I wonder if someone can help me.  I can't seem to save things at 300 DPI in Vue 5 Infinite!  I set it within the render options but when I save it and reopen it in Photoshop it has saved at 72 DPI.  Am I doing something wrong?

I find that if you try to render off a 300DPI TIFF file in Vue it doesn't work. Try saving it as a BMP at 300 DPI, it should work then.

Thanks so much Elminster, you solved the problem!  I wonder why it won't do it to tif's though! 

Does it really matter wether it has 72 dpi or 5000 ? What counts is the amount of pixels you render in Vue. On what area they are spread out you can easily define in Photoshop - especially when you go there with your image anyway.

So what counts is that you have a method to bring your images from Vue to Photoshop in a format you are happy with. Tif or Bmp is not really important.

The reason for using DPI is to keep a good resolution at printing without making huge files.  This is useful for websites etc.  (For a clearer explanation see http://www.rogercavanagh.com/pstips/tip01-1.stm )  

Working in print business i know just a little bit about that. I simply do not see a difference between an image with 5000 pixels and 72 dpi and an image with 5000 pixels and 300 dpi. There is none simply. Especially not in file size, when the file format is the same.

Well... they way I understood it was that an image that is 5000 ppi and 72 dpi will print large and pixelated where as one that is 5000 ppi and 300 dpi would print a lot smaller but crisp and detailed and both images would be exactly the same in terms of bytes.  However, I am a nurse, not in the print business so I thank you for your advice. :)

DPI is the LEAST important number in the 3-part equation when figuring out the size of an image. The ONLY time dpi comes into play is when you're figuring out how large your image will print properly based on how it is to be printed.

A 2400x3000 image file will give you an 8x10 print for publication (divide by 300 - get it?) - and actually, it can be printed bigger as you can REALLY go down to counting on 212dpi to figure out the largest you can print it, and it will still be sharp for publication (9 out of 10 times, publications are printed at 150 lines per inch - they tell you they REQUIRE double that finished size for the sake of quality - that being the size it will be printed - an ad that is 2x3.5 inches, or a full page spread?).

That same image, printed at your minilab: Labs using LEDs and lasers to expose REAL photgraphic paper (not inkjet) actually smooth things out a little bit and you can figure out the largest you are able to print it by dividiung by 125 (believe it or not!) so you can actually print a sharp 19.2x24 inch picture.

Inkjet: 150dpi is the lowest you can go before you start to see pixellation. Why? Because when you print a 16x20 inch picture (again, divide our starting numbers above by 150) you're NOT going to be holding it inches from your face, and the edges in the picture blend VERY nicely, and inkjet printers ALSO do a bit of smoothing themselves, so you don't need to count on a huge dpi setting.

Wabe is exactly right - a 2400x3000 image file is the exact same file at 10dpi or 5000dpi. Dpi is the unit we figure out when coming up with an image we can hold in our hands (physical world dimensions) - until then, it's actual PPI you can change on a whim and never affect a thing with your image. When you go to print it out, depending on your method (one of the 3 described above) you set your dpi to figure out the maximum size before noticeable pixellation.

Hope that makes sense-
-Lew ;-)

Wabe and Thundering1 have stated all this quite correctly.  I print on an Epson 9800 giclee wide format printer (to 44' wide).  I upsample my rendered images with Lanczos or B-spline filters x2 to obtain a print resolution of about 240 DPI or higher (minimum I use is 200 DPI).

File size is determined (all things being equal) by horizontal and vertical pixel count.  Pixel resolution numbers are related to file size, DPI defines pixel density.  The larger the pixel count, the more available information in the image. The greater the pixel density (DPI), the finer the information is displayed per square inch (or cm -- if using metric).

Quote - Wabe and Thundering1 have stated all this quite correctly.  I print on an Epson 9800 giclee wide format printer (to 44' wide).  I upsample my rendered images with Lanczos or B-spline filters x2 to obtain a print resolution of about 240 DPI or higher (minimum I use is 200 DPI).

File size is determined (all things being equal) by horizontal and vertical pixel count.  Pixel resolution numbers are related to file size, DPI defines pixel density.  The larger the pixel count, the more available information in the image. The greater the pixel density (DPI), the finer the information is displayed per square inch (or cm -- if using metric).

Lost an edit...?

The larger the pixel count, based on an original source image, the more available information in the image. The greater the pixel density (DPI), the finer the information is displayed per square inch (or cm -- if using metric).