Working with Images

[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