FrameMaker keeps "bombing out" when trying to import photos

[Kimberly_Williams]

Hello:

I have been having problems all day trying to get some photos into my FM document but the application keeps "bombing out" on me; that is, it either hangs and reports back an Internal Error 8004, 6345644, 8487696 message or the application completely closes. I want to import the photos by reference rather than copy them but nothing seems to be working for me. I've tried importing the files as .JPEG and .PNG formats without success so far. Each photo is ~3565KB in size.

I searched the forum for this particular error message but most of the comments had to do with PDF files and they don't apply to my situation (I even changed the printer to Adobe PDF before I began importing the files without any noticeable improvement).

System details:

Dell Vostro with Intel Core2 @ 2.40GHz and 3.25 GB RAM

photos from a 10 MP Canon camera (saved as both .JPEG and .PNG files)

FrameMaker v8.0p277

Windows XP

Is it a matter of available system memory or is it something I might be doing in the import process? I'm looking forward to finally getting to the cause of this issue with your help.

Thanks,

-Kimberly

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

To eliminate anything in your doc, try using a generic template to create a blank doc and see if it crashes in the same way when you try the import. If it does, then you know it's something else; if it doesn't then you know that there's some thing in your doc that causing it - try a MIF-wash to clean it up (save .fm as MIF, open MIF, re-save as .fm)

Have you sent in the error log to Adobe Support?

[Kimberly_Williams]

Thanks for the speedy reply!

I did what you suggested but it still didn't work. I opened a blank document and tried to import one of the photos as a .JPEG. This time I got a slightly different error message:  The filter encountered an error and could not complete the translation. FrameMaker was still up and running  and I was returned to the dialog box to choose another file to import.

If I try to MIF-wash the document, that just means that I first make a backup copy of the file, save the file as .MIF, and then open the .MIF file in FrameMaker, right? Does it make a difference whether I save as MIF 8.0 or MIF 7.0?

I'm beginning to suspect it's related to memory because I don't seem to have the same issues when I import files from my little 7 MP camera. I lose some clarity with those photos, but I can import them without a problem.

Thanks!

[Art Campbell]

Just to clarity, when you say "import," you mean import by reference, correct? Not trying to copy them into the FM file?

If that's the case (import by ref is the preferred way to do it), how did you create the JPG? Some applications apparently don't create the file in such a way that the FM graphic filter can deal with it... So I'd try openign the .JPG in Photoshop, SnagIt Editor, PaintShop Pro, or another reliable editor and doing a SaveAs to create a new file -- then try that.

And if you're working in 8, save to the 8 MIF format.... but it doesn't seem to be a corrupt file -- it's something else.

Art

[Kimberly_Williams]

Art:

Yes, when I say "import" I mean that I want to import by reference. Even if I wanted to copy them into the file (bad idea!), there are just so many of them that the size of the file would be huge.

I really haven't done anything to the photos other than download from the card on the camera. I tried opening the .JPEG in PaintShop Pro Photo X2 and save them as .PNG but then the file size increased dramatically.

Thanks for your help!

-Kimberly

[Arnis Gubins]

The external file size is a bit irrelevant, as FM converts imported image files into it's own FrameImage format for subsequent display and output on the fly, so you will chew up substantial disk real estate for the temp files anyway. Perhaps this might be an issue if your TEMP area is low on disk space?

Have you tried downsampling the images to a smaller size?

[Kimberly_Williams]

Arnis:

I tried opening the files that I downloaded directly from the camera and then simply saving each file. This did help make the file sizes smaller but didn't help make importing them by reference any easier (that is, I still am having problems).

I don't know enough about computers to know about increasing the cache size. Do you have any other suggestions?

Thank you!

-Kimberly

[Art Campbell]

Kimberly, you're demonstrating my point....

If the .jpgs from the camera cause Frame to crash, but the PNGs you create from another program don't, that seems as if it would solve your problem.

And you didn't mention that you'd opened and saved as JPG, which is what was suggested to eliminate the possiblity that the files from the camera aren't being written in such a way as to match the FM graphics filter.

And, as Arnis says, why are you concerned about the size of the files? If you're running low on disk space, that may be the reason you're crashing...

and if you're not low on disk space, so what? You're unlikely to deliver Frame files and graphics to a customer. So why is file size an issue?

[Kimberly_Williams]

Art:

I haven't been clear enough or if I haven't undestood your suggestions: When I download the photos from the camera as JPEGs, the file size is large. I then open those JPEGs in PaintShop Pro and save them again as JPEGs. I tried this because I'd read that it would help  to reduce the file size and it does. I also save the original JPEG as a PNG because PNG is less loss-y.

I am concerned about file size because I receive an error message in FrameMaker when I try to import a photo (both JPEG and PNG) that says "The filter encountered an error and could not complete the process." I get this message and I don't know why. I get the error message at first and if I continue trying to import a file Frame just closes on me.

I thought that maybe something to do with memory.was causing the message.

-K

PS: I tried to copy a file (one of the smaller JPEG files) into my document and received the same error message. I'm stumped.

[Arnis Gubins]

Kimberley,

How big (physical size) do you need the photos to be in your FM page layouts? You're probably putting in images that are at way too high of a resolution. Unless you're going for press-quality output, you can try downsampling the files so that you're getting the size you want at about 200dpi or less in FM.

I just tried importing into FM9 a larger JPG from a 10MP camera file, and to get a 4"x6" image, I had to specify 600dpi for the image to fit (which is way too high for any output stream) and the FM temp file size is sitting at 29Mb for just an Anchored frame with a single image. So what I said earlier, you may be hitting a disk space issue for your system TEMP location (default is drive C:).

[Kimberly_Williams]

Arnis:

Excuse my ignorance, but how would I downsample a file as you suggest? I'm delivering the content as a PDF and the photos indicate the location of components on a printed circuit board. The figures aren't terribly large (5.75 x 3 inches).

[Arnis Gubins]

You would need to use image editing software (did anything come with the camera?) , such as Photoshop, PaintShopPro, or freebies like GIMP or even a viewer like IrfanView.

The image size you mention from a 10MP camera would probably be running around 800-900dpi when brought into FM. If you reduce (downsample) your image size to around 600x1150 then you should have a failry good 200 dpi image in your PDF that can be zoomed into for further detail.

[Kimberly_Williams]

Thanks Arnis! I'll give that a try and report back.

-K

[Art Campbell · Accepted solution]

Also, the error message you're getting indicates either that the graphic filter is having trouble with the file, or less likely, that it's running out of RAM and free disk space.

If you want, you could zip up one of your raw JPGs and a re-saved one and attach it to your message for some of us to look at....

[Arnis Gubins]

Right now file attachments are temporarily disabled for all Forums. See the announcement on the main Forum page.

[neeraj586]

I faced the same issue today. Figured out that the problem was with the image. I opened a blank document in Photoshop, then imported this image to it and saved it a new image. Issue got resolved. When I opened the image directly in photoshop and did a save-as, it was still throwing the error. So always open new document in Photoshop, then add this image to that and create a new image by saving it.