Re: adding graphics to files
Thanks all. I really appreciate your feedback -- you are confirming what I suspected but don't have enough knowledge to back up! Here's my situation: I get the drawing package as a PDF file. I don't have AutoCad or Katia or any of the other drawing progams, so I can't access the original vector drawing. I've been turning the PDF into a bitmap file and copying and pasting it into my file. I copy and paste because the lead technical writer is adamantly against importing by reference. He also told me that I have to stop using bitmap because bitmap graphics won't work if we have to turn these documents into HTML (STML? XML? Some sort of web-based product) documents. So, based on what you all are telling me, bitmap is the best way to go (yeah!). And bitmapped graphics are just fine for web-based documents? Thanks so much guys! From the fun factory, Deirdre On 10/9/08, Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Fred's on top of the graphic issues. Bottom line is JPG is the way wrong format and is adding some bloat. However, its not clear from the OP message whether you're copying the graphic file in, or importing by reference. Importing by refrence is the preferred way to do it. Copying is not the way to go. If you are copying them in, that would be a good reason for the slowdown. Art. Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded grl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 6:06 PM, Fred Ridder [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Deirdre Reagan wrote: Anyhow, when I add jpgs to my Framemaker file (FM 8.0, Windows XP), Framemaker slows way down when I scroll over the page with the jpg. The jpgs are 300 dpi, which they need to be for good print resolution (they are black and white drawings). I import the file to an anchored frame, then resize the graphic to 80 percent because it is usually too large for the anchored frame. I really don't know anything about graphics, so anything advice would be most appreciated. To cover only a couple of the most basic issues: First and foremost, JPEG is *not* an appropriate file format for line art or anything containing text. JPEG was specifically designed for *photographic* images, which tend to conceal many of the format's shortcomings due to the continuous-tone nature of photographs. JPEG's area-based image compression algorithm inherently produces artifacts near abroupt color transitions, which is clearly seen as a kind of gray smudginess alongside lines in drawings or as a kind of cloud surrounding text. For line art you should be using a lossless file format like EPS, WMF (or EMF), or PNG (or GIF or TIFF or even BMP). The one file format you should *not* use is JPEG. Second, if you need to scale your graphics, you should use a vector file format (EPS, WMF, EMF) rather than a raster file format (any of the others mentioned). Vector images contain mathematical descriptions of the geometric and text objects in the drawing, which means that they can be rescaled over a wide range of sizes with no loss in quality. Raster graphics contain a pixel-by-pixel rendering of the image, and to rescale them you either have to change the pixel pitch or you have to resample them to throw away pixels or make up new pixels that don't exist. Third, if you do have raster images (screen shots, for example), the best way to change their reproduced size in FrameMaker is not to use the scaling command, but rather to change the dpi setting. Doubling the dpi will reduce the dimensions to 50%; halving the dpi will double the reproduced size of the image. If this approach is not acceptable for some reason, the other alternative is to use a tool like PaintShop Pro or Photoshop to resample the image, but this *always* causes a loss in quality. I'll leave any other issues to others to address. -Fred Ridder ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/art.campbell%40gmail.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Re: adding graphics to files
Uh no, that isn't what I was saying and I don't think that's what Fred would recommend either. You didn't say the source file was a PDF, or if you did, I missed it. If you already have the source graphic in a PDF, that's your best final format right there because it's a PostScript file. Vector based, scalable, etc. Only way you can degrade it is by converting it to another graphic format which is what you've been doing. You can optimize the PDF further with Acrobat, and you can crop it with Photoshop or another program, both actions that will reduce the file size. But other than that, you're good to go. And you should still be importing it by reference Cheers, Art Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded grl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 9:37 AM, Deirdre Reagan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Thanks all. I really appreciate your feedback -- you are confirming what I suspected but don't have enough knowledge to back up! Here's my situation: I get the drawing package as a PDF file. I don't have AutoCad or Katia or any of the other drawing progams, so I can't access the original vector drawing. I've been turning the PDF into a bitmap file and copying and pasting it into my file. I copy and paste because the lead technical writer is adamantly against importing by reference. He also told me that I have to stop using bitmap because bitmap graphics won't work if we have to turn these documents into HTML (STML? XML? Some sort of web-based product) documents. So, based on what you all are telling me, bitmap is the best way to go (yeah!). And bitmapped graphics are just fine for web-based documents? Thanks so much guys! From the fun factory, Deirdre On 10/9/08, Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Fred's on top of the graphic issues. Bottom line is JPG is the way wrong format and is adding some bloat. However, its not clear from the OP message whether you're copying the graphic file in, or importing by reference. Importing by refrence is the preferred way to do it. Copying is not the way to go. If you are copying them in, that would be a good reason for the slowdown. Art. Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded grl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 6:06 PM, Fred Ridder [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Deirdre Reagan wrote: Anyhow, when I add jpgs to my Framemaker file (FM 8.0, Windows XP), Framemaker slows way down when I scroll over the page with the jpg. The jpgs are 300 dpi, which they need to be for good print resolution (they are black and white drawings). I import the file to an anchored frame, then resize the graphic to 80 percent because it is usually too large for the anchored frame. I really don't know anything about graphics, so anything advice would be most appreciated. To cover only a couple of the most basic issues: First and foremost, JPEG is *not* an appropriate file format for line art or anything containing text. JPEG was specifically designed for *photographic* images, which tend to conceal many of the format's shortcomings due to the continuous-tone nature of photographs. JPEG's area-based image compression algorithm inherently produces artifacts near abroupt color transitions, which is clearly seen as a kind of gray smudginess alongside lines in drawings or as a kind of cloud surrounding text. For line art you should be using a lossless file format like EPS, WMF (or EMF), or PNG (or GIF or TIFF or even BMP). The one file format you should *not* use is JPEG. Second, if you need to scale your graphics, you should use a vector file format (EPS, WMF, EMF) rather than a raster file format (any of the others mentioned). Vector images contain mathematical descriptions of the geometric and text objects in the drawing, which means that they can be rescaled over a wide range of sizes with no loss in quality. Raster graphics contain a pixel-by-pixel rendering of the image, and to rescale them you either have to change the pixel pitch or you have to resample them to throw away pixels or make up new pixels that don't exist. Third, if you do have raster images (screen shots, for example), the best way to change their reproduced size in FrameMaker is not to use the scaling command, but rather to change the dpi setting. Doubling the dpi will reduce the dimensions to 50%; halving the dpi will double the reproduced size of the image. If this approach
RE: adding graphics to files
Deirdre Reagan wrote: So, based on what you all are telling me, bitmap is the best way to go (yeah!). No, no, no! I don't believe anyone suggested this! I specifically recommended PDF and went on to explain why converting a vector drawing to a bitmap is a _bad_ idea. I'll second what Art said in reply, except that you can crop your PDFs in Acrobat. No Photoshop needed. Richard Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 303-223-5111 -- rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 303-777-0436 -- ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Re: adding graphics to files
LOL -- yes, sorry -- I was between emails. The best source is a PDF -- I'm so excited to find out that I can open the PDF in Photoshop, tweak it, and save it as a PDF. That's going to save me a lot of time. Import by reference: sadly, I'm not allowed to do that. But just out of curiosity, why is import by reference better than import? Thanks again for all the advice. Deirdre On 10/10/08, Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Uh no, that isn't what I was saying and I don't think that's what Fred would recommend either. You didn't say the source file was a PDF, or if you did, I missed it. If you already have the source graphic in a PDF, that's your best final format right there because it's a PostScript file. Vector based, scalable, etc. Only way you can degrade it is by converting it to another graphic format which is what you've been doing. You can optimize the PDF further with Acrobat, and you can crop it with Photoshop or another program, both actions that will reduce the file size. But other than that, you're good to go. And you should still be importing it by reference Cheers, Art Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded grl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 9:37 AM, Deirdre Reagan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Thanks all. I really appreciate your feedback -- you are confirming what I suspected but don't have enough knowledge to back up! Here's my situation: I get the drawing package as a PDF file. I don't have AutoCad or Katia or any of the other drawing progams, so I can't access the original vector drawing. I've been turning the PDF into a bitmap file and copying and pasting it into my file. I copy and paste because the lead technical writer is adamantly against importing by reference. He also told me that I have to stop using bitmap because bitmap graphics won't work if we have to turn these documents into HTML (STML? XML? Some sort of web-based product) documents. So, based on what you all are telling me, bitmap is the best way to go (yeah!). And bitmapped graphics are just fine for web-based documents? Thanks so much guys! From the fun factory, Deirdre On 10/9/08, Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Fred's on top of the graphic issues. Bottom line is JPG is the way wrong format and is adding some bloat. However, its not clear from the OP message whether you're copying the graphic file in, or importing by reference. Importing by refrence is the preferred way to do it. Copying is not the way to go. If you are copying them in, that would be a good reason for the slowdown. Art. Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded grl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 6:06 PM, Fred Ridder [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Deirdre Reagan wrote: Anyhow, when I add jpgs to my Framemaker file (FM 8.0, Windows XP), Framemaker slows way down when I scroll over the page with the jpg. The jpgs are 300 dpi, which they need to be for good print resolution (they are black and white drawings). I import the file to an anchored frame, then resize the graphic to 80 percent because it is usually too large for the anchored frame. I really don't know anything about graphics, so anything advice would be most appreciated. To cover only a couple of the most basic issues: First and foremost, JPEG is *not* an appropriate file format for line art or anything containing text. JPEG was specifically designed for *photographic* images, which tend to conceal many of the format's shortcomings due to the continuous-tone nature of photographs. JPEG's area-based image compression algorithm inherently produces artifacts near abroupt color transitions, which is clearly seen as a kind of gray smudginess alongside lines in drawings or as a kind of cloud surrounding text. For line art you should be using a lossless file format like EPS, WMF (or EMF), or PNG (or GIF or TIFF or even BMP). The one file format you should *not* use is JPEG. Second, if you need to scale your graphics, you should use a vector file format (EPS, WMF, EMF) rather than a raster file format (any of the others mentioned). Vector images contain mathematical descriptions of the geometric and text objects in the drawing, which means that they can be rescaled over a wide range of sizes with no loss in quality. Raster graphics
Re: adding graphics to files
Most people's primary reason is that a reference keeps the FM file from bloating (copying in physically adds all the graphic info to the file). This means the file is quicker to load, scroll, and modify, is less likely to become corrupt just because there are fewer bytes involved, and is just more easily portable. It also makes the graphic easier to edit and change. Other benefits include allowing people to work on the graphic and have their changes included automatically, supporting translation better (because different language files can be swapped in on a directory-level basis), Art Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded grl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 11:05 AM, Deirdre Reagan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: LOL -- yes, sorry -- I was between emails. The best source is a PDF -- I'm so excited to find out that I can open the PDF in Photoshop, tweak it, and save it as a PDF. That's going to save me a lot of time. Import by reference: sadly, I'm not allowed to do that. But just out of curiosity, why is import by reference better than import? Thanks again for all the advice. Deirdre On 10/10/08, Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Uh no, that isn't what I was saying and I don't think that's what Fred would recommend either. You didn't say the source file was a PDF, or if you did, I missed it. If you already have the source graphic in a PDF, that's your best final format right there because it's a PostScript file. Vector based, scalable, etc. Only way you can degrade it is by converting it to another graphic format which is what you've been doing. You can optimize the PDF further with Acrobat, and you can crop it with Photoshop or another program, both actions that will reduce the file size. But other than that, you're good to go. And you should still be importing it by reference Cheers, Art Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded grl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 9:37 AM, Deirdre Reagan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Thanks all. I really appreciate your feedback -- you are confirming what I suspected but don't have enough knowledge to back up! Here's my situation: I get the drawing package as a PDF file. I don't have AutoCad or Katia or any of the other drawing progams, so I can't access the original vector drawing. I've been turning the PDF into a bitmap file and copying and pasting it into my file. I copy and paste because the lead technical writer is adamantly against importing by reference. He also told me that I have to stop using bitmap because bitmap graphics won't work if we have to turn these documents into HTML (STML? XML? Some sort of web-based product) documents. So, based on what you all are telling me, bitmap is the best way to go (yeah!). And bitmapped graphics are just fine for web-based documents? Thanks so much guys! From the fun factory, Deirdre On 10/9/08, Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Fred's on top of the graphic issues. Bottom line is JPG is the way wrong format and is adding some bloat. However, its not clear from the OP message whether you're copying the graphic file in, or importing by reference. Importing by refrence is the preferred way to do it. Copying is not the way to go. If you are copying them in, that would be a good reason for the slowdown. Art. Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded grl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 6:06 PM, Fred Ridder [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Deirdre Reagan wrote: Anyhow, when I add jpgs to my Framemaker file (FM 8.0, Windows XP), Framemaker slows way down when I scroll over the page with the jpg. The jpgs are 300 dpi, which they need to be for good print resolution (they are black and white drawings). I import the file to an anchored frame, then resize the graphic to 80 percent because it is usually too large for the anchored frame. I really don't know anything about graphics, so anything advice would be most appreciated. To cover only a couple of the most basic issues: First and foremost, JPEG is *not* an appropriate file format for line
Re: adding graphics to files
Hum. I'm having the same problem over and over with the PDF file. Once it's imported into the file, I can't access it. I ctrl-click the frame, but the handles don't appear. Any thoughts? Thanks, Deirdre On 10/10/08, Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Most people's primary reason is that a reference keeps the FM file from bloating (copying in physically adds all the graphic info to the file). This means the file is quicker to load, scroll, and modify, is less likely to become corrupt just because there are fewer bytes involved, and is just more easily portable. It also makes the graphic easier to edit and change. Other benefits include allowing people to work on the graphic and have their changes included automatically, supporting translation better (because different language files can be swapped in on a directory-level basis), Art Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded grl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 11:05 AM, Deirdre Reagan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: LOL -- yes, sorry -- I was between emails. The best source is a PDF -- I'm so excited to find out that I can open the PDF in Photoshop, tweak it, and save it as a PDF. That's going to save me a lot of time. Import by reference: sadly, I'm not allowed to do that. But just out of curiosity, why is import by reference better than import? Thanks again for all the advice. Deirdre On 10/10/08, Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Uh no, that isn't what I was saying and I don't think that's what Fred would recommend either. You didn't say the source file was a PDF, or if you did, I missed it. If you already have the source graphic in a PDF, that's your best final format right there because it's a PostScript file. Vector based, scalable, etc. Only way you can degrade it is by converting it to another graphic format which is what you've been doing. You can optimize the PDF further with Acrobat, and you can crop it with Photoshop or another program, both actions that will reduce the file size. But other than that, you're good to go. And you should still be importing it by reference Cheers, Art Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded grl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 9:37 AM, Deirdre Reagan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Thanks all. I really appreciate your feedback -- you are confirming what I suspected but don't have enough knowledge to back up! Here's my situation: I get the drawing package as a PDF file. I don't have AutoCad or Katia or any of the other drawing progams, so I can't access the original vector drawing. I've been turning the PDF into a bitmap file and copying and pasting it into my file. I copy and paste because the lead technical writer is adamantly against importing by reference. He also told me that I have to stop using bitmap because bitmap graphics won't work if we have to turn these documents into HTML (STML? XML? Some sort of web-based product) documents. So, based on what you all are telling me, bitmap is the best way to go (yeah!). And bitmapped graphics are just fine for web-based documents? Thanks so much guys! From the fun factory, Deirdre On 10/9/08, Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Fred's on top of the graphic issues. Bottom line is JPG is the way wrong format and is adding some bloat. However, its not clear from the OP message whether you're copying the graphic file in, or importing by reference. Importing by refrence is the preferred way to do it. Copying is not the way to go. If you are copying them in, that would be a good reason for the slowdown. Art. Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded grl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 6:06 PM, Fred Ridder [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Deirdre Reagan wrote: Anyhow, when I add jpgs to my Framemaker file (FM 8.0, Windows XP), Framemaker slows way down when I scroll over the page with the jpg. The jpgs are 300 dpi, which they need to be for good print resolution (they are black and
Re: adding graphics to files
It's possible that the anchored frame is smaller than the graphic, which means the graphic's handles are under the frame. Right-click the graphic, do Object Properties and set the top / left offsets to 0 or a negative number so you can grab it. Or drag the frame MUCH larger. However if you're copying the file in I suspect that you're copying it in. Merging it. Making it one with the FM file. Which would mean that it loses its own identity and handles. r-e-f-e-r-e-n-c-e Cheers, Art Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded grl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 11:27 AM, Deirdre Reagan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hum. I'm having the same problem over and over with the PDF file. Once it's imported into the file, I can't access it. I ctrl-click the frame, but the handles don't appear. Any thoughts? Thanks, Deirdre On 10/10/08, Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Most people's primary reason is that a reference keeps the FM file from bloating (copying in physically adds all the graphic info to the file). This means the file is quicker to load, scroll, and modify, is less likely to become corrupt just because there are fewer bytes involved, and is just more easily portable. It also makes the graphic easier to edit and change. Other benefits include allowing people to work on the graphic and have their changes included automatically, supporting translation better (because different language files can be swapped in on a directory-level basis), Art Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded grl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 11:05 AM, Deirdre Reagan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: LOL -- yes, sorry -- I was between emails. The best source is a PDF -- I'm so excited to find out that I can open the PDF in Photoshop, tweak it, and save it as a PDF. That's going to save me a lot of time. Import by reference: sadly, I'm not allowed to do that. But just out of curiosity, why is import by reference better than import? Thanks again for all the advice. Deirdre On 10/10/08, Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Uh no, that isn't what I was saying and I don't think that's what Fred would recommend either. You didn't say the source file was a PDF, or if you did, I missed it. If you already have the source graphic in a PDF, that's your best final format right there because it's a PostScript file. Vector based, scalable, etc. Only way you can degrade it is by converting it to another graphic format which is what you've been doing. You can optimize the PDF further with Acrobat, and you can crop it with Photoshop or another program, both actions that will reduce the file size. But other than that, you're good to go. And you should still be importing it by reference Cheers, Art Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded grl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 9:37 AM, Deirdre Reagan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Thanks all. I really appreciate your feedback -- you are confirming what I suspected but don't have enough knowledge to back up! Here's my situation: I get the drawing package as a PDF file. I don't have AutoCad or Katia or any of the other drawing progams, so I can't access the original vector drawing. I've been turning the PDF into a bitmap file and copying and pasting it into my file. I copy and paste because the lead technical writer is adamantly against importing by reference. He also told me that I have to stop using bitmap because bitmap graphics won't work if we have to turn these documents into HTML (STML? XML? Some sort of web-based product) documents. So, based on what you all are telling me, bitmap is the best way to go (yeah!). And bitmapped graphics are just fine for web-based documents? Thanks so much guys! From the fun factory, Deirdre On 10/9/08, Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Fred's on top of the graphic issues. Bottom line is JPG is the way wrong format and is adding some bloat. However, its not clear from the OP message whether you're copying the graphic file in, or
RE: adding graphics to files
Further responses to Deidre's issues: I get the drawing package as a PDF file. That's fine. You can use a PDF graphic directly in FrameMaker, or you can convert it to EPS (using Acrobat) with no loss in quality. Acrobat will also allow you to crop the page size down to the area of interest, but note that the cropped content does not actually get deleted from the image; it's just hidden. And depending on how the I don't have AutoCad or Katia or any of the other drawing progams, so I can't access the original vector drawing. I've been turning the PDF into a bitmap file and copying and pasting it into my file. You might want to use the terminology raster image because some purists would insist that bitmap properly refers only to 1 bit/pixel images (strictly black or white, no grayscale, no color) like the lowest quality fax images. I believe that you mentioned in a separate posting that the reason why you convert to raster is to be able to delete certain parts of the image. Note that Adobe Illustrator can often (but not always, as Dov Isaacs is always quick to point out) be used successfully to edit PDF graphics or EPS graphics exported from PDF, either of which contain a vector version of the image. Unfortunately, though, when a PDF is generated from a CAD tool the vector objects in the PDF generally do not correspond to the vector objects that were used in the original design. PDFs from CAD tools often contan thousands upon thousands of tiny curve segments that the tool would use to draw its output on an x-y plotter. And text characters are output from most CAD tools as geometric shapes rather than as references to glyphs that are looked up in a font file. So even if you had Illustrator or some other tool capable of editing PDF files, it may not be practical to directly edit the image. What *might* be practical (depending on the actual requirements) is to use Acrobat (or Illustrator, if you have it) to conceal unwanted items by drawing white shapes over them and then creating a new PDF by printing from Acrobat to the Adobe PDF virtual printer. I copy and paste because the lead technical writer is adamantly against importing by reference. This may or may not be an irrational prejudice. There are some good reasons why pasting is preferred in certain circumstances (mostly due to issues of source content management or network access for referenced files), but most FrameMaker users feel that the advantages of inserting by reference are greater than the advantages of pasting. He also told me that I have to stop using bitmap because bitmap graphics won't work if we have to turn these documents into HTML (STML? XML? Some sort of web-based product) documents. When a FrameMaker document is converted to HTML, the conversion tool (e.g., Mif2Go) takes care of generating graphic images in one of the formats that can be handled by web browsers, which is a pretty short list. All of the commonly used image formats are rasters: GIF, PNG, and JPEG. (There is a vector format called SVG, but it is not widely used and is not universally supported.) But because you're going through a conversion tool, it *doesn't matter* what format was used for the original graphic that was inserted into the FrameMaker source file. Images that are in a vector format will get converted to a web-compatible raster format. Also note that in HTML, all graphics are handled as referenced objects (external image files), so in the conversion from FrameMaker to HTML all your pasted graphics have to be converted to external files. If you were inserting graphics by reference, you would have the option of using the original image files rather than a 2nd generation file created by the conversion tool for any graphics that originated in a web-compatible file format. So, based on what you all are telling me, bitmap is the best way to go (yeah!). Because of your requirement to edit the CAD drawings, it may be that creating and editing a raster image might be the most practical compromise. But it *is* a compromise. And the one thing that you should do is scale the drawings to the proper size when you create the raster image from the PDF. Do whatever you can to avoid resizing raster images. And bitmapped graphics are just fine for web-based documents? As noted above, raster graphics are required for web use, but the HTML conversion tool takes care of the image file conversion regardless of the original image file format. -Fred Ridder ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: [Bulk] Re: adding graphics to files
Hi Deirdre, Once it's imported into the file, I can't access it. I ctrl-click the frame, but the handles don't appear. I didn't follow the entire thread. Did you import the PDF into a graphics frame or anchored frame? Which context-menu do you see when you right-click on the graphic? Can you move the graphic within the frame? In order to select the frame, try to click a tiny bit outside the frame. Lutz ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
adding graphics to files
Thanks all. I really appreciate your feedback -- you are confirming what I suspected but don't have enough knowledge to back up! Here's my situation: I get the drawing package as a PDF file. I don't have AutoCad or Katia or any of the other drawing progams, so I can't access the original vector drawing. I've been turning the PDF into a bitmap file and copying and pasting it into my file. I copy and paste because the lead technical writer is adamantly against importing by reference. He also told me that I have to stop using bitmap because bitmap graphics won't work if we have to turn these documents into HTML (STML? XML? Some sort of web-based product) documents. So, based on what you all are telling me, bitmap is the best way to go (yeah!). And bitmapped graphics are just fine for web-based documents? Thanks so much guys! >From the fun factory, Deirdre On 10/9/08, Art Campbell wrote: > Fred's on top of the graphic issues. Bottom line is JPG is the way > wrong format and is adding some bloat. > > However, its not clear from the OP message whether you're copying the > graphic file in, or importing by reference. > Importing by refrence is the preferred way to do it. Copying is not > the way to go. > > If you are copying them in, that would be a good reason for the slowdown. > > Art. > > > Art Campbell > art.campbell at gmail.com > "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 > Vincent and a redheaded grl." -- Richard Thompson > No disclaimers apply. > DoD 358 > > > > On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 6:06 PM, Fred Ridder wrote: > > > > Deirdre Reagan wrote: > >> Anyhow, when I add jpgs to my Framemaker file (FM 8.0, Windows XP), > >> Framemaker slows way down when I scroll over the page with the jpg. > >> > >> The jpgs are 300 dpi, which they need to be for good print resolution > >> (they are black and white drawings). > >> > >> I import the file to an anchored frame, then resize the graphic to 80 > >> percent because it is usually too large for the anchored frame. > >> > >> I really don't know anything about graphics, so anything advice would > >> be most appreciated. > > > > To cover only a couple of the most basic issues: > > > > First and foremost, JPEG is *not* an appropriate file format for line art > > or anything containing text. JPEG was specifically designed for > > *photographic* images, which tend to conceal many of the format's > > shortcomings due to the continuous-tone nature of photographs. > > JPEG's area-based image compression algorithm inherently produces > > artifacts near abroupt color transitions, which is clearly seen as a > > kind of gray smudginess alongside lines in drawings or as a kind of > > cloud surrounding text. For line art you should be using a lossless file > > format like EPS, WMF (or EMF), or PNG (or GIF or TIFF or even BMP). > > The one file format you should *not* use is JPEG. > > > > Second, if you need to scale your graphics, you should use a vector > > file format (EPS, WMF, EMF) rather than a raster file format (any of > > the others mentioned). Vector images contain mathematical descriptions > > of the geometric and text objects in the drawing, which means that > > they can be rescaled over a wide range of sizes with no loss in quality. > > Raster graphics contain a pixel-by-pixel rendering of the image, and > > to rescale them you either have to change the pixel pitch or you have > > to resample them to throw away pixels or make up new pixels that > > don't exist. > > > > Third, if you do have raster images (screen shots, for example), the > > best way to change their reproduced size in FrameMaker is not > > to use the scaling command, but rather to change the dpi setting. > > Doubling the dpi will reduce the dimensions to 50%; halving the > > dpi will double the reproduced size of the image. If this approach > > is not acceptable for some reason, the other alternative is to use > > a tool like PaintShop Pro or Photoshop to resample the image, but > > this *always* causes a loss in quality. > > > > I'll leave any other issues to others to address. > > > > -Fred Ridder > > > > > > ___ > > > > > > You are currently subscribed to Framers as art.campbell at gmail.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/art.campbell%40gmail.com > > > > Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit > > http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. > > >
adding graphics to files
Uh no, that isn't what I was saying and I don't think that's what Fred would recommend either. You didn't say the source file was a PDF, or if you did, I missed it. If you already have the source graphic in a PDF, that's your best final format right there because it's a PostScript file. Vector based, scalable, etc. Only way you can degrade it is by converting it to another graphic format which is what you've been doing. You can optimize the PDF further with Acrobat, and you can crop it with Photoshop or another program, both actions that will reduce the file size. But other than that, you're good to go. And you should still be importing it by reference Cheers, Art Art Campbell art.campbell at gmail.com "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded grl." -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 9:37 AM, Deirdre Reagan wrote: > Thanks all. > > I really appreciate your feedback -- you are confirming what I > suspected but don't have enough knowledge to back up! > > Here's my situation: > > I get the drawing package as a PDF file. > > I don't have AutoCad or Katia or any of the other drawing progams, so > I can't access the original vector drawing. > > I've been turning the PDF into a bitmap file and copying and pasting > it into my file. > > I copy and paste because the lead technical writer is adamantly > against importing by reference. > > He also told me that I have to stop using bitmap because bitmap > graphics won't work if we have to turn these documents into HTML > (STML? XML? Some sort of web-based product) documents. > > So, based on what you all are telling me, bitmap is the best way to go > (yeah!). > > And bitmapped graphics are just fine for web-based documents? > > Thanks so much guys! > > From the fun factory, > > Deirdre > > > > > > On 10/9/08, Art Campbell wrote: >> Fred's on top of the graphic issues. Bottom line is JPG is the way >> wrong format and is adding some bloat. >> >> However, its not clear from the OP message whether you're copying the >> graphic file in, or importing by reference. >> Importing by refrence is the preferred way to do it. Copying is not >> the way to go. >> >> If you are copying them in, that would be a good reason for the slowdown. >> >> Art. >> >> >> Art Campbell >> art.campbell at gmail.com >> "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 >> Vincent and a redheaded grl." -- Richard Thompson >> No disclaimers apply. >> DoD 358 >> >> >> >> On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 6:06 PM, Fred Ridder wrote: >> > >> > Deirdre Reagan wrote: >> >> Anyhow, when I add jpgs to my Framemaker file (FM 8.0, Windows XP), >> >> Framemaker slows way down when I scroll over the page with the jpg. >> >> >> >> The jpgs are 300 dpi, which they need to be for good print resolution >> >> (they are black and white drawings). >> >> >> >> I import the file to an anchored frame, then resize the graphic to 80 >> >> percent because it is usually too large for the anchored frame. >> >> >> >> I really don't know anything about graphics, so anything advice would >> >> be most appreciated. >> > >> > To cover only a couple of the most basic issues: >> > >> > First and foremost, JPEG is *not* an appropriate file format for line art >> > or anything containing text. JPEG was specifically designed for >> > *photographic* images, which tend to conceal many of the format's >> > shortcomings due to the continuous-tone nature of photographs. >> > JPEG's area-based image compression algorithm inherently produces >> > artifacts near abroupt color transitions, which is clearly seen as a >> > kind of gray smudginess alongside lines in drawings or as a kind of >> > cloud surrounding text. For line art you should be using a lossless file >> > format like EPS, WMF (or EMF), or PNG (or GIF or TIFF or even BMP). >> > The one file format you should *not* use is JPEG. >> > >> > Second, if you need to scale your graphics, you should use a vector >> > file format (EPS, WMF, EMF) rather than a raster file format (any of >> > the others mentioned). Vector images contain mathematical descriptions >> > of the geometric and text objects in the drawing, which means that >> > they can be rescaled over a wide range of sizes with no loss in quality. >> > Raster graphics contain a pixel-by-pixel rendering of the image, and >> > to rescale them you either have to change the pixel pitch or you have >> > to resample them to throw away pixels or make up new pixels that >> > don't exist. >> > >> > Third, if you do have raster images (screen shots, for example), the >> > best way to change their reproduced size in FrameMaker is not >> > to use the scaling
adding graphics to files
Deirdre Reagan wrote: > So, based on what you all are telling me, bitmap is the best way to go > (yeah!). No, no, no! I don't believe anyone suggested this! I specifically recommended PDF and went on to explain why converting a vector drawing to a bitmap is a _bad_ idea. I'll second what Art said in reply, except that you can crop your PDFs in Acrobat. No Photoshop needed. Richard Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 303-223-5111 -- rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 303-777-0436 --
adding graphics to files
LOL -- yes, sorry -- I was between emails. The best source is a PDF -- I'm so excited to find out that I can open the PDF in Photoshop, tweak it, and save it as a PDF. That's going to save me a lot of time. Import by reference: sadly, I'm not allowed to do that. But just out of curiosity, why is import by reference better than import? Thanks again for all the advice. Deirdre On 10/10/08, Art Campbell wrote: > Uh no, that isn't what I was saying and I don't think that's what Fred > would recommend either. > You didn't say the source file was a PDF, or if you did, I missed it. > > If you already have the source graphic in a PDF, that's your best > final format right there because it's a PostScript file. Vector based, > scalable, etc. Only way you can degrade it is by converting it to > another graphic format which is what you've been doing. > > You can optimize the PDF further with Acrobat, and you can crop it > with Photoshop or another program, both actions that will reduce the > file size. But other than that, you're good to go. > > And you should still be importing it by reference > > Cheers, > Art > > Art Campbell > art.campbell at gmail.com > "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 > Vincent and a redheaded grl." -- Richard Thompson > No disclaimers apply. > DoD 358 > > > > On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 9:37 AM, Deirdre Reagan > wrote: > > Thanks all. > > > > I really appreciate your feedback -- you are confirming what I > > suspected but don't have enough knowledge to back up! > > > > Here's my situation: > > > > I get the drawing package as a PDF file. > > > > I don't have AutoCad or Katia or any of the other drawing progams, so > > I can't access the original vector drawing. > > > > I've been turning the PDF into a bitmap file and copying and pasting > > it into my file. > > > > I copy and paste because the lead technical writer is adamantly > > against importing by reference. > > > > He also told me that I have to stop using bitmap because bitmap > > graphics won't work if we have to turn these documents into HTML > > (STML? XML? Some sort of web-based product) documents. > > > > So, based on what you all are telling me, bitmap is the best way to go > > (yeah!). > > > > And bitmapped graphics are just fine for web-based documents? > > > > Thanks so much guys! > > > > From the fun factory, > > > > Deirdre > > > > > > > > > > > > On 10/9/08, Art Campbell wrote: > >> Fred's on top of the graphic issues. Bottom line is JPG is the way > >> wrong format and is adding some bloat. > >> > >> However, its not clear from the OP message whether you're copying the > >> graphic file in, or importing by reference. > >> Importing by refrence is the preferred way to do it. Copying is not > >> the way to go. > >> > >> If you are copying them in, that would be a good reason for the slowdown. > >> > >> Art. > >> > >> > >> Art Campbell > >> art.campbell at gmail.com > >> "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 > >> Vincent and a redheaded grl." -- Richard Thompson > >> No disclaimers apply. > >> DoD 358 > >> > >> > >> > >> On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 6:06 PM, Fred Ridder wrote: > >> > > >> > Deirdre Reagan wrote: > >> >> Anyhow, when I add jpgs to my Framemaker file (FM 8.0, Windows XP), > >> >> Framemaker slows way down when I scroll over the page with the jpg. > >> >> > >> >> The jpgs are 300 dpi, which they need to be for good print resolution > >> >> (they are black and white drawings). > >> >> > >> >> I import the file to an anchored frame, then resize the graphic to 80 > >> >> percent because it is usually too large for the anchored frame. > >> >> > >> >> I really don't know anything about graphics, so anything advice would > >> >> be most appreciated. > >> > > >> > To cover only a couple of the most basic issues: > >> > > >> > First and foremost, JPEG is *not* an appropriate file format for line art > >> > or anything containing text. JPEG was specifically designed for > >> > *photographic* images, which tend to conceal many of the format's > >> > shortcomings due to the continuous-tone nature of photographs. > >> > JPEG's area-based image compression algorithm inherently produces > >> > artifacts near abroupt color transitions, which is clearly seen as a > >> > kind of gray smudginess alongside lines in drawings or as a kind of > >> > cloud surrounding text. For line art you should be using a lossless file > >> > format like EPS, WMF (or EMF), or PNG (or GIF or TIFF or even BMP). > >> > The one file format you should *not* use is JPEG. > >> > > >> > Second, if you need to scale your graphics, you should use a vector > >> > file format (EPS, WMF, EMF) rather than a raster file
adding graphics to files
Most people's primary reason is that a reference keeps the FM file from bloating (copying in physically adds all the graphic info to the file). This means the file is quicker to load, scroll, and modify, is less likely to become corrupt just because there are fewer bytes involved, and is just more easily portable. It also makes the graphic easier to edit and change. Other benefits include allowing people to work on the graphic and have their changes included automatically, supporting translation better (because different language files can be swapped in on a directory-level basis), Art Art Campbell art.campbell at gmail.com "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded grl." -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 11:05 AM, Deirdre Reagan wrote: > LOL -- yes, sorry -- I was between emails. The best source is a PDF > -- I'm so excited to find out that I can open the PDF in Photoshop, > tweak it, and save it as a PDF. > > That's going to save me a lot of time. > > Import by reference: sadly, I'm not allowed to do that. > > But just out of curiosity, why is import by reference better than import? > > Thanks again for all the advice. > > Deirdre > > On 10/10/08, Art Campbell wrote: >> Uh no, that isn't what I was saying and I don't think that's what Fred >> would recommend either. >> You didn't say the source file was a PDF, or if you did, I missed it. >> >> If you already have the source graphic in a PDF, that's your best >> final format right there because it's a PostScript file. Vector based, >> scalable, etc. Only way you can degrade it is by converting it to >> another graphic format which is what you've been doing. >> >> You can optimize the PDF further with Acrobat, and you can crop it >> with Photoshop or another program, both actions that will reduce the >> file size. But other than that, you're good to go. >> >> And you should still be importing it by reference >> >> Cheers, >> Art >> >> Art Campbell >> art.campbell at gmail.com >> "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 >> Vincent and a redheaded grl." -- Richard Thompson >> No disclaimers apply. >> DoD 358 >> >> >> >> On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 9:37 AM, Deirdre Reagan >> wrote: >> > Thanks all. >> > >> > I really appreciate your feedback -- you are confirming what I >> > suspected but don't have enough knowledge to back up! >> > >> > Here's my situation: >> > >> > I get the drawing package as a PDF file. >> > >> > I don't have AutoCad or Katia or any of the other drawing progams, so >> > I can't access the original vector drawing. >> > >> > I've been turning the PDF into a bitmap file and copying and pasting >> > it into my file. >> > >> > I copy and paste because the lead technical writer is adamantly >> > against importing by reference. >> > >> > He also told me that I have to stop using bitmap because bitmap >> > graphics won't work if we have to turn these documents into HTML >> > (STML? XML? Some sort of web-based product) documents. >> > >> > So, based on what you all are telling me, bitmap is the best way to go >> > (yeah!). >> > >> > And bitmapped graphics are just fine for web-based documents? >> > >> > Thanks so much guys! >> > >> > From the fun factory, >> > >> > Deirdre >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > On 10/9/08, Art Campbell wrote: >> >> Fred's on top of the graphic issues. Bottom line is JPG is the way >> >> wrong format and is adding some bloat. >> >> >> >> However, its not clear from the OP message whether you're copying the >> >> graphic file in, or importing by reference. >> >> Importing by refrence is the preferred way to do it. Copying is not >> >> the way to go. >> >> >> >> If you are copying them in, that would be a good reason for the slowdown. >> >> >> >> Art. >> >> >> >> >> >> Art Campbell >> >> art.campbell at gmail.com >> >> "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 >> >> Vincent and a redheaded grl." -- Richard Thompson >> >> No disclaimers apply. >> >> DoD 358 >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 6:06 PM, Fred Ridder >> >> wrote: >> >> > >> >> > Deirdre Reagan wrote: >> >> >> Anyhow, when I add jpgs to my Framemaker file (FM 8.0, Windows XP), >> >> >> Framemaker slows way down when I scroll over the page with the jpg. >> >> >> >> >> >> The jpgs are 300 dpi, which they need to be for good print resolution >> >> >> (they are black and white drawings). >> >> >> >> >> >> I import the file to an anchored frame, then resize the graphic to 80 >> >> >> percent
adding graphics to files
Hum. I'm having the same problem over and over with the PDF file. Once it's imported into the file, I can't access it. I ctrl-click the frame, but the handles don't appear. Any thoughts? Thanks, Deirdre On 10/10/08, Art Campbell wrote: > Most people's primary reason is that a reference keeps the FM file > from bloating (copying in physically adds all the graphic info to the > file). This means the file is quicker to load, scroll, and modify, is > less likely to become corrupt just because there are fewer bytes > involved, and is just more easily portable. > > It also makes the graphic easier to edit and change. > > Other benefits include allowing people to work on the graphic and have > their changes included automatically, supporting translation better > (because different language files can be swapped in on a > directory-level basis), > > Art > > Art Campbell > art.campbell at gmail.com > "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 > Vincent and a redheaded grl." -- Richard Thompson > No disclaimers apply. > DoD 358 > > > > On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 11:05 AM, Deirdre Reagan > wrote: > > LOL -- yes, sorry -- I was between emails. The best source is a PDF > > -- I'm so excited to find out that I can open the PDF in Photoshop, > > tweak it, and save it as a PDF. > > > > That's going to save me a lot of time. > > > > Import by reference: sadly, I'm not allowed to do that. > > > > But just out of curiosity, why is import by reference better than import? > > > > Thanks again for all the advice. > > > > Deirdre > > > > On 10/10/08, Art Campbell wrote: > >> Uh no, that isn't what I was saying and I don't think that's what Fred > >> would recommend either. > >> You didn't say the source file was a PDF, or if you did, I missed it. > >> > >> If you already have the source graphic in a PDF, that's your best > >> final format right there because it's a PostScript file. Vector based, > >> scalable, etc. Only way you can degrade it is by converting it to > >> another graphic format which is what you've been doing. > >> > >> You can optimize the PDF further with Acrobat, and you can crop it > >> with Photoshop or another program, both actions that will reduce the > >> file size. But other than that, you're good to go. > >> > >> And you should still be importing it by reference > >> > >> Cheers, > >> Art > >> > >> Art Campbell > >> art.campbell at gmail.com > >> "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 > >> Vincent and a redheaded grl." -- Richard Thompson > >> No disclaimers apply. > >> DoD 358 > >> > >> > >> > >> On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 9:37 AM, Deirdre Reagan > >> wrote: > >> > Thanks all. > >> > > >> > I really appreciate your feedback -- you are confirming what I > >> > suspected but don't have enough knowledge to back up! > >> > > >> > Here's my situation: > >> > > >> > I get the drawing package as a PDF file. > >> > > >> > I don't have AutoCad or Katia or any of the other drawing progams, so > >> > I can't access the original vector drawing. > >> > > >> > I've been turning the PDF into a bitmap file and copying and pasting > >> > it into my file. > >> > > >> > I copy and paste because the lead technical writer is adamantly > >> > against importing by reference. > >> > > >> > He also told me that I have to stop using bitmap because bitmap > >> > graphics won't work if we have to turn these documents into HTML > >> > (STML? XML? Some sort of web-based product) documents. > >> > > >> > So, based on what you all are telling me, bitmap is the best way to go > >> > (yeah!). > >> > > >> > And bitmapped graphics are just fine for web-based documents? > >> > > >> > Thanks so much guys! > >> > > >> > From the fun factory, > >> > > >> > Deirdre > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > On 10/9/08, Art Campbell wrote: > >> >> Fred's on top of the graphic issues. Bottom line is JPG is the way > >> >> wrong format and is adding some bloat. > >> >> > >> >> However, its not clear from the OP message whether you're copying the > >> >> graphic file in, or importing by reference. > >> >> Importing by refrence is the preferred way to do it. Copying is not > >> >> the way to go. > >> >> > >> >> If you are copying them in, that would be a good reason for the > >> >> slowdown. > >> >> > >> >> Art. > >> >> > >> >> > >> >> Art Campbell > >> >> art.campbell at gmail.com > >> >> "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 > >> >> Vincent and a redheaded grl." -- Richard Thompson > >> >> No disclaimers > >> >> apply. > >> >> DoD 358 > >> >> > >>
adding graphics to files
It's possible that the anchored frame is smaller than the graphic, which means the graphic's handles are "under" the frame. Right-click the graphic, do Object Properties and set the top / left offsets to 0 or a negative number so you can grab it. Or drag the frame MUCH larger. However if you're copying the file in I suspect that you're copying it in. Merging it. Making it one with the FM file. Which would mean that it loses its own identity and handles. r-e-f-e-r-e-n-c-e Cheers, Art Art Campbell art.campbell at gmail.com "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded grl." -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 11:27 AM, Deirdre Reagan wrote: > Hum. > > I'm having the same problem over and over with the PDF file. > > Once it's imported into the file, I can't access it. I ctrl-click the > frame, but the handles don't appear. > > Any thoughts? > > Thanks, > > Deirdre > > On 10/10/08, Art Campbell wrote: >> Most people's primary reason is that a reference keeps the FM file >> from bloating (copying in physically adds all the graphic info to the >> file). This means the file is quicker to load, scroll, and modify, is >> less likely to become corrupt just because there are fewer bytes >> involved, and is just more easily portable. >> >> It also makes the graphic easier to edit and change. >> >> Other benefits include allowing people to work on the graphic and have >> their changes included automatically, supporting translation better >> (because different language files can be swapped in on a >> directory-level basis), >> >> Art >> >> Art Campbell >> art.campbell at gmail.com >> "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 >> Vincent and a redheaded grl." -- Richard Thompson >> No disclaimers apply. >> DoD 358 >> >> >> >> On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 11:05 AM, Deirdre Reagan >> wrote: >> > LOL -- yes, sorry -- I was between emails. The best source is a PDF >> > -- I'm so excited to find out that I can open the PDF in Photoshop, >> > tweak it, and save it as a PDF. >> > >> > That's going to save me a lot of time. >> > >> > Import by reference: sadly, I'm not allowed to do that. >> > >> > But just out of curiosity, why is import by reference better than import? >> > >> > Thanks again for all the advice. >> > >> > Deirdre >> > >> > On 10/10/08, Art Campbell wrote: >> >> Uh no, that isn't what I was saying and I don't think that's what Fred >> >> would recommend either. >> >> You didn't say the source file was a PDF, or if you did, I missed it. >> >> >> >> If you already have the source graphic in a PDF, that's your best >> >> final format right there because it's a PostScript file. Vector based, >> >> scalable, etc. Only way you can degrade it is by converting it to >> >> another graphic format which is what you've been doing. >> >> >> >> You can optimize the PDF further with Acrobat, and you can crop it >> >> with Photoshop or another program, both actions that will reduce the >> >> file size. But other than that, you're good to go. >> >> >> >> And you should still be importing it by reference >> >> >> >> Cheers, >> >> Art >> >> >> >> Art Campbell >> >> art.campbell at gmail.com >> >> "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 >> >> Vincent and a redheaded grl." -- Richard Thompson >> >> No disclaimers apply. >> >> DoD 358 >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 9:37 AM, Deirdre Reagan >> >> wrote: >> >> > Thanks all. >> >> > >> >> > I really appreciate your feedback -- you are confirming what I >> >> > suspected but don't have enough knowledge to back up! >> >> > >> >> > Here's my situation: >> >> > >> >> > I get the drawing package as a PDF file. >> >> > >> >> > I don't have AutoCad or Katia or any of the other drawing progams, so >> >> > I can't access the original vector drawing. >> >> > >> >> > I've been turning the PDF into a bitmap file and copying and pasting >> >> > it into my file. >> >> > >> >> > I copy and paste because the lead technical writer is adamantly >> >> > against importing by reference. >> >> > >> >> > He also told me that I have to stop using bitmap because bitmap >> >> > graphics won't work if we have to turn these documents into HTML >> >> > (STML? XML? Some sort of web-based product) documents. >> >> > >> >> > So, based on what you all are telling me, bitmap is the best way to go >> >> > (yeah!). >> >> > >> >> > And bitmapped graphics are just fine for web-based documents? >> >> > >> >> > Thanks so much guys! >> >> > >> >> >
adding graphics to files
Further responses to Deidre's issues: > I get the drawing package as a PDF file. That's fine. You can use a PDF graphic directly in FrameMaker, or you can convert it to EPS (using Acrobat) with no loss in quality. Acrobat will also allow you to crop the page size down to the area of interest, but note that the cropped content does not actually get deleted from the image; it's just hidden. And depending on how the > I don't have AutoCad or Katia or any of the other drawing progams, so > I can't access the original vector drawing. > > I've been turning the PDF into a bitmap file and copying and pasting > it into my file. You might want to use the terminology "raster image" because some purists would insist that "bitmap" properly refers only to 1 bit/pixel images (strictly black or white, no grayscale, no color) like the lowest quality fax images. I believe that you mentioned in a separate posting that the reason why you convert to raster is to be able to delete certain parts of the image. Note that Adobe Illustrator can often (but not always, as Dov Isaacs is always quick to point out) be used successfully to edit PDF graphics or EPS graphics exported from PDF, either of which contain a vector version of the image. Unfortunately, though, when a PDF is generated from a CAD tool the vector objects in the PDF generally do not correspond to the vector objects that were used in the original design. PDFs from CAD tools often contan thousands upon thousands of tiny curve segments that the tool would use to draw its output on an x-y plotter. And text characters are output from most CAD tools as geometric shapes rather than as references to glyphs that are looked up in a font file. So even if you had Illustrator or some other tool capable of editing PDF files, it may not be practical to directly edit the image. What *might* be practical (depending on the actual requirements) is to use Acrobat (or Illustrator, if you have it) to conceal unwanted items by drawing white shapes over them and then creating a new PDF by printing from Acrobat to the Adobe PDF virtual printer. > I copy and paste because the lead technical writer is adamantly > against importing by reference. This may or may not be an irrational prejudice. There are some good reasons why pasting is preferred in certain circumstances (mostly due to issues of source content management or network access for referenced files), but most FrameMaker users feel that the advantages of inserting by reference are greater than the advantages of pasting. > He also told me that I have to stop using bitmap because bitmap > graphics won't work if we have to turn these documents into HTML > (STML? XML? Some sort of web-based product) documents. When a FrameMaker document is converted to HTML, the conversion tool (e.g., Mif2Go) takes care of generating graphic images in one of the formats that can be handled by web browsers, which is a pretty short list. All of the commonly used image formats are rasters: GIF, PNG, and JPEG. (There is a vector format called SVG, but it is not widely used and is not universally supported.) But because you're going through a conversion tool, it *doesn't matter* what format was used for the original graphic that was inserted into the FrameMaker source file. Images that are in a vector format will get converted to a web-compatible raster format. Also note that in HTML, all graphics are handled as referenced objects (external image files), so in the conversion from FrameMaker to HTML all your pasted graphics have to be converted to external files. If you were inserting graphics by reference, you would have the option of using the original image files rather than a 2nd generation file created by the conversion tool for any graphics that originated in a web-compatible file format. > So, based on what you all are telling me, bitmap is the best way to go > (yeah!). Because of your requirement to edit the CAD drawings, it may be that creating and editing a raster image might be the most practical compromise. But it *is* a compromise. And the one thing that you should do is scale the drawings to the proper size when you create the raster image from the PDF. Do whatever you can to avoid resizing raster images. > And bitmapped graphics are just fine for web-based documents? As noted above, raster graphics are required for web use, but the HTML conversion tool takes care of the image file conversion regardless of the original image file format. -Fred Ridder
[Bulk] Re: adding graphics to files
Hi Deirdre, > Once it's imported into the file, I can't access it. I ctrl-click the > frame, but the handles don't appear. I didn't follow the entire thread. Did you import the PDF into a graphics frame or anchored frame? Which context-menu do you see when you right-click on the graphic? Can you move the graphic within the frame? In order to select the frame, try to click a tiny bit outside the frame. Lutz
adding graphics to files
If this is a repeat, sorry -- my first message died and I resent but I don't know if that got through. Anyhow, when I add jpgs to my Framemaker file (FM 8.0, Windows XP), Framemaker slows way down when I scroll over the page with the jpg. The jpgs are 300 dpi, which they need to be for good print resolution (they are black and white drawings). I import the file to an anchored frame, then resize the graphic to 80 percent because it is usually too large for the anchored frame. I really don't know anything about graphics, so anything advice would be most appreciated. Deirdre ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: adding graphics to files
Deirdre Reagan wrote: Anyhow, when I add jpgs to my Framemaker file (FM 8.0, Windows XP), Framemaker slows way down when I scroll over the page with the jpg. The jpgs are 300 dpi, which they need to be for good print resolution (they are black and white drawings). I import the file to an anchored frame, then resize the graphic to 80 percent because it is usually too large for the anchored frame. I really don't know anything about graphics, so anything advice would be most appreciated. To cover only a couple of the most basic issues: First and foremost, JPEG is *not* an appropriate file format for line art or anything containing text. JPEG was specifically designed for *photographic* images, which tend to conceal many of the format's shortcomings due to the continuous-tone nature of photographs. JPEG's area-based image compression algorithm inherently produces artifacts near abroupt color transitions, which is clearly seen as a kind of gray smudginess alongside lines in drawings or as a kind of cloud surrounding text. For line art you should be using a lossless file format like EPS, WMF (or EMF), or PNG (or GIF or TIFF or even BMP). The one file format you should *not* use is JPEG. Second, if you need to scale your graphics, you should use a vector file format (EPS, WMF, EMF) rather than a raster file format (any of the others mentioned). Vector images contain mathematical descriptions of the geometric and text objects in the drawing, which means that they can be rescaled over a wide range of sizes with no loss in quality. Raster graphics contain a pixel-by-pixel rendering of the image, and to rescale them you either have to change the pixel pitch or you have to resample them to throw away pixels or make up new pixels that don't exist. Third, if you do have raster images (screen shots, for example), the best way to change their reproduced size in FrameMaker is not to use the scaling command, but rather to change the dpi setting. Doubling the dpi will reduce the dimensions to 50%; halving the dpi will double the reproduced size of the image. If this approach is not acceptable for some reason, the other alternative is to use a tool like PaintShop Pro or Photoshop to resample the image, but this *always* causes a loss in quality. I'll leave any other issues to others to address. -Fred Ridder ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
adding graphics to files
If this is a repeat, sorry -- my first message died and I resent but I don't know if that got through. Anyhow, when I add jpgs to my Framemaker file (FM 8.0, Windows XP), Framemaker slows way down when I scroll over the page with the jpg. The jpgs are 300 dpi, which they need to be for good print resolution (they are black and white drawings). I import the file to an anchored frame, then resize the graphic to 80 percent because it is usually too large for the anchored frame. I really don't know anything about graphics, so anything advice would be most appreciated. Deirdre
adding graphics to files
Deirdre Reagan wrote: > Anyhow, when I add jpgs to my Framemaker file (FM 8.0, Windows XP), > Framemaker slows way down when I scroll over the page with the jpg. > > The jpgs are 300 dpi, which they need to be for good print resolution > (they are black and white drawings). > > I import the file to an anchored frame, then resize the graphic to 80 > percent because it is usually too large for the anchored frame. > > I really don't know anything about graphics, so anything advice would > be most appreciated. To cover only a couple of the most basic issues: First and foremost, JPEG is *not* an appropriate file format for line art or anything containing text. JPEG was specifically designed for *photographic* images, which tend to conceal many of the format's shortcomings due to the continuous-tone nature of photographs. JPEG's area-based image compression algorithm inherently produces artifacts near abroupt color transitions, which is clearly seen as a kind of gray smudginess alongside lines in drawings or as a kind of cloud surrounding text. For line art you should be using a lossless file format like EPS, WMF (or EMF), or PNG (or GIF or TIFF or even BMP). The one file format you should *not* use is JPEG. Second, if you need to scale your graphics, you should use a vector file format (EPS, WMF, EMF) rather than a raster file format (any of the others mentioned). Vector images contain mathematical descriptions of the geometric and text objects in the drawing, which means that they can be rescaled over a wide range of sizes with no loss in quality. Raster graphics contain a pixel-by-pixel rendering of the image, and to rescale them you either have to change the pixel pitch or you have to resample them to throw away pixels or make up new pixels that don't exist. Third, if you do have raster images (screen shots, for example), the best way to change their reproduced size in FrameMaker is not to use the scaling command, but rather to change the dpi setting. Doubling the dpi will reduce the dimensions to 50%; halving the dpi will double the reproduced size of the image. If this approach is not acceptable for some reason, the other alternative is to use a tool like PaintShop Pro or Photoshop to resample the image, but this *always* causes a loss in quality. I'll leave any other issues to others to address. -Fred Ridder
