Quality is everything!!!

I am trying to capture the BEST quality document for my local print shop to reproduce a newsletter with multiple graphics and photos. Usually, I save to a .pdf, and the resulting quality is not good. Is there a better way to do this with Pages '06? I noticed that the '08 version has an export as .pdf and offers 3 different quality files - but how good is the "excellent" file, really? Is it worth the upgrade, or should I be looking at other more professional software?
I spoke very briefly with a graphic artist today, who mentioned something about grouping (probably the wrong word) the file items somehow when I save them - some kind of option probably only available with more professional software. Can anyone give me a brief lesson on what this all means, and what my future options might be? Thank you!!
Writing from a place of frustration and relative lack of knowledge,
Gerianne

Gerianne,
The '06 version of Pages offers the same PDF export options as the '08 version. If you click on File > Export > PDF, you can choose from Good, Better, and Best. While I can't remember the precise resolution of each option, I know that the Best version is considerably better than the other two versions, and of course produces a much larger file. Many, many users take this version to their printer with excellent results.
I'm not sure what your graphic-artist friend is referring to about grouping, within the context of this PDF size discussion.
-Dennis

Similar Messages

Screen Capture Video Loses Quality When Imported Into iMovie - WHY?

I am using screen capture software to make a video of my screen at 1024x768. The video is for a tutorial. I want to use iMove to get things like transitions and such into the movie, and to add text and audio. The problem is that, although the video looks great in QuickTime, it loses quality significanly when I import into iMove. The text on the screen is blurry, and the quality of everything else is terrible as well.
Is this s limitation of iMove? Can screen capture video be imported? Does it only work with DV?
Also, I tried to convert the file to many other formats, from QuickTime to MPEG-4, so it's not the file type.
If anyone can help me out, I've be very grateful.
Thanks!
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Your dimensions are getting in the way. iMovie converts your 1024X768 to a DV Stream file that is 720X480.
One workaround would be to set your display resolution smaller. Try 800X600 (if your windows fit that size).
If you're using Snapz Pro you should set your window capture to 640X480. This size will import nicely into iMovie.
An even better way would be to do all of the work using QuickTime Pro. Again a 1024X768 QT.mov file would not fit on the most common display settings used. When you add the QT Player window the controller would be below the screen and not accessible for most users.
800X600 would make a better file (smaller, too). It would still be 4:3 aspect and would also import into iMovie.

On image quality...

Hi all, thanks again for all of your continued support!
Ok, I have read what I think are all of the previous posts/strings of this topic and am not sure that I have gotten where I am going...yet. I am a photographer, have spent good money on programs and themes (AND a much faster computer, that burns DVD's "easily") to do wedding DVD's and for promoting my studio in general on DVD. I really like the Ken Burns affect and personally wound love to show others (PC users) what we can do with our Macs with KB effect in iphoto (it really is trluy awesome)! I beleive that the images are in perfect quality when brought into iphoto (in fact, they look great thru iDVD preveiw). The "themes" look sharp, too (which is really important here, right?). UNTIL I BURN TO DVD with iDVD. I read about the pixel ratio thing and I truly don't think that is the problem, because with that theory, the verticle images shouldn't get slimmer and why would the theme also look so bad? It has to be in the encoding that iDVD is doing, or am I missing something important here? Someone wrote that I shouldn't expect motion picture quality from iDVD, I am not, I just want a slideshow that represents my work in a way that helps me and doesn't hurt me when someone plays it on a TV (or COMPUTER!). If I need to do it in iMovie I will, but it seems to me that if the images and themes look good on the monitor (which IS 72dpi, right?), why should it look so bad on the computer monitor and TV after the burn? I am no computer expert (obviously?), but I CAN see poor quality and everything I try turns nasty-blurry with iDVD. Do I need to use another program to burn? If so what? I've seen movies from iMovie that look great, what's the difference in iMovie from iDVD that the encoding is doing? Thanks in advance for the help.
Tony

Ok, maybe my expectations are high, but I've seen DV home videos that appear to be much, much better than the results I get with this (I think anyhow?).
So, are you telling me that I can't use the KB effect and have the quality that the slideshow itself is giving me on a computer screen at, say 6 feet? What about the fact that the theme page is blurry too? Isn't it just a movie, like a DV movie anyhow? To illustrate, the font that was on the wedding theme is blurred so badly after the burn, that it is almost unreadable at 6 feet on either a TV or the computer? I have done one without it (KBE) and the images looked a bit better, but static without the spice of a panned image, but the theme is blurry, too? I see what you are saying that a 640X480 images could never equal what the computer is doing, but why is there such a drop-off in quality when it's a simple movie? AND not to harp on it again, but the silly theme is blurry, too?
I wish there was a problem with hardware, say the DVD burner, but wouldn't it just not burn a readable disk? OR, a software issue, but that doesn't make sense either? It would have errors, right?
Could someone find me through google and give me an address to mail one of these to you? I'm easily found, I am the only photographer in my town on the square, so you can see if I'm expecting too much or if there is a problem somehow? But what could the problem be is the nagging question...

Pre-comps loose Quality when putting them in parent Comps

Hi there!
I got quite a problem with my AE project and I really don't know what to do. I already Looked up the forum but didn´t find any useful help till now.
The Problem I got is that I am working on quite a big project and need to fit precomps into parent comps (most of the times through varios layers)
This time when I fit a precomp in it´s parent comp it looses quite a lot of quality. If I do this again (putting the hole thing in a new parent comp) it even looses more quality!
I checked all my compositions and all are set to full quality at 1920/1080. I am using raytraced 3D and fast draft for quick render, but when I RAM preview render my projekt with full quality it still shows big deficits and pixelation.
Here you got some screen shots, maybe they are helpful:
I hope someone can help me.
Thank you a lot in advance!
PS: Re: Precomp "losing" quality on the parent comp Already saw that post, but unfortunately it didn´t help me out/couldn´t understand what I have to do.

Hi there again.
The problems I got aren´t because of a specific Layer. The problem appears when putting one composition into another parent composition. The precomp I put inside the parent comp looses quality. The settings of both compositions are exactly the same and no draft mode ist selected. I am not zooming around or anything either. There are just 2 3D Objects on a 2D layer (and some other 2D stuff) Here I put now complete screeneshots:
The pic. above is my precomp. Quality and everything is fine and it looks like it should. Cool. Now when I take this composition and just put it into another composition with exactly the same settings, it should look exatly the same way (no zoom or anything , just drag and drop into another comp):
As you can see the quality is a lot worse then it should be (the sphere the iPhone etc.). I didnt change a layer or set a keyframe or zoom or anything and the parent comp has the same settings as the precomp. So it should show exactly the same. But for some reason it doesnt.
Now what I found out is that in the advanced comp settings I can put "preserve comp quality when nesting" so I do that. If I put now the composition into it´s parent comp then this happens:
Ok first things first: Quality is fine, so the most important problem is solved.
But what happens doesn´t really make sense for me. Despite the fact that both comps got exactly the same quality/framerate/pixel settings, when I put the precomp into the parent comp it is shown as if the precomp would be 4 times bigger (if I take now the parent comp also with "preserve quality when nested" into another comp the same happens).
It also messes around with a weird anchorpoint position and the comp "margins" are shown only in the upper left size of the layer (as if the layer would be much smaller then it really is). I dont know why this happens, but at least I can transform my (precomp-)layer normally and fit it into the composition, so that´s fine for me.
It´s more work when animating, but at least the quality stays the same.
Maybe someone knows a better solution?
Thank you already for your answers. I hope this is specific enough...

Please suggest a method and some settings to get the best quality DVD

I’m trying to find the correct settings to use to make the best quality DVD of an iMovie project. It includes still photos (a couple use the Ken Burns effect), movie clips, titles, maps, transitions, and audio. The project is 33 minutes long. So far, I have burned it by using 3 different methods and the results vary, but not one of the three is optimal for everything. Is it possible to make a DVD that has the best quality of everything or do you have to sacrifice one thing to get the best of another? Here’s the workflow for each method.
#1 iMovie09 ->share to media (960x540) ->burned with iDVD (best). Everything is acceptable except for the movie clips which have low quality with smeared details.
#2 iMovie09 ->export to Quicktime (Apple intermediate codec, current frame rate, data rate-auto, compressor native, 1440x1080) ->burned with
Toast 9. Compared to the first method, the titles are pixelated, the animated map arrows show jaggies, one Ken Burns zoom shimmers a lot, the quality of the photos is slightly less, but the movie clips are a lot better and are acceptable.
#3 Quicktime .mov file from #2 ->MPEGStreamClip (deinterlace, all other settings auto or default ->burned with Toast 9. Movie clips are the best of the 3 methods, photo quality is better than #2, but not as good as #1. Titles and other effects are just a little better than #2, but not as good as #1.
Can anyone suggest some settings using any combination of the programs mentioned above to produce a DVD that has the best photo, effects quality, and movie clip quality all on one DVD?
Rick

from a prior post, I find this worked quite well, but i think you already thought it was not that good for you, i did not get the 'smeared details" or so I thought:
"In iMovie, do not "Share to iDVD", it makes a pretty bad product. Instead,
"Share to Media Browser" and choose the "HD" version if you can, this will take your iMovie project and export it (Can take an hour or 2) into a 720p movie (that looks close to your original iMovie project). That 720p .mov file will be hidden in the iMovie's Project's file; access it if you want by right clicking on the project, show contents, movies (but you dont need to look at it as it is directly accessible through iDVD). SO after the movie has exported, you then open iDVD and click on the MEdia button in the lower R corner, then Choose MOvies, then choose iMovie and you should be able to see that 720p movie that iMovie made. Drag that movie version into iDVD's window (after setting up your theme, background music etc) and then burn. It should look pretty good. Remember, all DVDs are compressed to standard definition (SD) so you will lose definition from the 720p to the 480 resolution of a DVD, but hopefully it will be fine.

Audio quality is lacking

When I connect my harman kardon 2.1 speakers (not Sound Sticks but model HK965) to my analogue audio jacks of my Power Mac G5 I get a very bad sound quality. Everything sounds "tinny".
If I connect the same speakers the same way to my Toshiba Laptop the sound is ok.
How can I check if the Mac soundcard is ok?
What can I adjust on my Mac to fix it?
Thanks,
Municher
Power Mac 2 x 2.0 GHz Mac OS X (10.3.9)

On a Mac the sound is integrated on the logicboard so there is no soundcard.
What I suspect is you need to adjust the equalizer in iTunes or check the analog output in System Preferences>Sound.
The HK 2.1 isn't the best of devices to judge sound quality either, they are just computer speakers.
Now hook a Toslink optical cable to a quality 5.1 reciever like a HK DPR 2005 and a set of HKTS-14 5.1 speakers, enable digital optical out in System Preferences >Sound and prepare to be blown away.
If you appreciate clear powerful sound, DVD movies in surround sound, it's the way to go.
Remember to clone your boot drive to a external, it will save your bacon.
http://homepage.mac.com/hogfish

Hi quality display performance

I have a new mac Pro (Black cylinder) and 16 GBs of RAM. I know these days that's not a lot of RAM. With that in mind, when I set InDesign to High Quality preview everything just slows down drastically. Even with a super fast computer, this still occurs? Is that normal for others too?

What version of InDesign?

Lightroom JPEG export VS Photoshop Image Processor

Hey guys:
Long time photoshop and lightroom user (long time user of all things Adobe). First post here in the forums. I did a search for my question but I think it was too specific, so it returned zero results.
My question is about Lightroom's JPEG export vs Photoshops Image Processor. When I export a RAW file to JPEG from Lightroom, the file size is freaking huge. The JPEG is as big as my original RAW file (~25mb). Settings are set to default - 100 quality. Everything else remains untouched.
However, when I use Photoshop's image processor (I launch it through Bridge, easier that way for me) and process the RAW images that way, my JPEGs are roughly 5-10mb in size. Settings in Image Processor are quality 10 and thats it. No actions being run or anything.
Can anyone shed some light as to why Lightroom exports JPEGs that are roughly 2-4 times the size of Photoshop's JPEGs? My initial thoughts are that the 100 quality setting in Lightroom is more like Photoshop's quality 12 (that always makes me think of Spinal Tap - "Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?" "These go to eleven.") Ideally, exporting out of Lightroom would be much easier for my workflow.
Thanks in advance.
-The Doctor

DrMilesBennell wrote:
Can anyone shed some light as to why Lightroom exports JPEGs that are roughly 2-4 times the size of Photoshop's JPEGs? My initial thoughts are that the 100 quality setting in Lightroom is more like Photoshop's quality 12 (that always makes me think of Spinal Tap - "Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?" "These go to eleven.") Ideally, exporting out of Lightroom would be much easier for my workflow.
You are correct: LR Quality 100 = PS Quality 12
Despite LR having 101 Quality settings (0 to 100) it actually only has 12 Quality settings the same as PS 'Baseline Standard':
JPEG Quality Setting Comparison
PS
LR
LR Range
Typical Reduction
0
0
0-7%
11%
1
10
8-15%
23%
2
20
16-23%
14%
3
30
24-30%
14%
4
35
31-38%
16%
5
40
39-46%
24%
6
50
47-53%
4%
7
55
54-61%
27%
8
65
62-69%
25%
9
70
70-76%
31%
10
80
77-84%
35%
11
90
85-92%
41%
12
100
93-100%
I keep a small copy of the above table taped to my monitor. I chose the numbers under the 'LR' column for the 12 steps (not AA's) to make it easier to remember. In actuality ANY number in the LR Range column will produce the same results for each step.
Under the 'Typical Reduction' column notice the small amount of reduction for PS 6 (LR 47-53%) Quality setting. If interested why AND why you probably shouldn't use PS 7 (LR 54-61%) Quality setting see this post:
http://forums.adobe.com/message/5641903#5641903

Using a Vizio HDTV as an external monitor

I've bought the right connector and cable to connect my MacBook to an external monitor, and with two of our HDTVs, it works great. The problem is, it doesn't work with the TV I want it to.
We have a Vizio 27", a Phillips 47", and a Sony Bravia 52". On the Phillips and Sony, the picture quality is 1080p and amazing quality, and everything fits on the screen perfectly (as in the menu bar and dock).
But with the Vizio, which I'm wanting to use as a main monitor with external mouse and keyboard also, the picture quality is awful. It looks decent at 1280x764, which it tries setting it to by default, but when I change that to 1080i, the picture quality becomes really fuzzy and unreadable, and the dock and menu bar aren't even on the screen (you can barely see the top of the dock at the bottom though, so I know it's there.)
My question is: Does anyone know a way to fix this? So the Vizio can show the image in good quality? I've searched all through the MacBook's settings and my TVs settings, but I couldn't find anything. Any ideas?

I have a Samsung HDTV with HDMI Sockets etc etc
What cable will I need to connect my MacBook to my HDTV to watch movies direct from my MacBook on my HDTV?

ImageReady...creating animated GIF, how do you change save settings?

I cant find an ImageReady forum, hope this will do for now...
Its been forever since I have used ImageReady and Im rusty again! I just created an animated GIF but want to lower the file size of it a little after it saves everything to GIF. Currently, the GIF is a little larger than I care for in filesize. Where are the settings to lower the quality and everything else for this?

Image Ready was discontinued with CS2? There are other ways to animate now, but just not in image ready, and it is not as easy.

Need a decent Disk Printer!

There was no proper forum for this question, so I figured I'd post here, since most of my work comes from FCP Studio.
I'm looking for a decent Disk Printer. Don't need a burner or anything, but if it has one, no big deal. I've searched everywhere for one compatable with my Mac Studio and no dice. The only one I've been able to find was the Epson Stylus R800. I'm looking for something with 4800 dpi print quality, but everything from makers like Rimage are only Win. compatable.
Anybody have a lead on a good disk printer?
Thanks in advance for any help posted.

I guess that was my point, both Google and the HP
website find nothing for a HP printer that does this;
They do however find other brands that OEM the HP
engine;
I guess its not that important, I was more hoping
you knew off the top of your head. I had gone down
the google road and found nothing, and also nothing
on HP's US websites thats why I asked - thinking it
was an easy response for you.
Thanks again...
I believe that the printer he was referring to is actually sold under the Microboards name. It is basically an HP printer with a special delivery system built onto it. You can see it at www.microboards.com, I believe that it is called the Print Factory. I have used one and it seems to work very well, but it is a PC only machine.
I did notice that Rimage does have atleast 2 products that are Mac compatible, but they are expensive. The 2000i sells for about $4000 i believe and the DLN5200 for about $10500, however, these are both automated publishing systems that print and burn CD's and DVD's.
Hope you find what you are looking for.
2 - PowerMac G5 2.0Ghz DP Mac OS X (10.4.4) 1- Mac Mini

Photosmart C309a black ink cartridge will not print

Hi.
I am having problems with my Photosmart Premium C309a printer. It will not print using the black ink cartridge. I pulled this printer out of storage and the original cartridges had run out. I replaced these with brand new cartridges. When printing a quality report, everything turns out fine except there is no text and no black square from the black ink cartridge (however the photo black cartridge DOES print). Printing a page of text just results in a blank page. However, images and coloured text print out fine.
I have tried a lot of troubleshooting steps listed on these forums and elsewhere. Soaking the pritnhead seems to be the most effective solution for others but this has not worked for me. However I cleaned the printhead very thoroughly and there is no trace of ink anywhere in it. So far I have discovered that it is a hardware issue rather than a software one as there is no black ink on pages I try to photocopy. I have tried the following troubleshooting steps:
Turning both the printer and PC off and on again
Resetting the printer to factory defaults
Reinstalling the ink cartridges
Automatically cleaning the printhead (several times)
Aligning the printhead (fails - probably due to the absence of black ink)
Soaking the printhead in hot water (twice)
Rinsing the printhead under running hot water
Manually scrubbing the printhead with cotton buds
Making sure the cartridges are vented properly
I'm at a loss as to what to do next. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I am having the same problem. I 've soaked the heads, I've put genuine ink in. I've tried everything but cannot get it to print in the Black XL. Prints all other colors and the photo black, but no in text black. So irritated right now !!!
HELP ! ! !
I've even did a hard factory reset.

After transporting I get error "source system does not exist"

Hello all,
I have transported my objetcs to BW quality system and transported the data sources to r/3 quality and everything went fine. But now when I am trying to go through everything my update rules are inactive and when I get to infosource it gives me this error
"Source system ERJ100 does not exist."
Is there any importamnt step that I am missing why are the objects not recognizing the source system?
Thanks,

hi,
check the system mapping in rsal tools system mapping tab as lilly mention. check if the mapping is defined correct. see the link below
https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/e883de94-0501-0010-7d95-de5ffa503a86
https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/3010ba90-0201-0010-2896-e58547c6757e
Might help
Thank you
Qandeel

Help with partial image loss from Viewer to Canvas

Hi--I'm brand new to FCP and would really appreciate any help with my problem. I'm creating 2 second video clips composed of four still images (15 frames...or 500ms each) laid back to back, then rendered. Very simple, I know. The individual images are tiff files that look great in the FCP Viewer. But in the Canvas, part of the image is missing. Specifically, in the center of each image there should be a + sign, about 1cm square. This + should remain constant thoughout the short movie, while the items around it vary (from image to image). (This is a psychology experiment, and the center + is a fixation cross.) The problem is that in the Viewer the + sign is intact, but in the Canvas (and the resulting rendered video), only the vertical bar of the + is present! This is true for every individual tiff, and for the resulting movie. The items around the fixation cross are fine. My question is WHY on earth does the central horizontal bar get "lost" between the Viewer and the Canvas? I've read the manuals, but obviously I've got something set wrong. Also, there is a considerable overall reduction in quality between the viewer and canvas, even though I'm trying my best to maximize video quality. Everything looks a bit blurry. Truly, all ideas are welcome. Sorry if it's obvious. Thanks.
G5 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

steve, i'm viewing on my 23" cinema screen. i read up on quality and know that this is a no-no; that i should only judge quality when viewing on an ntsc monitor or good tv. the problem is that i'll ultimately be displaying these videos on my Dell LCD, so i've got to maximize what i've got. thanks to the discussion boards i have a short list of things to try now. thanks!
-heather

Adding new modules to Selection-screen

Hi everyone,
I created 3 selection-screens for my report, but I needed to control better their jump between screens, so I added PAI modules on each screen.
The thing is that when I make a change on one of the screens the calling of the module disapears, so I just kept on placing the calls and avoided the change in the screens.
No the problem is, when I transported my report to the quality system, everything was fine, with my modules in my code. Now I transported a change and in the quality system, the calls where lost.
Any ideas how to transport everything?!
Thanks

You must not modify the screen (add PAI or PBO) with a program type 1 (report).
If you want to modify screen, you change your program type module pool and create the screens.
Salu2.

Quality is everything!!!

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