Page 376 - Xara Designer Pro X17

376 Photo Handling

You can change the resolution used in this dialog, by either choosing the physical size
you want for the optimized image (width/height in pixels), or by entering a different dpi
(eg. perhaps 150dpi if you want print quality).

If you choose the dpi option the value you enter is remembered and becomes the default
just for the current session. You can also maintain the photo's current resolution by
choosing CURRENT from the PPI list.

You can also choose to optimize as a PNG (produces much larger images, but better
quality for graphics and text images) or change the quality used for JPEG optimization
(higher quality means larger JPEG sizes).

If your photo is cropped, only the visible part of the image is preserved in the optimized
image.

For printing, a photo resolution of 150dpi gives very good results, whilst 300 dpi will
provide the highest quality commercial printing (most people cannot tell the difference
between 150dpi and 300dpi, but the 300dpi requires four times as much memory or file
space).

Warning: "OPTIMIZE PHOTO" is a "destructive" operation. When you save the file the parts
of the image removed are lost, and the resolution changed permanently (you can of
course undo the changes while the file is open for editing).

You can optimize multiple photos at once if you want them to all have the same dpi.
Select the photos you want to optimize and then choose the OPTIMIZE operation as
described above. If your photos have different dimensions, the option to optimize by
pixel size is disabled and you must just choose the required dpi.

Or you can use the "UTILITIES" > "OPTIMIZE ALL IMAGES" facility to optimize all the bitmap
images in your document in one operation.

The optimization process will convert large non-JPEG images to smaller JPEG images if
it decides that the image can be stored and exported as a JPEG without an unacceptable
loss in quality.

Note that after optimizing the original unoptimized and now unreferenced photo remains
in the BITMAP GALLERY (ON PAGE 350). This means it is still in memory and so the memory
requirements of your design will not have been reduced. Simply save your design and
reload after optimizing, to eliminate the original large images.

Converting objects or drawings to bitmaps

You can easily create a bitmap from any object, or part of your drawing, including from
other bitmaps. The bitmaps can be any size or resolution and can contain transparency.
You can also create bitmaps with reduced numbers of colors which can be useful for web
use.