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Subject:Re: PDF graphic nightmare From:Max Wyss <prodok -at- PRODOK -dot- CH> Date:Thu, 4 Jun 1998 01:27:45 +0200
Tom,
it seems to be a continuous issue that screenshots don't look good when
brought to PDF. You might check the archives of the PDF-L mailing list (you
best start at http://www.pdfzone.com ).
One thing you must keep in mind is that Acrobat is based on a screen
resolution of 72 dpi, whereas Wintel has 96 dpi. Try to look at your
screenshots at 143%; they probably will be OK there.
You may also carefully look at the Distiller settings. They can be rather
subtle.
I imagine that Visio is a vector format, which will per definitionem come
out better in Acrobat than raster images.
One more thing to look at is the color depth when you look at the document,
but also of the original screenshots. You may experience a "double
dithering", first when you do the screenshot, the second time when you look
at the file in Reader.
Hope, this can help.
Max Wyss
PRODOK Engineering AG
Technical documentation and translations, Electronic Publishing
CH-8906 Bonstetten, Switzerland
Fax: +41 1 700 20 37
e-mail: mailto:prodok -at- prodok -dot- ch or 100012 -dot- 44 -at- compuserve -dot- com
Bridging the Knowledge Gap
______________
>Fellow Techwhirlers:
>
>My questions are lower in this post, first here's the situation.
>
>I have many bitmapped screen captures in my software manual developed
>using Word 8 (Word 97) that appear just fine on screen and when printed.
>However they appear degraded (both on screen and when printed) after I
>write to Acrobat PDF. By the way, the PDF'd text is acceptable but could
>be better. I attempted to use Distiller but receive the same results
>even when I fiddle with all the settings for resolution, compression,
>etc.
>
>The bulk of the screen captures were developed using these tools and
>this process:
>My display settings are 800 X 600, 256 color. I do a Alt + Print Scrn
>into RoboHELP 4.0's screen capture tool where I clip the image I want to
>use. I then copy/paste into Word 8 (Word 97) and scale as necessary.
>Occasionally I paste the image into Visio 4.0 where I will attach
>callouts prior to pasting into Word and scaling. The callouts appear
>very crisp and sharp, something for which I have no explanation, unless
>the callouts are actually another graphic format.
>
>My questions are these:
>
>(1.) Has anyone succeeded in making such images as I describe above
>appear clearly in a PDF file, using either PDF Writer or Distiller? If
>so, how did you do it?
>
>(2.) Do I need to redo all screen captures in 600 X 480 at 16 color?
>Would the resulting images in PDF files appear clearer?
>
>(3.) Is there a PDF FAQ somewhere that provides definitive directions
>for working with these graphics?
>
>In searching for solutions to this problem, I find that I'm not alone.
>Many others have these problems. If this is a problem with Adobe, I'd
>like to know. Otherwise if any of you have a usable process, I'd
>appreciate knowing what that is.
>
>Please respond on list and not to me personally. I'm sure there are
>others who would like to see responses.
>
>Thanks for your help.
>
>Tom Herme
>
