* for a device, opposed to an image, I would call it dpi instead of ppi

[rob day]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Edmund+108  wrote

I would like to send a printable document with typed annotations, as is standard for engineered drawings.

When you save as Photoshop PDF format, text layers are not rasterized in the PDF. If your client opens and prints the PDF in Acrobat, the text will view and print as vectors.

10pt type on an 8.5"x11" image at 72ppi:

Save As to Photoshop PDF using the High Quality Print preset. Check Preserve Photoshop Editing if you want to reopen and edit in Photoshop:

The PDF text in Acrobat magnified:

[Derek Cross · Accepted solution]

If you can't use InDesign why not create a document in Word and create a PDF from that (insert your illustration and add your 10pt text) – at least you could try it out!

[Edmund 108]

Worked like a charm!  MANY thanks.