Graphics Conversion Resolution Settings

[rarmstrong]

Hi Folks,

We typically use EPS files for publishing documents to PDF. However, we also produce RTF versions for some users to work on new versions.

The issue is when rendering to RTF, EPS files are only linked to the resulting RTF - user need to manually break the link to embed them in the resulting file.

I was hoping to eliminate the need for this manual step by having Arbortext convert the EPS files to PNG or JPG so that they embed automatically.

I use the following command prior to rendering to RTF:

set graphicrtftransform=epsng

However, the resulting images are very poor in quality. I have EPS files that are 400-500K resulting in 1-2k PNG files. Are there any settings for the image converter that can be tweaked to produce slightly larger files that are a better resolution?

I have noticed the same issue with HTML output too. I see there is a product idea Better conversion of EPS files in Web output‌

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Rob.

[thendricks]

Don't know for sure, but I'm guessing that Arbortext is simply using the embed previous in the EPS. In order to address that, the editor will need to up the resolution of the embedded preview. Otherwise you'll likely need to do some external processing of the images prior to the publish. Something along the lines of Ghostscript for instance.

[rarmstrong]

Trevor,

Thanks for the suggestion - this is what I was hoping to avoid.

I have tested using imagemagick, and it seems to work well when I tell it to convert my EPS -> PNG with a quality set to 10 (they look as good as what the the converter the MS Word has embedded produces).

So I am left to script this in the publishing flow unfortunately as well as deploy imagemagick and ghostscript to my users if I was to make this as user friendly as possible.

I may just leave it for now and see if perhaps PTC may enhance the built in converters in the future to allow for better quality output. It isn't a big deal for users to break links, its just if they forget to do so, the next person that gets the document can't get the images!

Thanks again,

Rob.

[thendricks]

What illustration tool are you using for the creation of the files up front? The reason I ask is that if you are using IsoDraw, it has a robust macro language. In our case I've provided a 'Save' button for everyone to use. This button does save, but also dumps EPS files, PNGs, and PDFs depending on what they are used for (layer and file names determine what files get exported as). In your case, you could possible dump a PNG out in the macro save. Just a thought.

In regards to Imagemagick, I had to do something like this for IsoDraw where I needed some additional control over the export. Like you, I had no desire to install Imagemagick on each users computer so I used the portable version instead. I was able to use a shared network location and then used the macro language to call the exe (have done similar with ACL as well). One copy of the software in a network location. That was about three years ago and haven't had to touch it since.

Or, the more proper method, would be to install on the server and do the conversions for the publish there.

Note also that while Imagemagick will convert EPS to PNG, your quality may vary if you just did the base install. To improve the appearance you have to add Ghostscript. Most everything I've found needs Ghostscript, or a similar software that is specifically tuned to handle EPS files. I wouldn't recommend waiting for PTC to work better with EPS files at this point. If that is your hope I'd suggest submitting an enhancement request. Otherwise I'm guessing they would work more closely with the IsoDraw export (or eventual Illustrate/IsoDraw hybrid) since they have control of the core file and tweak it to improve in their system.

[rarmstrong]

Hi Trevor,

We use Illustrator - and our since our primary target output is PDF, we have found that EPS always produces the best result. I am always worried about maintaining multiple image formats as we would rely on people to maintain both versions and if there is automation attached, making sure it works reliably. This is on top of the fact that our working files must be manually added to our content system which means there are multiple points of failure in our environment.

I'll think about how we might have a dedicated server to perform the image conversions - that might be a possibility.

We also don't use the APE in our environment - so server based publishing is out at the current time for me too!

As for the quality of ImageMagick, I found it wouldn't even convert EPS files without ghostscript installed - I suspect it must have ghostscript for anything postscript related.

I appreciate your input on this matter.

Rob.

[TimPhelps]

Does it help to set the Arbortext Editor variable "defaultprintdpi" to a value higher than 300? (600, 1200...)

300 is the default setting

[rarmstrong · Accepted solution]

Tim,

I appreciate the suggestion, unfortunately changing these settings has no effect on EPS -> PNG conversion for the RTF publishing flow.

I also checked the help, and it states:

set defaultprintdpi

set defaultprintdpi= value

This command specifies the resolution value in images resulting from PTC Arbortext Editor converting SVG and PVZ images for print and PDF output. value is a positive integer specifying the resolution in dpi (dots per inch). If defaultprintdpi is not set, PTC Arbortext Editor assumes a value of 300.

So unfortunately this does not seem to cover my specific case. It seems logical that it ought to also apply to EPS -> PNG/JPG as well but perhaps it is a different underlying converter within Arbortext.

Thanks again, and hopefully in the future this will be addressed.

Rob.