Placed Images in CS : Quick question >>>

[BKR@adobeforums.com]

greetings,

just a quick question about placed images in illustrator cs.

when sizing a placed and linked image, does illustrator recalculate the image information when scaling down, then back up again?

in my mind i'm thinking that it's referencing the placed image (in my case it's larger than what i need) so scaling down from there then back up a bit but still being smaller than the original linked image this should all be fine.

thoughts?

[Chelan@adobeforums.com]

The pixel information is not repurposed, so for instance if you had a 72 dpi image and you scaled it 50%, it would then turn in to a 144 dpi image.

Chelan

[BKR@adobeforums.com]

- i have a 300 ppi image larger than what i need.
- i've scaled it down to size
- i need to scale it up slightly (but still smaller than the original placed and linked image)

questions:
every time i scale down from the original size does it rasterize it? then when i scale up slightly from there then i loose quality? so then i should have already known exatly the size i need and dare not resize it in illustrator?

or...

every time i scale down from the original size then scale up a bit (but still smaller than the original placed and linked image) does it take a look at the original linked image (huge) and rasterize from there thus not loosing quality?

[Chelan@adobeforums.com]

The pixel dimensions in the original JPEG linked image will not change no matter what scaling you do in Illustrator. In the above case, you should be OK. The image will be at a higher PPI than the original in your example.

Crack open the Document Info palette and select "Linked Objects" and 'Selection Only" and then selec the linked object, and go to Object >Transform >Scale, and you can see what Illustrator is doing.

Chelan

[LenHewitt@adobeforums.com]

BKR,

>>every time i scale down from the original size does it rasterize it? <<

It IS a raster image already. All you are telling Illustrator is at what
size to print it. You are not affecting the pixels within the image in any
way, no re-sampling whatsoever is being done.

[BKR@adobeforums.com]

whohoo!

thank you for your help! ... that's the info i was looking for :)