It would be super helpful if Penpot pages had a DPI setting (like 150, 300). Right now everything is just in pixels, so working on print sizes means doing manual conversions between cm/inches and px.
If we could set the DPI per page and see both pixel and physical dimensions, exports (PDF/PNG/JPG) would be way easier for print work.
Anyone else feel this would make Penpot more flexible for both digital + print projects?
As Penpot is predominantly a vector tool (excepting imported bitmaps), I feel like this might make most sense as part of the export process? Like when you export with PDF, you could choose between 150, 300dpi etc.
@LauraKalbag Good point, export DPI options would definitely help. The only thing is, if DPI lives only in export, the canvas still stays px-only, so for print you still need manual conversions.
If DPI were part of the page core, make the canvas itself aware of physical dimensions, devs could use it wherever needed (export, plugins, previews, etc.), and designers could work in cm/inches directly Maybe best is to store DPI at page level, and then let export (and other features and plugins) use it.
Is there a time where you would mix DPI inside of a file/document so it would be need to be stored at the page level rather than the document level?
I suppose Penpot already has similar functionality for different DPIs when you export a bitmap format at 1x 2x etc.
As someone who does web design using non-pixel units, I can see how having different units of measurement would be helpful. Although in digital design, it’s always useful to know what actual pixels look like rendered a on screen if you’re dealing with anything small!
Yeah, According to the Penpot project structure (Project → File → Page → Board) I think page level makes the most sense, since a file can mix digital and print pages, it feels more flexible than locking DPI at the document level.
About 1x / 2x exports: that just scales pixel dimensions, it doesn’t actually set DPI. For example, exporting 2x makes a bigger image, but it’s still tagged at the default 72/96 dpi unless you manually change it later. DPI is more about mapping pixels to physical size, which scaling alone doesn’t solve.
So having DPI stored at the page level could cover both cases: designers get accurate cm/inches while working, and exports can use that info instead of just scaling blindly.
I totally support this! We also have projects where we use Penpot and having DPI/page resolution adjustment would be extremely useful. Thanks for pointing this out — it’s definitely an important feature. I really hope Penpot adds this in the future.
