Al Beatty Loc: Boise, Idaho

Hi group,

Will I see a difference in a print if I change the Photoshop CS6 jpg-save-quality setting from 100% to 80%? OR would I get a better picture by leaving the quality setting at 100% and change the PPI from 300 to 200? The reason I ask is I'm working on a fairly large print-on-demand book with a lot of pictures and screen captures. Therefore, my Adobe InDesign (AID) file is getting fairly large. I the past when I try to convert a large AID file to PDF to upload to Kindle my old computer will freeze up when the file gets much larger than 100MB. I've been reading PDF info pages on the Internet for the past couple of hours and I'm more confused than I was when I started. By the way, reducing the quality setting from 100% to 80% saves about 60% in files size. Take care & ...

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

I can't begin to guess how to make a print-on-demand book. But, I want to follow the discussion.

krashdragon

Can you save stuff in chapters?
Best way to see about the prints is to just make a couple sets at the different resolutions. Part of what you need to know is determined by the printer itself, as well as the prints. Screen captures are also another variable... depends on the screen and it's related software.
You might just need a more powerful computer with a dedicated graphics card.

Bipod

Perhaps you should break the book into separate files for each chapter.
That would also keep downloading time for each file reasonable.
And it would make your job editing the files quicker.

How much image quality an image needs is entirely dependent on the subject
and how one plans to view it (size, resolution and dyanmic range).

JPEG uses lossy compression. The more image information you throw away,
the higher the compression ratio and the smaller the resulting file. What
the image loses mostly is detail.

A line drawing can stand more loss of detail than a diagram that contains
small print. A sports photo needs apparent sharpness but not much detail
(just enough to read the numbers on the uniform!), while a group portrait
needs enough detail so that the people in the photo are recognizable.

Printers use very complex algorithms to re-size images. The simplest
case is where you are sending, say, a 300 ppi B&W image to a 300 dpi printer
and you want to print it at full scale. Then you get 300 dpi resolution--no
problem.

Color is a complication. Resolution is always lower than the dpi, because the
image is dithered. Avoid color unless it is absolutely necessary. You'll need a
1200 dpi printer to print a 250 ppi color image without loss of resolution. This
page discusses some of the issues and provides a calculatorfor required dpi:
https://www.scantips.com/basics3b.html
A larger calculator that knows about scanning, printing and enlargement is
available here:
https://www.scantips.com/calc.html

The best way is to decide is to try it: take a short chapter (or create one)
and print it both ways. But be sure to try the lowest dpi you want your
users to be able to use and the highest dpi.

You certainly can set requirements for printing the file. That avoids needless
hassles and negative feedback. You could for example, require a 600 dpi
printer if that's necessary to make the document usable.

The "standard" printer for most documents is a 300 dpi laser printer. 600 dpi is
common but often is not selected, since its overkill for most text documents.
1200 dpi is available on more expensive printers, but rarely used for documents.

No one wants to print a long document on an ink-jet printer unless they have
no choice: too slow and uses too much ink.

I always like it when download links tell me the file size and number of pages.
Giving the user some idea what to expect is very helpful.

Al Beatty Loc: Boise, Idaho

Hi group,
My thanks to all of you for your suggestions. The book we're working on will be uploaded to Kindle Direct Publishing for print-on-demand (POD) distribution. The file uploaded to Kindle must be a single PDF file but I'm investigating the option of "assembling" the book from several PDF files to make the final PDF. I'll see how that works. By the way, if you are interested, creating a PDF file from another "publisher" file like InDesign reduces the size by about 60% (give or take). My problem is working with an old computer and it "freezes" about 3/4 of the way through the PDF conversion process when the file being converted is bigger than 100MB. Someone suggested a computer upgrade and that's really the best solution. I just hate to get another computer. It's kind of like having to break in a new pair of shoes after the old pair has become "an old friend." Thanks again for your suggestion and information. Take care & ...