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Actual inches in Photoshop ruler

Community Beginner ,
Jun 02, 2011 Jun 02, 2011

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Hoping someone can help with what I originally thought was a real simple question.  But I’ve looked everywhere online, and the answers get complicated. 

I would like my Photoshop rulers to show actual inches.  Period.  I know how to change the ruler from pixels to inches, but when I do, the “inches” are really about half an inch each.  So then (based on online tips), I play with the resolution, etc. and I can change the size of the “inches” on the ruler, but I still can’t get Photoshop’s “inches” to be real actual inches, as measured with a ruler.  I'm sure I can evetually find the right rez to make an inch equal an inch, but do I have to?  When you buy a ruler at a hardware store, you don't have to experiment with several before finding one that measures inches correctly.  An in ch is an inch on every ruler on earth.  So what am i missing with PS?

How do I get my Photoshop ruler measure an in exactly like a ruler does?  Thanks if someone can help !!

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Deleted User
Jun 03, 2011 Jun 03, 2011

Semaphoric already gave you the answer, but maybe it's easier for you, with an image:

screen.jpg

You need to find your screen ppi or calculate it by yourself and enter it there. If you set ps up this way and you click on "print size" when in zoom mode, you'll get a very good result.

Off topic: Agreed with Marian. Your approach is flawed. You need to work at the devices resolution, not on the physical size of the screen.

Displaying sizes accurately make infinitely more sense when working for print. (like for e

...

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LEGEND ,
Jun 02, 2011 Jun 02, 2011

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The measurable size of the rulers depend on the dimensions of the file and your zoom level. It's the only way to have precise measurements inside of Photoshop–the rulers will always change when you zoom.

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Community Beginner ,
Jun 02, 2011 Jun 02, 2011

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Thank you, Jeff,  I can certainly understand that the ruler will change when I zoom.   But what about when I open a brand new image at 2 inches by 2 inches, and the zoom is set at the basic 100%.  I measure the onscreen image that is created, and it's about 1.4 x 1.4, and not 2 x 2.    Why is Photoshop compressing a 2-inch image and making it look smaller?  It prints at exactly 2 x 2, so I want it to appear as 2 x 2 on my screen.

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LEGEND ,
Jun 02, 2011 Jun 02, 2011

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It boils down to the pixel resolution of your display...

The ruler will still be accurate in it's on-screen measurements...do you use the measure tool?

If you want the physical dimensions to be "real" then you would need to set your image resolution to be the same PPI as your display. Course if you want print resolution then you have no alternative to using a higher PPI resolution which will alter the physical dimensions of the rulers.

I really don't think you'll ever get a 1:1 ratio of real life dimension to digital file dimension. That's not the way Photoshop was designed to work. I would suggest dealing with image dimension in the "Photoshop Way™" and just learn how to use the rulers the way they work...

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New Here ,
Jan 01, 2022 Jan 01, 2022

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I see a ruler marking an inch yet with no fractions of the inch visable as they were before ADOBE switched me over to Photoshop 2022.  Pls help.  there has to be a regular ruler to measure the sizes of 2 dimensional work I am doing

 

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Community Expert ,
Jun 03, 2011 Jun 03, 2011

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If you know what the native resolution of your display is, you can enter that in Edit > Preferences > Units and Rulers > New Document Preset Resolutions > Screen resolution. If you view the image on another display, though (say, connecting your computer to your large-screen HDTV, or on another computer), you'll be back to square one.

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Explorer ,
Jun 03, 2011 Jun 03, 2011

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I've had this same issue and by going into the prefrences > screen Resolution i was able to get it ALOT closer... its still not 100 % but its close enough...

my 2"x2" comes out about 1.8"x1.8" on screen

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Community Beginner ,
Jun 03, 2011 Jun 03, 2011

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Sadly, the discussion must continue. An inch is always an inch...Adobe just doesn't get it and displays their own version of an inch.

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LEGEND ,
Jun 03, 2011 Jun 03, 2011

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What you're seeing in the ruler is what will be an inch when printed at the current ppi value.  What's wrong with that?  Is that not how it's working for you?

-Noel

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Community Beginner ,
Jun 03, 2011 Jun 03, 2011

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Noel, hi.   Yes, when my image is printed, it comes out at exactly the 2x2 dimensions I set up.  So then the question is how do I get my screen display to show the exact same size as what the print/output display will be.  (I realize the problems that will occur for, say an image of 24" by 36" that won't fit on any screen...but I'm talking about a mere 2 x 2 image.)  I design cell phone graphics and I need my PS screen display to appear exactly the same size as the cell screen will be.

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Guest
Jun 03, 2011 Jun 03, 2011

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TomGroupGA wrote:

...I design cell phone graphics and I need my PS screen display to appear exactly the same size as the cell screen will be.

Screen designers (you, web designers, video graphic artists) need to view their work at 100% in Photoshop so that every pixel they see translates perfectly to the digital output device. That means you should be more concerned about the number of pixels wide/high than with physical inches.

Trying to approximate a physical size on your screen means that you will not be viewing your work at 100%... and that is simply insane for a screen designer. You need to evaluate every pixel without the live resampling that occurs when you view at anything but 100%.

Trying to chase after this 1" measure is surely going to screw up a screen artist. What design school taught you this nonsense?

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Guest
Jun 03, 2011 Jun 03, 2011

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Semaphoric already gave you the answer, but maybe it's easier for you, with an image:

screen.jpg

You need to find your screen ppi or calculate it by yourself and enter it there. If you set ps up this way and you click on "print size" when in zoom mode, you'll get a very good result.

Off topic: Agreed with Marian. Your approach is flawed. You need to work at the devices resolution, not on the physical size of the screen.

Displaying sizes accurately make infinitely more sense when working for print. (like for example checking readbility of small text, prior to making a test print)

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LEGEND ,
Jun 03, 2011 Jun 03, 2011

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TomGroupGA wrote:

Noel, hi.   Yes, when my image is printed, it comes out at exactly the 2x2 dimensions I set up.  So then the question is how do I get my screen display to show the exact same size as what the print/output display will be.  (I realize the problems that will occur for, say an image of 24" by 36" that won't fit on any screen...but I'm talking about a mere 2 x 2 image.)  I design cell phone graphics and I need my PS screen display to appear exactly the same size as the cell screen will be.

Here are my thoughts on that:

1.  Figure out what your exact screen resolution is on your development system's monitor.  Do this by measuring the display and dividing by the number of pixels.  You might get a number like 96 ppi.  Go into Photoshop's Edit - Preferences - Units & Rulers menu and enter that value into your Screen Resolution field for safe keeping.

2.  Figure out what the exact screen resolution on the mobile device is.  You might get a number like 326 ppi for an iPhone 4, for example.  Enter that into the Print Resolution field for safe keeping.

3.  Choose File - New to create a new document.   Set it to the number of horizontal and vertical pixels you want to work with and the output device resolution (e.g., 326 ppi in this example) and before you hit OK, click the [ Save Preset... ] button.  Name it something appropriate like iPhone4 1" x 2".  Keep in mind you might want to do this for a number of different sized images and devices.

4.  Whenever you go into File - New to start a new project, choose an appropriate preset that you've saved, or set the pixel counts and ppi value manually.

5.  While working, examine your design at whatever zoom is comfortable to work at, but remember to look at it at 100% pixel size on the monitor (which will display larger than on the final device) to ensure all your effects are nice and clean.  You can do this, while the Zoom Tool is active in the Tools Panel, by pressing the [ Actual Pixels ] button at the top of the Photoshop main window.

6.  If you want to preview it at the actual size it will show on the target device, press the [ Print Size ] button (you're equating printing with publication on your target device).  Keep in mind your main display monitor is probably nowhere near as pixel-rich* as the mobile device you're targeting.

7.  Do your final review of your graphic on your mobile device.

Hope this helps!

-Noel

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Guest
Jun 03, 2011 Jun 03, 2011

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Maybe a small extra tip, based on Noel's step n° 5:

Instead of having to switch between 100% view and whatever zoom level you prefer working on:

window>arrange>new window for xxxx.xxx

I always use this feature as I mostly edit at high zoom levels ( beauty retouching). The extra window allows you to keep track of what you're doing without having to muck about with zooming in and out.

Edit: this was obviously for the OP, not for Noel

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LEGEND ,
Jun 03, 2011 Jun 03, 2011

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Excellent tip, Hobotor!

-Noel

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Guest
Jun 03, 2011 Jun 03, 2011

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ok, I just read you design cell phone graphics. If you click "save for web and devices" you'll find "device central". You can test your designs on different "screens" there. Maybe it's something you should delve into.

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Valorous Hero ,
Jun 03, 2011 Jun 03, 2011

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Didn't read the whole thread but saw that it was answered and in case it wasn't mentioned this is how you calculate the screen resolution of your monitor.

The square root of pixel width squared + pixel height squared divided by (monitor size, for example 24, 27, 30 inches). I have a hotkey for the Print size from the View menu and my rulers in PS are exactly the same size as real life rulers.

Kudos to the Photoshop team and boo to the Illustrator team who didn't put such feature in the Illustrator preferences.

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LEGEND ,
Jun 03, 2011 Jun 03, 2011

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emil emil wrote:

The square root of pixel width squared + pixel height squared divided by (monitor size, for example 24, 27, 30 inches).


NOT the best way to do it!  You don't want to rely on the manufacturer's published monitor size!

Take a tape measure.  Measure the distance horizontally or vertically from edge to edge of the visible display.  Then divide that into the number of horizontal or vertical pixels.  Simple as that.

-Noel

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Valorous Hero ,
Jun 03, 2011 Jun 03, 2011

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If you want to do it by measuring follow the instruction on the right side of this link under the image that says 200 X 200 pixels.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_density

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Guest
Jun 03, 2011 Jun 03, 2011

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TomGroupGA wrote:

...An inch is always an inch...

...in physical space.

You just don't get that a digital display is not a physical space.

Photoshop cannot possibly know what physical size your display is and render a true inch at 100% view.

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Explorer ,
Jun 03, 2011 Jun 03, 2011

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...Word!

Marian Driscoll wrote:

TomGroupGA wrote:

...An inch is always an inch...

...in physical space.

You just don't get that a digital display is not a physical space.

Photoshop cannot possibly know what physical size your display is and render a true inch at 100% view.

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New Here ,
Jan 01, 2022 Jan 01, 2022

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all greek to me.......I had what I consider a regular ruler with increments/fractions of an inch showing prior to ADOBE changing my program to 2022 version.

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Community Expert ,
Jun 03, 2011 Jun 03, 2011

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I do not know why this thread is so long.

Calulate your screen's dpi resolution if you do not know it.

Use menu edit preferences and set the display DPI resolution for the screen you are using.

Then use menu View and select view print size. Photoshop will zoom your image so 1" will display  1" in size on your display.

If you set ruler units to inches and set rulers on you will see 1" is 1" in size when you measure it. If you zoom your image to anything other size then print size 1"  will not display 1" in size when measured.

JJMack

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LEGEND ,
Jun 03, 2011 Jun 03, 2011

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Oops, just got longer with the same info. 

Oops, just got even longer with a meaningless comment.

-Noel

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Explorer ,
Jun 03, 2011 Jun 03, 2011

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Oh man, This is an intertaining thread...

With seems to have some tension... lol

"did i just ad to all the nonsense..."

Noel Carboni wrote:

Oops, just got longer with the same info.

Oops, just got longer with a meaningless comment.

-Noel

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