RE: screen capture/pdf problem

["Thomas Michanek" <thomas.michanek@xxxxxx>]

> I am capturing screens for a manual that will be viewed online in pdf
> format. The screen content and user input content must be presentable
> (readable) in the pdf file. I've tried saving as jpeg and tiff. Both 
> produce pretty poor text in pdf, although they print ok. Any 
> recommendations on how to get crisp, clean images in the pdf file?
> I'm using windows 2000, frame 6, paint shop pro 6.02, illustrator 8.0.

This is a very broad question and it depends on many factors.

The screen capture tool very seldom has any impact on the result.
However, the image format can make a difference. For screenshots,
you should avoid JPEG format, since it's lossy and may create
artifacts (JPEG is intended for realistic, photographic images).
Use TIFF, PNG or GIF; they all use lossless compression by default.

The dpi you use when importing into FM makes a difference. If you
import a screenshot at 72 dpi and view the resulting PDF at 100%
zoom, the screenshot will appear crisp and at its original size.
If you use another dpi or another zoom setting in Acrobat, the
image will become distorted in various ways.

Apart from the zoom level, the Acrobat preference "Smooth Text
and Images" greatly affects the displayed results. Smoothing will
avoid distortions in many cases, but the results can be seen as
"fuzzy". What to prefer is an entirely subjective factor.

Finally, the compression and downsampling options used in the
Distiller to create the PDF are important. Downsampling to a low
value may create pixelated or "blocky" graphics, and compression
may create artifacts. Use Manual ZIP compression.

I hope this helps,


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Thomas Michanek, Technical Writer
IAR Systems AB, Sweden: http://www.iar.com
mailto:Thomas.Michanek@iar.se
Tel: +46 18 167800, Fax: +46 18 167838
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