Re: How can I make the GIF images generated during HTML-export bigger?

[Dan Emory <danemory@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 12:16 AM 10/20/98 +0200, Carsten Koch wrote:
>Framers,
>
>we have a FrameMaker+SGML book that is both 
>printed to paper and exported to HTML.
>It includes illustrations that we have created
>using Frame's internal drawing tools. 
>The book is layed out for small (A5) paper.
>Unfortunately, Frame converts these drawings
>to tiny GIFs during HTML export. In a book that
>is layed out for twice the paper size (A4), the
>GIFs are twice as big as well. For A5, however,
>you need a magnifying glass to read text in these
>GIFs...
>
>We are doing the HTML export under UNIX.
>I have found a configuration file for the export
>filter. The file name is  fminit/filters/ebgif2.ini.
>Unfortunately, changing the "X Resolution" and
>"Y Resolution" lines in that file did not change
>anything. Changing other data made the image bigger,
>but the quality became very poor. It looked like
>a poorly scaled-up bitmap.
>
>Is changing that file the right thing to do?
>
********************************************************************
In FM+SGML 5.1.1 for Windows, the graphic output filter initialization file
for GIF graphics is named EBGIF9.INI. It includes settings for:

Resolution Mode (default 310)
Color Mode (default 103)
X and Y Resolution (default 72 for both)
X and Y Size (default 10 for both)
Width (default 6.67000
Height (default 5.00000)
Size Mode (default 602)

But the FM+SGML 5.1.1 on-line manual for filters does not include any
information whatsoever about customizing any of the output filters, so, up
until now, I have not fooled around with those default settings. Does anyone
have information about the parameters in the initialization file for the GIF
output filter in FM+SGML, and how they can be successfully changed to
improve the quality of exported GIF graphics?

Since I dont' have the information needed to intelligently change the GIF
export initialization parameters, what I've done instead is to set up an
FM+SGML 5.1.1 import/export application for graphic conversions that
contains a very simple DTD/EDD, a template, and read/write rules. The
DTD/EDD provides different graphic and equation elements for the various
graphic export options (e.g., a graphic element named EXP_TO_GIF is used to
export any type of graphic as a GIF file). Each graphic or equation element
has an entity attribute, which I use to specify the stemname of the exported
graphic file (the read/write rules specify the applicable extension).

To convert any graphic to GIF, I copy or import the original graphic into
the EXP_TO-GIF element in an otherwise empty FM+SGML structured document
that has the graphic conversion application's element catalog. Then, I
export that document to SGML. The read/write rules for this element specify
that the graphic is to be unconditionally exported in the GIF format. Then,
I throw away the SGML document instance, leaving only the exported GIF graphic.

When the resulting exported GIF graphic is imported by reference or copy
into any structured or unstructured document, it appears at the same size as
the original (non-GIF) graphic. If the anchored frame for the EXP-TO-GIF
element has a visible border, that border is retained in the exported graphic.

Admittedly, if the original graphic is a vector-type (created, for instance,
with Frame's drawing tools), the conversion quality is quite poor, due to
the low resolution of GIF. But at least all graphics converted to GIF as
described above retain their original sizes, thereby avoiding the
mis-conversion produced by the FrameMaker 5.5.x built-in HTML converter.


Dan Emory
Dan Emory & Associates
FrameMaker/FrameMaker+SGML Document Design
and Database Publishing Specialists

Voice/Fax: 949-722-8971
E-Mail: danemory@primenet.com
10044 Adams Ave. #208
Huntington Beach, CA 92646


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