Graphics in FM

[Deirdre Reagan]

Thanks Richard --

The original line drawings are coming ot me as PDFs.  I don't have
AutoCad or Katia or any of the other programs that the engineers have,
so I get the drawing as a PDF file.  I turn it into a jpg so I can
erase lines and words.

It would be nice to have the original vector drawing!



On 10/9/08, Combs, Richard <richard.combs at polycom.com> wrote:
> Deirdre Reagan wrote:
>
> > In my documents, we use black and white line drawings exclusively.
> >
> > I've been cutting and pasting 200 pixels / inch bitmaps.  FM scrolls
> > through them very quickly.
> >
> > My colleagues import 300 pixels / inch jpgs.  Their jpgs are better
> > quality but FM works very very slowly when scrolling past a page with
> > a jpg.
> >
> > I just imported a PDF-ed graphic that was made from a 600 pixels /
> > inch jpg.  It has the best resolution and FM scrolls through the page
> > very quickly.
> >
> > So here's my question:  is there any downside to using the PDF-ed
> graphic?
>
> None at all. IMHO, PDFs are a great way to import graphics into FM.
>
> But here's a question back to you: Where are these line drawings coming
> from?
>
> See, any graphic format described in terms of pixels or dots per inch
> (dpi) is what's called a bitmap (or raster) image -- that includes BMP,
> JPG, PNG, and GIF. Its resolution is limited to whatever it was created
> at (200, 300, 600 dpi). If you resize it (or zoom in), you lose
> resolution.
>
> But line drawings are by nature vector images. That means they're not
> defined in terms of a fixed resolution, but in terms of vectors -- lines
> and arcs -- that can be scaled to any size without loss of resolution.
> If you're starting with a vector drawing (like from Adobe Illustrator or
> Corel Draw), it's best not to turn it into a bitmap.
>
> Instead, make a PDF from the original vector drawing, and it will still
> be a scalable vector drawing in PDF form. You'll really see the
> difference if you zoom way in (say 800%) on a bitmap version and a
> vector version of the same drawing.
>
> HTH!
> Richard
>
>
> Richard G. Combs
> Senior Technical Writer
> Polycom, Inc.
> richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
> 303-223-5111
> ------
> rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
> 303-777-0436
> ------
>
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