wmf files not printing properly from mac office applications

[karenrc]

Hi All,

Our office recently made the switch to Macs. We're now tasked with
brining in a lot of material developed on PC and updating it. We're
running into issues with files that have wmfs embedded. They look
fine on screen, but a lot of weird lines appear when printed. We've
tried printing to different printers (laser jet and ink jet), no
difference.

Png files might work out okay in some cases, but due to the sheer
volume of material we have to work on, it's just not very practical.

To make matters worse, when I try to reopen the files on a PC after
they've been saved on the Mac, the weird lines are still there in
print! I've posted a scan of an actual print to:
http://www.jobskills.org/files/weirdprinting

Can anyone suggest a fix? We have hundreds, if not thousands of
documents to sort through.

TIA,
Karen )

 

[Elliott Roper]

Hi All,

Our office recently made the switch to Macs. We're now tasked with
brining in a lot of material developed on PC and updating it. We're
running into issues with files that have wmfs embedded. They look
fine on screen, but a lot of weird lines appear when printed. We've
tried printing to different printers (laser jet and ink jet), no
difference.

Png files might work out okay in some cases, but due to the sheer
volume of material we have to work on, it's just not very practical.

To make matters worse, when I try to reopen the files on a PC after
they've been saved on the Mac, the weird lines are still there in
print! I've posted a scan of an actual print to:
http://www.jobskills.org/files/weirdprinting

Can anyone suggest a fix? We have hundreds, if not thousands of
documents to sort through.

You have my deepest sympathy. Word 2004 screws up wmf with ease.
You might need to find a PC program that bulk converts the WMFs to
something less proprietary. WMF is the spawn of the devil.

It might be do-able with GraphicConverter on Mac, but I don't hold out
too much hope. You wanna send me a few samples, and I'll see what can
be done.

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Karen:

Eeeewwww Last time I saw WMF do that, it was because the graphic was
too complex.

I would just check that you have the latest update to QuickTime on your Mac
‹ that's the converter it's using.

Where did you get these WMFs from? I would be inclined to copy these
pictures out on the PC using Visio (or any other graphics program...) and
convert them to PICT. You need to use a real graphics program for this,
because WMF and PICT are not exactly equivalent, so some serious computer
processing is required for an accurate conversion.

Re-insert the PICTs on the Mac. PICT is to the Mac what WMF is to Windows.

Cheers

Hi All,

Our office recently made the switch to Macs. We're now tasked with
brining in a lot of material developed on PC and updating it. We're
running into issues with files that have wmfs embedded. They look
fine on screen, but a lot of weird lines appear when printed. We've
tried printing to different printers (laser jet and ink jet), no
difference.

Png files might work out okay in some cases, but due to the sheer
volume of material we have to work on, it's just not very practical.

To make matters worse, when I try to reopen the files on a PC after
they've been saved on the Mac, the weird lines are still there in
print! I've posted a scan of an actual print to:
http://www.jobskills.org/files/weirdprinting

Can anyone suggest a fix? We have hundreds, if not thousands of
documents to sort through.

TIA,
Karen )

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. S12.22.1918,E136.99.5392
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Neal Reid]

You need to use a real graphics program for this,
because WMF and PICT are not exactly equivalent, so some serious computer
processing is required for an accurate conversion.

Re-insert the PICTs on the Mac. PICT is to the Mac what WMF is to Windows.

Is the latter strictly true? AFAIK .wmf is SO proprietary that not
even MSFT can give a single definition for it - whereas a PICT is
a PICT and can be used cross platform...

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Neal:

Yes, it is strictly true

I don't know how much detail you want here, so I'll go with the "cut-down"
version as best I can from memory, and you can ask for more detail of you
want it...

WMF and PICT both started from the same place ‹ CGM (Computer Graphics
Metafile). The idea gave a way to combine raster and vector graphics in the
same file. And both are published standards that are freely available.

Windows Meta File is the native graphics format for 16-bit versions of
Windows. It's what Windows used to store and draw everything on the screen.

PICT is the same thing for old Mac, a combined vector and raster format that
was the native graphics format for old Mac. It's part of the QuickTime
suite of formats.

New 32-bit versions of Windows use EMF (Enhanced Meta-File). It supports
far greater precision and a much larger colour table. And there's a 64-bit
version that I don't think anyone uses yet.

New Mac uses PDF for its display, but PICT remains its native graphic
format.

Just as there are several versions of PICT, with increasingly greater
ability, there are several revisions to WMF and to EMF.

There is surprisingly little difference between the concept of the vector
components of either format, but sadly, they are "opposite" in their
implementation, so converting from one to the other is a bear... PICT was
designed for the Big-Endian Motorola processor, WMF for the Little-endian
Intel processor. So before you can even begin the conversion, you have to
flip the vectors end-for-end.

Both formats were designed to be compact. In the case of WMF, if you expand
it sufficiently you can see that every curve is in fact a series of short
straight lines. Whereas PICT uses a set of look-up tables for
stroke-weights.

A well-made filter for a graphics program expects to be operating on
relatively powerful hardware and takes the time to get the transpositions
involved very close. The built-in versions in the OS are designed more for
speed and efficiency ‹ the conversions will be "close" but there are small
differences.

Hope this helps

Is the latter strictly true? AFAIK .wmf is SO proprietary that not
even MSFT can give a single definition for it - whereas a PICT is
a PICT and can be used cross platform...

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. S12.22.1918,E136.99.5392
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]