VISIO, WMF, and PNG

[Combs, Richard]

Alan Litchfield wrote: 
 
> Just to summarise what has been said on the list over the last couple
of
> weeks.
> 
> 1. Visio uses an internal file format and is not a graphics format, as
such
> 2. Visio native files are best not used in FM
> 3. The Visio files then need to be exported in some suitable format.
> 
> Now, relating to your specific enquiry:
> 
> 4. The standard output formats that Visio uses are problematic for a
number
> of
> reasons:
> 4a. PNG is a raster image format, meaning that it uses pixels to
create an
> image and is therefore going to print as a pixellated image. It was
only
> ever
> intended that this image format was to be used onscreen, not for print
> purposes. So onscreen it will probably look ok but printed, pretty bad
(and
> sure, someone will chime in and say "hey mine are ok" which won't help
> you);
> 4b. WMF supports both raster and vector based art but the format is
not
> well
> documented and specific files, for example from Visio, may have
inclusions
> that create problems when the file is printed. For example, stray
lines
> appearing between vectors, or fonts that are not correctly specified
in the
> WMF file and display incorrectly when printed. In general, and
depending on
> your situation, WMF is ok. However it is not guaranteable that WMF
will
> always
> work.
> 5. So, what has been suggested on this list, and is an approach I use,
is
> to
> print your Visio file to PDF and import that into FM.
> 
> Therefore, I would say not to use PNG. Instead use PDF.

What he said! 

Joseph, I strongly recommend learning about the differences between
raster (or bitmap) graphics and scalable vector graphics, and which file
formats are which. Don't convert the latter into the former if it's at
all avoidable. 

Assuming you have an Adobe PDF printer instance (i.e., you have
Distiller or the full version of Acrobat) installed on your system, it's
always avoidable by printing the vector graphic to PDF, which imports
nicely into FM. WRT Visio, this a much better solution than using its
less-than-optimal export filters to save as WMF or EPS.

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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