Resizing graphics for Blair Line Bill Board

[Philip H]

back in the day (!) @Ian MacMillan threw up a bunch of N scale billboard images sized for the BLMA modern billboard.  Those image links are broken, but i have down loaded a number of other images I think I can use as period correct billboards.  Problem is when I go to resize them to fit my Blair Line Modern Billboard, the software I have access to wants to resize in pixels, and I have the billboard measurements in inches.  Can someone translate for me from pixels to inches?

[engineshop]

I don't know which software you use but mine (free one) lets change pixel/inch/mm in a drop down menu.

I checked on my software 1" x 1" equals 200 x 200 pixels. I just don't know if that is a universal number or does it have anything to do with the resolution of the software Windows7 and/or 32/64bit and/or screen resolution.

[wcfn100]

Can someone translate for me from pixels to inches?

Using MSPaint?

The only way really translate is to know exactly what DPI the picture will be printed at.  So an 1800 pixels image will print 3" at 600DPI and 6" at 300DPI or 9" at 200DPI etc...

Some printer software might have enough tools to get the right picture size, just go to print and look through the print dialog settings.  You could also  try inserting the picture into wordpad where you can at least visually resize the picture in inches without worrying about the rest.

Or just download GIMP (I assume that wouldn't have any problems doing all of this).

Jason

[peteski]

Corel PhotoPaint and Draw are designed just for this type of tasks. But like Jason said, you need to know the resolution (dpi) of the output device (printer).

A 900x300 pixel bitmap image would print out as a 9" x 3" image on a 100 dpi printer, a 3" x 1" image on a 300dpi printer or a 1.5" x 0.5" image on a 600dpi printer.  I hope that this gives you an idea how that work.

That is just a basic example. Many programs also let you print using adjustable scaling where you can print the bitmap at some percentage (like 50% or 200%). Then the printout size gets resized by the specified percentage beforem being printed.  Simple, isn't it?     

The bottom line is that more advanced bitmap editing or publishing programs (like Gimp, Inkscape, Corel or Adobe Illustrator) make this easy as they allow you to specify all the dimensions so  you know exactly what the printout will look like,.

[sirenwerks]

Try GIMP, it's free.

[Palouse51]

.....Can someone translate for me from pixels to inches?

Simple answer: dpi = dots per inch. If your printer is set to print 150dpi or 300dpi etc then doing the math is simple once you know that.

I would also say that using GIMP for image resizing as others have mentioned is a good way to go. It can do a lot of other things and you may find that you can edit your images to something you like better. It's a great program and it is free as in no cost, but also free as in freedom. Open source software is something that we should all be endorsing. Just my 2 cents.

[Ian MacMillan]

I do have them all still in dropbox. I just need to update the thread as they were linked to Picasa and sometimes those links get all messed up over time.

[Philip H]

I do have them all still in dropbox. I just need to update the thread as they were linked to Picasa and sometimes those links get all messed up over time.

This would make folks happy I suspect!

[peteski]

Why not upload them directly to the forum (once  increases the hosting space)?  That way they would be permanently available (for as long as TRW is around).