AW: Flare question - Capture rendering in pdf

["Christine Leisgen" <Christine -dot- Leisgen -at- gmgcolor -dot- com>]

Dear Claudine,

unfortunately, Flare is quite complicated at this point, as you have multiple options to scale images and so on. I struggled for some time and did a lot of testing to find out the best way, as image quality is critical for us, especially for printed manuals. Here are my findings:

* png for screenshots. Do not downsample screenshots. Scale them down only if you must-the quality, readability, and sharpness decreases dramatically.
* JPG for illustrations (300 dpi, Quality = 10). I tried WMF and EMF, but the file size gets huge and I see a lot of artifacts, for examples, object borders that should not be there. The only disadvantage is that the chm file size increases dramatically, because the "max-width" parameter in the CSS only scales the image down when it is displayed, the full image is included in the compiled help. (I would like the feature that images would be resampled for online outputs.)

Scaling (if required): Only via the Print Resolution parameter (defined in the Capture profile) and the "max-width" parameter in the CSS. Using the Scale function in Capture or Flare also affects the print output, i. e. the resolution will be lower and thus the quality decreases. (I would like the possibility to define different img resolutions for the media types in the CSS, but unfortunately, that is not possible.)

By doing so, our image quality is very high, even for offset printing of manuals.

Best regards, Christine

> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: techwr-l-bounces+christine -dot- leisgen=gmgcolor -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+christine -dot- leisgen=gmgcolor -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] Im
> Auftrag von Claudine Chausson
> Gesendet: Freitag, 13. August 2010 09:22
> An: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Betreff: Flare question - Capture rendering in pdf
> 
> Hi guys,
> 
> Speaking about Flare and Capture vs SnagIt, I've an issue I'd like to submit
> to those of you who use Flare and Capture and output to pdf.
> 
> We are switching to Flare (from FrameMaker, if that's of any interest to you
> ...). But I'm not very happy with the way captures are rendered in pdf.
> MadCap help and support say we need to capture screens in 300 dpi and use
> png, which is what we've been doing but still, the results don't look good.
> We've tried using Capture and SnagIt but none output to a nice looking pdf.
> 
> With FrameMaker we don't have the issue.
> 
> Any ideas?
> 
> Claudine
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature
> database 5362 (20100813) __________
> 
> The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.
> 
> http://www.eset.com
> 
> 
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> 
> Gain access to everything you need to create and publish information
> through multiple channels. Your choice of authoring (and import)
> formats with virtually any output. Try Doc-To-Help free for 30-days.
> http://www.doctohelp.com/
> 
> LavaCon 2010 in San Diego Sept 29 - Oct 2 is now open for registration.
>    Use referral code TECHWR-L for $50 off conference tuition!
>           See program at: http://lavacon.org/
> 
> 
> ---
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as christine -dot- leisgen -at- gmgcolor -dot- com -dot- 
> 
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-
> l/christine.leisgen%40gmgcolor.com
> 
> 
> To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> 
> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
> http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.
> 
> Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
> http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Gain access to everything you need to create and publish information 
through multiple channels. Your choice of authoring (and import)
formats with virtually any output. Try Doc-To-Help free for 30-days. 
http://www.doctohelp.com/

LavaCon 2010 in San Diego Sept 29 - Oct 2 is now open for registration.  
   Use referral code TECHWR-L for $50 off conference tuition! 
          See program at: http://lavacon.org/


---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info. 

Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat