Exporting JPEG file producing files that are pixelated

[AlfredoW]

Hi. I have a JPEG file (File size 2.1MB - 2200x1467 pixels) that is a very high quality photo. When I open it on my Mac in preview it is perfect and allows me to zoom in still maintaining the quality of the photo.

When I create a new file is Designer 2.2.0 (with an artboard at 735 X 300 pixels) and I insert the jpeg photo from my desktop and resize it to fill the space of the new artboard in designer (as when I place it the photo is much bigger than the artboard (nearly 5 times bigger)) it looks perfect on the artboard and I can zoom in to it still without loosing quality.

However, when I go to save it, the quality on the export screen reduces at that point and the photo starts to look pixelated already - even before saving. When I then save the file - it of course comes out the same - pixelated and not as sharp as I would want it to look.

The photo I am resizing is for a website I am designing and the size of 735X300 is the size of the space I am able to use that the developers need for us to send them the picture resized to.

Please see that attached photos.

1. Shows the settings I used to produce the new Designer document and artboard - I have also tried it without making an artboard just a new document. I have also tried to set it up as a web file instead of print - but that did not help either.

2. Shows the degradation in quality between the Designer screen (showing good qaulity) and the export screen where degradation has already occurred before I Pressed save. And for further information - I have tried adjusting most of the various settings in the export screen but none of them bring the export screen photo back to an acceptable quality.

3. Is a copy of the original JPEG file

4. Is a copy of the Exported file that is not displaying good quality

Hope you can Help.

Regards, Alfredo

[BlueLiner]

I had something similar happen to me in Windows where if I dragged in a picture it would be somewhat pixelated but it if I used the place tool, it was fine. Not sure why, but try the place tool

[bures]

When the image size is reduced, the resulting display is degraded. What you see in Designer is just a preview.

Try the different settings in the Export window in the Resample list. Your Nearest Neighbor option is not the most appropriate for the selected image type.

[markw]

@AlfredoW Some image degradation is going to be inevitable considering the size reduction required. But I see in your screenshot that you are resampling with ‘Nearest Neighbour’ which is not a good choice in this scenario.
Try using Lanczos 3 (non-separable) which should improve things some.

[AlfredoW]

Thanks everyone.

1. Tried the Place tool but did not Eem to make much of a difference.

2&3. The screen shot showed I had "Nearest Neighbour" but that was not what I was doing in the exported file - I was just trying all to see if they made a difference - and yes that one was not very good output. But its where I took the screen shot and had just tried that setting. But I have tried the Lanczos 3 (non-separable) and got a better result than yesterday!!! And that setting actually brings out better colours. / whites in the exported file.

Alfredo