What resolution do you design at?

[Jalyha]

Well... all mine are at 72 dpi, then, I suppose, since I never messed with that...

Does that affect why my images look really bad when I make them smaller to fit the forum size limit? (Wait does higher dpi affect the file size too?)

[Gamerprinter]

I use a vector drawing program, so drawing units for me is in inches - at the design stage, there is no such thing as pixels, and resolution is meaningless.

Once the entire map is created at whatever dimensions in inches, such as 8.5 x 11, 18 x 24, or 36 x 96 inches, only upon export to a graphic file format does resolution come into play. In whatever format I choose (usually JPG), I export at anything between VT scale 50 pixels per inch up to 300 ppi. If the map was intended for use in a Virtual Tabletop application, I would export at the best resolution for that given application; Roll20 is 70 dpi for example. Because the map is in its designed file format (.XAR) I can freely export multiple resolutions and file formats from the same design. I don't usually need to rescale the map for any reason, but as a vector file, I can do this as well. That is if the design was created at 18 x 24, I could easily rescale this to 36 x 48, prior to export.

300 ppi resolution maps are intended for print, while all smaller resolutions are for either downloadable PDF scale (96 ppi), or other specific VT required ppi resolution.

@Jalyha - dpi definitely affects the file size. Consider that Anna Meyer just sent me her most recent Greyhawk map for printing, its a PDF at 36" x 48", 300 ppi and the file is 460 MB in size. She had sent me an uncompressed JPG and that was over 1.6 GB, but I had problems sending that to the printer.

[Kennyt]

I use a vector drawing program, so drawing units for me is in inches - at the design stage, there is no such thing as pixels, and resolution is meaningless.

Once the entire map is created at whatever dimensions in inches, such as 8.5 x 11, 18 x 24, or 36 x 96 inches, only upon export to a graphic file format does resolution come into play. In whatever format I choose (usually JPG), I export at anything between VT scale 50 pixels per inch up to 300 ppi. If the map was intended for use in a Virtual Tabletop application, I would export at the best resolution for that given application; Roll20 is 70 dpi for example. Because the map is in its designed file format (.XAR) I can freely export multiple resolutions and file formats from the same design. I don't usually need to rescale the map for any reason, but as a vector file, I can do this as well. That is if the design was created at 18 x 24, I could easily rescale this to 36 x 48, prior to export.

300 ppi resolution maps are intended for print, while all smaller resolutions are for either downloadable PDF scale (96 ppi), or other specific VT required ppi resolution.

@Jalyha - dpi definitely affects the file size. Consider that Anna Meyer just sent me her most recent Greyhawk map for printing, its a PDF at 36" x 48", 300 ppi and the file is 460 MB in size. She had sent me an uncompressed JPG and that was over 1.6 GB, but I had problems sending that to the printer.

Hello, just reading through this forum - I use roll20 and been slowly trying to make my maps outside of roll20 instead of the EASY way inside roll 20 (just cause i want to actually "own" my maps) so my first attempt HERE, looks fairly good for my first try but when i import it into roll20 i have to stretch it a bit (i think i made the squares to small at 50x50) do you know what roll20 square size is by any chance? i'd like to remake my map into one that i don't have to distort inside the program. Thanks!

[Kennyt]

Oops nevermind - found it! https://wiki.roll20.net/Image_Best_Practices_for_Roll20
and https://wiki.roll20.net/Mapping_with_Gimp

[- Max -]

Well... all mine are at 72 dpi, then, I suppose, since I never messed with that...

Does that affect why my images look really bad when I make them smaller to fit the forum size limit? (Wait does higher dpi affect the file size too?)

DPi affects the size, yes but 72 DPI should be enough quality for a web use like in this forum.