Poor graphic quality on FM import

[MarkPringle]

I've imported a FrameMaker file into RoboHelp HTML and the graphics quality is terrible on many images; especially images that have text anchored with it (the text display as xxx’s). These images are unreadable, other are OK. I've used RoboHelp for FrameMaker for years and love the quality of the conversion. However, The Tech Comm Suite seems to have taken a step back in the image conversion area. Any help you can provide is greatly appreciated.

[wndsfr]

Hi Tom,

I have only a couple of instances where we used FrameMaker's integrated drawing tools to create a vector overlay on top of an underlying bitmap (screenshot).

These images did not import to RoboHelp correctly. The underlying bitmaps were downsized while the vector overlay stays at the original size. (In one instance bitmap numeric callout overlays were flipped upside-down.)

These images are not correctly imported into Flare either. In Flare, Only the vector overlay is imported, and it appears over a gray background block where the screenshot should appear. The rendered Help output looks the same - no screenshot, only the vector drawing.

However, in Flare, at least the vector overlay is sharp, but also not antialiased (so curved and diagonal lines appear to be a little ragged).


Hope this helps.

Wndsfr.

[Kurt2008]

I am experiencing this issue as well. I have a large (600+ pages) book with several screenshots and other jpgs on each page. Each anchored frame also contains a FrameMaker callout in either a text frame, or as graphic text. Some have lines, arrows, etc., while others do not. The resolution of the graphics vary widely.
The issue that I see is that when the images are converted into RH, they are terribly pixelated and unreadable. The text that is clear in FM is unreadable in RH, and the lines and arrows are converted in a variety of ways - none of which match the original FM layout.
I also have the border of the anchored frame as a 1pt line in FM. The RH conversion drops the border from two sides of the image and shifts the remaining two sides over and down so that the border overlays the image by about an inch (it looks like a giant L across the converted image).
Finally, I have found that if the anchored frame in FM contains a graphic frame, which in turn contains a text frame, the RH conversion process causes FM to crash (the good old FrameMaker has encountered an unexpected error and must close...).
My current workaround is to conditionalize all of the graphic elements in my FM book so that the RH Help I am generated has no images in it at all. This is sub-optimal. I have a small group of writers and we do not have the time nor the resources to rework all of the anchored frames in this book. I agree with an earlier poster - RoboHelp for FrameMaker converted anchored frames almost flawlessly. TCS has taken a giant step backward in this regard.

[ccox55]

I am using FrameMaker 9 and RoboHelp 8 and am also experiencing the distorted graphics problem. Anyone else experience this with the latest version? I'm thinking we shouldn't purchase this product.

[grammatophile]

I was having similar problems. The issue was that I thought I could resize the image inside FM8. The graphics were then crappy and only got crappier in RH7.

I eventually discovered that after I capture a screen with Snagit, I resize the image there. Then when I import to FM8 by reference, I accept the default dpi of 96. The images are crisp and update in RH7 with as much clarity.

Lesson Learned: Do not resize images inside FM6; always leave them at 100 percent of the original imported image.

[Guest]

I wish I could say I had poor quality graphics; I actually have none! I am trying to use Robohelp for the first time and all my screenshots that were imported by reference into my FM (version 8.0p277) document show as whitespace in RH (version 7.03). I understand it is best practice to Add a FM file by reference within RH, which was what I did. A list of the screenshots that I had originally saved as tiff files in an Images folder in FM (outside the book file because some are also referenced by other books) appear in my project with jpg extensions. When I attempt to edit them, they appear as blank screens. I assume that I've made a newbie mistake.

Janice

[Guest]

I have somewhat answered my own question. I tried Adding the FM book components individually instead of adding the book and my screenshots now appear. I'm not sure what difference that made, but being new, there's a lot I need to learn.

Janice

[Guest]

Has this been fixed in RH9?  I am using ver 8. I have tried various tweaks in the RH settings.  The only solution is to drop images in manually but then that defeats the single source functionality TCS is supposed to give us.

Thanks,

[Peter Grainge]

I know nothing about FM but I am aware there is a blog that may be relevant.

http://blogs.adobe.com/techcomm/2011/06/troubleshooting-framemaker-content-conversion-in-robohelp-–-part-2images.html

Hope it helps.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge