Re: Graphics DPI, FrameMaker, & Acrobat troubles

[Michael Richards <michaelr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

As far as I can see from my experience, everything applies except for two 
points:

1. The Photoshop available for UNIX is so ancient (v. 3.0) c. 1993 that
   the option for interpolation isn't even in the Page Setup dialogue.

2. We Solaris users (secret handshake, please!) don't see the eps file in
   scungy preview -- we get to see it at full resolution in all its glory!
   The reason: we have Display PostScript. We don't, though, get to see
   any clipping paths. For that, we have to distill or print. 

May I thank Dov again for this great posting. It absolutely confirms what I
have known, and conflicts with all those postings giving good-natured advice
on the best way to do screen shots -- but which were not correct. And, yes,
I was always too much of a coward to contradict this stuff. Now someone of
real stature has.

Well done, Dov. l'Chaim! (raises a tinny of Fosters in salute) and may
all Framers join me in "Shannah Tovah EPS" (at the very latest!)



Ezra Steinberg wrote:
> 
> Dov:
> 
> Great set of instructions. Thanks.
> 
> Can you elaborate on how these instructions apply when working on UNIX
> (and perhaps particularly, Solaris)?
> 
> Ezra
> 
> Dov Isaacs wrote:
> >
> > Eric and others who have responded to this issue:
> >
> > The question of handling of screen captures comes up quite frequently
> > on this list. I am repeating some advise that I have previously posted
> > on this and other lists along with some updates. Note that unfortunately,
> > very few "printing services" or "service bureaus" REALLY understand what
> > is going on underneath the covers here, so to speak. Their recommendations
> > are effectively a translation of classical prepress advice that works
> > perfectly well in certain situations, primarily those in which high
> > resolution images, such as Kodachrome or Ektachrome transparencies,
> > are being scanned on drum scanners and the resolution at which the
> > scanning is done needs to be chosen carefully to preserve detail but
> > not overwhelm the imaging system. That is exceptionally different
> > than capturing computer screen shots!
> >
> > Here goes ...
> >
> >         - Dov
> >
> > ========================================================================
> >
> > Based on our experience at Adobe, there is one way that easily yields
> > the highest quality computer screen shots for both display and
> > printing.
> >
> > (1) Grab the image with whatever your favorite tool is. Under Windows,
> > the easiest thing to do is Alt-PrintScrn which puts the RGB bits onto
> > the pasteboard. On the Mac, Shift-Command-4 followed by CapsLock yields
> > an image file.
> >
> > (2a) Under Windows with Photoshop 6, create a new document. It will
> > automatically be the size of the image on the pasteboard. CTRL-V will
> > then paste the screen capture into that new image. Then, flatten that
> > image.
> >
> > (2b) Under MacOS with Photoshop 6, open the generated image file (a PICT
> > file with a name of the form "Picture x" where "x" is an integer).
> >
> > (3) Convert the screen shot image to CMYK or grayscale to suit your needs.
> > Not all service bureaus require CMYK! If you are displaying the PDF file
> > and printing to laser printers, CMYK buys you nothing other than potentially
> > a larger file.
> >
> > (4) Do not resize or change resolution of the image!!!!!!
> > (Why? Because you generally don't know at this time exactly what the
> > magnifications and resolutions are that you will be viewing and printing
> > with! In fact, zooming in and out with Acrobat or Acrobat Reader changes
> > those requirements on the fly. Better to simply just have the captured
> > data. Upsampling or downsampling at time of need to exact specifications
> > yields much better results than multiple such transformations!)
> >
> > (5) Save the image using File=>Save As using the "Photoshop EPS"
> > option. In the "EPS options" screen, you should use the TIFF (8bits/pixel)
> > preview option (yields an EPS file that can be used both on Mac and Windows),
> > Encoding "binary" (ASCII can be twice the size and JPEG is totally inappropriate
> > for screen shots). Check "PostScript color management" if you are using
> > color management in your workflow. The key though is that you MUST check
> > "Image Interpolation". This sets a image dictionary key that Adobe PostScript
> > Level 2, Adobe PostScript 3, Acrobat, and Acrobat Reader use to do very high
> > quality image interpolation and/or downsampling appropriate to the device's
> > actual resolution and technology at the time the image is viewed or printed.
> > (Distiller passes this key along from PostScript or EPS in a PostScript stream
> > into the equivalent PDF image key!)
> >
> > (6) Close Photoshop 6.
> >
> > (7) Import the resultant EPS file into whatever application you have
> > in which you wish to include the screen print. Obviously you will only
> > see the EPS preview in those applications (except for InDesign), but
> > your resultant printed output (via PostScript or PostScript=>PDF) or
> > display via Acrobat / Acrobat Reader will be of exceptionally high
> > quality. During distillation, do not downsample any of these images.
> > Downsampling of the screen shots can be avoided by having a high enough
> > threshold for downsampling; 300dpi or higher will do!
> >
> > Working on a budget? It turns out that you can replace Adobe Photoshop 6
> > with Adobe Photoshop Elements 1.0 if you do not need to convert to CMYK
> > and don't need any other advanced image handling. This could save you
> > $500 a copy if your image handling needs are more limited.
> >
> > NO, as far as I know, neither JASC nor Corel PhotoPaint nor any of the
> > other budget image edit programs offer the EPS export image interpolation
> > option, assuming they even offer the EPS format. Furthermore, none of
> > the nifty screen capture utilities that we know of offer either EPS or
> > EPS with the image interpolation option.
> >
> > We know of NO better means of producing high quality printed or displayed
> > screen shots in an output device independent manner. Forget GIF, TIFF, BMP,
> > and especially JPEG. Forgetting the issue of the image interpolation feature
> > for the time being, use of any of these formats results in the "host"
> > program (such as FrameMaker or Microsoft Word, etc.) doing their own
> > resizing of the image in conjunction with the PostScript drivers based on
> > the device resolution selected. The bottom line is that by the time
> > Acrobat gets to display the image or the PostScript RIP gets the image data,
> > the image data will have been upsampled, downsampled, resampled, i.e.
> > overmangled!
> >
> > Also, note that for purposes of placing other images in FrameMaker or
> > similar applications, EPS with the image interpolation also is the preferred
> > means of image placement for exactly the same reasons. In terms of image
> > resolution, you may choose to leave as-is and let the Distiller do the
> > heavy lifting, if necessary or downsample in Photoshop if the original
> > image is grossly over-endowed, so to speak. Remember, you cannot later
> > reconstruct what you downsample now.
> >
> > With regards to the "resolution" that you set the Acrobat Distiller
> > printer to, that resolution primarily affects non-EPS image handling.
> > As long as you set the resolution to 600 dpi or greater, character and
> > vector artwork placement will be fine and not affected. You don't need
> > to use the resolution of the final device (in fact, don't go over
> > 1200 dpi under Windows or you might hit a nasty bug in FrameMaker's
> > interface with the driver).
> >
> > For distillation job options, always use "compress text and line art".
> > This is non-lossy compression and you gain nothing by not using it
> > other than a larger PDF file size.
> >
> > I know that this information is very much at odds with what your service
> > bureaus, printers, or Kinkos will tell you, but it is authoritative and
> > Adobe Systems Incorporated stands behind it completely when used in
> > conjunction with Adobe Acrobat and RIPs with Adobe PostScript Level 2
> > or Adobe PostScript 3.
> >
> > ========================================================================
> >
> > At 5/22/2001 06:21 AM, Eric Thomas wrote:
> > >Hi all.
> > >
> > >I'm in a bit of a confused state right now, and could really use some
> > >explanation. Our printing service sent us some information on getting our
> > >documentation production flow to work more smoothly, and it included the
> > >following statement:
> > >
> > >...all graphics in the document should be set to a resolution of 200 DPI for
> > >Docutech work and 300 DPI for Offset work.
> > >
> > >I'm at a loss to know how to set specific resolution for screen captures. I
> > >use Paint Shop Pro to perform a capture, I save the image as a bitmap
> > >(usually, though sometimes as a GIF), and then import it into the Frame
> > >document and size it. I then print it to PostScript using the Distiller
> > >print driver, and convert it to a PDF with the following compression
> > >settings:
> > >
> > >Color Bitmap Images:
> > >Resampling, Bicubic Downsampling at 300 dpi
> > >Compression, Automatic
> > >Quality, High
> > >
> > >Grayscale Bitmap Images:
> > >Resampling, Bicubic Downsampling at 300 dpi
> > >Compression, Automatic
> > >Quality, High
> > >
> > >Monochrome Bitmap Images:
> > >Resampling, Bicubic Downsampling at 1200 dpi
> > >Compression, CCITT Group 4
> > >
> > >Compress Text and Line Art
> > >
> > >I also have the resolution set to 1200 dpi in the General tab for job
> > >options. Am I doing something wrong, or is the printer having problems with
> > >something that should work? If anyone can offer some suggestions, I'd be
> > >most appreciative.
> > >
> > >Thanks.
> > >-Eric
> >
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> 
> --
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> Ezra Steinberg                          Resonate, Inc.
> Senior Technical Writer                 385 Moffett Park Drive, Suite 205
> mailto:ezra@resonate.com                Sunnyvale, CA 94089-1208      USA
> Voice: 408.548.5529                     FAX: 408.548.5679
> 
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-- 
        Michael Richards
        Email:  michaelr@ind.tansu.com.au
        Tel: +61 2 9206 3524
        Locked Bag 6581 Sydney 1100
        Fax: +61 2 9281 1301
        New Wave-D,
        Telstra Corporation, Australia

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