adding graphics to files

Fri Oct 10 08:11:02 PDT 2008

Most people's primary reason is that a reference keeps the FM file
from bloating (copying in physically adds all the graphic info to the
file). This means the file is quicker to load, scroll, and modify, is
less likely to become corrupt just because there are fewer bytes
involved, and is just more easily portable.

It also makes the graphic easier to edit and change.

Other benefits include allowing people to work on the graphic and have
their changes included automatically, supporting translation better
(because different language files can be swapped in on a
directory-level basis),

Art

Art Campbell
                          art.campbell at gmail.com
  "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52
Vincent and a redheaded grl." -- Richard Thompson
                                                      No disclaimers apply.
                                                               DoD 358

On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 11:05 AM, Deirdre Reagan
<deirdre.reagan at gmail.com> wrote:
> LOL -- yes, sorry -- I was between emails.  The best source is a PDF
> -- I'm so excited to find out that I can open the PDF in Photoshop,
> tweak it, and save it as a PDF.
>
> That's going to save me a lot of time.
>
> Import by reference:  sadly, I'm not allowed to do that.
>
> But just out of curiosity, why is import by reference better than import?
>
> Thanks again for all the advice.
>
> Deirdre
>
> On 10/10/08, Art Campbell <art.campbell at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Uh no, that isn't what I was saying and I don't think that's what Fred
>> would recommend either.
>> You didn't say the source file was a PDF, or if you did, I missed it.
>>
>> If you already have the source graphic in a PDF, that's your best
>> final format right there because it's a PostScript file. Vector based,
>> scalable, etc. Only way you can degrade it is by converting it to
>> another graphic format.... which is what you've been doing.
>>
>> You can optimize the PDF further with Acrobat, and you can crop it
>> with Photoshop or another program, both actions that will reduce the
>> file size. But other than that, you're good to go.
>>
>> And you should still be importing it by reference....
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Art
>>
>> Art Campbell
>>                          art.campbell at gmail.com
>>  "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52
>> Vincent and a redheaded grl." -- Richard Thompson
>>                                                      No disclaimers apply.
>>                                                               DoD 358
>>
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 9:37 AM, Deirdre Reagan
>> <deirdre.reagan at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > Thanks all.
>> >
>> > I really appreciate your feedback -- you are confirming what I
>> > suspected but don't have enough knowledge to back up!
>> >
>> > Here's my situation:
>> >
>> > I get the drawing package as a PDF file.
>> >
>> > I don't have AutoCad or Katia or any of the other drawing progams, so
>> > I can't access the original vector drawing.
>> >
>> > I've been turning the PDF into a bitmap file and copying and pasting
>> > it into my file.
>> >
>> > I copy and paste because the lead technical writer is adamantly
>> > against importing by reference.
>> >
>> > He also told me that I have to stop using bitmap because bitmap
>> > graphics won't work if we have to turn these documents into HTML
>> > (STML? XML? Some sort of web-based product) documents.
>> >
>> > So, based on what you all are telling me, bitmap is the best way to go (yeah!).
>> >
>> > And bitmapped graphics are just fine for web-based documents?
>> >
>> > Thanks so much guys!
>> >
>> > From the fun factory,
>> >
>> > Deirdre
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > On 10/9/08, Art Campbell <art.campbell at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >> Fred's on top of the graphic issues. Bottom line is JPG is the way
>> >> wrong format and is adding some bloat.
>> >>
>> >> However, its not clear from the OP message whether you're copying the
>> >> graphic file in, or importing by reference.
>> >> Importing  by refrence is the preferred way to do it. Copying is not
>> >> the way to go.
>> >>
>> >> If you are copying them in, that would be a good reason for the slowdown.
>> >>
>> >> Art.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Art Campbell
>> >>                          art.campbell at gmail.com
>> >>  "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52
>> >> Vincent and a redheaded grl." -- Richard Thompson
>> >>                                                      No disclaimers apply.
>> >>                                                               DoD 358
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 6:06 PM, Fred Ridder <docudoc at hotmail.com> wrote:
>> >> >
>> >> > Deirdre Reagan wrote:
>> >> >> Anyhow, when I add jpgs to my Framemaker file (FM 8.0, Windows XP),
>> >> >> Framemaker slows way down when I scroll over the page with the jpg.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> The jpgs are 300 dpi, which they need to be for good print resolution
>> >> >> (they are black and white drawings).
>> >> >>
>> >> >> I import the file to an anchored frame, then resize the graphic to 80
>> >> >> percent because it is usually too large for the anchored frame.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> I really don't know anything about graphics, so anything advice would
>> >> >> be most appreciated.
>> >> >
>> >> > To cover only a couple of the most basic issues:
>> >> >
>> >> > First and foremost, JPEG is *not* an appropriate file format for line art
>> >> > or anything containing text. JPEG was specifically designed for
>> >> > *photographic* images, which tend to conceal many of the format's
>> >> > shortcomings due to the continuous-tone nature of photographs.
>> >> > JPEG's area-based image compression algorithm inherently produces
>> >> > artifacts near abroupt color transitions, which is clearly seen as a
>> >> > kind of gray smudginess alongside lines in drawings or as a kind of
>> >> > cloud surrounding text. For line art you should be using a lossless file
>> >> > format like EPS, WMF (or EMF), or PNG (or GIF or TIFF or even BMP).
>> >> > The one file format you should *not* use is JPEG.
>> >> >
>> >> > Second, if you need to scale your graphics, you should use a vector
>> >> > file format (EPS, WMF, EMF) rather than a raster file format (any of
>> >> > the others mentioned). Vector images contain mathematical descriptions
>> >> > of the geometric and text objects in the drawing, which means that
>> >> > they can be rescaled over a wide range of sizes with no loss in quality.
>> >> > Raster graphics contain a pixel-by-pixel rendering of the image, and
>> >> > to rescale them you either have to change the pixel pitch or you have
>> >> > to resample them to throw away pixels or make up new pixels that
>> >> > don't exist.
>> >> >
>> >> > Third, if you do have raster images (screen shots, for example), the
>> >> > best way to change their reproduced size in FrameMaker is not
>> >> > to use the scaling command, but rather to change the dpi setting.
>> >> > Doubling the dpi will reduce the dimensions to 50%; halving the
>> >> > dpi will double the reproduced size of the image. If this approach
>> >> > is not acceptable for some reason, the other alternative is to use
>> >> > a tool like PaintShop Pro or Photoshop to resample the image, but
>> >> > this *always* causes a loss in quality.
>> >> >
>> >> > I'll leave any other issues to others to address.
>> >> >
>> >> > -Fred Ridder
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > _______________________________________________
>> >> >
>> >> >
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