Metafile Graphic Looks Terrible

[Alan Quirt]

Problems with a PowerPoint presentation created on a PC, with a
corporate logo on every slide. On the PC the logo looks fine (an oval
with various graphic elements inside it). On Mac, the logo looks like
garbage. The oval has bumpy edges and the graphic elements inside are
misaligned.

I get a metafile conversion message for the logo when I first open the
presentation, but it's not a simple grouped object; I get a warning if I
try to ungroup it. It appears to be quite complex in structure. Perhaps
it was created in some other PC program, but I have not been able to
track down where it originally came from.

I've solved my immediate problem by getting hold of a high quality TIFF
version of the logo, and scaling it down to a GIF of reasonable size.

I am curious whether I should expect frequent problems with metafiles
when they are converted to Mac. Supposedly the latest update fixed some
metafile bugs, but it does not seem to have helped with this one. I like
the idea of having graphics that scale for both print and screen use,
but I need cross-platform compatibility.

Office 11.3.3, OS X 10.4.8, on a Macbook or an old G4.

 

[CyberTaz]

WMF & EMF are virtually MS-proprietary graphics formats not supported on the
Mac (or by many even on the PC). The conversion to PICT leaves much to be
desired... But so does the conversion to anything else Likewise, PICT
isn't supported on the WinTel side.

If you're going to move files from one OS to the other you might try to
stick with PNG for stuff like logos/drawings & JPEG for images. Where
commercial print quality is a consideration go with TIFF. They should all
make the switch rather well.

FWIW, though, I generally find that one copy of a graphic in a particular
format is seldom sufficient - a separate version is much more appropriate
for each output modality. It's far less painful to swap out images than to
lament over poor results

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

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

One suggestion:

If you can open the original on a PC, ungroup it (repeatedly, if necessary,
until it won't ungroup any further). Then regroup all the selected shapes.

That'll convert it to a collection of PPT/Office drawing shapes rather than
Metafile; that should make the jump from platform to platform with less wear
and tear on the edges.

Problems with a PowerPoint presentation created on a PC, with a
corporate logo on every slide. On the PC the logo looks fine (an oval
with various graphic elements inside it). On Mac, the logo looks like
garbage. The oval has bumpy edges and the graphic elements inside are
misaligned.

I get a metafile conversion message for the logo when I first open the
presentation, but it's not a simple grouped object; I get a warning if I
try to ungroup it. It appears to be quite complex in structure. Perhaps
it was created in some other PC program, but I have not been able to
track down where it originally came from.

I've solved my immediate problem by getting hold of a high quality TIFF
version of the logo, and scaling it down to a GIF of reasonable size.

I am curious whether I should expect frequent problems with metafiles
when they are converted to Mac. Supposedly the latest update fixed some
metafile bugs, but it does not seem to have helped with this one. I like
the idea of having graphics that scale for both print and screen use,
but I need cross-platform compatibility.

Office 11.3.3, OS X 10.4.8, on a Macbook or an old G4.

================================================
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
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