Printing resolution of custom tiles (and more questions)

[Laserschwert]

Hi everybody, I'm the new one. And I've already got a bunch of questions, since modifying Carcassonne really intrigues me, since I've got the new "Carcassonne Big Box" (without "The Tower") for Christmas.

As most custom-tile PDFs offer the actual tiles at a resolution of 150dpi (dots per inch), I was wondering if any of these were actually created at higher resolutions. Working as a media-designer (and applying this both profesionally as well as hobby-wise) I'm basically a resolution-fan, and 300dpi is the usual resolution I work at.

Another thing I was wondering about, what's the basis for, say, the "Forest"-expansion tiles by Novelty? Did he scan the still-connected cardboard-frames of the original tiles? Or did he scan individual tiles? Did anybody ever try create "clean" tile-artworks, without the edges of the tiles being visible? This would make it easier to apply these to blank tiles, as they wouldn't have to be placed 100% exactly.

Sorry for all the questions

[Novelty]

As most custom-tile PDFs offer the actual tiles at a resolution of 150dpi (dots per inch), I was wondering if any of these were actually created at higher resolutions.

My original files are at higher than that I think.

Another thing I was wondering about, what's the basis for, say, the "Forest"-expansion tiles by Novelty? Did he scan the still-connected cardboard-frames of the original tiles? Or did he scan individual tiles?

I just got the scans from the internet... I'm too lazy to do anything "professional" looking.  I figure that (and it's my philosophy that) fan-made tiles should be a bit on the amateurish side so that in case the official publisher picks an idea to publish, they'll have to rework the tiles to their standards or something.    But don't let that stop anyone from making better tiles though!

[koolkat]

i use the default printer resolution that I even don't know!!! And as you could see they look fine.

[Scott]

The 150dpi limitation might be introduced during the PDF-ing process.

[Novelty]

The 150dpi limitation might be introduced during the PDF-ing process.

I think so too.  My PDF maker thing has Good (Default), Very Good and Excellent.  I am guessing the default is 150dpi and the Very Good is 300dpi.  Can someone tell me how do I check for dpi on a pdf?  I'm really clueless with PDFs.

[Purity]

why dont you just set your tool to "excellent" ?? ;-)

[Novelty]

Bandwidth.  Gantry is paying for this site out of his pocket with no way to recover the costs.  I'm not sure I want to upload a big file to make him go over his limit, whatever it is when other people downloads it.

[Gantry]

Yes, currently we are under the limits, but considering the vigorous production of fan-made material, we will approach the limits in another year or so.  Makes sense to keep the resolution a reasonable trade-off for now, although I'm willing to do what it takes to cover this if the community desires it.

[Novelty]

If anyone needs better resolution for the tiles that I've made, just send me a PM or an email specifying which expansion and I'll make those in a higher resolution and send them directly to your email inbox (hopefully, your email inbox will be able to take the file size).

[Laserschwert]

Sounds good...

Alternatively the big ones can always be made available via free online sharing services, like http://fileload.us/ , http://www.megaupload.com/ or http://www.sharebee.com/ (Rapidshare changed its rules regarding unregistered uploads, so that one falls flat here).

Can someone tell me how do I check for dpi on a pdf?

Well, I did it the complicated way: I marked a single tile (by clicking it), and copy/pasted it to Photoshop. This way, the tile get's copied to the clipboard (and thus pasted in PS) at its original size (and not the displayed size). Playing with the "Image size..."-settings (with "Resample image" being unchecked) revealed the dpi-size.

[Scott]

I've posted stuff to Megaupload in the past, but many people seem to dislike the extra step.

[Purity]

well as an alternative way to get higher resolution, why not? sounds good to me (and i think we dont need a separate file for each variant, packing them by month would do the job as well and also saves time and effort) ...