also working with images

2008-02-13 Thread Paul Findon
On 13 Feb 2008, at 13:15, Milan Davidovic wrote:

> On 2/4/08, Mike Wickham  wrote:
>> If you're on the Windows platform, and creating documents for  
>> press, EPS is
>> really the only way to go for color graphics. With every other  
>> graphics
>> format, Frame passes the graphics through the Windows GDI when  
>> creating
>> Postscript. CMYK graphics are converted to RGB in the process and  
>> colors may
>> change. EPS is passed around the Windows GDI and maintains  
>> original colors.
>
> Slightly OT, but for comparison purposes -- does InDesign do this  
> as well

No. Adobe's "modern" apps (the CS stuff) use Adobe's own engines for  
graphics, type, and color. PDFs are produced directly, bypassing OS  
idiosyncrasies.

That and the fact that Adobe Bridge (another CS app) does a lot of  
the work of Windows Explorer and Mac Finder, makes you wonder why  
they don't just build their own OS using Flex. Adobe OS! Now there's  
a thought ;-)

Paul


also working with images

2008-02-13 Thread Mike Wickham
> On 2/4/08, Mike Wickham  wrote:
>> If you're on the Windows platform, and creating documents for press, EPS 
>> is
>> really the only way to go for color graphics. With every other graphics
>> format, Frame passes the graphics through the Windows GDI when creating
>> Postscript. CMYK graphics are converted to RGB in the process and colors 
>> may
>> change. EPS is passed around the Windows GDI and maintains original 
>> colors.
>
> Slightly OT, but for comparison purposes -- does InDesign do this as well?
>

It's not an issue with InDesign. It avoids the Windows GDI. So your CMYK 
will remain unchanged and there is no need to convert to EPS.

Mike Wickham




Re: also working with images

2008-02-13 Thread Paul Findon
On 13 Feb 2008, at 13:15, Milan Davidovic wrote:

> On 2/4/08, Mike Wickham <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> If you're on the Windows platform, and creating documents for  
>> press, EPS is
>> really the only way to go for color graphics. With every other  
>> graphics
>> format, Frame passes the graphics through the Windows GDI when  
>> creating
>> Postscript. CMYK graphics are converted to RGB in the process and  
>> colors may
>> change. EPS is passed around the Windows GDI and maintains  
>> original colors.
>
> Slightly OT, but for comparison purposes -- does InDesign do this  
> as well

No. Adobe's "modern" apps (the CS stuff) use Adobe's own engines for  
graphics, type, and color. PDFs are produced directly, bypassing OS  
idiosyncrasies.

That and the fact that Adobe Bridge (another CS app) does a lot of  
the work of Windows Explorer and Mac Finder, makes you wonder why  
they don't just build their own OS using Flex. Adobe OS! Now there's  
a thought ;-)

Paul
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Re: also working with images

2008-02-13 Thread Mike Wickham
> On 2/4/08, Mike Wickham <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> If you're on the Windows platform, and creating documents for press, EPS 
>> is
>> really the only way to go for color graphics. With every other graphics
>> format, Frame passes the graphics through the Windows GDI when creating
>> Postscript. CMYK graphics are converted to RGB in the process and colors 
>> may
>> change. EPS is passed around the Windows GDI and maintains original 
>> colors.
>
> Slightly OT, but for comparison purposes -- does InDesign do this as well?
>

It's not an issue with InDesign. It avoids the Windows GDI. So your CMYK 
will remain unchanged and there is no need to convert to EPS.

Mike Wickham


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also working with images

2008-02-13 Thread Milan Davidovic
On 2/4/08, Mike Wickham  wrote:
> If you're on the Windows platform, and creating documents for press, EPS is
> really the only way to go for color graphics. With every other graphics
> format, Frame passes the graphics through the Windows GDI when creating
> Postscript. CMYK graphics are converted to RGB in the process and colors may
> change. EPS is passed around the Windows GDI and maintains original colors.

Slightly OT, but for comparison purposes -- does InDesign do this as well?

Thanks.

-- 
Milan Davidovic
http://altmilan.blogspot.com
http://stctorcomp.blogspot.com


Re: also working with images

2008-02-13 Thread Milan Davidovic
On 2/4/08, Mike Wickham <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> If you're on the Windows platform, and creating documents for press, EPS is
> really the only way to go for color graphics. With every other graphics
> format, Frame passes the graphics through the Windows GDI when creating
> Postscript. CMYK graphics are converted to RGB in the process and colors may
> change. EPS is passed around the Windows GDI and maintains original colors.

Slightly OT, but for comparison purposes -- does InDesign do this as well?

Thanks.

-- 
Milan Davidovic
http://altmilan.blogspot.com
http://stctorcomp.blogspot.com
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Working with Images

2008-02-07 Thread richard.melan...@us.tel.com
No problem sir, we are all human. Thank you for being a gentleman and replying 
to my post. 
Rick


  _  

From: Dennis Brunnenmeyer [mailto:dennisb at chronometrics.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 2:11 PM
To: TEI Melanson, Richard; framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: Working with Images


Rick...

You are very correct about my brashness. My apologies to all of you. I 
was anxious to try and squelch some misconceptions and got carried away. David 
Creamer was particularly incensed with me because he thought I was aiming the 
whole rant at him. This was not the case, of course, but I can see his point. 
in the meantime, he and I have called a truce, as we both have better things to 
do.

Dude...
**
At 06:26 AM 2/6/2008, richard.melanson at us.tel.com wrote:


Dude, you may be the expert on this, and the info you supplied 
in your response is so good I am saving it, but how about a little respect for 
everyone on the list. I believe whatever anyone said in an attempt to help they 
believed to be accurate and helpful. To say and I quote you "Well, I've had 
enough of this nonsensical babble. None of you seem to understand what you are 
talking about when it" is a little strong. Life is too short, take a deep 
breath and enjoy!!
Rick

-Original Message-
From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com [ 
mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com <mailto:framers-bounces at 
lists.frameusers.com> ] On Behalf Of Dennis Brunnenmeyer
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 2:37 PM
To: David Creamer; framers at lists.frameusers.com
    Subject: RE: Working with Images

Rant begins...

Well, I've had enough of this nonsensical babble. None of you 
seem to understand what you are talking about when it comes to dealing with 
screenshots and raster images, (a.k.a. bitmapped images) as opposed to vector 
or llne art.

First of all, display devices, whether printers or monitors, 
have an upper limit on their ability to resolve (print or display) image 
detail, which by the way is what "resolution" is a measure of...meaningful 
detail. The best my aging but faithful laser printer can do is 600 dpi, while 
my uppity LCD monitor can display up to 100 dpi, with its1600 x 1200 native 
resolution on an LCD panel that is exactly 16" wide x 12" tall."  You cannot 
see nor capture anything and create a screenshot image with higher resolution 
than the display device. You cannot print anything with higher resolution than 
the printer can resolve. If you feed a high resolution image to a medium 
resolution printer, it will interpolate (resample) the image down to medium 
resolution quality. It has to, as it cannot put all of that information on 
paper. If you take an very high resolution (total pixel count) image of size 
4000 x 3000 pixels (12 megapixels) and display the full image it on a monitor 
like
mine, you will
not see all of detail in the image and hence you will not be 
able to capture all of the detail in a screenshot.

Most of you seem to appreciate this, but some of you think you 
can improve resolution by artificial means. No, you cannot.

A true measure of the resolution of an image is the original 
size of the image in total pixels, assuming it is true to begin with. That is, 
assuming a perfect digital camera with a perfect lens and the ability to 
produce a "raw" bitmap (rather than a compressed JPEG file), that 12 megapixel 
CCD image sensor will produce a significant improvement in the resulting image 
over a 2 megapixel CCD sensor. 
That image quality is NOT described by either ppi or dpi. It is 
a function of the number of pixels in the X direction and the number of pixels 
in the Y direction.

Now the plot thickens when I return to the subject of 
screenshots, because if I run my graphics card at 1600 x 1200, the type, icons 
and dialog boxes are uncomfortably small for me to read on the monitor, so I 
set the graphics card to display its images at 1280 x 960 dpi. 
At this point, the maximum image size that can be displayed 
without loss of resolution is now 80 ppi. That's 1280 divided by 16. 
[Unfortunately, since the graphics card's resolution doesn't 
match the native resolution of the LCD panel, the on-screen picture is not as 
crisp as it could be. This is a result of "aliasing" artifacts, but that's a 
topic for a different thread.]

Note that in the above paragraph, I switched from dpi for 
display devices to ppi when describing image size. This is a meature of the 
physical size of a digital 

RE: Working with Images

2008-02-07 Thread richard.melanson
No problem sir, we are all human. Thank you for being a gentleman and replying 
to my post. 
Rick


  _  

From: Dennis Brunnenmeyer [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 2:11 PM
To: TEI Melanson, Richard; framers@lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: Working with Images


Rick...

You are very correct about my brashness. My apologies to all of you. I 
was anxious to try and squelch some misconceptions and got carried away. David 
Creamer was particularly incensed with me because he thought I was aiming the 
whole rant at him. This was not the case, of course, but I can see his point. 
in the meantime, he and I have called a truce, as we both have better things to 
do.

Dude...
**
At 06:26 AM 2/6/2008, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


Dude, you may be the expert on this, and the info you supplied 
in your response is so good I am saving it, but how about a little respect for 
everyone on the list. I believe whatever anyone said in an attempt to help they 
believed to be accurate and helpful. To say and I quote you "Well, I've had 
enough of this nonsensical babble. None of you seem to understand what you are 
talking about when it" is a little strong. Life is too short, take a deep 
breath and enjoy!!
Rick

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [ mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ] On Behalf Of Dennis Brunnenmeyer
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 2:37 PM
To: David Creamer; framers@lists.frameusers.com
    Subject: RE: Working with Images

Rant begins...

Well, I've had enough of this nonsensical babble. None of you 
seem to understand what you are talking about when it comes to dealing with 
screenshots and raster images, (a.k.a. bitmapped images) as opposed to vector 
or llne art.

First of all, display devices, whether printers or monitors, 
have an upper limit on their ability to resolve (print or display) image 
detail, which by the way is what "resolution" is a measure of...meaningful 
detail. The best my aging but faithful laser printer can do is 600 dpi, while 
my uppity LCD monitor can display up to 100 dpi, with its1600 x 1200 native 
resolution on an LCD panel that is exactly 16" wide x 12" tall."  You cannot 
see nor capture anything and create a screenshot image with higher resolution 
than the display device. You cannot print anything with higher resolution than 
the printer can resolve. If you feed a high resolution image to a medium 
resolution printer, it will interpolate (resample) the image down to medium 
resolution quality. It has to, as it cannot put all of that information on 
paper. If you take an very high resolution (total pixel count) image of size 
4000 x 3000 pixels (12 megapixels) and display the full image it on a monitor 
like
mine, you will
not see all of detail in the image and hence you will not be 
able to capture all of the detail in a screenshot.

Most of you seem to appreciate this, but some of you think you 
can improve resolution by artificial means. No, you cannot.

A true measure of the resolution of an image is the original 
size of the image in total pixels, assuming it is true to begin with. That is, 
assuming a perfect digital camera with a perfect lens and the ability to 
produce a "raw" bitmap (rather than a compressed JPEG file), that 12 megapixel 
CCD image sensor will produce a significant improvement in the resulting image 
over a 2 megapixel CCD sensor. 
That image quality is NOT described by either ppi or dpi. It is 
a function of the number of pixels in the X direction and the number of pixels 
in the Y direction.

Now the plot thickens when I return to the subject of 
screenshots, because if I run my graphics card at 1600 x 1200, the type, icons 
and dialog boxes are uncomfortably small for me to read on the monitor, so I 
set the graphics card to display its images at 1280 x 960 dpi. 
At this point, the maximum image size that can be displayed 
without loss of resolution is now 80 ppi. That's 1280 divided by 16. 
[Unfortunately, since the graphics card's resolution doesn't 
match the native resolution of the LCD panel, the on-screen picture is not as 
crisp as it could be. This is a result of "aliasing" artifacts, but that's a 
topic for a different thread.]

Note that in the above paragraph, I switched from dpi for 
display devices to ppi when descr

RE: Working with Images

2008-02-07 Thread David Creamer
There seems to be some confusing on the use of the term "adding resolution"
when referring to images.

Resolution is simply a measure of the amount of pixels (X/Y counts) and a
pixel-per-inch (ppi) setting. Resolution CAN be increased--period. This is
typically done in a program like Photoshop. (Whether one should do this for
screen captures is another issue and not the point.)

The confusion among some is whether this is adding "real" pixel data,
therefore enhancing the detail of the image. It is not. Detail, or real
pixel data, can only come at the time of initial capture.

Some quasi-experts were claiming that resolution cannot be added at all, but
what they were really referring to is detail by means of original pixel
data.

Note: Adding resolution is not the same as re-assigning the ppi but keeping
the same X/Y pixel amounts.

To repeat my original advice:
1] Do not use JPEG format, but PNG, TIFF, or possibly GIF.
2] Do not add resolution, but use as is.
IF--and only IF--additional resolution is necessary for prepress purposes,
use nearest-neighbor interpolation, not bicubic.
3] Monitor display setting (aka monitor resolution) is only important when
capturing entire screen layouts, not for individual dialog boxes.

David Creamer
I.D.E.A.S. - Results-Oriented Training
http://www.IDEAStraining.com
Adobe Certified Trainer & Expert (since 1995)
Authorized Quark Training Provider (since 1988)
Markzware, Enfocus, FileMaker Certified


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Working with Images

2008-02-07 Thread David Creamer
There seems to be some confusing on the use of the term "adding resolution"
when referring to images.

Resolution is simply a measure of the amount of pixels (X/Y counts) and a
pixel-per-inch (ppi) setting. Resolution CAN be increased--period. This is
typically done in a program like Photoshop. (Whether one should do this for
screen captures is another issue and not the point.)

The confusion among some is whether this is adding "real" pixel data,
therefore enhancing the detail of the image. It is not. Detail, or real
pixel data, can only come at the time of initial capture.

Some quasi-experts were claiming that resolution cannot be added at all, but
what they were really referring to is detail by means of original pixel
data.

Note: Adding resolution is not the same as re-assigning the ppi but keeping
the same X/Y pixel amounts.

To repeat my original advice:
1] Do not use JPEG format, but PNG, TIFF, or possibly GIF.
2] Do not add resolution, but use as is.
IF--and only IF--additional resolution is necessary for prepress purposes,
use nearest-neighbor interpolation, not bicubic.
3] Monitor display setting (aka monitor resolution) is only important when
capturing entire screen layouts, not for individual dialog boxes.

David Creamer
I.D.E.A.S. - Results-Oriented Training
http://www.IDEAStraining.com
Adobe Certified Trainer & Expert (since 1995)
Authorized Quark Training Provider (since 1988)
Markzware, Enfocus, FileMaker Certified




Working with Images

2008-02-06 Thread Stuart Rogers
John Sgammato wrote:
> When you capture a 96dpi image at higher resolution, you will never
> see detail that isn't there (of course) but you can do more with the
> image because your OWN image of the image is capable of showing
> greater resolution. You can look at it as if your high-res image
> capture dices the existing image into smaller pieces. As an extreme
> example, consider an original image of alternating 1-inch black and
> white elements along a line at 10 dpi. Capture that image at 100 dpi
> and you really have 10 times as many 0.1-inch elements to work with,
> all faithful in location, dimension, and color to the original. If
> you need to rotate or stretch or manipulate the image in any way, or
> if any of your processes cause the image to lose resolution, the new
> hi-res image will be more forgiving. Likewise if you print the image,
> the printer is limited by its own resolution - the higher-resolution
> image can help to compensate.
> 
> This is easy to test for your self: in Illustrator (or similar)
> generate a black square and inside it a white circle or diamond.
> Repeat at smaller intervals until you get bored. Save as .ai, then
> export to .tiff twice. For the first select 96dpi and call it
> lo-res.tiff, and for the second export at 400dpi and call it
> hi-res.tiff. Then import them side-by side into FM and see how they
> look. The lo-res image will show jaggy edges that you don't see in
> the hi-res.

Hi John,

Sorry, but that's not how it works!

All that happens in a screen capture is that the capturing software 
copies the contents of all or part of the graphics card RAM to a file. 
"Resolution" is irrelevant at that stage, because you are only copying a 
fixed number of pixels.  Those pixels are displayed by your monitor 
according to the graphics card resolution setting, which determines the 
image dimensions *on your particular screen*, and they are (later) sent 
to a printer driver with an instruction on how closely to space the 
corresponding ink dots.  But none of that changes the number of pixels 
in either the graphics card RAM or the resulting file.

Also, your test doesn't apply to screen captures.
Illustrator is a vector program, not a raster program.  When you
export the vector drawings to tiff, they get rasterized (converted from
mathematical formulas with no associated quantity of pixels to files 
containing a finite number of pixels).  If you export at low resolution, 
then Illustrator will create a file with fewer pixels than if you export 
at higher resolution.  This export operation is completely different 
from a screen capture, which is a raster image with a fixed number of 
pixels.

"Jaggies" are unavoidable when rectangular pixels are used to create 
angled lines.  They're just less visible with higher-res files, though 
they are still there.

HTH!

-- 
Stuart Rogers
Technical Communicator
Phoenix Geophysics Limited
Toronto, ON, Canada
+1 (416) 491-7340 x 325

srogers phoenix-geophysics com

If it makes things work more easily, why isn't it called lubrican?



Working with Images

2008-02-06 Thread Stuart Rogers
John Sgammato wrote:
> ...

> Note that with SnagIt you can opt to capture the image at other
> resolutions, so you need not change anything in FM. I capture images
> as 200dpi TIFFs, and then import them at 200dpi in my books. I go to
> print, PDF, and online help from a single set of screenshots.

John, your workflow is appropriate, but you're not quite correct on why.

You are not capturing the image "at other resolutions," or really at any 
resolution.  You are capturing a specific number of pixels.  At the time 
of capture, they are *displayed* at your screen resolution (pixels per 
inch, ppi; not dpi).  Put that captured image on another screen with 
different graphics card resolution, and the identical number of pixels 
will be displayed on that screen, with different physical dimensions 
because that screen positions the pixels closer or farther apart 
(different number of ppi).  None of that matters when it comes to 
putting the image in FM.

When you tell SnagIt or FM or Photoshop or any other program that an 
image is xxx dpi, you are simply giving it an instruction to pass along 
to the print device that it should place the dots 1/xxx inch apart.  If 
you tell SnagIt you want the image to be 200 dpi, it tells FM the same 
thing; when you import "at 200dpi", you're telling FM the same thing. 
FM renders an approximation of that on screen, as well as passing the 
instruction on to the print driver.  The image that you captured, unless 
manipulated by some sort of interpolation, can only contain the number 
of pixels that formed the original object on screen.  Telling SnagIt 
200dpi or 50dpi does not change the number of pixels or the size of the 
file; it only changes the distance between dots when printed (and the 
size of FM's on-screen approximation).

Best regards,

-- 
Stuart Rogers
Technical Communicator
Phoenix Geophysics Limited
Toronto, ON, Canada
+1 (416) 491-7340 x 325

srogers phoenix-geophysics com

If it makes things work more easily, why isn't it called lubrican?


Re: Working with Images

2008-02-06 Thread Stuart Rogers
John Sgammato wrote:
> When you capture a 96dpi image at higher resolution, you will never
> see detail that isn't there (of course) but you can do more with the
> image because your OWN image of the image is capable of showing
> greater resolution. You can look at it as if your high-res image
> capture dices the existing image into smaller pieces. As an extreme
> example, consider an original image of alternating 1-inch black and
> white elements along a line at 10 dpi. Capture that image at 100 dpi
> and you really have 10 times as many 0.1-inch elements to work with,
> all faithful in location, dimension, and color to the original. If
> you need to rotate or stretch or manipulate the image in any way, or
> if any of your processes cause the image to lose resolution, the new
> hi-res image will be more forgiving. Likewise if you print the image,
> the printer is limited by its own resolution - the higher-resolution
> image can help to compensate.
> 
> This is easy to test for your self: in Illustrator (or similar)
> generate a black square and inside it a white circle or diamond.
> Repeat at smaller intervals until you get bored. Save as .ai, then
> export to .tiff twice. For the first select 96dpi and call it
> lo-res.tiff, and for the second export at 400dpi and call it
> hi-res.tiff. Then import them side-by side into FM and see how they
> look. The lo-res image will show jaggy edges that you don't see in
> the hi-res.

Hi John,

Sorry, but that's not how it works!

All that happens in a screen capture is that the capturing software 
copies the contents of all or part of the graphics card RAM to a file. 
"Resolution" is irrelevant at that stage, because you are only copying a 
fixed number of pixels.  Those pixels are displayed by your monitor 
according to the graphics card resolution setting, which determines the 
image dimensions *on your particular screen*, and they are (later) sent 
to a printer driver with an instruction on how closely to space the 
corresponding ink dots.  But none of that changes the number of pixels 
in either the graphics card RAM or the resulting file.

Also, your test doesn't apply to screen captures.
Illustrator is a vector program, not a raster program.  When you
export the vector drawings to tiff, they get rasterized (converted from
mathematical formulas with no associated quantity of pixels to files 
containing a finite number of pixels).  If you export at low resolution, 
then Illustrator will create a file with fewer pixels than if you export 
at higher resolution.  This export operation is completely different 
from a screen capture, which is a raster image with a fixed number of 
pixels.

"Jaggies" are unavoidable when rectangular pixels are used to create 
angled lines.  They're just less visible with higher-res files, though 
they are still there.

HTH!

-- 
Stuart Rogers
Technical Communicator
Phoenix Geophysics Limited
Toronto, ON, Canada
+1 (416) 491-7340 x 325

srogers phoenix-geophysics com

If it makes things work more easily, why isn't it called lubrican?

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Working with Images

2008-02-06 Thread Peter Gold
I don't think I've seen a mention about the variation of screen-pixel
size among different monitor brands and models. I realize that
although a screen pixel that's .35mm square, and one that's .25mm
square create different on-screen image sizes and granularity for the
same image, say 100px x 100px, screen-pixel size doesn't affect a
printed image. However, screen-pixel size does affect the appearance
of the size of the original image, and of a PDF of that image.

Isn't it as important to standardize on the screen-pixel size of
monitors in a work flow, just as it is to employ standard screen
calibration, and standard lighting for viewing printed output?

(No rants were harmed during the creation of this question.)

Regards,

Peter
___
Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices


RE: Working with Images

2008-02-06 Thread Dennis Brunnenmeyer
Rick...

You are very correct about my brashness. My apologies to all of you. 
I was anxious to try and squelch some misconceptions and got carried 
away. David Creamer was particularly incensed with me because he 
thought I was aiming the whole rant at him. This was not the case, of 
course, but I can see his point. in the meantime, he and I have 
called a truce, as we both have better things to do.

Dude...
**
At 06:26 AM 2/6/2008, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>Dude, you may be the expert on this, and the info you supplied in 
>your response is so good I am saving it, but how about a little 
>respect for everyone on the list. I believe whatever anyone said in 
>an attempt to help they believed to be accurate and helpful. To say 
>and I quote you "Well, I've had enough of this nonsensical babble. 
>None of you seem to understand what you are talking about when it" 
>is a little strong. Life is too short, take a deep breath and enjoy!!
>Rick
>
>-Original Message-
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
>[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Dennis Brunnenmeyer
>Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 2:37 PM
>To: David Creamer; framers@lists.frameusers.com
>Subject: RE: Working with Images
>
>Rant begins...
>
>Well, I've had enough of this nonsensical babble. None of you seem 
>to understand what you are talking about when it comes to dealing 
>with screenshots and raster images, (a.k.a. bitmapped images) as 
>opposed to vector or llne art.
>
>First of all, display devices, whether printers or monitors, have an 
>upper limit on their ability to resolve (print or display) image 
>detail, which by the way is what "resolution" is a measure 
>of...meaningful detail. The best my aging but faithful laser printer 
>can do is 600 dpi, while my uppity LCD monitor can display up to 100 
>dpi, with its1600 x 1200 native resolution on an LCD panel that is 
>exactly 16" wide x 12" tall."  You cannot see nor capture anything 
>and create a screenshot image with higher resolution than the 
>display device. You cannot print anything with higher resolution 
>than the printer can resolve. If you feed a high resolution image to 
>a medium resolution printer, it will interpolate (resample) the 
>image down to medium resolution quality. It has to, as it cannot put 
>all of that information on paper. If you take an very high 
>resolution (total pixel count) image of size 4000 x 3000 pixels (12 
>megapixels) and display the full image it on a monitor like mine, you will
>not see all of detail in the image and hence you will not be able to 
>capture all of the detail in a screenshot.
>
>Most of you seem to appreciate this, but some of you think you can 
>improve resolution by artificial means. No, you cannot.
>
>A true measure of the resolution of an image is the original size of 
>the image in total pixels, assuming it is true to begin with. That 
>is, assuming a perfect digital camera with a perfect lens and the 
>ability to produce a "raw" bitmap (rather than a compressed JPEG 
>file), that 12 megapixel CCD image sensor will produce a significant 
>improvement in the resulting image over a 2 megapixel CCD sensor.
>That image quality is NOT described by either ppi or dpi. It is a 
>function of the number of pixels in the X direction and the number 
>of pixels in the Y direction.
>
>Now the plot thickens when I return to the subject of screenshots, 
>because if I run my graphics card at 1600 x 1200, the type, icons 
>and dialog boxes are uncomfortably small for me to read on the 
>monitor, so I set the graphics card to display its images at 1280 x 960 dpi.
>At this point, the maximum image size that can be displayed without 
>loss of resolution is now 80 ppi. That's 1280 divided by 16.
>[Unfortunately, since the graphics card's resolution doesn't match 
>the native resolution of the LCD panel, the on-screen picture is not 
>as crisp as it could be. This is a result of "aliasing" artifacts, 
>but that's a topic for a different thread.]
>
>Note that in the above paragraph, I switched from dpi for display 
>devices to ppi when describing image size. This is a meature of the 
>physical size of a digital image (as printed or displayed) and 
>should be described in ppi. The ability of a device to display or 
>print an image should be described in dpi, or alternatively, lpi for 
>lines per inch, or pixel spacing, as in 0.25mm. There is a tendency 
>to intermix this terminology and hence confuse the issues you are discussing.
>
>Now that I have set my graphics card to 1280 x 960 for this monitor, 
>the maximum resolution of any image I capture from the screen is 80 
>ppi, regardless of whether I c

Working with Images

2008-02-06 Thread Dennis Brunnenmeyer
Rick...

You are very correct about my brashness. My apologies to all of you. 
I was anxious to try and squelch some misconceptions and got carried 
away. David Creamer was particularly incensed with me because he 
thought I was aiming the whole rant at him. This was not the case, of 
course, but I can see his point. in the meantime, he and I have 
called a truce, as we both have better things to do.

Dude...
**
At 06:26 AM 2/6/2008, richard.melanson at us.tel.com wrote:
>Dude, you may be the expert on this, and the info you supplied in 
>your response is so good I am saving it, but how about a little 
>respect for everyone on the list. I believe whatever anyone said in 
>an attempt to help they believed to be accurate and helpful. To say 
>and I quote you "Well, I've had enough of this nonsensical babble. 
>None of you seem to understand what you are talking about when it" 
>is a little strong. Life is too short, take a deep breath and enjoy!!
>Rick
>
>-Original Message-
>From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com 
>[mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Dennis 
>Brunnenmeyer
>Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 2:37 PM
>To: David Creamer; framers at lists.frameusers.com
>Subject: RE: Working with Images
>
>Rant begins...
>
>Well, I've had enough of this nonsensical babble. None of you seem 
>to understand what you are talking about when it comes to dealing 
>with screenshots and raster images, (a.k.a. bitmapped images) as 
>opposed to vector or llne art.
>
>First of all, display devices, whether printers or monitors, have an 
>upper limit on their ability to resolve (print or display) image 
>detail, which by the way is what "resolution" is a measure 
>of...meaningful detail. The best my aging but faithful laser printer 
>can do is 600 dpi, while my uppity LCD monitor can display up to 100 
>dpi, with its1600 x 1200 native resolution on an LCD panel that is 
>exactly 16" wide x 12" tall."  You cannot see nor capture anything 
>and create a screenshot image with higher resolution than the 
>display device. You cannot print anything with higher resolution 
>than the printer can resolve. If you feed a high resolution image to 
>a medium resolution printer, it will interpolate (resample) the 
>image down to medium resolution quality. It has to, as it cannot put 
>all of that information on paper. If you take an very high 
>resolution (total pixel count) image of size 4000 x 3000 pixels (12 
>megapixels) and display the full image it on a monitor like mine, you will
>not see all of detail in the image and hence you will not be able to 
>capture all of the detail in a screenshot.
>
>Most of you seem to appreciate this, but some of you think you can 
>improve resolution by artificial means. No, you cannot.
>
>A true measure of the resolution of an image is the original size of 
>the image in total pixels, assuming it is true to begin with. That 
>is, assuming a perfect digital camera with a perfect lens and the 
>ability to produce a "raw" bitmap (rather than a compressed JPEG 
>file), that 12 megapixel CCD image sensor will produce a significant 
>improvement in the resulting image over a 2 megapixel CCD sensor.
>That image quality is NOT described by either ppi or dpi. It is a 
>function of the number of pixels in the X direction and the number 
>of pixels in the Y direction.
>
>Now the plot thickens when I return to the subject of screenshots, 
>because if I run my graphics card at 1600 x 1200, the type, icons 
>and dialog boxes are uncomfortably small for me to read on the 
>monitor, so I set the graphics card to display its images at 1280 x 960 dpi.
>At this point, the maximum image size that can be displayed without 
>loss of resolution is now 80 ppi. That's 1280 divided by 16.
>[Unfortunately, since the graphics card's resolution doesn't match 
>the native resolution of the LCD panel, the on-screen picture is not 
>as crisp as it could be. This is a result of "aliasing" artifacts, 
>but that's a topic for a different thread.]
>
>Note that in the above paragraph, I switched from dpi for display 
>devices to ppi when describing image size. This is a meature of the 
>physical size of a digital image (as printed or displayed) and 
>should be described in ppi. The ability of a device to display or 
>print an image should be described in dpi, or alternatively, lpi for 
>lines per inch, or pixel spacing, as in 0.25mm. There is a tendency 
>to intermix this terminology and hence confuse the issues you are discussing.
>
>Now that I have set my graphics card to 1280 x 960 for this monitor, 
>the maximum resolution of any image I captu

Re: Working with Images

2008-02-06 Thread Peter Gold
I don't think I've seen a mention about the variation of screen-pixel
size among different monitor brands and models. I realize that
although a screen pixel that's .35mm square, and one that's .25mm
square create different on-screen image sizes and granularity for the
same image, say 100px x 100px, screen-pixel size doesn't affect a
printed image. However, screen-pixel size does affect the appearance
of the size of the original image, and of a PDF of that image.

Isn't it as important to standardize on the screen-pixel size of
monitors in a work flow, just as it is to employ standard screen
calibration, and standard lighting for viewing printed output?

(No rants were harmed during the creation of this question.)

Regards,

Peter
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Re: Working with Images

2008-02-06 Thread Stuart Rogers
John Sgammato wrote:
> ...

> Note that with SnagIt you can opt to capture the image at other
> resolutions, so you need not change anything in FM. I capture images
> as 200dpi TIFFs, and then import them at 200dpi in my books. I go to
> print, PDF, and online help from a single set of screenshots.

John, your workflow is appropriate, but you're not quite correct on why.

You are not capturing the image "at other resolutions," or really at any 
resolution.  You are capturing a specific number of pixels.  At the time 
of capture, they are *displayed* at your screen resolution (pixels per 
inch, ppi; not dpi).  Put that captured image on another screen with 
different graphics card resolution, and the identical number of pixels 
will be displayed on that screen, with different physical dimensions 
because that screen positions the pixels closer or farther apart 
(different number of ppi).  None of that matters when it comes to 
putting the image in FM.

When you tell SnagIt or FM or Photoshop or any other program that an 
image is xxx dpi, you are simply giving it an instruction to pass along 
to the print device that it should place the dots 1/xxx inch apart.  If 
you tell SnagIt you want the image to be 200 dpi, it tells FM the same 
thing; when you import "at 200dpi", you're telling FM the same thing. 
FM renders an approximation of that on screen, as well as passing the 
instruction on to the print driver.  The image that you captured, unless 
manipulated by some sort of interpolation, can only contain the number 
of pixels that formed the original object on screen.  Telling SnagIt 
200dpi or 50dpi does not change the number of pixels or the size of the 
file; it only changes the distance between dots when printed (and the 
size of FM's on-screen approximation).

Best regards,

-- 
Stuart Rogers
Technical Communicator
Phoenix Geophysics Limited
Toronto, ON, Canada
+1 (416) 491-7340 x 325

srogers phoenix-geophysics com

If it makes things work more easily, why isn't it called lubrican?
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RE: Working with Images

2008-02-06 Thread Dennis Brunnenmeyer
David...

This was not an attack on you. Please see my remarks embedded below.

Dennis...

At 02:07 PM 2/5/2008, you wrote:
>On Dennis Brunnenmeyer at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote on 2/5/08 11:36
>AM:
>
> > Rant begins...
> > 
> >
> > First of all, display devices, whether printers or monitors, have an upper
> > limit on their ability to resolve (print or display) image detail, which by
> > the way is what "resolution" is a measure of...meaningful detail. 
> The best my
> > aging but faithful laser printer can do is 600 dpi, while my uppity LCD
> > monitor can display up to 100 dpi, with its1600 x 1200 native 
> resolution on an
> > LCD panel that is exactly 16" wide x 12" tall."
>You are totally ignoring line screen (aka LPI) when printing. Using the
>formula will determine the quality of the output on a black-only laser
>printer:
>(Output Resolution/Screen Frequency)^2 [squared] +1 = total number of gray
>levels available to the printer.
>So a 600dpi printer at 100 LPI gives you only 37 levels of gray. For photos,
>you need around 200 levels of gray to look natural.
>
>For commercial offset printing, one should use the following guideline:
>PPI= LPI x 1.5. (Some use LPI x 2, but 1.5 is normally enough.)

I was referring to true image resolution. By resampling to a higher 
pixel-squared number, you have not increased the resolution of the 
image. No new detail is revealed that wasn't there before. However, I 
will grant that you may *enhance* the appearance when printing in 
this manner by falsifying the image to a degree.


> > You cannot see nor capture
> > anything and create a screenshot image with higher resolution 
> than the display
> > device..
>I think I said something similar to that.

I think you're probably right about that. However, several people 
have implied, that capturing a screen image at, say, 160 ppi gives 
more detail. This cannot be if the display resolution is set to 80 or 
100 dpi. The end result is that the same number of pixels are 
captured but with a higher ppi value, meaning as you have pointed out 
that the image is "physically" smaller.


> >
> > Most of you seem to appreciate this, but some of you think you can improve
> > resolution by artificial means. No, you cannot.
>I think I said something similar to that.

No, you said this: "One can, however, add extra resolution to the 
image, but that is usually detrimental
to the quality of the image."

Only the last half of this sentence is correct.

> >
> > A true measure of the resolution of an image is the original size 
> of the image
> > in total pixels, assuming it is true to begin with.
>I think I said something similar to that.

No reasonable person could disagree with that, and I think you are 
reasonable enough to have said that. Of course, in the case of color 
images, color depth counts too.


> >[Unfortunately, since the graphics card's resolution doesn't
> > match the native resolution of the LCD panel, the on-screen 
> picture is not as
> > crisp as it could be. This is a result of "aliasing" artifacts, 
> but that's a
> > topic for a different thread.]
>I believe you are confusing what you see on screen to what is actually being
>captured.

Actually, I'm not. The artifacts I see due to pixel aliasing on the 
screen are just annoying visual impairments specific to the display 
technology and not an indication of the quality of the image itself.

> >
> >
> >. If I set the capture "resolution" to 160 ppi, then the
> > image will be half the physical size as it appeared on the 
> screen, BUT IT WILL
> > HAVE EXACTLY THE SAME NUMBER OF PIXELS. The resolution has not be 
> improved, as
> > no more detail has been added.
>I think I said something similar to that.

Yes, you did and you are correct.

> >
> > No new detail nor
> > image improvement can be added by interpolation.
>I think I said something similar to that.
>However, I suspect you have not used nearest neighbor interpolation too
>much.

"Improvement" in the sense that I meant it was intended to convey an 
improvement in actual accuracy. As you pointed out above, you can 
"enhance" some images this way by interpolating in new gray-scale or 
color values to yield a prettier but partially-false result. But you 
would NOT want to interpolate using any methodology in order to 
"enhance" a screen shot of a Windows dialog box. For the same reason, 
one should not save those kinds of screen shots as JPEG images.


> >
> > I have no idea what David meant by this statement:  "Again, referring to my
> > last post, monitor resolution only counts if
> > capturing an entire screen."
>I thought it was pretty clear. 1280x1040 is the same amount to X/Y pixel
>data on a 17 inch monitor, a 19 inch monitor, or a 20 inch monitor.

That's very true, but that's irrelevant to what I quoted above. Your 
sentence makes no sense.

> >
> > Flame away...
>I try not to flame or rant as I think it dilutes t

Working with Images

2008-02-06 Thread richard.melan...@us.tel.com
Dude, you may be the expert on this, and the info you supplied in your response 
is so good I am saving it, but how about a little respect for everyone on the 
list. I believe whatever anyone said in an attempt to help they believed to be 
accurate and helpful. To say and I quote you "Well, I've had enough of this 
nonsensical babble. None of you seem to understand what you are talking about 
when it" is a little strong. Life is too short, take a deep breath and enjoy!!
Rick

-Original Message-
From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com 
[mailto:framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Dennis Brunnenmeyer
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 2:37 PM
To: David Creamer; framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: Working with Images

Rant begins...

Well, I've had enough of this nonsensical babble. None of you seem to 
understand what you are talking about when it comes to dealing with screenshots 
and raster images, (a.k.a. bitmapped images) as opposed to vector or llne art.

First of all, display devices, whether printers or monitors, have an upper 
limit on their ability to resolve (print or display) image detail, which by the 
way is what "resolution" is a measure of...meaningful detail. The best my aging 
but faithful laser printer can do is 600 dpi, while my uppity LCD monitor can 
display up to 100 dpi, with its1600 x 1200 native resolution on an LCD panel 
that is exactly 16" wide x 12" tall."  You cannot see nor capture anything and 
create a screenshot image with higher resolution than the display device. You 
cannot print anything with higher resolution than the printer can resolve. If 
you feed a high resolution image to a medium resolution printer, it will 
interpolate (resample) the image down to medium resolution quality. It has to, 
as it cannot put all of that information on paper. If you take an very high 
resolution (total pixel count) image of size 4000 x 3000 pixels (12 megapixels) 
and display the full image it on a monitor like mine, you will
not see all of detail in the image and hence you will not be able to capture 
all of the detail in a screenshot.

Most of you seem to appreciate this, but some of you think you can improve 
resolution by artificial means. No, you cannot.

A true measure of the resolution of an image is the original size of the image 
in total pixels, assuming it is true to begin with. That is, assuming a perfect 
digital camera with a perfect lens and the ability to produce a "raw" bitmap 
(rather than a compressed JPEG file), that 12 megapixel CCD image sensor will 
produce a significant improvement in the resulting image over a 2 megapixel CCD 
sensor. 
That image quality is NOT described by either ppi or dpi. It is a function of 
the number of pixels in the X direction and the number of pixels in the Y 
direction.

Now the plot thickens when I return to the subject of screenshots, because if I 
run my graphics card at 1600 x 1200, the type, icons and dialog boxes are 
uncomfortably small for me to read on the monitor, so I set the graphics card 
to display its images at 1280 x 960 dpi. 
At this point, the maximum image size that can be displayed without loss of 
resolution is now 80 ppi. That's 1280 divided by 16. 
[Unfortunately, since the graphics card's resolution doesn't match the native 
resolution of the LCD panel, the on-screen picture is not as crisp as it could 
be. This is a result of "aliasing" artifacts, but that's a topic for a 
different thread.]

Note that in the above paragraph, I switched from dpi for display devices to 
ppi when describing image size. This is a meature of the physical size of a 
digital image (as printed or displayed) and should be described in ppi. The 
ability of a device to display or print an image should be described in dpi, or 
alternatively, lpi for lines per inch, or pixel spacing, as in 0.25mm. There is 
a tendency to intermix this terminology and hence confuse the issues you are 
discussing.

Now that I have set my graphics card to 1280 x 960 for this monitor, the 
maximum resolution of any image I capture from the screen is 80 ppi, regardless 
of whether I capture a whole screen or just a region of it. If I set the 
"resolution" of the screen capture program (Snag-It or HyperSnap) to 80 ppi, 
then the resulting image will be the same physical size as it appeared on the 
screen, 100%. If I set the capture "resolution" to 160 ppi, then the image will 
be half the physical size as it appeared on the screen, BUT IT WILL HAVE 
EXACTLY THE SAME NUMBER OF PIXELS. The resolution has not be improved, as no 
more detail has been added.

Upsampling and/or downsampling using any kind of pixel resampling (a.k.a. 
interpolation), whether bicubic or otherwise, ALWAYS removes detail from the 
image. In either case, new pixels are created that are some kind of average of 
the original ones. They're guesses

RE: Working with Images

2008-02-06 Thread richard.melanson
Dude, you may be the expert on this, and the info you supplied in your response 
is so good I am saving it, but how about a little respect for everyone on the 
list. I believe whatever anyone said in an attempt to help they believed to be 
accurate and helpful. To say and I quote you "Well, I've had enough of this 
nonsensical babble. None of you seem to understand what you are talking about 
when it" is a little strong. Life is too short, take a deep breath and enjoy!!
Rick

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Dennis 
Brunnenmeyer
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 2:37 PM
To: David Creamer; framers@lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: Working with Images

Rant begins...

Well, I've had enough of this nonsensical babble. None of you seem to 
understand what you are talking about when it comes to dealing with screenshots 
and raster images, (a.k.a. bitmapped images) as opposed to vector or llne art.

First of all, display devices, whether printers or monitors, have an upper 
limit on their ability to resolve (print or display) image detail, which by the 
way is what "resolution" is a measure of...meaningful detail. The best my aging 
but faithful laser printer can do is 600 dpi, while my uppity LCD monitor can 
display up to 100 dpi, with its1600 x 1200 native resolution on an LCD panel 
that is exactly 16" wide x 12" tall."  You cannot see nor capture anything and 
create a screenshot image with higher resolution than the display device. You 
cannot print anything with higher resolution than the printer can resolve. If 
you feed a high resolution image to a medium resolution printer, it will 
interpolate (resample) the image down to medium resolution quality. It has to, 
as it cannot put all of that information on paper. If you take an very high 
resolution (total pixel count) image of size 4000 x 3000 pixels (12 megapixels) 
and display the full image it on a monitor like mine, you
  will
not see all of detail in the image and hence you will not be able to capture 
all of the detail in a screenshot.

Most of you seem to appreciate this, but some of you think you can improve 
resolution by artificial means. No, you cannot.

A true measure of the resolution of an image is the original size of the image 
in total pixels, assuming it is true to begin with. That is, assuming a perfect 
digital camera with a perfect lens and the ability to produce a "raw" bitmap 
(rather than a compressed JPEG file), that 12 megapixel CCD image sensor will 
produce a significant improvement in the resulting image over a 2 megapixel CCD 
sensor. 
That image quality is NOT described by either ppi or dpi. It is a function of 
the number of pixels in the X direction and the number of pixels in the Y 
direction.

Now the plot thickens when I return to the subject of screenshots, because if I 
run my graphics card at 1600 x 1200, the type, icons and dialog boxes are 
uncomfortably small for me to read on the monitor, so I set the graphics card 
to display its images at 1280 x 960 dpi. 
At this point, the maximum image size that can be displayed without loss of 
resolution is now 80 ppi. That's 1280 divided by 16. 
[Unfortunately, since the graphics card's resolution doesn't match the native 
resolution of the LCD panel, the on-screen picture is not as crisp as it could 
be. This is a result of "aliasing" artifacts, but that's a topic for a 
different thread.]

Note that in the above paragraph, I switched from dpi for display devices to 
ppi when describing image size. This is a meature of the physical size of a 
digital image (as printed or displayed) and should be described in ppi. The 
ability of a device to display or print an image should be described in dpi, or 
alternatively, lpi for lines per inch, or pixel spacing, as in 0.25mm. There is 
a tendency to intermix this terminology and hence confuse the issues you are 
discussing.

Now that I have set my graphics card to 1280 x 960 for this monitor, the 
maximum resolution of any image I capture from the screen is 80 ppi, regardless 
of whether I capture a whole screen or just a region of it. If I set the 
"resolution" of the screen capture program (Snag-It or HyperSnap) to 80 ppi, 
then the resulting image will be the same physical size as it appeared on the 
screen, 100%. If I set the capture "resolution" to 160 ppi, then the image will 
be half the physical size as it appeared on the screen, BUT IT WILL HAVE 
EXACTLY THE SAME NUMBER OF PIXELS. The resolution has not be improved, as no 
more detail has been added.

Upsampling and/or downsampling using any kind of pixel resampling (a.k.a. 
interpolation), whether bicubic or otherwise, ALWAYS removes detail from the 
image. In either case, new pixels are created that are some kind of average of 
the original ones. They're guesses at what shoud be there at that point in th

Re: Working with Images

2008-02-05 Thread David Creamer
On Dennis Brunnenmeyer at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote on 2/5/08 3:18 PM:
> 
> This was not an attack on you. Please see my remarks embedded below.
Hmmm... You quote my email and refer to me by name in your self-described
rant. OK...
> 
> I was referring to true image resolution. By resampling to a higher
> pixel-squared number, you have not increased the resolution of the image. No
> new detail is revealed that wasn't there before.
I was not arguing that point--in fact, I stated the same basic thing.
Why make it an issue?
> 
>> I think I said something similar to that.
> I think you're probably right about that.
I'll that that non-committal answer as "you're right".
> 
> No, you said this: "One can, however, add extra resolution to the image, but
> that is usually detrimental
> to the quality of the image."
> 
> Only the last half of this sentence is correct.
Huh...
One can add extra resolution to an image (regardless if it is good for the
image or not). That is a fact. Therefore, the entire sentence is correct.
How could you say otherwise?

>> I believe you are confusing what you see on screen to what is actually being
>> captured.
> 
> Actually, I'm not. The artifacts I see due to pixel aliasing on the screen are
> just annoying visual impairments specific to the display technology and not an
> indication of the quality of the image itself.
First, I believe we agree that LCD monitors should always be run at their
native resolution (usually the maximum setting, but not always). However, a
screen capture taken at a non-native resolution will have the same quality
at one taken at the native resolution when viewed at actual size in
Photoshop. The "fuzzy" appearance is on-screen artifacts only and will not
affected the use in a document. Now granted, this is on the systems I have
tested, so your mileage may vary.

>> I thought it was pretty clear. 1280x1040 is the same amount to X/Y pixel
>> data on a 17 inch monitor, a 19 inch monitor, or a 20 inch monitor.
> That's very true, but that's irrelevant to what I quoted above. Your sentence
> makes no sense.
We are talking about display pixels--1280 pixels is 1280 pixels regardless
of how "big" the pixels are by way of monitor size. This was going back to
my statement that "Screen size (20") is meaningless, only the monitor
resolution counts."
(Just to be sure, I am NOT talking about true monitor pixels, meaning down
to RGB elements.)


David Creamer
I.D.E.A.S.
http://www.IDEAStraining.com
Results-Oriented Training & Consulting for Print & Web since 1990
Over 28 years Publishing, 14 years Web, and 10 years Video experience
Contributing Editor for Layers Magazine
Adobe Certified Trainer and Expert (since 1995)
Adobe Certified Master;  Print & Web Specialist
Adobe Certified for InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat,
  FrameMaker, InCopy, PageMaker, GoLive, Dreamweaver, & Premiere
Authorized Quark Training Consultant (since 1988)
 QuarkXPress 6&7 Certified Expert - Print & Web
Authorized Markzware FlightCheck Trainer
Enfocus Certified Trainer (PitStop Pro/Server, Instant PDF)
Authorized Microsoft Publisher Service Provider
Authorized FileMaker Trainer
Apple Consultants Network member (since 1990)
Apple Certified Help Desk Specialist
Southern CA, Arizona, and at your location



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Working with Images

2008-02-05 Thread David Creamer
On Dennis Brunnenmeyer at dennisb at chronometrics.com wrote on 2/5/08 3:18 PM:
> 
> This was not an attack on you. Please see my remarks embedded below.
Hmmm... You quote my email and refer to me by name in your self-described
rant. OK...
> 
> I was referring to true image resolution. By resampling to a higher
> pixel-squared number, you have not increased the resolution of the image. No
> new detail is revealed that wasn't there before.
I was not arguing that point--in fact, I stated the same basic thing.
Why make it an issue?
> 
>> I think I said something similar to that.
> I think you're probably right about that.
I'll that that non-committal answer as "you're right".
> 
> No, you said this: "One can, however, add extra resolution to the image, but
> that is usually detrimental
> to the quality of the image."
> 
> Only the last half of this sentence is correct.
Huh...
One can add extra resolution to an image (regardless if it is good for the
image or not). That is a fact. Therefore, the entire sentence is correct.
How could you say otherwise?

>> I believe you are confusing what you see on screen to what is actually being
>> captured.
> 
> Actually, I'm not. The artifacts I see due to pixel aliasing on the screen are
> just annoying visual impairments specific to the display technology and not an
> indication of the quality of the image itself.
First, I believe we agree that LCD monitors should always be run at their
native resolution (usually the maximum setting, but not always). However, a
screen capture taken at a non-native resolution will have the same quality
at one taken at the native resolution when viewed at actual size in
Photoshop. The "fuzzy" appearance is on-screen artifacts only and will not
affected the use in a document. Now granted, this is on the systems I have
tested, so your mileage may vary.

>> I thought it was pretty clear. 1280x1040 is the same amount to X/Y pixel
>> data on a 17 inch monitor, a 19 inch monitor, or a 20 inch monitor.
> That's very true, but that's irrelevant to what I quoted above. Your sentence
> makes no sense.
We are talking about display pixels--1280 pixels is 1280 pixels regardless
of how "big" the pixels are by way of monitor size. This was going back to
my statement that "Screen size (20") is meaningless, only the monitor
resolution counts."
(Just to be sure, I am NOT talking about true monitor pixels, meaning down
to RGB elements.)


David Creamer
I.D.E.A.S.
http://www.IDEAStraining.com
Results-Oriented Training & Consulting for Print & Web since 1990
Over 28 years Publishing, 14 years Web, and 10 years Video experience
Contributing Editor for Layers Magazine
Adobe Certified Trainer and Expert (since 1995)
Adobe Certified Master;  Print & Web Specialist
Adobe Certified for InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat,
  FrameMaker, InCopy, PageMaker, GoLive, Dreamweaver, & Premiere
Authorized Quark Training Consultant (since 1988)
 QuarkXPress 6&7 Certified Expert - Print & Web
Authorized Markzware FlightCheck Trainer
Enfocus Certified Trainer (PitStop Pro/Server, Instant PDF)
Authorized Microsoft Publisher Service Provider
Authorized FileMaker Trainer
Apple Consultants Network member (since 1990)
Apple Certified Help Desk Specialist
Southern CA, Arizona, and at your location





Working with Images

2008-02-05 Thread Dennis Brunnenmeyer
David...

This was not an attack on you. Please see my remarks embedded below.

Dennis...

At 02:07 PM 2/5/2008, you wrote:
>On Dennis Brunnenmeyer at dennisb at chronometrics.com wrote on 2/5/08 11:36
>AM:
>
> > Rant begins...
> > 
> >
> > First of all, display devices, whether printers or monitors, have an upper
> > limit on their ability to resolve (print or display) image detail, which by
> > the way is what "resolution" is a measure of...meaningful detail. 
> The best my
> > aging but faithful laser printer can do is 600 dpi, while my uppity LCD
> > monitor can display up to 100 dpi, with its1600 x 1200 native 
> resolution on an
> > LCD panel that is exactly 16" wide x 12" tall."
>You are totally ignoring line screen (aka LPI) when printing. Using the
>formula will determine the quality of the output on a black-only laser
>printer:
>(Output Resolution/Screen Frequency)^2 [squared] +1 = total number of gray
>levels available to the printer.
>So a 600dpi printer at 100 LPI gives you only 37 levels of gray. For photos,
>you need around 200 levels of gray to look natural.
>
>For commercial offset printing, one should use the following guideline:
>PPI= LPI x 1.5. (Some use LPI x 2, but 1.5 is normally enough.)

I was referring to true image resolution. By resampling to a higher 
pixel-squared number, you have not increased the resolution of the 
image. No new detail is revealed that wasn't there before. However, I 
will grant that you may *enhance* the appearance when printing in 
this manner by falsifying the image to a degree.


> > You cannot see nor capture
> > anything and create a screenshot image with higher resolution 
> than the display
> > device..
>I think I said something similar to that.

I think you're probably right about that. However, several people 
have implied, that capturing a screen image at, say, 160 ppi gives 
more detail. This cannot be if the display resolution is set to 80 or 
100 dpi. The end result is that the same number of pixels are 
captured but with a higher ppi value, meaning as you have pointed out 
that the image is "physically" smaller.


> >
> > Most of you seem to appreciate this, but some of you think you can improve
> > resolution by artificial means. No, you cannot.
>I think I said something similar to that.

No, you said this: "One can, however, add extra resolution to the 
image, but that is usually detrimental
to the quality of the image."

Only the last half of this sentence is correct.

> >
> > A true measure of the resolution of an image is the original size 
> of the image
> > in total pixels, assuming it is true to begin with.
>I think I said something similar to that.

No reasonable person could disagree with that, and I think you are 
reasonable enough to have said that. Of course, in the case of color 
images, color depth counts too.


> >[Unfortunately, since the graphics card's resolution doesn't
> > match the native resolution of the LCD panel, the on-screen 
> picture is not as
> > crisp as it could be. This is a result of "aliasing" artifacts, 
> but that's a
> > topic for a different thread.]
>I believe you are confusing what you see on screen to what is actually being
>captured.

Actually, I'm not. The artifacts I see due to pixel aliasing on the 
screen are just annoying visual impairments specific to the display 
technology and not an indication of the quality of the image itself.

> >
> >
> >. If I set the capture "resolution" to 160 ppi, then the
> > image will be half the physical size as it appeared on the 
> screen, BUT IT WILL
> > HAVE EXACTLY THE SAME NUMBER OF PIXELS. The resolution has not be 
> improved, as
> > no more detail has been added.
>I think I said something similar to that.

Yes, you did and you are correct.

> >
> > No new detail nor
> > image improvement can be added by interpolation.
>I think I said something similar to that.
>However, I suspect you have not used nearest neighbor interpolation too
>much.

"Improvement" in the sense that I meant it was intended to convey an 
improvement in actual accuracy. As you pointed out above, you can 
"enhance" some images this way by interpolating in new gray-scale or 
color values to yield a prettier but partially-false result. But you 
would NOT want to interpolate using any methodology in order to 
"enhance" a screen shot of a Windows dialog box. For the same reason, 
one should not save those kinds of screen shots as JPEG images.


> >
> > I have no idea what David meant by this statement:  "Again, referring to my
> > last post, monitor resolution only counts if
> > capturing an entire screen."
>I thought it was pretty clear. 1280x1040 is the same amount to X/Y pixel
>data on a 17 inch monitor, a 19 inch monitor, or a 20 inch monitor.

That's very true, but that's irrelevant to what I quoted above. Your 
sentence makes no sense.

> >
> > Flame away...
>I try not to flame or rant as I think i

RE: Working with Images

2008-02-05 Thread Dennis Brunnenmeyer
Rant begins...

Well, I've had enough of this nonsensical babble. None of you seem to 
understand what you are talking about when it comes to dealing with 
screenshots and raster images, (a.k.a. bitmapped images) as opposed 
to vector or llne art.

First of all, display devices, whether printers or monitors, have an 
upper limit on their ability to resolve (print or display) image 
detail, which by the way is what "resolution" is a measure 
of...meaningful detail. The best my aging but faithful laser printer 
can do is 600 dpi, while my uppity LCD monitor can display up to 100 
dpi, with its1600 x 1200 native resolution on an LCD panel that is 
exactly 16" wide x 12" tall."  You cannot see nor capture anything 
and create a screenshot image with higher resolution than the display 
device. You cannot print anything with higher resolution than the 
printer can resolve. If you feed a high resolution image to a medium 
resolution printer, it will interpolate (resample) the image down to 
medium resolution quality. It has to, as it cannot put all of that 
information on paper. If you take an very high resolution (total 
pixel count) image of size 4000 x 3000 pixels (12 megapixels) and 
display the full image it on a monitor like mine, you will not see 
all of detail in the image and hence you will not be able to capture 
all of the detail in a screenshot.

Most of you seem to appreciate this, but some of you think you can 
improve resolution by artificial means. No, you cannot.

A true measure of the resolution of an image is the original size of 
the image in total pixels, assuming it is true to begin with. That 
is, assuming a perfect digital camera with a perfect lens and the 
ability to produce a "raw" bitmap (rather than a compressed JPEG 
file), that 12 megapixel CCD image sensor will produce a significant 
improvement in the resulting image over a 2 megapixel CCD sensor. 
That image quality is NOT described by either ppi or dpi. It is a 
function of the number of pixels in the X direction and the number of 
pixels in the Y direction.

Now the plot thickens when I return to the subject of screenshots, 
because if I run my graphics card at 1600 x 1200, the type, icons and 
dialog boxes are uncomfortably small for me to read on the monitor, 
so I set the graphics card to display its images at 1280 x 960 dpi. 
At this point, the maximum image size that can be displayed without 
loss of resolution is now 80 ppi. That's 1280 divided by 16. 
[Unfortunately, since the graphics card's resolution doesn't match 
the native resolution of the LCD panel, the on-screen picture is not 
as crisp as it could be. This is a result of "aliasing" artifacts, 
but that's a topic for a different thread.]

Note that in the above paragraph, I switched from dpi for display 
devices to ppi when describing image size. This is a meature of the 
physical size of a digital image (as printed or displayed) and should 
be described in ppi. The ability of a device to display or print an 
image should be described in dpi, or alternatively, lpi for lines per 
inch, or pixel spacing, as in 0.25mm. There is a tendency to intermix 
this terminology and hence confuse the issues you are discussing.

Now that I have set my graphics card to 1280 x 960 for this monitor, 
the maximum resolution of any image I capture from the screen is 80 
ppi, regardless of whether I capture a whole screen or just a region 
of it. If I set the "resolution" of the screen capture program 
(Snag-It or HyperSnap) to 80 ppi, then the resulting image will be 
the same physical size as it appeared on the screen, 100%. If I set 
the capture "resolution" to 160 ppi, then the image will be half the 
physical size as it appeared on the screen, BUT IT WILL HAVE EXACTLY 
THE SAME NUMBER OF PIXELS. The resolution has not be improved, as no 
more detail has been added.

Upsampling and/or downsampling using any kind of pixel resampling 
(a.k.a. interpolation), whether bicubic or otherwise, ALWAYS removes 
detail from the image. In either case, new pixels are created that 
are some kind of average of the original ones. They're guesses at 
what shoud be there at that point in the image, and not real 
information that wasn't there before. No new detail nor image 
improvement can be added by interpolation.

Now, however, you can re-scale an image in programs like Photoshop by 
keeping the same number of pixels (do not interpolate) and altering 
the size of the image in the X and Y directions equally. For example, 
if I took the 160 ppi screenshot described in the previous paragraph 
and re-scaled it in Photoshop without  resampling the image, and if I 
prescribed a new size of 80 ppi, the resulting image would grow back 
to 100% in size and have still have exactly the same number of pixels 
as before. The resolving power of the image has not changed, and no 
more detail has been provided. This is a correct way to get an image 
to the size you want it in your document. Another way is to 

RE: Working with Images

2008-02-05 Thread David Creamer
On Dennis Brunnenmeyer at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote on 2/5/08 11:36
AM:

> Rant begins...
> 
> 
> First of all, display devices, whether printers or monitors, have an upper
> limit on their ability to resolve (print or display) image detail, which by
> the way is what "resolution" is a measure of...meaningful detail. The best my
> aging but faithful laser printer can do is 600 dpi, while my uppity LCD
> monitor can display up to 100 dpi, with its1600 x 1200 native resolution on an
> LCD panel that is exactly 16" wide x 12" tall."
You are totally ignoring line screen (aka LPI) when printing. Using the
formula will determine the quality of the output on a black-only laser
printer:
(Output Resolution/Screen Frequency)^2 [squared] +1 = total number of gray
levels available to the printer.
So a 600dpi printer at 100 LPI gives you only 37 levels of gray. For photos,
you need around 200 levels of gray to look natural.

For commercial offset printing, one should use the following guideline:
PPI= LPI x 1.5. (Some use LPI x 2, but 1.5 is normally enough.)

> You cannot see nor capture
> anything and create a screenshot image with higher resolution than the display
> device..
I think I said something similar to that.

> 
> Most of you seem to appreciate this, but some of you think you can improve
> resolution by artificial means. No, you cannot.
I think I said something similar to that.
> 
> A true measure of the resolution of an image is the original size of the image
> in total pixels, assuming it is true to begin with.
I think I said something similar to that.
.

>[Unfortunately, since the graphics card's resolution doesn't
> match the native resolution of the LCD panel, the on-screen picture is not as
> crisp as it could be. This is a result of "aliasing" artifacts, but that's a
> topic for a different thread.]
I believe you are confusing what you see on screen to what is actually being
captured.
> 
> 
>. If I set the capture "resolution" to 160 ppi, then the
> image will be half the physical size as it appeared on the screen, BUT IT WILL
> HAVE EXACTLY THE SAME NUMBER OF PIXELS. The resolution has not be improved, as
> no more detail has been added.
I think I said something similar to that.
> 
> No new detail nor
> image improvement can be added by interpolation.
I think I said something similar to that.
However, I suspect you have not used nearest neighbor interpolation too
much.

> 
> I have no idea what David meant by this statement:  "Again, referring to my
> last post, monitor resolution only counts if
> capturing an entire screen."
I thought it was pretty clear. 1280x1040 is the same amount to X/Y pixel
data on a 17 inch monitor, a 19 inch monitor, or a 20 inch monitor.
> 
> Flame away...
I try not to flame or rant as I think it dilutes the message and reflects
poorly on the messenger

David Creamer
I.D.E.A.S. - Results-Oriented Training
http://www.IDEAStraining.com
Adobe Certified Trainer & Expert (since 1995)
Authorized Quark Training Provider (since 1988)
Markzware, Enfocus, FileMaker Certified


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Working with Images

2008-02-05 Thread David Creamer
On Dennis Brunnenmeyer at dennisb at chronometrics.com wrote on 2/5/08 11:36
AM:

> Rant begins...
> 
> 
> First of all, display devices, whether printers or monitors, have an upper
> limit on their ability to resolve (print or display) image detail, which by
> the way is what "resolution" is a measure of...meaningful detail. The best my
> aging but faithful laser printer can do is 600 dpi, while my uppity LCD
> monitor can display up to 100 dpi, with its1600 x 1200 native resolution on an
> LCD panel that is exactly 16" wide x 12" tall."
You are totally ignoring line screen (aka LPI) when printing. Using the
formula will determine the quality of the output on a black-only laser
printer:
(Output Resolution/Screen Frequency)^2 [squared] +1 = total number of gray
levels available to the printer.
So a 600dpi printer at 100 LPI gives you only 37 levels of gray. For photos,
you need around 200 levels of gray to look natural.

For commercial offset printing, one should use the following guideline:
PPI= LPI x 1.5. (Some use LPI x 2, but 1.5 is normally enough.)

> You cannot see nor capture
> anything and create a screenshot image with higher resolution than the display
> device..
I think I said something similar to that.

> 
> Most of you seem to appreciate this, but some of you think you can improve
> resolution by artificial means. No, you cannot.
I think I said something similar to that.
> 
> A true measure of the resolution of an image is the original size of the image
> in total pixels, assuming it is true to begin with.
I think I said something similar to that.
.

>[Unfortunately, since the graphics card's resolution doesn't
> match the native resolution of the LCD panel, the on-screen picture is not as
> crisp as it could be. This is a result of "aliasing" artifacts, but that's a
> topic for a different thread.]
I believe you are confusing what you see on screen to what is actually being
captured.
> 
> 
>. If I set the capture "resolution" to 160 ppi, then the
> image will be half the physical size as it appeared on the screen, BUT IT WILL
> HAVE EXACTLY THE SAME NUMBER OF PIXELS. The resolution has not be improved, as
> no more detail has been added.
I think I said something similar to that.
> 
> No new detail nor
> image improvement can be added by interpolation.
I think I said something similar to that.
However, I suspect you have not used nearest neighbor interpolation too
much.

> 
> I have no idea what David meant by this statement:  "Again, referring to my
> last post, monitor resolution only counts if
> capturing an entire screen."
I thought it was pretty clear. 1280x1040 is the same amount to X/Y pixel
data on a 17 inch monitor, a 19 inch monitor, or a 20 inch monitor.
> 
> Flame away...
I try not to flame or rant as I think it dilutes the message and reflects
poorly on the messenger

David Creamer
I.D.E.A.S. - Results-Oriented Training
http://www.IDEAStraining.com
Adobe Certified Trainer & Expert (since 1995)
Authorized Quark Training Provider (since 1988)
Markzware, Enfocus, FileMaker Certified




Working with Images

2008-02-05 Thread Dennis Brunnenmeyer
Rant begins...

Well, I've had enough of this nonsensical babble. None of you seem to 
understand what you are talking about when it comes to dealing with 
screenshots and raster images, (a.k.a. bitmapped images) as opposed 
to vector or llne art.

First of all, display devices, whether printers or monitors, have an 
upper limit on their ability to resolve (print or display) image 
detail, which by the way is what "resolution" is a measure 
of...meaningful detail. The best my aging but faithful laser printer 
can do is 600 dpi, while my uppity LCD monitor can display up to 100 
dpi, with its1600 x 1200 native resolution on an LCD panel that is 
exactly 16" wide x 12" tall."  You cannot see nor capture anything 
and create a screenshot image with higher resolution than the display 
device. You cannot print anything with higher resolution than the 
printer can resolve. If you feed a high resolution image to a medium 
resolution printer, it will interpolate (resample) the image down to 
medium resolution quality. It has to, as it cannot put all of that 
information on paper. If you take an very high resolution (total 
pixel count) image of size 4000 x 3000 pixels (12 megapixels) and 
display the full image it on a monitor like mine, you will not see 
all of detail in the image and hence you will not be able to capture 
all of the detail in a screenshot.

Most of you seem to appreciate this, but some of you think you can 
improve resolution by artificial means. No, you cannot.

A true measure of the resolution of an image is the original size of 
the image in total pixels, assuming it is true to begin with. That 
is, assuming a perfect digital camera with a perfect lens and the 
ability to produce a "raw" bitmap (rather than a compressed JPEG 
file), that 12 megapixel CCD image sensor will produce a significant 
improvement in the resulting image over a 2 megapixel CCD sensor. 
That image quality is NOT described by either ppi or dpi. It is a 
function of the number of pixels in the X direction and the number of 
pixels in the Y direction.

Now the plot thickens when I return to the subject of screenshots, 
because if I run my graphics card at 1600 x 1200, the type, icons and 
dialog boxes are uncomfortably small for me to read on the monitor, 
so I set the graphics card to display its images at 1280 x 960 dpi. 
At this point, the maximum image size that can be displayed without 
loss of resolution is now 80 ppi. That's 1280 divided by 16. 
[Unfortunately, since the graphics card's resolution doesn't match 
the native resolution of the LCD panel, the on-screen picture is not 
as crisp as it could be. This is a result of "aliasing" artifacts, 
but that's a topic for a different thread.]

Note that in the above paragraph, I switched from dpi for display 
devices to ppi when describing image size. This is a meature of the 
physical size of a digital image (as printed or displayed) and should 
be described in ppi. The ability of a device to display or print an 
image should be described in dpi, or alternatively, lpi for lines per 
inch, or pixel spacing, as in 0.25mm. There is a tendency to intermix 
this terminology and hence confuse the issues you are discussing.

Now that I have set my graphics card to 1280 x 960 for this monitor, 
the maximum resolution of any image I capture from the screen is 80 
ppi, regardless of whether I capture a whole screen or just a region 
of it. If I set the "resolution" of the screen capture program 
(Snag-It or HyperSnap) to 80 ppi, then the resulting image will be 
the same physical size as it appeared on the screen, 100%. If I set 
the capture "resolution" to 160 ppi, then the image will be half the 
physical size as it appeared on the screen, BUT IT WILL HAVE EXACTLY 
THE SAME NUMBER OF PIXELS. The resolution has not be improved, as no 
more detail has been added.

Upsampling and/or downsampling using any kind of pixel resampling 
(a.k.a. interpolation), whether bicubic or otherwise, ALWAYS removes 
detail from the image. In either case, new pixels are created that 
are some kind of average of the original ones. They're guesses at 
what shoud be there at that point in the image, and not real 
information that wasn't there before. No new detail nor image 
improvement can be added by interpolation.

Now, however, you can re-scale an image in programs like Photoshop by 
keeping the same number of pixels (do not interpolate) and altering 
the size of the image in the X and Y directions equally. For example, 
if I took the 160 ppi screenshot described in the previous paragraph 
and re-scaled it in Photoshop without  resampling the image, and if I 
prescribed a new size of 80 ppi, the resulting image would grow back 
to 100% in size and have still have exactly the same number of pixels 
as before. The resolving power of the image has not changed, and no 
more detail has been provided. This is a correct way to get an image 
to the size you want it in your document. Another way is to 

RE: Working with Images

2008-02-05 Thread David Creamer
> How can SnagIt capture an image at a higher resolution than what the screen
> is set to?  A 20" screen at 1280 x 1024, for example, is 96 DPI.  How do you
> get 200 DPI out of that?

Screen size (20") is meaningless, only the monitor resolution counts.
Again, referring to my last post, monitor resolution only counts if
capturing an entire screen.

A 1280x1024 image at 96ppi is 13.3x10.6 inches; at 200ppi it is 6.4x5.12
inches. As you can see, a full-screen capture is usually more than adequate
for most publications.

Dialog boxes, however, are another story. If a dialog box is only 400x300
pixels, it would only be 2x1.5 inches at 200ppi. Generally, it is better to
run the image at the default resolution (96ppi in this case). One can,
however, add extra resolution to the image, but that is usually detrimental
to the quality of the image. If I had to add extra resolution, I would avoid
bicubic interpolations and using nearest neighbor.

David Creamer
I.D.E.A.S. - Results-Oriented Training
http://www.IDEAStraining.com
Adobe Certified Trainer & Expert (since 1995)
Authorized Quark Training Provider (since 1988)
Markzware, Enfocus, FileMaker Certified


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Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED]

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Working with Images

2008-02-05 Thread David Creamer
> How can SnagIt capture an image at a higher resolution than what the screen
> is set to?  A 20" screen at 1280 x 1024, for example, is 96 DPI.  How do you
> get 200 DPI out of that?

Screen size (20") is meaningless, only the monitor resolution counts.
Again, referring to my last post, monitor resolution only counts if
capturing an entire screen.

A 1280x1024 image at 96ppi is 13.3x10.6 inches; at 200ppi it is 6.4x5.12
inches. As you can see, a full-screen capture is usually more than adequate
for most publications.

Dialog boxes, however, are another story. If a dialog box is only 400x300
pixels, it would only be 2x1.5 inches at 200ppi. Generally, it is better to
run the image at the default resolution (96ppi in this case). One can,
however, add extra resolution to the image, but that is usually detrimental
to the quality of the image. If I had to add extra resolution, I would avoid
bicubic interpolations and using nearest neighbor.

David Creamer
I.D.E.A.S. - Results-Oriented Training
http://www.IDEAStraining.com
Adobe Certified Trainer & Expert (since 1995)
Authorized Quark Training Provider (since 1988)
Markzware, Enfocus, FileMaker Certified




Working with Images: saving as HTML

2008-02-04 Thread Inbar, Paul
 Hi all,

First, thanks for a very informative thread.

I have a question not so much about the best format, but about how Frame
treats images imported by reference when saving Frame files as html (via
Frame's Save as). This is in reference to an unstructured file in Frame
7.2. I find that when I save a file as html, if the referenced images
are gifs, then in the generated html files the img sources are to the my
original gif images. If, however, the referenced images in the Frame
file are pngs, then in the generated html files the img sources are gif
copies of the pngs that Frame has generated.

Is there a way to change this behavior and force Frame to use the
referenced image in the generated html files? Or is the whole Save as
html thing a "deprecated" capability that was never really worked out
all the way?

Thanks in advance,
Paul
-
Intel Israel (74) Limited

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RE: Working with Images

2008-02-04 Thread Diane Gaskill
Excellent explanation John.  I'll definitely save your message.

Thanks lots,

Diane


-Original Message-
From: John Sgammato [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Saturday, February 02, 2008 6:17 AM
To: Diane Gaskill; framers@lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: Working with Images


When you capture a 96dpi image at higher resolution, you will never see
detail that isn't there (of course) but you can do more with the image
because your OWN image of the image is capable of showing greater
resolution. You can look at it as if your high-res image capture dices the
existing image into smaller pieces. As an extreme example, consider an
original image of alternating 1-inch black and white elements along a line
at 10 dpi.
Capture that image at 100 dpi and you really have 10 times as many 0.1-inch
elements to work with, all faithful in location, dimension, and color to the
original. If you need to rotate or stretch or manipulate the image in any
way, or if any of your processes cause the image to lose resolution, the new
hi-res image will be more forgiving. Likewise if you print the image, the
printer is limited by its own resolution - the higher-resolution image can
help to compensate.

This is easy to test for your self: in Illustrator (or similar) generate a
black square and inside it a white circle or diamond. Repeat at smaller
intervals until you get bored. Save as .ai, then export to .tiff twice. For
the first select 96dpi and call it lo-res.tiff, and for the second export at
400dpi and call it hi-res.tiff.
Then import them side-by side into FM and see how they look. The lo-res
image will show jaggy edges that you don't see in the hi-res.

Again, it won't magically reveal what isn't there, but it does make the
image more forgiving, and maybe it printed better (that is, maybe the eye
picks up details on paper that it doesn't see on the screen).

I don't understand all the mechanics involved; this is just my best attempt
at explaining what I can see and what I use every day thanks to the visible
improvements.

john



From: Diane Gaskill [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Sat 2/2/2008 4:55 AM
To: John Sgammato; framers@lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: Working with Images



John,

How can SnagIt capture an image at a higher resolution than what the screen
is set to?  A 20" screen at 1280 x 1024, for example, is 96 DPI.  How do you
get 200 DPI out of that?

Diane

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of John Sgammato
Sent: Friday, February 01, 2008 8:49 PM
To: Alan Litchfield; framers@lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: Working with Images


...
> During import I choose 150 DPI, am I insane?

By choosing 150dpi you are reducing the print size of the image. In
other words you are scaling the picture to make it smaller by
increasing the resolution. ...

Note that with SnagIt you can opt to capture the image at other resolutions,
so you need not change anything in FM. I capture images as 200dpi TIFFs, and
then import them at 200dpi in my books. I go to print, PDF, and online help
from a single set of screenshots.

john
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Working with Images

2008-02-04 Thread Diane Gaskill
Excellent explanation John.  I'll definitely save your message.

Thanks lots,

Diane


-Original Message-
From: John Sgammato [mailto:jsgamm...@imprivata.com]
Sent: Saturday, February 02, 2008 6:17 AM
To: Diane Gaskill; framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: Working with Images


When you capture a 96dpi image at higher resolution, you will never see
detail that isn't there (of course) but you can do more with the image
because your OWN image of the image is capable of showing greater
resolution. You can look at it as if your high-res image capture dices the
existing image into smaller pieces. As an extreme example, consider an
original image of alternating 1-inch black and white elements along a line
at 10 dpi.
Capture that image at 100 dpi and you really have 10 times as many 0.1-inch
elements to work with, all faithful in location, dimension, and color to the
original. If you need to rotate or stretch or manipulate the image in any
way, or if any of your processes cause the image to lose resolution, the new
hi-res image will be more forgiving. Likewise if you print the image, the
printer is limited by its own resolution - the higher-resolution image can
help to compensate.

This is easy to test for your self: in Illustrator (or similar) generate a
black square and inside it a white circle or diamond. Repeat at smaller
intervals until you get bored. Save as .ai, then export to .tiff twice. For
the first select 96dpi and call it lo-res.tiff, and for the second export at
400dpi and call it hi-res.tiff.
Then import them side-by side into FM and see how they look. The lo-res
image will show jaggy edges that you don't see in the hi-res.

Again, it won't magically reveal what isn't there, but it does make the
image more forgiving, and maybe it printed better (that is, maybe the eye
picks up details on paper that it doesn't see on the screen).

I don't understand all the mechanics involved; this is just my best attempt
at explaining what I can see and what I use every day thanks to the visible
improvements.

john



From: Diane Gaskill [mailto:dgcal...@earthlink.net]
Sent: Sat 2/2/2008 4:55 AM
To: John Sgammato; framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: Working with Images



John,

How can SnagIt capture an image at a higher resolution than what the screen
is set to?  A 20" screen at 1280 x 1024, for example, is 96 DPI.  How do you
get 200 DPI out of that?

Diane

-Original Message-
From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com]On Behalf Of John Sgammato
Sent: Friday, February 01, 2008 8:49 PM
To: Alan Litchfield; framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: Working with Images


...
> During import I choose 150 DPI, am I insane?

By choosing 150dpi you are reducing the print size of the image. In
other words you are scaling the picture to make it smaller by
increasing the resolution. ...

Note that with SnagIt you can opt to capture the image at other resolutions,
so you need not change anything in FM. I capture images as 200dpi TIFFs, and
then import them at 200dpi in my books. I go to print, PDF, and online help
from a single set of screenshots.

john
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RE: Working with Images: saving as HTML

2008-02-03 Thread Inbar, Paul
 Hi all,

First, thanks for a very informative thread.

I have a question not so much about the best format, but about how Frame
treats images imported by reference when saving Frame files as html (via
Frame's Save as). This is in reference to an unstructured file in Frame
7.2. I find that when I save a file as html, if the referenced images
are gifs, then in the generated html files the img sources are to the my
original gif images. If, however, the referenced images in the Frame
file are pngs, then in the generated html files the img sources are gif
copies of the pngs that Frame has generated.

Is there a way to change this behavior and force Frame to use the
referenced image in the generated html files? Or is the whole Save as
html thing a "deprecated" capability that was never really worked out
all the way?

Thanks in advance,
Paul
-
Intel Israel (74) Limited

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Working with Images

2008-02-03 Thread Charles Beck
Hi Pete,

I would strongly concur and reiterate what others have said about NOT
using JPG for screen captures. It is considered a "lossy" format and
introduces all kinds of artifacts into the image. 

GIF is a good choice if you have a limited color palette, that is, fewer
than 256 colors. It produces the smallest file size, so if that is
really an issue, this might be your best bet. 

PNG is my favorite format, though. It uses a color palette and produces
a file size similar to JPGs (that is, reasonably small), but is not
lossy like JPG. PNGs tend to be very clean and efficient files.  

BMPs are pigs, producing quite large files, though they handle color
well and produce very clean images. But, as someone else has pointed
out, they are also Windows proprietary (if that is an issue). 

Others have dealt well with the resolution issue, so I'll not add any
noise there. 

My vote would be with the PNG format. 

HTH,
Chuck Beck

Sr. Technical Writer | Infor | Office: 614.523.7302 |
Charles.Beck at infor.com 



-Original Message-
Subject: Working with Images

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



Re: Working with Images

2008-02-03 Thread David Creamer
Regarding resolution...

If capturing display boxes, you cannot control how many PPI there are as
they are programs in at X number of pixels by Y number of pixels. Resolution
(ppi) is meaningless as it does not change total number of pixels.

The only time you could control that is when capturing an entire screen and
you adjust your overall monitor resolution.

I would leave them as the default resolution--adding more is not generally
going to improve the image and may even soften the edges of the type.
If I need more resolution, say for preflight reasons, I would use nearest
neighbor.

David Creamer
I.D.E.A.S. - Results-Oriented Training
http://www.IDEAStraining.com
Adobe Certified Trainer & Expert (since 1995)
Authorized Quark Training Provider (since 1988)
Markzware, Enfocus, FileMaker Certified


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Working with Images

2008-02-03 Thread David Creamer
Regarding resolution...

If capturing display boxes, you cannot control how many PPI there are as
they are programs in at X number of pixels by Y number of pixels. Resolution
(ppi) is meaningless as it does not change total number of pixels.

The only time you could control that is when capturing an entire screen and
you adjust your overall monitor resolution.

I would leave them as the default resolution--adding more is not generally
going to improve the image and may even soften the edges of the type.
If I need more resolution, say for preflight reasons, I would use nearest
neighbor.

David Creamer
I.D.E.A.S. - Results-Oriented Training
http://www.IDEAStraining.com
Adobe Certified Trainer & Expert (since 1995)
Authorized Quark Training Provider (since 1988)
Markzware, Enfocus, FileMaker Certified




RE: Working with Images

2008-02-03 Thread Charles Beck
Hi Pete,

I would strongly concur and reiterate what others have said about NOT
using JPG for screen captures. It is considered a "lossy" format and
introduces all kinds of artifacts into the image. 

GIF is a good choice if you have a limited color palette, that is, fewer
than 256 colors. It produces the smallest file size, so if that is
really an issue, this might be your best bet. 

PNG is my favorite format, though. It uses a color palette and produces
a file size similar to JPGs (that is, reasonably small), but is not
lossy like JPG. PNGs tend to be very clean and efficient files.  

BMPs are pigs, producing quite large files, though they handle color
well and produce very clean images. But, as someone else has pointed
out, they are also Windows proprietary (if that is an issue). 

Others have dealt well with the resolution issue, so I'll not add any
noise there. 

My vote would be with the PNG format. 

HTH,
Chuck Beck

Sr. Technical Writer | Infor | Office: 614.523.7302 |
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 



-Original Message-
Subject: Working with Images

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

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also working with images

2008-02-03 Thread Milan Davidovic
I've inherited responsibility for some Frame docs. Almost all of the
images are .eps created in Illustrator and .jpg modified in Photoshop
(there are matching.psd files for the .jpg files). These images are
imported by reference, and the Frame docs only get PDF'd (no Help,
web, etc.).

What about using the .ai and .psd files directly?

-- 
Milan Davidovic
http://altmilan.blogspot.com
http://stctorcomp.blogspot.com


Working with Images

2008-02-03 Thread Fred Ridder

Pete Rourke asked several questions:
> 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

No problems here. Choose any of the four non-lossy raster image formats.

> 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)

What's the issue?  8MB is nothing, these days. On a hard disk, that
much storage costs less than $0.01 (with disk prices currently running 
between $.20 and $1.00 per Gigabyte). And archiving to CD or DVD only
costs another penny. 

And when you're working with your document, referenced images (as 
opposed to pasted-in images) are only loaded when you view a page,
so the amount of data to be loaded for images shouldn't be an issue 
unless you're working on a *REALLY* slow network. The *number* of 
screenshots is more of a concern in this circumstance than the overall 
space occupied by the files, because each file has to be accessed
separately; but that's something that you, as author, control completely.

> So a question is what format, JPG, BMP, PNG, GIF saves the cleanest picture?

JPEG is the worst choice for screen shots. Don't use it for that purpose.
The "P" in JPEG stands for "photographic", and continuous-tone photographs 
is what it was designed for. The compression technique the format uses
is area-based and lossy, and relies on two important characteristics of 
photographic images to reduce the visibility of the artifacts and image 
degradation the compression inevitably produces. JPEG inevitably produces
artifacts (a kind of "smudginess" near abrupt transitions between different
colors, but this is OK because photos have relatively few of these and 
because the objects in the photos generally have anough surface texture
to mask the artifacts. But screen shots are all about hard edges and 
abrupt transtions (that describes text characters, for example), and has
*no* texture to mask the artifacts.

My preferred file formats for screenshots (in order) are:
GIF: very compact thanks to run-length encoding and indexed color,
   but produces posterized results on graduated color areas or photos.
   Can be used directly one the web and cross-platform.
PNG: a modern superset of GIF supporting full color depth. Can be used
   directly on the web, but some browsers have issues displaying some 
   "flavors" (color formats) of PNG. 
TIFF: good platform portability (usable on Windows, Mac, Unix) but large 
   filer size than PNG or GIF. Not directly usable on the web.
BMP: poor portability (Windows-only); large file size; not web-compatible
> During import I choose 150 DPI, am I insane?

No, but if you're really concerned about file size, this is one place you 
can make some improvement. Saving screenshots at 150 dpi rather than 
96 results in image files that are 2.44 times as large. simply because there
are that many more pixels to store.
> I am not sure what resolution is required. Would less than 96 be
> acceptable? 

Dropping below 96 dpi loses a lot of quality and doesn't save much file
space (assuming that this really is a legitimate issue). 
_
Shed those extra pounds with MSN and The Biggest Loser!
http://biggestloser.msn.com/


also working with images

2008-02-03 Thread Milan Davidovic
I've inherited responsibility for some Frame docs. Almost all of the
images are .eps created in Illustrator and .jpg modified in Photoshop
(there are matching.psd files for the .jpg files). These images are
imported by reference, and the Frame docs only get PDF'd (no Help,
web, etc.).

What about using the .ai and .psd files directly?

-- 
Milan Davidovic
http://altmilan.blogspot.com
http://stctorcomp.blogspot.com
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Working with Images

2008-02-03 Thread Alan Litchfield
Or in other words, increasing the print resolution uses interpolation  
to add pixels where there were none before. This can be of benefit for  
images with screen text and so on.

Cheers
Alan

On 3/02/2008, at 3:17 AM, John Sgammato wrote:

> When you capture a 96dpi image at higher resolution, you will never  
> see detail that isn't there (of course) but you can do more with the  
> image because your OWN image of the image is capable of showing  
> greater resolution. You can look at it as if your high-res image  
> capture dices the existing image into smaller pieces. As an extreme  
> example, consider an original image of alternating 1-inch black and  
> white elements along a line at 10 dpi.
> Capture that image at 100 dpi and you really have 10 times as many  
> 0.1-inch elements to work with, all faithful in location, dimension,  
> and color to the original. If you need to rotate or stretch or  
> manipulate the image in any way, or if any of your processes cause  
> the image to lose resolution, the new hi-res image will be more  
> forgiving. Likewise if you print the image, the printer is limited  
> by its own resolution - the higher-resolution image can help to  
> compensate.
>
> This is easy to test for your self: in Illustrator (or similar)  
> generate a black square and inside it a white circle or diamond.  
> Repeat at smaller intervals until you get bored. Save as .ai, then  
> export to .tiff twice. For the first select 96dpi and call it lo- 
> res.tiff, and for the second export at 400dpi and call it hi-res.tiff.
> Then import them side-by side into FM and see how they look. The lo- 
> res image will show jaggy edges that you don't see in the hi-res.
>
> Again, it won't magically reveal what isn't there, but it does make  
> the image more forgiving, and maybe it printed better (that is,  
> maybe the eye picks up details on paper that it doesn't see on the  
> screen).
>
> I don't understand all the mechanics involved; this is just my best  
> attempt at explaining what I can see and what I use every day thanks  
> to the visible improvements.
>
> john
>
> 
>
> From: Diane Gaskill [mailto:dgcaller at earthlink.net]
> Sent: Sat 2/2/2008 4:55 AM
> To: John Sgammato; framers at lists.frameusers.com
> Subject: RE: Working with Images
>
>
>
> John,
>
> How can SnagIt capture an image at a higher resolution than what the  
> screen
> is set to?  A 20" screen at 1280 x 1024, for example, is 96 DPI.   
> How do you
> get 200 DPI out of that?
>
> Diane
>
> -Original Message-
> From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com
> [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com]On Behalf Of John  
> Sgammato
> Sent: Friday, February 01, 2008 8:49 PM
> To: Alan Litchfield; framers at lists.frameusers.com
> Subject: RE: Working with Images
>
>
> ...
>> During import I choose 150 DPI, am I insane?
>
> By choosing 150dpi you are reducing the print size of the image. In
> other words you are scaling the picture to make it smaller by
> increasing the resolution. ...
>
> Note that with SnagIt you can opt to capture the image at other  
> resolutions,
> so you need not change anything in FM. I capture images as 200dpi  
> TIFFs, and
> then import them at 200dpi in my books. I go to print, PDF, and  
> online help
> from a single set of screenshots.
>
> john
> ___
>
>
> You are currently subscribed to Framers as dgcaller at earthlink.net.
>
> 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/dgcaller%40earthlink.net
>
> Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit
> http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
>
>
>
> ___
>
>
> You are currently subscribed to Framers as alan at alphabyte.co.nz.
>
> 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/alan%40alphabyte.co.nz
>
> Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit
> http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.

--
Alan Litchfield GradDipBus, MBus(Hons), CTT, MNZCS
AlphaByte
PO Box 1941, Auckland, NZ. 1140




RE: Working with Images

2008-02-03 Thread Fred Ridder

Pete Rourke asked several questions:
> 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
 
No problems here. Choose any of the four non-lossy raster image formats.
 
> 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)
 
What's the issue?  8MB is nothing, these days. On a hard disk, that
much storage costs less than $0.01 (with disk prices currently running 
between $.20 and $1.00 per Gigabyte). And archiving to CD or DVD only
costs another penny. 
 
And when you're working with your document, referenced images (as 
opposed to pasted-in images) are only loaded when you view a page,
so the amount of data to be loaded for images shouldn't be an issue 
unless you're working on a *REALLY* slow network. The *number* of 
screenshots is more of a concern in this circumstance than the overall 
space occupied by the files, because each file has to be accessed
separately; but that's something that you, as author, control completely.
 
> So a question is what format, JPG, BMP, PNG, GIF saves the cleanest picture?
 
JPEG is the worst choice for screen shots. Don't use it for that purpose.
The "P" in JPEG stands for "photographic", and continuous-tone photographs 
is what it was designed for. The compression technique the format uses
is area-based and lossy, and relies on two important characteristics of 
photographic images to reduce the visibility of the artifacts and image 
degradation the compression inevitably produces. JPEG inevitably produces
artifacts (a kind of "smudginess" near abrupt transitions between different
colors, but this is OK because photos have relatively few of these and 
because the objects in the photos generally have anough surface texture
to mask the artifacts. But screen shots are all about hard edges and 
abrupt transtions (that describes text characters, for example), and has
*no* texture to mask the artifacts.
 
My preferred file formats for screenshots (in order) are:
GIF: very compact thanks to run-length encoding and indexed color,
   but produces posterized results on graduated color areas or photos.
   Can be used directly one the web and cross-platform.
PNG: a modern superset of GIF supporting full color depth. Can be used
   directly on the web, but some browsers have issues displaying some 
   "flavors" (color formats) of PNG. 
TIFF: good platform portability (usable on Windows, Mac, Unix) but large 
   filer size than PNG or GIF. Not directly usable on the web.
BMP: poor portability (Windows-only); large file size; not web-compatible
> During import I choose 150 DPI, am I insane?
 
No, but if you're really concerned about file size, this is one place you 
can make some improvement. Saving screenshots at 150 dpi rather than 
96 results in image files that are 2.44 times as large. simply because there
are that many more pixels to store.
> I am not sure what resolution is required. Would less than 96 be
> acceptable? 
 
Dropping below 96 dpi loses a lot of quality and doesn't save much file
space (assuming that this really is a legitimate issue). 
_
Shed those extra pounds with MSN and The Biggest Loser!
http://biggestloser.msn.com/
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http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.


RE: Working with Images

2008-02-03 Thread Pete Rourke
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:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: Saturday, February 02, 2008 12:49 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

Date: Fri, February 01, 2008 8:34 pm

To: [EMAIL PROTECTED],

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 

Working with Images

2008-02-02 Thread Pete Rourke
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 

Date: Fri, February 01, 2008 8:34 pm

To: pete.rourke at reefpt.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. JPE

Re: Working with Images

2008-02-02 Thread David Creamer
> So a question is what format, JPG, BMP, PNG, GIF saves the cleanest picture?

Personally, I would not use JPEG as it tends to artifact round the type,
making the image harder to read.

PNG or TIFF would be my first choices, GIF as a third choice depending on
the required color depth.

David Creamer
I.D.E.A.S. - Results-Oriented Training
http://www.IDEAStraining.com
Adobe Certified Trainer & Expert (since 1995)
Authorized Quark Training Provider (since 1988)
Markzware, Enfocus, FileMaker Certified


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Working with Images

2008-02-02 Thread David Creamer
> So a question is what format, JPG, BMP, PNG, GIF saves the cleanest picture?

Personally, I would not use JPEG as it tends to artifact round the type,
making the image harder to read.

PNG or TIFF would be my first choices, GIF as a third choice depending on
the required color depth.

David Creamer
I.D.E.A.S. - Results-Oriented Training
http://www.IDEAStraining.com
Adobe Certified Trainer & Expert (since 1995)
Authorized Quark Training Provider (since 1988)
Markzware, Enfocus, FileMaker Certified




Working with Images

2008-02-02 Thread Alan Litchfield
Hi Pete,


On 2/02/2008, at 10:53 AM, 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)
>

That is not too bad. FM will handle very large files without problems,  
provided your computer can handle it (sufficient memory, etc.). I have  
recently completed a job that was in excess of 2.5Gb of file data over  
1500 pages - took a while to pdf but did it without any issues.

>
>
> So a question is what format, JPG, BMP, PNG, GIF saves the cleanest  
> picture?

JPG is fine for both PDF and print versions although I usually use eps  
or pdf.

>
> During import I choose 150 DPI, am I insane?

By choosing 150dpi you are reducing the print size of the image. In  
other words you are scaling the picture to make it smaller by  
increasing the resolution. I would suggest that if you need to resize  
the pictures for print purposes use an image editing program like  
Photoshop and set the correct resolution and image size there.  
Normally 300dpi is used for print and when you come to make the pdf  
version Distiller can down sample the image to the appropriate  
resolution to make a smaller file size (usually 72dpi).

When you output the file for print use the Press Quality setting in  
Distiller and Standard or Smallest File Size for the pdf version if it  
is to be downloaded from the web. Note that you might lose any  
bookmarks if you use the latter.

>
>
> I am not sure what resolution is required.  Would less than 96 be
> acceptable?
>

See above.

HIH
Alan

--
Alan Litchfield GradDipBus, MBus(Hons), CTT, MNZCS
AlphaByte
PO Box 1941, Auckland, NZ. 1140




***DHSPAM*** RE: Working with Images]

2008-02-02 Thread pete.rou...@reefpt.com


RE: ***DHSPAM*** RE: Working with Images]

2008-02-02 Thread pete . rourke

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Re: Working with Images

2008-02-02 Thread Alan Litchfield
Or in other words, increasing the print resolution uses interpolation  
to add pixels where there were none before. This can be of benefit for  
images with screen text and so on.

Cheers
Alan

On 3/02/2008, at 3:17 AM, John Sgammato wrote:

> When you capture a 96dpi image at higher resolution, you will never  
> see detail that isn't there (of course) but you can do more with the  
> image because your OWN image of the image is capable of showing  
> greater resolution. You can look at it as if your high-res image  
> capture dices the existing image into smaller pieces. As an extreme  
> example, consider an original image of alternating 1-inch black and  
> white elements along a line at 10 dpi.
> Capture that image at 100 dpi and you really have 10 times as many  
> 0.1-inch elements to work with, all faithful in location, dimension,  
> and color to the original. If you need to rotate or stretch or  
> manipulate the image in any way, or if any of your processes cause  
> the image to lose resolution, the new hi-res image will be more  
> forgiving. Likewise if you print the image, the printer is limited  
> by its own resolution - the higher-resolution image can help to  
> compensate.
>
> This is easy to test for your self: in Illustrator (or similar)  
> generate a black square and inside it a white circle or diamond.  
> Repeat at smaller intervals until you get bored. Save as .ai, then  
> export to .tiff twice. For the first select 96dpi and call it lo- 
> res.tiff, and for the second export at 400dpi and call it hi-res.tiff.
> Then import them side-by side into FM and see how they look. The lo- 
> res image will show jaggy edges that you don't see in the hi-res.
>
> Again, it won't magically reveal what isn't there, but it does make  
> the image more forgiving, and maybe it printed better (that is,  
> maybe the eye picks up details on paper that it doesn't see on the  
> screen).
>
> I don't understand all the mechanics involved; this is just my best  
> attempt at explaining what I can see and what I use every day thanks  
> to the visible improvements.
>
> john
>
> 
>
> From: Diane Gaskill [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Sat 2/2/2008 4:55 AM
> To: John Sgammato; framers@lists.frameusers.com
> Subject: RE: Working with Images
>
>
>
> John,
>
> How can SnagIt capture an image at a higher resolution than what the  
> screen
> is set to?  A 20" screen at 1280 x 1024, for example, is 96 DPI.   
> How do you
> get 200 DPI out of that?
>
> Diane
>
> -Original Message-
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of John  
> Sgammato
> Sent: Friday, February 01, 2008 8:49 PM
> To: Alan Litchfield; framers@lists.frameusers.com
> Subject: RE: Working with Images
>
>
> ...
>> During import I choose 150 DPI, am I insane?
>
> By choosing 150dpi you are reducing the print size of the image. In
> other words you are scaling the picture to make it smaller by
> increasing the resolution. ...
>
> Note that with SnagIt you can opt to capture the image at other  
> resolutions,
> so you need not change anything in FM. I capture images as 200dpi  
> TIFFs, and
> then import them at 200dpi in my books. I go to print, PDF, and  
> online help
> from a single set of screenshots.
>
> john
> ___
>
>
> You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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> Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
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>
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> http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
>
>
>
> ___
>
>
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>
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--
Alan Litchfield GradDipBus, MBus(Hons), CTT, MNZCS
AlphaByte
PO Box 1941, Auckland, NZ. 1140


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Working with Images

2008-02-02 Thread John Sgammato
When you capture a 96dpi image at higher resolution, you will never see detail 
that isn't there (of course) but you can do more with the image because your 
OWN image of the image is capable of showing greater resolution. You can look 
at it as if your high-res image capture dices the existing image into smaller 
pieces. As an extreme example, consider an original image of alternating 1-inch 
black and white elements along a line at 10 dpi. 
Capture that image at 100 dpi and you really have 10 times as many 0.1-inch 
elements to work with, all faithful in location, dimension, and color to the 
original. If you need to rotate or stretch or manipulate the image in any way, 
or if any of your processes cause the image to lose resolution, the new hi-res 
image will be more forgiving. Likewise if you print the image, the printer is 
limited by its own resolution - the higher-resolution image can help to 
compensate.

This is easy to test for your self: in Illustrator (or similar) generate a 
black square and inside it a white circle or diamond. Repeat at smaller 
intervals until you get bored. Save as .ai, then export to .tiff twice. For the 
first select 96dpi and call it lo-res.tiff, and for the second export at 400dpi 
and call it hi-res.tiff.
Then import them side-by side into FM and see how they look. The lo-res image 
will show jaggy edges that you don't see in the hi-res.

Again, it won't magically reveal what isn't there, but it does make the image 
more forgiving, and maybe it printed better (that is, maybe the eye picks up 
details on paper that it doesn't see on the screen).

I don't understand all the mechanics involved; this is just my best attempt at 
explaining what I can see and what I use every day thanks to the visible 
improvements. 

john



From: Diane Gaskill [mailto:dgcal...@earthlink.net]
Sent: Sat 2/2/2008 4:55 AM
To: John Sgammato; framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: Working with Images



John,

How can SnagIt capture an image at a higher resolution than what the screen
is set to?  A 20" screen at 1280 x 1024, for example, is 96 DPI.  How do you
get 200 DPI out of that?

Diane

-Original Message-
From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com]On Behalf Of John Sgammato
Sent: Friday, February 01, 2008 8:49 PM
To: Alan Litchfield; framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: Working with Images


...
> During import I choose 150 DPI, am I insane?

By choosing 150dpi you are reducing the print size of the image. In
other words you are scaling the picture to make it smaller by
increasing the resolution. ...

Note that with SnagIt you can opt to capture the image at other resolutions,
so you need not change anything in FM. I capture images as 200dpi TIFFs, and
then import them at 200dpi in my books. I go to print, PDF, and online help
from a single set of screenshots.

john
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Re: Working with Images

2008-02-02 Thread Dennis Brunnenmeyer
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 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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>To unsubscribe send a blank email to
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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>
>Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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
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RE: Working with Images

2008-02-02 Thread John Sgammato
When you capture a 96dpi image at higher resolution, you will never see detail 
that isn't there (of course) but you can do more with the image because your 
OWN image of the image is capable of showing greater resolution. You can look 
at it as if your high-res image capture dices the existing image into smaller 
pieces. As an extreme example, consider an original image of alternating 1-inch 
black and white elements along a line at 10 dpi. 
Capture that image at 100 dpi and you really have 10 times as many 0.1-inch 
elements to work with, all faithful in location, dimension, and color to the 
original. If you need to rotate or stretch or manipulate the image in any way, 
or if any of your processes cause the image to lose resolution, the new hi-res 
image will be more forgiving. Likewise if you print the image, the printer is 
limited by its own resolution - the higher-resolution image can help to 
compensate.
 
This is easy to test for your self: in Illustrator (or similar) generate a 
black square and inside it a white circle or diamond. Repeat at smaller 
intervals until you get bored. Save as .ai, then export to .tiff twice. For the 
first select 96dpi and call it lo-res.tiff, and for the second export at 400dpi 
and call it hi-res.tiff.
Then import them side-by side into FM and see how they look. The lo-res image 
will show jaggy edges that you don't see in the hi-res.
 
Again, it won't magically reveal what isn't there, but it does make the image 
more forgiving, and maybe it printed better (that is, maybe the eye picks up 
details on paper that it doesn't see on the screen).
 
I don't understand all the mechanics involved; this is just my best attempt at 
explaining what I can see and what I use every day thanks to the visible 
improvements. 
 
john



From: Diane Gaskill [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Sat 2/2/2008 4:55 AM
To: John Sgammato; framers@lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: Working with Images



John,

How can SnagIt capture an image at a higher resolution than what the screen
is set to?  A 20" screen at 1280 x 1024, for example, is 96 DPI.  How do you
get 200 DPI out of that?

Diane

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of John Sgammato
Sent: Friday, February 01, 2008 8:49 PM
To: Alan Litchfield; framers@lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: Working with Images


...
> During import I choose 150 DPI, am I insane?

By choosing 150dpi you are reducing the print size of the image. In
other words you are scaling the picture to make it smaller by
increasing the resolution. ...

Note that with SnagIt you can opt to capture the image at other resolutions,
so you need not change anything in FM. I capture images as 200dpi TIFFs, and
then import them at 200dpi in my books. I go to print, PDF, and online help
from a single set of screenshots.

john
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RE: Working with Images

2008-02-02 Thread Diane Gaskill
John,

How can SnagIt capture an image at a higher resolution than what the screen
is set to?  A 20" screen at 1280 x 1024, for example, is 96 DPI.  How do you
get 200 DPI out of that?

Diane

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of John Sgammato
Sent: Friday, February 01, 2008 8:49 PM
To: Alan Litchfield; framers@lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: Working with Images


...
> During import I choose 150 DPI, am I insane?

By choosing 150dpi you are reducing the print size of the image. In
other words you are scaling the picture to make it smaller by
increasing the resolution. ...

Note that with SnagIt you can opt to capture the image at other resolutions,
so you need not change anything in FM. I capture images as 200dpi TIFFs, and
then import them at 200dpi in my books. I go to print, PDF, and online help
from a single set of screenshots.

john
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Working with Images

2008-02-02 Thread Diane Gaskill
John,

How can SnagIt capture an image at a higher resolution than what the screen
is set to?  A 20" screen at 1280 x 1024, for example, is 96 DPI.  How do you
get 200 DPI out of that?

Diane

-Original Message-
From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com]On Behalf Of John Sgammato
Sent: Friday, February 01, 2008 8:49 PM
To: Alan Litchfield; framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: Working with Images


...
> During import I choose 150 DPI, am I insane?

By choosing 150dpi you are reducing the print size of the image. In
other words you are scaling the picture to make it smaller by
increasing the resolution. ...

Note that with SnagIt you can opt to capture the image at other resolutions,
so you need not change anything in FM. I capture images as 200dpi TIFFs, and
then import them at 200dpi in my books. I go to print, PDF, and online help
from a single set of screenshots.

john
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Working with Images

2008-02-01 Thread John Sgammato
...
> During import I choose 150 DPI, am I insane?

By choosing 150dpi you are reducing the print size of the image. In 
other words you are scaling the picture to make it smaller by 
increasing the resolution. ...

Note that with SnagIt you can opt to capture the image at other resolutions, so 
you need not change anything in FM. I capture images as 200dpi TIFFs, and then 
import them at 200dpi in my books. I go to print, PDF, and online help from a 
single set of screenshots. 

john


Working with Images

2008-02-01 Thread pete.rou...@reefpt.com


RE: Working with Images

2008-02-01 Thread pete . rourke

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RE: Working with Images

2008-02-01 Thread John Sgammato
...
> During import I choose 150 DPI, am I insane?

By choosing 150dpi you are reducing the print size of the image. In 
other words you are scaling the picture to make it smaller by 
increasing the resolution. ...
 
Note that with SnagIt you can opt to capture the image at other resolutions, so 
you need not change anything in FM. I capture images as 200dpi TIFFs, and then 
import them at 200dpi in my books. I go to print, PDF, and online help from a 
single set of screenshots. 
 
john
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Working with Images

2008-02-01 Thread Dennis Brunnenmeyer
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.
>
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>
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>
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>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


Re: Working with Images

2008-02-01 Thread Alan Litchfield
Hi Pete,


On 2/02/2008, at 10:53 AM, 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)
>

That is not too bad. FM will handle very large files without problems,  
provided your computer can handle it (sufficient memory, etc.). I have  
recently completed a job that was in excess of 2.5Gb of file data over  
1500 pages - took a while to pdf but did it without any issues.

>
>
> So a question is what format, JPG, BMP, PNG, GIF saves the cleanest  
> picture?

JPG is fine for both PDF and print versions although I usually use eps  
or pdf.

>
> During import I choose 150 DPI, am I insane?

By choosing 150dpi you are reducing the print size of the image. In  
other words you are scaling the picture to make it smaller by  
increasing the resolution. I would suggest that if you need to resize  
the pictures for print purposes use an image editing program like  
Photoshop and set the correct resolution and image size there.  
Normally 300dpi is used for print and when you come to make the pdf  
version Distiller can down sample the image to the appropriate  
resolution to make a smaller file size (usually 72dpi).

When you output the file for print use the Press Quality setting in  
Distiller and Standard or Smallest File Size for the pdf version if it  
is to be downloaded from the web. Note that you might lose any  
bookmarks if you use the latter.

>
>
> I am not sure what resolution is required.  Would less than 96 be
> acceptable?
>

See above.

HIH
Alan

--
Alan Litchfield GradDipBus, MBus(Hons), CTT, MNZCS
AlphaByte
PO Box 1941, Auckland, NZ. 1140


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Working with Images

2008-02-01 Thread Pete Rourke
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





Working with Images

2008-02-01 Thread Pete Rourke
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

 

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