Scrollbar Moire, thanks & results that worked!

[ropes -at- TELEPORT -dot- COM]

Hello all,

About 2 weeks ago, I asked the list for ways to eliminate moire patterns in
the scrollbars of screenshots under Win95.  The response was rapid and
helpful.  One respondent asked me to post the solutions.  Here they are,
with credits.

My delayed posting is due to a system failure here and a heavy work
schedule.  If you responded I haven't include your suggestion, please accept
my apology.

I've separated the responses with *********** and eliminated extraneous
material.  Any comments of mine are in curly brackets {{  }}.

Michael Cenedella, contracting with the documentation group at MedicaLogic,
producing Logician, electronic medical records software.

******************

{{This is the response that helped solve the problem for us.  It was on the
list before, and several people posted it to us.  The changes below
eliminated the moire. In our app, we also had to change the size of  3D
objects, the active title bar, and the caption buttons to 18 to make all
fields in dialog boxes show properly.  I've appended the names of  all who
posted this solution.  Thanks again.}}

From: Robin Dube <rdube -at- spicer -dot- com>Yvonne DeGraw <yvonne -at- silcom -dot- com>"MWN"
<MNorton -at- formmaker -dot- com>


{{Evidently this was the original post, back in October.}}

We struggled with this problem when we started creating screen shots
in Win95. It was a real bear. We were seeing checkerboards, pin
stripes, and other undesirable patterns. The solution we found to work
best was to change the Win95 color scheme. We have a written procedure
on this now.

Here are the steps:

1. Exit the application for which you want to create screen captures.

2. Go into Control Panel and choose the Display icon.

3. Choose the Appearance tab.

4. From the Scheme drop-down list box, select High Contrast White.

5. From the Item drop-down list box, select 3D Objects.

6. From the Color drop-down palette to the right of the Item list box,
select the lighter shade of gray (Red=192, green=192, blue=192).

7. Choose the Save As button to display the Save Scheme dialog box.

8. Type a name for the new color scheme (for example, "Win95 Screen
Capture Colors"), then choose OK to return to the Display Properties
dialog box.

9. Choose OK.

10. Restart the application for which you want to take screen captures
and verify that the new color scheme is in effect. You may need to
reboot in order for the color scheme to fully take effect.


Hope this helps.

Lea

lcwolsel -at- softart -dot- com

*****************************

From: Carol Wiest <cwiest -at- microstar -dot- com>

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "moire pattern" but I think I've
experienced this same problem.

I was using Hijaak Capture 95 with either 256 colours and 1280x1024
resolution or 16 bit high colour with 1024x768 resolution. I kept
getting odd patterns in the scroll bars. I thought it might be caused by
dithering. Since I was creating grayscale screen shots, I was able to
"solve" the problem by selecting solid colours in Display
Properties/Appearance. I used the solid yellow colour for 3-D objects
and this got rid of the bizarre pattern.

I hope this helps. I'm afraid I'm new at this stuff so forgive me if I'm
off base.

{{We also used HiJaak Capture 95, but at 640 x 480 x 24 bit, as our app has
some complex photos in it.  The shots were reduced to 256 greys.}}

*******************

Return-Path: rpachol9 -at- mail -dot- idt -dot- net

The moire patterns are probably caused by the colors of the image on
screen after being translated to greyscale. We had the same problem. The
only way to fix it, is to experiment with different colors until you find
some that translate from color to greyscale without the introduction of
moire patterns. Our experimentation indicated the reds and purples were
better candidates while the blues were more susceptible to herringbone
patching.

The reason you sometimes have the moire patterns and sometimes not, is
probably due to the percentage of reduction. We found if we had moire
patterns at 75% reduction, it sometimes went away at 74% or 76%
reduction; something to do with the alignment of pixel positioning as
interpreted by the printer's resolution.

The above is based on my experience using a PC screen clip moved through
a server to a Power PC MAc DTP system and might not apply to your
situation at all; but I hope it helps.

r pacholke
<rpachol9 -at- mail -dot- idt -dot- net>

***********************

Return-Path: joan -at- rts -dot- co -dot- il

The scroll bars in Win95 are made of checkerboard patterns. Printer drivers
(during ripping, if you know what that is) can't manage these checkerboards,
and prints them as much larger checkerboards, hence the moire.

With some printers, you can try changing the screen angle (in the Printer
setup somewhere), and see if that helps. Apparently, with HP printers it
doesn't make a difference, it's a known bug and they're working on it.

Good luck,

Joan Michaeli

{{I think Joan is on the right track for a different problem.  If you get
the moire in the printout, and the solutions here don't work, try working
with settings and with your print bureau.}}
***********

From: Alexander Von_obert <avobert -at- TWH -dot- MSN -dot- SUB -dot- ORG>


you should watch out closely when resizing screenshots. Whenever you change
 the pixel size you might produce moire. If you really must change the size do
 so by an integer factor like 2:1.

{{Another likely solution for a different problem.}}

***************************

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