Schematics Archive (II)

[KA4HJH]

>   PDF's are great, but there are good and bad ways to do it.  The bad
>way is to just include only scanned images.  HUGE files!  The better way,
>of course, is to do a capture on the material to get the best
>optimization of image and text.  Of course it takes a lot more time to go
>through all of the unrecognized elements...

A properly created pdf should not be much bigger that a gif--in fact, if
you capture the text it will be SMALLER.

Acrobat's capture feature has been a bit iffy in the tests I've done, plus
you can't really edit more than typos and the graphics all get downscaled
to 200 DPI (argh). I haven't had a chance to try Acrobat 4.0 yet to see if
they've improved the capture and editing.

I use OmniPage on the text, reset the document in FrameMaker importing the
graphics individually (at full 300 DPI), then Distill it. Takes longer but
you have complete control over everything. When you print it it looks
almost like the real thing.

>   I am currently working with Acrobat and will start doing conversions
>of schematics on my site when I have become comfortable with the
>program.  Of course anyone is welcome to start before me... ;)

I'll proofread 'em for yah. 8-)

One problem I've seen with most of the scans I've download is that they're
still in 24 bit color: they haven't even been reduced to grayscale. This
would save some more space. I can only assume that people don't have the
software.

A common mistake with Acrobat is to not use "articling". Don't feel
bad--I've seen pdf's from major companies that desperately need it but
guess what... Articling makes navigating and reading an 8.5 x 11 document a
lot easier on a small screen. If you have no idea what I'm talking about no
wonder you hate pdf's.


OK, I'll stick my neck out even further: electronic documentation is the
things I do for a living, folks. I'm all Mac-based but if you need help
drop me a line. If I have time I'll see what I can do.

Glad to see this finally getting off the ground.

God it's late.

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"