RE: Exported Visio drawing - quality problem

[Sean MacRae <sean -at- rcp -dot- co -dot- uk>]

First off, Visio is a vector drawing package, and you'd be better off saving
in a format that preserves that (JPG is a bitmap format) -- something like
Windows Metafile (.wmf), Adobe Illustrator (.ai) or Encapsulated PostScript
(.eps). Watch out for font problems, 'though.

If you're looking for HTML output, this may not be appropriate.

I tend to use Copy and Paste to get stuff across, but use Edit>Paste Special
in Word to select one of the Picture formats.

Secondly, JPeg is a poor choice for rendering line art, or simple graphics
with solid blocks of colour such as cartoons, icons, etc. The compression
method used is a "lossy" method, which introduces noise, especially
noticeable around the edges of solid colour. Using a lower compression
factor/higher quality factor when creating the JPG reduces this effect.

GIF is usually a better choice for line art; it uses a lossless compression
algorithm. You can still get higher compression ratios with JPegs, but you
will lose quality. Use your eyeballs and judgement to decide.

Some of your problems with text may have come from Visio anti-aliasing the
text when creating the bitmap, so this might still appear in a GIF. The
"dotty" effect should go in a GIF.

So:
- Vector format for line-art for print
- GIF for line art if you need a bitmap for the Web
- JPG for complex, photographic images or where size is important**

Cheers,
Sean


** Don't go there.

> 
> Subject: Exported Visio drawing - quality problem
> From: "Beth Kane" <kanerb -at- concentric -dot- net>
> Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2001 17:37:17 -0700
> X-Message-Number: 62
> 
> When I save my Visio drawing as .jpg, then import it into a 
> Word file, some
> of the lines look "dotty" and some of the bold text (Arial 10 
> pt.) looks
> extremely blurry. What I'm seeing might be described as 
> "jagginess" (the
> technical term).  :-)
> 
> I'm fairly new to Visio (2000 SR1), but I suspect the 
> solution lies in the
> settings box that you get after you Save As jpg: JPG Output 
> Filter Setup. I
> have consulted the online help without success (it just says 
> "choose the
> options you want"). Does anyone know the best settings to 
> smooth it out?
> Color is not an issue in this case.
> 

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