Thanks Dennis,
I am importing by reference, I remember now setting that at the beginning of the project. The 8MB is the size of the images in the folders total. (the Snagit images) There are 23 files in the book, including TOC, LOF, List of Tables, Index, Glossary, the largest of which is 87kb (most are less than 55kb) Most of the work is on a Laptop, and sometimes I use a desktop with LCD. Both screen resolutions are 1600 x 1200 VGA. I've thought of assembling a Tech Pubs system with dual DVI 23" 2560 x 1600, but this will have to come later. I am not a professional technical pubs documentation person, but a operations type in a very small company. This project is my idea based upon the huge volume of support calls on the very simple elements of the application, so maybe there are 10 out of the 200 are not essential, but may save an hour tech support phone call. Previous to this all of the documentation was either in MS Word (gag) or Publisher, neither of which satisfies the need for very clear indexing, cross-references, and other strenghts of FM, which I was introduced to when I used it on Sun Microsystems in early 1990s. I truly appreciate your input. Cheers Pete From: Dennis Brunnenmeyer [mailto:denn...@chronometrics.com] Sent: Saturday, February 02, 2008 12:49 AM To: pete.rourke at reefpt.com Subject: Re: ***DHSPAM*** RE: Working with Images Pete... >From the sound of things, you're importing the file directly. DO NOT do that. When you open the import menu, look at the bottom. There are two "radio buttons" to determine whether you import by reference or copy into the document. Start with good quality *.bmp files and import them at 150 dpi. You'll see the difference. I don't use Snag-it, so I don't know what options it offers when you go to save the screen shot. But don't start with a crummy image. And don't worry about the original size of the screenshot. When you import it at 150 dpi, the impact on the PDF file is the same regardless of the size of the original file. After all, 150 dpi is 150 dpi. Some are just crisper than others. There's a subtle distinction that not many people understand. Printers (laser, inkjet, etc.) print in dpi (dots per physical inch of paer). Images are represented in pixels per inch (PPI). Dots per inch is a statement about how good a printer is at putting ink or toner on paper. Study this topic and the subject of bit maps versus vector graphics until you're blue in the face. Now, see remarks below: Dennis... **************************************************************************** ********** At 08:55 PM 2/1/2008, you wrote: Thanks Dennis, I think that I can redo them pretty easily, and take your advice to use .bmp. I have a images folder set within the Frame file folder. I am not sure if I am importing by reference, but what I do is open an anchored frame, and then file>import the image file name. The actual .fm documents themselves are small like 40-60K so I think I'm doing by reference. Wait a minute...what file is 8MB? Is this the total of all of the files in the book, or is it the size of the PDF file you're creating? Don't let any single FM file get that large! How many files make up your book? I assume from the comment in the next sentence that you're referring to the size of the PDF file. Well, 200 images conveys a lot of information. Do you need them all? The answer is probably "Yes!" Well, what's wrong with an 13MB file if it's informative and well-designed so that it's useful? That's why dictionaries are so thick...there's a lot of stuff in them. I just finished a 120 page manual with, say, 35 images in it and it's 3.8MB as a PDF. It's a work of art, though, for an instruction manual. But then the product it represents costs $475,000. When I print the book to Adobe PDF with all of the images, it gets pretty monsterous, but I haven't had any trouble building the PDF book. One thing I find strange is that when viewing the image in FM onscreen, it doesn't seem as clear as it does when the book is printed to PDF and viewed onscreen. This is part of the reason I thought it necessary to move to 150 from 96. I will do some trials on this. Are you using an LCD monitor? Is the graphics card resolution the same as the native resolution of the display? Is the cable interface VGA or DVI? My real concern is that the PDF book is approaching 13MB (and I'm not done yet :) ) Thanks for your suggestions. Cheers Pete -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: Working with Images From: Dennis Brunnenmeyer <denn...@chronometrics.com> Date: Fri, February 01, 2008 8:34 pm To: pete.rourke at reefpt.com,<framers at lists.frameusers.com> Pete... Several important rules of thumb here: 1. Never save screen shots as jpg files, especially highly-compressed ones! They will not look nearly as good as *.bmp files. JPEG compression will soften the images so that they don't look real, like they do on the screen when viewed directly. Since you've already taken the screen shots and saved them, you have your choice of redoing them or living with the less-than-optimum results. 2. With that many screen shots, do NOT import the graphics INTO the FrameMaker files. Import them by reference instead. Keep all of your images in a subfolder of the Frame file folder. When you produce the PDF or display the file on your monitor, Frame will know what to do, although I have to tell you that many users are currently having problems with this process in FM8. A fix is expected (promised, actually) in the next 8-9 weeks. 3. No, you are not crazy for importing the images at 150 dpi into anchored frames. If they aren't the right physical size in the document, resize them within the frame and then "shrinkwrap" the frame to fit the graphic. To do this, after resizing the image itself, select the anchored frame and execute this key sequence, one key at a time: Esc, m, p. Cheers... Dennis Brunnenmeyer **************************************************************** At 01:53 PM 2/1/2008, Pete Rourke wrote: Here is another newbie question. FM8 - XP (importing into anchored frames) I am using Snagit (default image resolution 96dpi, and saving as .jpg) to capture screenshots for a end user manual which assumes the user needs visual walkthrough of using a desktop application and a pocket pc. There are 2 outputs intended: 1. PDF leveraging all the indexing and cross-referencing 2. A printed manual An issue is the volume of screenshots ~ 200 in a ~ 150 page document. Image files saved as .jpg, average file size = 44K So far the total image in the books is 8MB (gag) So a question is what format, JPG, BMP, PNG, GIF saves the cleanest picture? During import I choose 150 DPI, am I insane? I am not sure what resolution is required. Would less than 96 be acceptable? TIA Pete Rourke Chandler, AZ _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to Framers as dennisb at chronometrics.com. Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/dennisb%40chronometrics. com <http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/dennisb at chronometrics.c om> Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. Dennis Brunnenmeyer Director of Engineering CEDAR RIDGE SYSTEMS 15019 Rattlesnake Road Grass Valley, CA 95945-8710 Office: (530) 477-9015 Fax: (530) 477-9085 Mobile: (530) 320-9025 eMail: dennisb /at/ chronometrics /dot/ com Dennis Brunnenmeyer Director of Engineering CEDAR RIDGE SYSTEMS 15019 Rattlesnake Road Grass Valley, CA 95945-8710 Office: (530) 477-9015 Fax: (530) 477-9085 Mobile: (530) 320-9025 eMail: dennisb /at/ chronometrics /dot/ com
