Question on Framemaker 12 and Blurry Graphics

With imported PDF and EPS images, what FM shows to the author during edit is the 72 dpi preview or thumbnail image encoded in the graphic file (or a gray box if none is present).

On Windows, if you print to a non-PostScript printer (such as an HP LaserJet using the PCL driver), FM actually prints the thumbnail, because it doesn't pass the full-resolution PostScript image data to anything but a Ps or PDF print path, and evidently declines to interpret that data and pass it to the Windows GDI (Graphics Device Interface API). This is all a holdover from the early days of Windows PCs, when the PCs simply didn't have the performance to perform display PostScript (and it's overdue for a fix in FM).

When you Save-As/Print-to PDF. or print to Ps and Distill, the PDF will contain the full image detail. If you only have a non-Ps printer, your PDF reader can then print the PDF of your document at full resolution. The PDF reader knows how to hand the Ps data structures to the Windows GDI.

If you have a recent printer, you may have the option of installing either/both the native PDL driver (e.g. PCL) or a PostScript driver. All recent HP LaserJets offer this as far as I know.

When I need to precisely preview an image that I want to import as EPS or PDF (such as for precise callout arrow placement), I'll use Photoshop to render a TIFF of it at the printing resolution (usually 600 dpi). Once the FM edit is complete, I'll re-import the EPS or PDF, replacing the TIFF. This reversion is important for images that have vector or stroked text content. If the image is entirely raster anyway, there's no harm in just using the TIFF. Another hack is to rescale the original EPS or PDF in Illustrator, then import at 25% in FM. This provides a more detailed preview to edit with.

It's also worth mentioning that EPS and PDF previews and thumbnails take up space in the file. These aren't visible in the final PDF, but the space they occupy can easily be larger than the real image data. You can strip this metadata in Acrobat Std/Pro. I've seen the size of a PDF drop to 1/3 doing this.

What is this image a picture of?

The new image is 12% the size of the original. That's a huge change. Imagine the original was 200ppi, then at 45" x1" wide it was 9000 pixels horizontally and 200 vertically, for a total of 1800000 pixels. At 5.5" x 1" there are now 220000 pixels. You removed 1580000 pixels out of your original image.

So, what happens when all of those pixels are removed? Software algorithms have to figure out how the image transitions between adjacent images. In short, quality will decrease a lot.

Also, you are using JPEG format. This lossy format compresses the image by throwing away data. So, each time you save the image, the quality of the image is reduced.

Additionally, when doing this kind of work, you need to begin with the source file. PDF is a destination, not a journey , so you need to get the original file from which the PDF was created.

So, what you are missing is this: the correct image for the job. You really cannot expect to use the same raster image for 45-inch output as well as 5.5-inch output. And, it comes back to, what is this an image of?

As an aside, the STC Houston hosted an event on Using Graphics in Technical Communication (my presentation) that discsussed this topic and approaches. Perhaps they have something available from that meeting (http://www.stc-houston.org/programs/)?

Cheers,

Sean

I wouldn't worry too much what it looks like on-screen in FrameMaker, only what it looks like it your output from FrameMaker.  (You say you're "printing" from FrameMaker...?)

If the graphic is in a PDF in the first place, I would just keep it in the PDF!

Assuming you have Adobe Acrobat, use Acrobat to extract the particular page that has the graphic, and crop it, and save that as a new PDF.

Then just import this new PDF directly into FrameMaker, and set its zoom level within the anchored frame to make it the right size.

That way, you don't resample any pixels or apply lossy compression to anything.