Blurry/fuzzy images in PowerPoint 2008

[Jeff Chapman]

This issue has been brought up before on this newsgroup,
and at that point in time I thought it was solved when I experimented
with this issue on my Mac.
However, I'm encountering the same issue again, and
I wonder if there are any kind souls who can offer some help.

I'm using PowerPoint 2008 (12.1.7) for Mac on OS X 10.5.6.
I'm trying to take screenshots of the browser window and
copy the pictures onto a slide in PowerPoint.
In the browser, I type Control+SHIFT+Cmd+4, make the selection
to capture and click, and then switch to PowerPoint.
On my slide, I hit Cmd+V to paste.
The image pastes correctly; however, it's quite blurry and
lacks definition. Even in slide show mode, it looks quite a bit
fuzzier than the original.

I understand that PowerPoint may be applying anti-aliasing
to images imported into the program. The thing is, there appears
to be no way to turn the anti-aliasing off. I've also Googled the
issue and read that it may be just a fact of life, a persistent and
nagging issue for Office for Mac users for generations (!).

Is this a known issue, and is there a workaround?
Or is there something I'm overlooking?
Any thoughts and assistance would be appreciated.

Jeff Chapman

 

[Kabel]

I have the same problem, so I started using Grab (located in
Applications\Utilities) to take screenshots--you can save these as tiffs and
then insert the tiff in your powerpoint slide. The quality is much better.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

I understand that PowerPoint may be applying anti-aliasing
to images imported into the program.

The thing is, there appears
to be no way to turn the anti-aliasing off.

I've also Googled the
issue and read that it may be just a fact of life, a persistent and
nagging issue for Office for Mac users for generations (!).

Correct, Correct and Correct But Incomplete (because it's not just Mac
users that get the fuzz-o-matic).


One trick that used to work in PPT/Win was to "wrap" the image in a
format normally used for vector images. Bring the raster image into a
drawing program, export it as WMF/EMF on PC (maybe try PICT or ???) on
Mac, then import that into PPT.

PPT 2007 seems to smooth vector and raster graphics nowadays ... let us
know about 2008?

 

[CyberTaz]

I'm glad I read Kabel's reply before responding -- I was just about to
suggest the same thing Screen grabs provided by most any OS are
extremely low resolution. Any of the utility apps out there will most
certainly provide a result that's significantly better.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Jeff Chapman]

Hello Kabel, Steve and Bob,

Thanks for your input.

After reading through your replies and then trying a few other
things out, I discovered a few more things that might be relevant.

It appears that screen shots taken of a selection (Ctrl+Shift+Cmd+4)
using the MOUSE or a pen tablet may be noticeably blurrier than
screen shots taken using the trackpad. I've created a very simple
PowerPoint file (two slides) with a screen shot of a selection of text
using first the mouse and then the trackpad to demonstrate.

http://www.jchap.net/ppt2008-screen-grab-issues.pptx

Notice that the shots taken using the mouse show pronounced
blurring on the letters.

But then again (and this is the strange part),
when I try and take a screen grab of a tall rectangular selection,
it seems to blur noticeably more than a larger
one. Grabbing a whole window using Grab results in a nice and sharp
TIFF.

@Kabel @CyberTaz: The reason why Grab has been working for
you is probably because you've been taking a screen shot of the
entire window or screen, and not of a selection.
I get the blurriness problem when I use Grab and do the
screenshot in Selection mode, with EITHER the mouse or the
trackpad.
The screenshot looks great in the Grab Preview pane,
but when I open the resulting TIFF, it looks just plain
lousy. However, the problem occurs with tall rectangular
selections - it seems okay with more square selections.

But to be honest, there seem to be several variables, and
I can't isolate exactly what is giving me the problem.
Any other thoughts?

@steve: Yeah, I remember this back in the PowerPoint 2002
days... I used to paste images into PPT for Windows as
EMFs to get a sharper-looking image. Unfortunately,
we don't have that option on PowerPoint 2008 for Mac.
We can only paste as a picture, or in some cases as
a Microsoft Drawing Object (???) or a PDF.

Jeff

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

@Steve: Yeah, I remember this back in the PowerPoint 2002

days... I used to paste images into PPT for Windows as
EMFs to get a sharper-looking image. Unfortunately,
we don't have that option on PowerPoint 2008 for Mac.
We can only paste as a picture, or in some cases as
a Microsoft Drawing Object (???) or a PDF.

What options do you have for Inserting pictures from file though, rather
than pasting?

 

[Jeff Chapman]

Hi Steve,

From a bitmapped screen grab on the clipboard or when
cutting and repasting a JPEG inserted onto a PowerPoint 2008
slide, there's:
- Microsoft Drawing Object
- Picture
- PDF

In fact, that's pretty much all we get, even when we
copy vector-based autoshapes and try to do a
Paste Special in PowerPoint 2008. Just those three
options. No JPEG, no GIF, no PNG options apparently,
and certainly no EMF, WMF or the likes.

Jeff

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

From a bitmapped screen grab on the clipboard or when
cutting and repasting a JPEG inserted onto a PowerPoint 2008
slide, there's:
- Microsoft Drawing Object
- Picture
- PDF

OK but what I didn't perhaps explain well enough was that I wanted to
know what file formats are available when inserting a picture from
file.

Copy/Pasting from other programs all too often makes toothmarks appear
on parts of your anatomy you normally leave covered. I gave it up as a
religious observance years ago and have religiously avoided it ever
since. ;-)

 

[Jeff Chapman]

Hi Steve,

Apparently on PowerPoint 2008, we have the following
options to insert pictures:

BMP
EMF
EMZ
EPS
FPix, FPX
GIF
JPEG, JFIF, JPEG-2000
PDF
PICT, PCT
PNG
PNTG
PSD
QTIF
SGI
TGA, TPIC
TIFF, TIF
WMF
WMZ

The thing is, we can't actually CREATE EMFs or WMFs using
Office for Mac. So it looks like we've got EPS as a possible
vector/raster hybrid format to work with. Problem is creating an
EPS file from a screenshot. You'd need Photoshop or the likes
for that. I might try experimenting with image quality using
the Screen Grab (TIFF) -> place in Photoshop -> export to EPS ->
import into PPT 2008 thing.

Hmmm, still not sure if this is going to solve the initial problem,
which is trying to get a clear screenshot from the browser and
paste it into PowerPoint, and have it looking crisp. Maybe if
there is some workflow that will work for this, an Automator
workflow could be created. But alas, Adobe apps don't provide
an Automator library like Office apps, so this might require
scripting. Uhhh...

Jeff

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Hi Steve,

Apparently on PowerPoint 2008, we have the following
options to insert pictures:

[after applying snippage to the raster and weirdo/useless formats, that
leaves ... ]

EMF
EPS
PDF
PICT, PCT
WMF

The thing is, we can't actually CREATE EMFs or WMFs using
Office for Mac. So it looks like we've got EPS as a possible
vector/raster hybrid format to work with.

Or possibly PICT? Can you export those?

In any case, from the rest of the thread, I get the impression that the
original screenshots captured in various ways are as much the problem
as PPT or its antialiasing.

Problem is creating an
EPS file from a screenshot. You'd need Photoshop or the likes
for that. I might try experimenting with image quality using
the Screen Grab (TIFF) -> place in Photoshop -> export to EPS ->
import into PPT 2008 thing.

Hmmm, still not sure if this is going to solve the initial problem,
which is trying to get a clear screenshot from the browser and
paste it into PowerPoint, and have it looking crisp. Maybe if
there is some workflow that will work for this, an Automator
workflow could be created. But alas, Adobe apps don't provide
an Automator library like Office apps, so this might require
scripting. Uhhh...

Got a lot of 'em to do, huh?