[Framers] SVG blowing up Frame file size

[Syed Zaeem Hosain]

SVG is a vector format - very efficient, but needs to be rasterized for printing and display purposes. Usually converted on the fly (when output/printed) by tools that properly work with SVG.

It is possible that FrameMaker creates bit-mapped images at the point of _importing_ the SVG - i.e., without keeping it in vector form.

Then, depending on the dpi, combined with the size of the image, etc., this may be resulting in a large image being brought in.

Could also be that there is some inefficiency/bugginess in the SVG->bitmap conversion process in FrameMaker.

Can you save the file as a PNG or PDF from Visio rather than SVG? FrameMaker may handle it better. 

> Corporate standards require using SVG as it is a non-proprietary format

PDF are PNG are also public formats. Maybe you can talk to the people maintaining the corporate standards?

Z

BTW, a side-bar: _never_ use JPEG for business graphics, screen captures, line drawings, etc. ... you will hate the resulting dots and artifacts in the JPEG image! I always use PNG for these kinds of "images".

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Framers [mailto:framers-
> bounces+syed.hosain=aeris.net at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Lin
> Sims
> Sent: Thursday, May 5, 2016 12:04 PM
> To: Robert Lauriston <robert at lauriston.com>
> Cc: Frame Users <framers at lists.frameusers.com>; TECHWR-L Writing
> <techwr-l at lists.techwr-l.com>
> Subject: Re: [Framers] SVG blowing up Frame file size
> 
> Corporate standards require using SVG as it is a non-proprietary format. Also, we were planning to migrate to DITA, a project that got obliterated thanks to being bought by another corporation.
> 
> I don't know about raster quality. All the graphics I've created use the same settings, so I don't see how this one could be that wildly different.
> 
> Maybe I'll try redrawing it and seeing if that makes a difference.
> 
> On Thu, May 5, 2016 at 3:00 PM, Robert Lauriston <robert at lauriston.com> wrote:
> 
> > Maybe you have raster quality set really high? Otherwise, sounds like a bug in FrameMaker's SVG support.
> >
> > I experimented with various formats for Visio diagrams and found EMF worked the best.
> >
> > I never embed graphics in .fm files (what the FM docs call "import by copying"). I always import by reference.
> >
> > On Thu, May 5, 2016 at 11:43 AM, Lin Sims <ljsims.ml at gmail.com> wrote: Pertinents:
> > >
> > > Windows 7 Professional, 64-bit, Service Patch 1 FrameMaker 12, latest patch Visio 2013
> > >
> > > I have a small diagram created in Visio and saved out to SVG that is just blowing up the Frame file size.
> > >
> > > Frame file w/o graphic: 232,448
> > > Frame file w/ graphic: 17,116,160
> > >
> > > Visio file: 150,011
> > > SVG file: 15,830
> > >
> > > I've recreated the SVG file in case there was a corruption in the conversion from .vsdx to .svg, but I'm getting the same result. A somewhat similar diagram that has larger Visio (357,882) and SVG (34,688) files sizes only increases the Frame file size to 1,207,296.
> > >
> > > I'm fabbled. Does anyone have any ideas why this very, very simple diagram should be making such a difference in the FrameMaker file size?