How to stop MS Paint changing resolution of files to 96 dpi?

Dmitry Kopnichev

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Nov 7, 2005, 7:36:06 AM11/7/05

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Hello
How to stop MS Paint changing resolution of b&w tif files from 600 to 96
dpi? After editing the 600 dpi files in MS Paint and saving them the files
become 96 dpi.

Yves Alarie

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Nov 7, 2005, 12:46:20 PM11/7/05

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I don't think anything is wrong.
The 96 dpi displayed by Paint is simply your monitor display.
Open the Properties of the file and check the pixel dimensions of it. It
should have the same pixel dimensions as the original file, say, something
like:
1200 x 800.

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Dmitry Kopnichev

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Nov 8, 2005, 1:19:29 AM11/8/05

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I did not write about pixel dimensions, I wrote about resolution. The Paint
changes resolution and length dimensions of a scanned image, not pixel
dimensions, therefore, Paint prints a 600 dpi image 6+ times larger.
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yves alarie

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Nov 8, 2005, 5:10:28 AM11/8/05

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Pixel dimensions and resolution are the same thing!
Paint does not print anything 6+ times larger. Impossible.
What you see from Paint is the size that your image would occupy on your
screen, at 96 dpi, with the number of pixels contained in your image file.
Nothing more and nothing less. Paint does not print anything. It simply
tranfers the file to your printer. Select the print size.
Get some free software from here to edit and print your images:
www.faststone.org
and forget about Paint.

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Dmitry Kopnichev

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Nov 8, 2005, 5:44:25 AM11/8/05

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Resolution is number of dots per inch. Pixel dimensions are the size in
pixels. They are different things.
If you think it is impossible, then try yourself, scan a A4 sheet with 600
dpi resolution to a 1bit tif and try to print it from Paint with 100% size
in the Page setup. Paint will print just 1/6 of the image.
I did not write about size on screen, but about size on a printed paper.
I do not want to "Select the print size", I want the Pain to print with the
original size stated in a tif.
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Dmitry Kopnichev

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Nov 8, 2005, 5:51:31 AM11/8/05

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Yves.
Do the free software from www.faststone.org treat pixel dimensions and
resolution as the same things too? Do they require to "Select the print
size" too? Do not they see original image size in centimeters or inches too?
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Yves Alarie

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Nov 8, 2005, 9:47:08 AM11/8/05

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The problem comes from the fact that dpi (dot per inch, and used for
printing)) and ppi (pixel per inch and used for video display) are often
used interchangeably.
Say you have a photo at 5000 x 4000 pixels.
Your screen display is set at either 72 or 96 ppi.
Thus 5000/72= 69.4 and 4000/72= 55.5 inches.
This means that at 72 ppi, you could fill a screen of 69.4 x 55.5 inches.
The displayed photo would look pretty bad. Instead, the software works to
place this photo to fit your screen size, and it looks very good.

Now you want to print. Can you print at 69.4 x 55.5 inches. The answer is
yes (provided you have a printer that can do this), but the print would be
terrible.

To print, a rule of thumb is you need 300 dpi for a great print.
So for the above photo you have:
5000/300= 16.6 and 4000/300= 13.3 inches.
You can reduce this 300 dpi to about 200 dpi and still get a fairly good
print. Below 200 the quality will deteriorate rapidly.

So, with your tif file, look at the pixel dimensions of the file. This will
tell you (using 300 dpi as a start) how large a high quality print you can
make.

There is no reason to use Paint for editing or printing. It is just too old
and so much free software is available to do this much better.

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Dmitry Kopnichev

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Nov 8, 2005, 10:10:15 AM11/8/05

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Yves.
Does the free software require to "Select the print size" too? Does not it
see original image size in centimeters or inches in tif file too? I want to
print with exactly the same size as the original scanned paper image, not
with the size which gives "a high quality print".

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Yves Alarie

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Nov 8, 2005, 10:30:46 AM11/8/05

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No printing software "sees" centimeters or inches. The dimensions of an
image is in pixels only and this is the only thing the printing software
sees about your image. No inches or centimeters (see my answer to your
message of 5:44AM).

When you print, you must select a size in inches or centimeters. The
software takes the dimensions of your image in pixels and prints the size
you select.
For a very good print, take the dimensions of your image in pixels and
divide by 300 to get an idea of how large a print you can make, if you want
a smaller print than the answer below there is no problem.
So if the dimensions of your image are 5000 x 4000 pixels, you can print at
16.6 x 13.3 inches. You can reduce 300 down to 200 and still get a decent
print of a larger size. Below 200 the quality of the print will deteriorate
pretty quickly.
Faststone will give you the options such as "fit to page" or "specified
size". It will give you a "preview" of how the image will be printed on the
page by your printer.

However, there is another problem that you must solve before you print. You
must fit the aspect ratio of your image to the aspect ratio of the paper
size you select.

The aspect ratio is simply dividing the width by the height of the pixel
dimensions.
In the example above it would be 5000/4000= 1.25.
So if you print on 10 x 8 in. paper size, 10/8= 1.25 and the image will fit
perfectly.
If you print on 6 x 4 in. paper size, 6/4= 1.5. The image will not fit and
Faststone will show you (in the print preview window) how the image will be
automatically cropped to fit the size you selected. If this is not to your
liking. after you open the image with Faststone, use the crop tool. Crop the
image to the paper size you want to use, placing the crop where you want it,
then print using the paper size you cropped the image with. Faststone will
also let you save the cropped image, with no alteration to your original
file. Go with this option since you may want to print at a different size in
the future and you will want to crop the original image.

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Uncle Joe

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Nov 8, 2005, 9:03:59 PM11/8/05

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Also check out almost everyone's favorite free Windows-based
image viewing/manipulation software known as IrfanView at:

http://www.irfanview.com

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Nov 9, 2005, 9:50:34 AM11/9/05

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MS Photoeditor, Adobe Photoshop and others divide dimensions in pixels not
by an arbitrary number, but by the original scan resolution in dpi. How to
make Paint read the original scan resolution in dpi from a tif file?

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Bob I

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Nov 9, 2005, 11:21:54 AM11/9/05

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All tiff file formats are NOT the same. MS Paint will read SOME original
scan resolutions and not others. If you give it a format that it DOESN'T
read the "dpi" of, it DEFAULTS to 91 dpi. Simple as that. You CAN'T
change MS Paint, so YOU must use a tif format that the "dpi" is read.

RobertVA

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Nov 9, 2005, 8:29:05 PM11/9/05

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Paint doesn't do DPI or image dimensions in real world dimensions like
inces or milimeters. It was written when printers would only do 300 DPI
and had to use a cluster of several of those dots to print very many
different colors. Thus it prints at some really low resolution like 75 DPI.

Paint is really a VERY PRIMATIVE demonstration application that comes
with Windows. Don't expect too much from it. If you want better
capabilities look for a bitmap editing application like Microsoft Photo
Editor, Corel Photopaint or JASC Paintshop (there are others I haven't
tried). It's common for such programs to come bundled with digital
cameras, scanners and Multi Function Devices (MFDs combo
scanner/printer/fax machine).

Dmitry Kopnichev

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Nov 10, 2005, 2:38:56 AM11/10/05

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The problem is - Even if Paint reads an original scan resolutions, it still
prints it as an image with 96 dpi resolution, not the original scan
resolutions, with different than the original size.
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Dmitry Kopnichev

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Nov 10, 2005, 2:42:50 AM11/10/05

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Microsoft Photo Editor does not have an Eraser and a Pencil tools, does it?
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Dmitry Kopnichev

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Nov 10, 2005, 2:48:36 AM11/10/05

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What is an intuitively understandable program with MS Paint capabilities,
which prints with an original scan resolution?

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Nov 11, 2005, 9:55:08 AM11/11/05

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Well, it stands to reason that this number comes from somewhere! Most likely
the DPI of the screen, which on most screens is 96.

Paul

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Yves Alarie

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Nov 11, 2005, 11:51:29 AM11/11/05

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You may want to read this about scanning and then printing a specific size.
http://www.scantips.com/
I still think the fastest way to accomplish what you want is to edit with
Paint, save the file and then open it with
www.faststone.org
then click on File and Print.
A window will open, for size, select "Specified size" and enter it. If the
original photo was say 15 x 10 centimeters, enter this. Then enter your
printer preferences and select the highest resolution. Click Print. As long
as the paper size in your printer is the same or larger than the Specified
size, you will get the print at the size you want.

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pip22

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Nov 14, 2005, 5:23:04 AM11/14/05

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Dmitry, you definitely should not be using a primitive application like MS
Paint for photo editing/printing. Buy a proper photo-editing program and you
will soon learn the relationship between pixels and image dimensions. A good
photo-editing program allows you to specify EXACTLY what size you want the
image to be and at the same time it tells you how many pixels-per-inch the
image will have at that size. It also allows you to to 'crop' to get rid of
any unwanted objects at the outer edges of the image. you can also 'save' the
image in any format you like. MS Paint does not not allow you to do any of
that because it's too simple for photo work.
I'm amazed you are using it for scanning/printing photographs. No wonder you
can't get the photo to print the size you want! use something better!

Dmitry Kopnichev

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Nov 14, 2005, 10:25:50 AM11/14/05

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Thanks!
How to know my screen resolution which Paint uses?
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Dmitry Kopnichev

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Nov 14, 2005, 10:31:31 AM11/14/05

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My scan area was and usually is less than a paper (usually A4) with a text
or drawing. One cannot remember every scan area size to enter in the
"Specified size".

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Dmitry Kopnichev

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Nov 14, 2005, 10:42:32 AM11/14/05

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Thanks!
I use Paint for editing 1 bit b&w drawings, not for scanning/printing
photographs.
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Paul Baker

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Nov 14, 2005, 11:24:14 AM11/14/05

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Why not just print an image at 100% and measure it? Also use the Image |
Attributes menu item to get the size in pixels.

DPI is the number of pixels divided by the number of inches.

If you get 96 DPI or there abouts, it's 96 DPI! Another possibility is 72
DPI. Other values are rare unless you have a super duper high resolution
monitor.

Paul

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Dmitry Kopnichev

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Nov 15, 2005, 1:32:56 AM11/15/05

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Thanks!
Since Paint prints >96 dpi image with larger size, the image does not fit on
one sheet of paper and I cannot measure it.

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