Participating Frequently

Question

Importing illustrations and screenshots

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
July 28, 2022
6 replies
704 views

I have been looking into changing over to Adobe Framemaker from MadCap Flare becaise of the cost of Flare.

I have been unable to successfully import and scale any of our illustrations or screenshots with success, and have discovered that this has been an issue with Framemaker for several years. As a note, we can import and scale the images into MadCap Flare, Word, and Libre Office, so I don't think the issue is the illustrations or screenshots. Does anyone else have this ussue and have you been able to solve it?

This topic has been closed for replies.

Matt-Tech Comm Tools

Community Expert

See https://help.madcapsoftware.com/flare2021r3/Content/Flare/Step4-Developing-Targets/Output-Types/Word-Output/Word-Output.htm

for an overview of producing a Word target from Flare. The DOC/DOCX files can then read directly into FrameMaker.

-Matt

-Matt Sullivan, FrameMaker Course Creator, Author, Trainer, Consultant

Barb Binder

Community Expert

$167 a month??? 😳

Well, as I said on the other post—the FrameMaker ACPs are here because we want to be, and are happy to answer your questions as you make the transition.

Two notes: both Dave and I are career FrameMaker trainers, should you decide you want a more structured approach as you make the transition. Also, I'm hosting a free webinar series online. You can read more about it and/or sign up here: https://community.adobe.com/t5/framemaker-discussions/framemaker-essentials-join-the-virtual-workshop-series-on-adobe-framemaker/td-p/13078448. These are short sessions—just 75 minutes—but over the course of the three webinars, I'm trying to include topics for all levels.

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

Bob_Niland

Community Expert

Here's an older thread with some tips: Better, Clearer Screenshots

A key thing with any raster formats is to ensure that their encoding is contone (typically 24b/px) and not indexed (typically 8b/px if color).

Continuous tone images scale with the least artifacts. Scaled indexed color images can have really nasty artifacts when scaled, for edit preview and in the output data.

S

sandordsAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thank you

Barb Binder

Community Expert

Hi @sandords:

Here is a quick demo: importing a PNG file and scaling it.

In FrameMaker, the image size and resolution are tied together—if you scale the image down, you will increase the resolution. Conversely, if you scale the image up, you will decrease the resolution. (Note: anywhere else in the world, resolution is measured in pixels per inch (ppi), but FrameMaker uses the letters DPI to denote the ppi. That's a topic for another post.)

You can set the image size/resolution as you import the image, or after is has been added to the document. You can scale by dragging a sizing handle, or with Graphics > Scale or using Graphics > Object Properties. I chose the latter because you can see how scaling down will increase the resolution.

As Dave said, it may not look great on screen but save to PDF or print the page to see if the quality meets your needs.

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

S

sandordsAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thank you for your kindness and help. I will try this and let you know how it turns out.

I have a new book due in September, so I am trying to finish it and then learn how to transition everything in MadCap Flare to Framemaker.

I realize this is going to be a long learning process. I am still trying to figure out best practices, e.g., organizing my files (topics) and books so I can easily share files with multiple books. I create multiple books that share the same topics, plus I need to set up the content, so it looks like the previous books. I have been reading and watching videos but have a long way to go. I think it will take me half a year to move the current content from Flare to Framemaker.

To be clear, I am not trying to take away from Flare. I have been working with MadCap for many years (since Blaze). Unfortunately, the cost of the product subscription model ($167.00) per month has me concerned, especially since if you cannot afford the subscription, you lose access to your material. I needed a more affordable choice with similar capabilities, so I chose Framemaker. I believe it will do everything I need, but I think there will be a long learning process.

It will be a long road, and I appreciate everyone's help.

Thank you

Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Community Expert

Wow--$167 per month! And people complain about Adobe subscriptions 😁

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Community Expert

What exactly is the problem when importing into FM?

What format are the images in?

FM can scale images--are you trying to scale up or down?

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

S

sandordsAuthor

Participating Frequently

i am trying to scale down. When I do that the DPI of the illustration changes. and the image (especially the text in the image) loses definition

Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Community Expert

Scaling down would increase the PPI of the image. However, the FM preview might look "funky" (that's a technical term...). Have you checked the images in a PDF export?

PNGs should be fine; I don't use BMP files (I convert them). I would export CorelDRAW to PDF for import.

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

K.Daube

Community Expert

I do not know about such problems. So the main question is: what are the file formats of these illustrations and screen shots?

S

sandordsAuthor

Participating Frequently

I have tried png, and bmp and corel draw.. I have tried both inserting and and importing

I have tried creating a frame and using fit to frame, but when the image is to large and I try to use scale the images loses\ quality

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