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Thank you one and all. I truly appreciate all of the online and offlist
responses and I have gained some valuable advice and knowledge and now know
how I "need to go forth" and tweak a few things.
Thanks again,
TVB
Tammy Van Boening
Owner/Principal
Spectrum Writing, LLC
www.spectrumwritingllc.com
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+spectrumwriting=q -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+spectrumwriting=q -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf
Of Robert Lauriston
Sent: Monday, May 18, 2009 12:02 PM
To: TechWhirl List
Subject: Re: Screen captures and sizing
My rules are:
- resize dialog boxes etc. to minimize the size of the capture
- crop as much as possible; sometimes I even cut white space out of
the middle of oversized dialog boxes
- if resizing is unavoidable, do it by a whole-number ratio (e.g.
reduce a 1024w shot to 512, since each 4-pixel box in the original
will become one pixes in the reduced image)
- save JPEG images at 100% quality
- place in FrameMaker at 75, 150, or 300 dpi (assuming output dpi is a
multiple of 300)
- turn off all image downsampling in Acrobat Distiller job options
On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 9:41 AM, Spectrum Writing <SpectrumWriting -at- q -dot- com>
wrote:
> Cross-posted to framers and STC Lone Writers list.
>
>
>
> I know that there are many graphics gurus on this list and I will be the
> first to admit - I am NOT a graphics guru and it is my weakest point. That
> said, I have never had any comments from clients until now about what I do
> for screen captures, and I wanted either confirmation or some additional
> insight on improvements for taking screen captures.
>
>
>
> Here is the current comment from a client: Generally, I would like to keep
> high quality of screen captures.
>
> Would like to suggest using a tool that can downscale the images with a
> smoothing function to keep high quality appearance. (as appear here, this
is
> just sub-sampling with no smoothing.)
>
>
>
> The comment that I have from the client is what I have - nothing specific
> about fuzziness, or anything else.
>
>
>
> I use SnagIt as my capture tool. I use the region option and capture
either
> the relevant portion that I need or if required, I take a capture of the
> whole screen. I then save the capture as a .png, and use the import file
> function to bring the capture into my Framemaker file. Obviously, the
> default dpi is set to the fictitious Windows 96 dpi. I change the capture
to
> 150 dpi and import. If this works for size and clarity, then I am done; if
> not, I right-click on the picture and adjust the dpi until I get the size
> that works for the page layout and what I am trying to show. (After much
> reading on this list, and advice from another colleague, I have learned
that
> what I was initially taught at a long ago gig - to set the dpi to 300 and
> then use the manual sizing handles - is NOT the way to go).
>
>
>
> When I create the PDF, I am manually distilling the file - I don't do a
> "Save as PDF." I use the Adobe printer to print to a postscript file, and
> then distill the postscript file to a PDF. I don't change anything any of
> the settings in Distiller - I use the standard settings option and don't
> change anything.
>
>
>
>
>
> Can any of you graphics gurus give me some insight as to what else I
should
> be doing/changing or if I am doing it the right way - and if you want to
> lecture me off list about dpis and stuff, that is fine with me too. I will
> gladly take whatever information I can glean so that I can reply
> professionally to this client. The pictures are not fuzzy in the PDFs -
and
> they have been just fine for all other clients before.
>
>
>
> Thanks so much,
>
>
>
>
>
> Tammy Van Boening
>
> Owner/Principal
>
> Spectrum Writing, LLC
>
> www.spectrumwritingllc.com <http://www.spectrumwritingllc.com/>
>
>
>
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solution. Author in Doc-To-Help's XML-based editor, Microsoft Word or
HTML and publish to the Web, Help systems or printed manuals. http://www.doctohelp.com
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
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You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as SpectrumWriting -at- q -dot- com -dot-
ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 2009 is your all-in-one authoring and publishing
solution. Author in Doc-To-Help's XML-based editor, Microsoft Word or
HTML and publish to the Web, Help systems or printed manuals. http://www.doctohelp.com
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
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