DPI is a measurement for printers ONLY. If you are speaking about screen resolution, it is better to refer to it is PPI.In regards to the DPI vs. PPI discussion, points to keep in mind:
1. Pixel or "picture element" is a basic element of color described on a video screen. Your screen has a set resolution that you can rescale if you have the right size monitor and proper video card. This however is measured both in pixels and dots per inch.
The two major ones, Photoshop, and GIMP measure these by Pixels/Inch, or PPI.2. Most graphics software, even web graphics is not interdependant of DPI for measurement scale. Digital graphics and dpi can not be separated - not by definition of most graphics applications. They offer no "PPI" option.
Not true. In my experience, it is the user who does not know the difference. You will hardly ever see a setting in creating a new graphic or render that says "X number dots per Inch". The only time you will run into DPI is in print dialog boxes, where it is VERY important. This is usually based off your printer, but sometimes you can set the PPI to closely match the DPI. It is relatively based on the profiles you have set up for your printer within a program like photoshop.I agree that a pixel and a dot are two different things, however software developers don't know the difference.
At that scale, each foot would be equivilent to 40 px. So a map size of 50 feet (or 10 5 foot squares) would be 2000 px X 2000 px.Regarding software and to help others understand how to create properly scaled map graphics for VTT use, they are treated as the same. You can't treat them as "apples and oranges" that will only confuse others.
Know then that a pixel and a dot are two different things. But if you want to 200 pixels to equal 5 feet in VTT scale, then you have to create your graphics at 1 inch equals 5 feet scale saved at 200 dpi - to get what you're looking for. That's all I'm saying.
This would really depend. Again, I submit that it is up to you, and your players. It really helps to think of VTTs as web applications. Having a map that is 100 feet square equaling 4000 x 4000 px would be okay, if your VTT could handle that. Depending on what is on that map though, you could be looking at a significant filesize. If you are running a map that is like one of my photos (at 8.1 MP) then a 3264 x 2448 map size could run at 944 Kb unoptimized. If you were to save that out at 80%, you could be looking at a filesize of 755 Kb, which is not too bad.My only question now is what is the dimensions of a standard map used for VTT use, in other words how many "feet" is shown on the monitor and how many feet are allowed off monitor that you can "scroll/move characters" within the same map?
If I knew that I could optimize my map designs for that scale and dimension in mind and create optimal VTT maps.
I hope that helped out.
Sandeman