Text in images looks terrible

[splicehere]

I'm hoping somebody here can help me with the following:

Roughly a decade ago I wrote a book about the use of the Avid Media
Composer. I used Word for the text. The images were created with an
old illustration program that some of you may remember -- Clarisworks.
There are dozens of these things embedded in the document. They
consist of screen grabs with additional text overlayed. I believe
these images are PICTs.

I'm now attempting to update the book, using Word X on Leopard.

All these images display just fine on screen -- text in the images
looks great.

But when I try to print, or make a pdf, the text in the images looks
horribly pixelated. Instead of scalable text that looks good at any
resolution, it looks like a very low-res bitmap that's been blown up.

I'm prepared to buy additional software to fix this problem. I know
Word X is old.

I need to:
--Make sure the images print properly
--edit and change some of the images

Does anyone have any suggestions? I'd be very appreciative for any
enlightenment at all.

Thanks very much,
Steve Cohen

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

But when I try to print, or make a pdf, the text in the images looks
horribly pixelated. Instead of scalable text that looks good at any
resolution, it looks like a very low-res bitmap that's been blown up.

I have had the exact same problem (and reported it).
The problem only occurs when the images are grouped (with anything
actually). If I ungroup, the pixelization disappears and I get back to
seomthing normal.

Is that the case also for you??

Corentin

 

[Steve]

I'm afraid they are not grouped.

I learned a bit more this morning. If I import the Word file into
Adobe In Design, the text in the diagrams looks good and prints
properly. The problem is that the import is very flaky and there's
lots of reworking I have to do to get everything to look good. I'd
rather stick with Word.

But I don't know if the problem is with Word, or with the OS X pdf
facility, or with my print driver (the printer is a Canon IP4300). And
I'm not sure how to figure that out.

Is the Canon driver in use when I make a pdf via the print dialog? If
so, can I fool the machine into using a different print driver?

And if not, is there another way to make a pdf?

Thanks very much for your help,
Steve

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

I'm afraid they are not grouped.
:-\

I learned a bit more this morning. If I import the Word file into
Adobe In Design, the text in the diagrams looks good and prints
properly. The problem is that the import is very flaky and there's
lots of reworking I have to do to get everything to look good. I'd
rather stick with Word.

That, at least, says that the file itself is fine.

But I don't know if the problem is with Word, or with the OS X pdf
facility, or with my print driver (the printer is a Canon IP4300). And
I'm not sure how to figure that out.

Well when you make a PDF through the Print dialogs, there are options
(and Quartz filters) you can select. It might make a difference.
Before you press the PDF... button, go through all the printing options.
Make sure you reveal them all using the arrow on the top right, and you
might have finishing and resolution options there that might make a
difference.


Otherwise, to make a PDF you could also use Acrobat of course (but very
obviously, it doesn't come cheap).

Corentin

 

[Elliott Roper]

Steve,
It is just possible that those PICTS are "PICT as eps"
Word hands the bitmap preview to OS X instead of the vector eps when
sending output to PDF.

Try this: In the print dialog under PDF choose 'save as postscript'
Then open the resulting .ps file in Apple's preview.app, and get it to
save as a pdf. (That trick works for me in Word X and Word 2004 when I
have an eps illustration that I want to look good as PDF, but in my
case it prints OK to paper)

I don't *think* that is your problem, since you say it looks OK on
screen and it prints to paper all horrid and pixelly.

Do you still have the original ClarisWorks pictures with their text
overlays?

 

[Steve]

First, thanks to both of you for your very thoughtful suggestions.
Unfortunately -- nothing works, so far.

I don't have the original Clarisworks images. This is more than a
decade ago so I can't remember why, but I'm pretty sure that I was
able to drag the image out of Clarisworks and into Word. And if I
needed to make a change I'd do the drag in reverse and then drag it
back. It worked VERY smoothly and intuitively -- better than anything
I can accomplish today -- so I didn't need to save anything. Which
seems pretty stupid now...

They images are not EPS files. First, the text in them looks good in
Word at any magnification. And second, I was able to use a very slick
little ap called File Juicer to extract all the images from the Word
doc. They're all PICTs. (File Juicer is here: http://echoone.com/filejuicer/)

And, sadly, I've tried every Word option I can find, in preferences
and in the print dialog. I don't see any options in Apple's PostScript
converter. Where are they?

I'm having a friend try creating the pdf in Acrobat. I'll see the
result of that tonight. I'm thinking the problem is in Apple's PDF
converter. That's pretty sad since it's an Apple image format that the
converter doesn't understand.

I'll report back with the results from Acrobat. If you have any more
suggestions, please let me know!

Thanks again,
Steve

 

[Elliott Roper]

First, thanks to both of you for your very thoughtful suggestions.
Unfortunately -- nothing works, so far.

I don't have the original Clarisworks images. This is more than a
decade ago so I can't remember why, but I'm pretty sure that I was
able to drag the image out of Clarisworks and into Word. And if I
needed to make a change I'd do the drag in reverse and then drag it
back. It worked VERY smoothly and intuitively -- better than anything
I can accomplish today -- so I didn't need to save anything. Which
seems pretty stupid now...

They images are not EPS files. First, the text in them looks good in
Word at any magnification. And second, I was able to use a very slick
little ap called File Juicer to extract all the images from the Word
doc. They're all PICTs. (File Juicer is here: http://echoone.com/filejuicer/)

Does it bring the vector part out unscathed?

And, sadly, I've tried every Word option I can find, in preferences
and in the print dialog. I don't see any options in Apple's PostScript
converter. Where are they?

In the print dialog under PDF (Can't remember how Tiger did it exactly,
but I think it was offered as a choice when you pressed the pdf button.
Currently it is called "save as postscript"

I'm having a friend try creating the pdf in Acrobat. I'll see the
result of that tonight. I'm thinking the problem is in Apple's PDF
converter. That's pretty sad since it's an Apple image format that the
converter doesn't understand.

Illustrator can read and edit PICT with vector content. However, if you
want to keep the vectors, you have to save as something else, like PDF
or eps or of course .ai. I believe you can set up a batch job to munch
through tons of 'em.

If you get really desperate, mail me a sample you retrieved with Juicer
and I'll check it out with my Illy. (It worked fine on some MS Office
clip art PICTS.) Replace nospam with elliott for the real e-mail
address.

Another one you might try is Intaglio from
http://purgatorydesign.com/intaglio
there is a free trial, and it is far cheaper than Illustrator.

 

[Steve]

Elliott,
Thanks again for sticking with this.

Not much luck yet.

1. Converting the word file to pdf using Acrobat made fonts in Picts
look different, but they're still quite pixelated -- a better bitmap,
but not vector text.

2. Intaglio opens the picts just fine and treats the text properly,
but saving as pdf or png and reimporting into Word leaves me back
where I was -- ugly text. And I can't edit the elements in the pict --
can't change the text.

3. Brief experimentation with Illustrator was fairly promising. It
opens the images and can save them. And I can bring them back into
Word properly. And I can edit the text independently. But the whole
thing is a lot of work. (I assume that by "Illy" you mean
Illustrator).

I expect that I'm going to be anteing up for Illustrator. Not
something I'm eager to do just to make some screenshots and put text
over them.

One thing I haven't tried are later versions of Word -- 2004 or 2008.
Do you think that's worth a go?

Thanks again, very much,
Steve

 

[Steve]

Elliott,
Thanks again for sticking with this.

Not much luck yet.

1. Converting the word file to pdf using Acrobat made fonts in Picts
look different, but they're still quite pixelated -- a better bitmap,
but not vector text.

2. Intaglio opens the picts just fine and treats the text properly,
but saving as pdf or png and reimporting into Word leaves me back
where I was -- ugly text. And I can't edit the elements in the pict --
can't change the text.

3. Brief experimentation with Illustrator was fairly promising. It
opens the images and can save them. And I can bring them back into
Word properly. And I can edit the text independently. But the whole
thing is a lot of work. (I assume that by "Illy" you mean
Illustrator).

I expect that I'm going to be anteing up for Illustrator. Not
something I'm eager to do just to make some screenshots and put text
over them.

One thing I haven't tried are later versions of Word -- 2004 or 2008.
Do you think that's worth a go?

Thanks again, very much,
Steve

 

[Elliott Roper]

Elliott,
Thanks again for sticking with this.

No problem. It is one of the things I like to beat MS over the head
with. There is so much about Office that is out of phase with today's
network-style work practices. Handling images in other than their own
broken graphics formats is one of them.

Not much luck yet.

1. Converting the word file to pdf using Acrobat made fonts in Picts
look different, but they're still quite pixelated -- a better bitmap,
but not vector text.

Yep. I expected you might be disappointed with Acrobat for that task.

2. Intaglio opens the picts just fine and treats the text properly,
but saving as pdf or png and reimporting into Word leaves me back
where I was -- ugly text. And I can't edit the elements in the pict --
can't change the text.

Yep. That would be expected. You get nowhere saving in a raster format.
It is good that Intaglio can extract the picts undamaged from the Word
originals. I might have to get myself a copy of that.

3. Brief experimentation with Illustrator was fairly promising. It
opens the images and can save them. And I can bring them back into
Word properly. And I can edit the text independently. But the whole
thing is a lot of work. (I assume that by "Illy" you mean
Illustrator).

Yep. Everyone calls it Illy. Your results agree with my tests.

I expect that I'm going to be anteing up for Illustrator. Not
something I'm eager to do just to make some screenshots and put text
over them.

No. It is outrageously expensive isn't it?

One thing I haven't tried are later versions of Word -- 2004 or 2008.
Do you think that's worth a go?

No. Word 2004 is just as bad on vector graphics as v.X I have avoided
2008 for countless other reasons so I have no opinion on whether its
graphics handling is just as terrible. If you want odds, I'd say all of
London to a burnt match.

I tried GraphicConverter and OmniGraffle as less expensive alternatives
to Illy, with partial success, but it was impossible to get usable
vector images back into Word 2004. Both will let you place good looking
type over screenshot alike images, but Word makes a horrible hash of
the results if you want to keep the text editable on a round trip.
About the only thing that works solidly is to export as a high
resolution tiff exactly the size of the finished image in Word and to
keep the originals in case you need to edit it later.
If you are making enough out of updating your book, I suspect you will
get to retain more of your hair if you ditch Word and do the whole job
with Illy and InDesign. The extra cost of the CS3 bundle over the cost
of Illy alone is well worth it. Although I reckon a quiet chat to your
publisher would be in order before laying out bulk money on software.
Publishers are funny animals. They invest so much in their workflow
that it often happens that they don't appreciate your efforts in making
less work for them.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

I tried GraphicConverter and OmniGraffle as less expensive alternatives
to Illy, with partial success, but it was impossible to get usable
vector images back into Word 2004.

I use OniGraffle extensively. Office 2008 now supports PDF graphics, so
I can fool around in OmniGraffle, copy as PDF (there is a command for
that - I even assigned it a shortcut) and paste back in Office
documents.

I've been fairly happy with the results (as long as I don;t group
grapics, as I mentioned in an earlier post).



Corentin

 

[Steve]

Thanks again to both of you for your thoughts. My latest idea is to
set up an OS9 machine and try to print with the Apple Laserwriter
driver, if I still have it. That's the original setup that I used
years ago. Might still work on those embedded PICTs. The irony is that
I just got rid of the last machine I had with OS9 installed -- an old
G4 that cost $3000 new and ended up going to a lucky young fellow for
$75. But I've still got a G4 laptop and will try to install Classic on
that.

I'll get back to you all if any of this works.

Otherwise, I'm stuck with exporting to AI and then reimporting. Or, as
Elliott suggested, pasting it all back into In Design. The problem
there is that I've got a table of contents and an elaborate index. I
suspect that such things are going to break and will have to be
recreated. All this legacy stuff is a great big lead weight right now,
but there's no way around it.

Thanks again,
Steve