Graphics

[mattman63]

Alrighty...I have another question. Most of the graphics in our documentation are line illustrations. Which graphic format provides the best quality and least file size in Flare for a line illustration.

We are moving from Framemaker to Flare. In Framemaker, I used PDF for all my graphics. Framemaker loves PDF graphics - teensy file sizes and great quality for line illustrations. However, Flare does not support PDF as a graphic format.

So which format is the best as far as file size and quality?

[LTinker68]

I'd go with PNGs.

[mattman63]

You're the second person who recommended PNG to me. This other person said that PNG's are web-friendlier than more print-based formats like BMP and JPG without sacrificing quality. Is that true?

Another thing: I just learned of the dual DPI specification in Capture, where you can specify a graphic resolution for print and another for web. When I save these new PNG files, do I want to save them at 300 DPI so I'm sure to get the quality I need in a print document, or can I save them at 96 DPI and simply specify 300 DPI for print in the graphic Properties and get the same quality?

[LTinker68]

This other person said that PNG's are web-friendlier than more print-based formats like BMP and JPG without sacrificing quality. Is that true?

BMP didn't used to be supported in browsers -- don't know if that's changed. PNGs are better than JPGs with color, and PNGs can support transparencies like GIFs (except in IE 6, which doesn't support the transparency). So PNGs are cross-browser, cross-platform capable and provide support for color and transparencies.

When I save these new PNG files, do I want to save them at 300 DPI so I'm sure to get the quality I need in a print document, or can I save them at 96 DPI and simply specify 300 DPI for print in the graphic Properties and get the same quality?

I haven't played with Capture as much as I'd like to, mainly because I haven't taken the time to get familiar with its interface and I'm just faster with SnagIt. But I do know in theory how it works. In Capture, you don't save two different output files. You specify the format you want to save it in (PNG). You specify what resolution you want for web and for print. When you then save the file in your project, Flare will create the PNG and a .props file. The .props file contains the info for the web and print resolutions (so don't delete it). When you build a web output, Flare applies the web resolution to the PNG and inserts that version into the compiled output. When you build print output, it applies the print resolution to the PNG and inserts that version into the compiled output. So you only insert one file into the topic (the .png file) and Flare takes care of converting it to the correct resolution at the time you build the output. So don't delete the .props file (and I believe it has to stay in the same folder as the .png file). And you won't see the .props file when you're in Flare, although you will see it if you look at the folder using Windows Explorer.

[mattman63]

Well, so the PNG file that Flare uses...when I initially create it, do I want to save it at 300 DPI or can I save it at 96 DPI and still get 300 DPI quality for my print documents?

[LTinker68]

This would be the part I'm not familiar with since I don't use Capture, but I don't think you specifically save it as either. I'm guessing that Flare saves it at the higher resolution and then reduces the resolution for online output, but I'm not sure if that's what it's doing. Hopefully someone else who's more familiar with Capture can jump in about that. Or you could always test it. Save the .PNG into a test project, build the test project as WebHelp and as PDF. In the WebHelp output, you can navigate to the PNG file and use Photoshop or another program to see its DPI. For PDF, you'd have to print the page to see if it looks like it's 96 or 300 dpi.

BTW, in the PDF target, make sure you don't have it set to downsample images to 150dpi or some other value.

[SteveS]

Resolution is rather a tricky concept.

Basically, all computer graphics are rendered as dots. On a monitor ther are 72 or 96 of these dots per inch. Works fine. If you print using 96 dots per line, the image can look like a photo in an old newspaper. So, the answer is to fit more of the dots per inch and thereby increasing the resolution.

The catch is that the dots are determined at the time of capturing the image, so increasing the number of dots per inch will reduce the size of the image - you are making the dots smaller after all.

If you are taking screenshots you are pretty well stuck with native screen resolution (96 dpi or whatever). But dont worry, screenshots, especially user interfaces, print properly because of the large, flat arrears. They only suffer when you try to set image compression (in jpg/ jepg) too high. I found documenting screenshots you can let Capture do as it wants.

HTH

[mattman63]

My graphics are primarily vector illustrations in Freehand or Illustrator, not screen shots. So If I understand you correctly, best to save them at 300 DPI; screenshots, OK at 96 DPI. And I just talked to our IT people here, and they said PNG was great with them, so PNG it is.

[stealth94rt]

In my company, we are still hanging onto FrameMaker for production of our hardware manuals. Why? Because 95% of the graphics in our hardware manuals are vectored line drawings, which come from our 3D modeling software and go into Illustrator. The Illustrator output (PDF or EPS) imports directly into FrameMaker, which preserves the vectored format. When we produce the final PDF files, the line drawings are still in vectored format, which means they can be viewed at any size while retaining 100% of the original quality.

As much as I would like to move everything into Flare, we will not do it until MadCap provides this kind of graphic support in Flare/Blaze. I have made several enhancement requests for this, but they have been ignored (so far).

[NorthEast]

As much as I would like to move everything into Flare, we will not do it until MadCap provides this kind of graphic support in Flare/Blaze. I have made several enhancement requests for this, but they have been ignored (so far).

Flare v6 does support the WMF/EMF vector file formats.

However, I agree that support for more (popular) vector file formats would be good; it's a long way short of FrameMaker in this respect.