Sizing Photoshop Photo to Match Pagemaker Frame

[BeckyLou]

First I set my rule in both applications to measure in picas, thinking they would then be apples to apples.

In Pagemaker, I use my control palette and see a measurement of something like "23p5".

Go into Photoshop to size my photo to "23p5" but photoshop wants measurements something like "12,755" and won't take "23p5" if I try to type it in.

How can I match up sizes between the two?

 

[WizyWyg]

use pixels or inches. much more easier.

 

[tjd]

Definitely pixels, then after you've sized and inserted everything happily, go back to picas and point so your type handling is familiar in PM. Inches??? oh yeah, I remember that ... must of been hell at NASA trying to figure out the last 6 inches of 240,000 miles, oh, well... - "Oops! I've joined a club that'll have me as a member?" -

 

[blueark]

Pixels?! I don't use PageMaker, but any page layout software I've seen uses physical measurements, like millimeters, centimeters, inches, picas, etc. Pixels don't really work in this environment because the file has to output to a fixed printed size on any printer.

For example, suppose you have an image that's 300 pixels square, and placed it beside a square block in PageMaker that measured 1 inch square, what size should it be? If you're outputting to a 300dpi printer, it will be the same size as the square. 600dpi, and it will be smaller than the square. At this point it should be obvious that any page layout software that uses pixels as a means of measurement would be very unreliable!

I know some page layout programs have an output to web option, and pixels do have some significance in that case, but I've yet to see any serious web designer use these features...

 

[ccdriver]

If you're using PICAS in Pagemaker, then the measurement you referred to (23p5) means 23 Picas and 5 Points where 12 Points make up a PICA. Another way to say that would be 23 5/12 Picas. If you change to a decimal that would be 23.42 picas. [5 divided by 12 = .4166666] I've rounded UP. In my opinion, it's better to round UP. You will lose a little bit at the edge but if you round DOWN, you'll end up with a smaller photo. That might not matter but it might if you're trying to align other objects.

Of course, if you used 23p3 , 23p6, or 23p9, that would be EXACTLY 23.25, 23.5, and 23.75 respectively.

Hope that helped!