OT: Is there an easy way to manage graphics shared in many FM files?

Wed Mar 5 12:18:38 PST 2008

Hi Rene,

Do you have a license for FrameScript at your company, by any chance?  
FrameScript is a high level scripting language available from Finite  
Matters Limited (http://www.framescript.com) that makes it possible to  
extend the capabilities of Adobe FrameMaker. If you would like to try  
out FrameScript, you can download a trial version from the FML web site.

I have a freely available script on my personal web site  
(http://www.golehtek.com) called BookMover that organizes the imported  
graphics in a FrameMaker book under a graphics directory, further  
organized by chapter.

Using FrameScript, it would be fairly simple to generate reports about  
the imported graphics in your documents, and develop an interface for  
tracking and managing the graphics. If you can provide me with more  
information about what you are trying to achieve, I can give you an  
estimate about the amount of work involved.

Regarding generating graphics from the original source files, this may  
also be possible. I have achieved really nice results using  
AutoImager. AutoImager is an inexpensive graphics conversion program  
that can produce vector and raster graphics from more than 120 common  
graphic formats. You can control AutoImager from within FrameScript,  
making it possible to build an end-to-end solution for graphics  
conversion and management. More information about AutoImager is  
available from http://www.mystikmedia.com/autoimager.asp.

I use AutoImager in conjunction with WebWorks ePublisher Pro so users  
can enlarge or reduce the graphics in my on-line help systems without  
leaving the current topic. This also solves the problems that occur  
when an anchored frame contains more than one graphic, or a  
combination of graphics and annotations.

I hope this gives you some ideas to ponder.

Feel free to contact me any time with any additional questions.

Best regards,

Martin

Martin R. Smith
President: GolehTek, LLC
martin.smith at golehtek.com
703-889-0845

i
Quoting Rene Stephenson <rinnie1 at yahoo.com>:

> Hi All,
>
> We have a library of a few dozen books (about 10,000 pages), and   
> many of the files use the same graphics or composites built from   
> shared graphics. We've run upon a challenge, though, in that things   
> have gotten complex enough that we can't always use subfolders to   
> group the graphics in a logical way so that we know where to look to  
>  find them. To complicate matters, we have recently endured several   
> rounds of layoffs that have rather drastically diminished our team   
> to just me and a trainer and our boss. :-\  The graphic artist was   
> the last of our casualties.
>
> I am now discovering how much our artist was keeping in his head.   
> Now, I know the idea of cataloging or browsing graphics is really   
> probably out of scope for any desktop publishing application, but   
> when you're dealing with graphic-intensive books in FM, with so much  
>  content to manage...! We have single-sourced about 75% of the   
> projects, so the text part of the FM files is in manageable   
> condition, thanks to insets, shared files, conditional text,   
> variables, and the like. But the graphics...! Egads! We really need   
> to simplify and find a way to quickly locate and identify the   
> graphics files!
>
> I'm wondering whether we could use the source graphics rather than   
> the output files. The source files include CDR, AI, DWG, DXF, and   
> VSD files. All of those were being output to TIFF or JPG for use in   
> FM. I have heard that FM is supposed to import CDR files, but using   
> FM 7.2 I haven't had very good luck (possibly my mistakes).
>
> I'm also thinking about file structure in that right now, we have   
> the books grouped by product and the output graphics in the product   
> directories at the same "tree" or path level as the FM files folder   
> for the product. Aren't there some limitations about how long the   
> path can be or how many folders up and down the path between the   
> container doc and the graphic you're inserting that can impact FM   
> ability to display the images? It seems like about 5 of the   
> ..\..\..\ things in the referenced file path causes an issue...?
>
> And the other thing that's brewing in my mind is, surely there's   
> some program somewhere that catalogs graphics of various file   
> formats when you provide a path or group of paths for a   
> repository...??
>
> Given the tech market and economic rollercoaster of the last few   
> years, I know I'm not the only writer to find myself in this   
> position. Any insight that any of you can provide would be greatly   
> appreciated!
>
> Rene L. Stephenson
>
>
>
>
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