Operation Manual

Working with bitmaps | 519
Importing bitmaps
You can import a bitmap into a drawing either directly or by linking it to an external file. When you link to an external file, edits to the
original file are automatically updated in the imported file. After you import a bitmap, the status bar provides information about its color
mode, size, and resolution. For more information about importing bitmaps, see “Importing files” on page 597. For more information
about managing externally linked bitmaps, see “Adding bookmarks and hyperlinks to documents” on page 258.
You can also resample or crop a bitmap while importing. For more information, see “To resample a bitmap while importing ” on page 599
and “To crop a bitmap while importing” on page 600.
Cropping bitmaps
Cropping removes unwanted areas of a bitmap. To crop a bitmap into a rectangular shape, you can use the Crop tool. For more
information, see “To crop objects” on page 176. To crop a bitmap into an irregular shape, you can use the Shape tool and the Crop bitmap
command.
To crop a bitmap
1
Click the Shape tool .
2 Select a bitmap.
3 Drag the corner nodes to reshape the bitmap.
If you want to add a node, double-click the node boundary (dotted line) by using the Shape tool where you want the node to appear.
4
Click Bitmaps Crop bitmap.
You cannot crop a bitmap comprised of more than one object.
You can also crop a selected bitmap after you drag the corner nodes by clicking the Pick tool , then clicking the Crop bitmap
button on the property bar.
Changing the dimensions and resolution of bitmaps
After you add a bitmap to a drawing, you can change its dimensions and resolution.
Changing dimensions
You can change the physical dimensions of bitmaps by increasing or decreasing their height and width. When you increase the dimensions,
the application inserts new pixels between existing pixels, and their colors are based on the colors of adjacent pixels. If you increase the
dimensions of bitmaps significantly, bitmaps may appear stretched and pixelated.
The size of the bitmap on your screen depends on the pixel height and width of the bitmap, on the zoom level, and on your monitor
settings. As a result, the size of the bitmap may appear different on your screen and in print.
Changing bitmap resolution
You can change the resolution of a bitmap to increase or decrease its file size. Resolution is measured by the number of dots per inch (dpi)
when the bitmap is printed. The resolution you choose depends on how the bitmap is output. Typically, bitmaps created only for display
on computer monitors are 96 or 72 dpi and bitmaps created for the web are 72 dpi. Bitmaps created for printing on desktop printers are
generally 150 dpi, while professionally printed bitmaps are usually 300 dpi, or higher.