FrameMaker issues with graphics BMP imported and displayed

[Raquel Amar]

BMP graphics imported into files created in an older version of FrameMaker are not displayed in FM 17.0.5.725. What should I do?

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Imported by reference or copied into the FM file?

[Raquel Amar]

BMP graphics imported into files created in an older version of FrameMaker are not displayed in FrameMaker 17.0.5.725.

I published the PDF but the BMP graphics don't appear in the PDF
There are other graphics format (PNG) in the file and they displayed correctly

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Interesting, but you didn't answer the question of how the images were imported - were they referenced to some location that no longer is reachable or were they copied into the FM document?

[Raquel Amar]

bmp have been imported into the FM document. I have all the graphics files (BMP)

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

If you delete one and re-add it by reference, is it appearing?

[Raquel Amar]

I deleted and re-imported but it does not appear. I only have a problem with BMP graphics

[Raquel Amar]

[Raquel Amar]

This is a big problem. I have a lot of documents that I need to update but not all the graphic BMPs are displayed

[Bob_Niland]

re: … but not all the graphic BMPs are displayed

Does that mean that some of the BMP files are displayed?
If so, that suggests that the offending files might be using some of the more obscure BMP encodings or options. Nonetheless, FM filters that were previously working would be expected to keep working.

As a graphics file format, BMP was obsolete shortly after introduction, because TIFF was then available. You might have your organization give some thought to mass cloning all the BMPs as PNGs going forward. That way, if
flowchart13.bmp
doesn't open someday, you can try, from the same file path:
flowchart13.png

I had abandoned BMP even before starting to use FM in the early 90s. As I recall:
BMP has no dimensions (although 72dpi is often presumed).
BMP is RGB only (no CMYK).
Compression is RLE only, no LZW or curve-matching.
BMP has no transparency.
BMP has nil metadata.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Is this a new update to FM2022? Was it installed as an admin user?

[Raquel Amar]

yes

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

If uninstalling & reinstalling FM2022 as an admin doesn't fix the missing filter issue, then I think your next step is to ping the FM folks - see https://helpx.adobe.com/contact/enterprise-support.other.html#framemaker for your Adobe Support options. I'd recommend using the tcssup@adobe.com e-mail address as it reaches a team dedicated to Technical Communication Suite products including FrameMaker.

[Raquel Amar]

Thank you very much.

[Raquel Amar]

re:... all the graphics BMPs are not displayed 

I agree with you that we should use "PNG" instead of BMP. But in this case these are very old files and there is a huge amount of graphics. This is going to cause me a lot of work.

[Matt-Tech Comm Tools]

If 17.0.5 can "see" the path of the image, consider creating (paying someone to create) a script that would export, convert, and reimport your images as needed.

If not, you may need to revert to previous Fm version and create the script in that environment.

[FrameMaker-dk]

This issue is about the color depth. I am pretty sure your misbehaving bmp files have a colour depth of 32 bit. If you convert to 24 bit, they will work again. You can create a photoshop action that opens the bmp files and resaves them in 24 bit.

The new version of FrameMaker doesn't support bmp anymore, but there's a gazillion bmp files out there, because this was the original screengrap default file format.

Windows Explorer allows to show and sort images by bit depth. When you right click the bar in Windows Explorer you can add other criteria, and one of them is "bit depth". In my   - danish - version of Windows, that is "Bitdybde", but it will allow you to see the bitdepth of bmp files. Those that show up with 32 bit bitdepth probably won't work for you, but if they have 24 bit, I believe they will work.

[Bob_Niland]

FrameMaker-dk: The new version of FrameMaker doesn't support bmp anymore…

What release was that, and was there any announcement?

[FrameMaker-dk]

FrameMaker does not - fully - support BMP anymore. 🙂

I have not seen any announcement, but I have not looked for one either. I had a client in 2022, who came with that exact problem of the bmp's and after a little trial and error i managed to figure out the bitdepth issue. Using Windows Explorers filtering we could quickly find all the misbehaving files and run a photopshop action on them. But the better solution IS to replace with png files.

[Bob_Niland]

FrameMaker-dk: I have not seen any announcement, but I have not looked for one either. I had a client in 2022, who came with that exact problem of the bmp's and after a little trial and error i managed to figure out the bitdepth issue.

If that happened to BMP, it may also have happened to any number of legacy graphics file formats, such as PCX, RF (Sun raster), and TGA. People also might exploit opportunities to migrate EPS to SVG.

[Matt-Tech Comm Tools]

It sounds like Bjorn's suggestion might resolve your issue with something that's quite easy to set up in Photoshop. I'd certainly try his suggestion as the first step!