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Archiver > DEED-MAPPER-USERS > 2008-04 > 1208060245


From: "John B. Robb" <>
Subject: Re: [DMU] Does Anyone Know How to export DM plotsasoverlaysto PaintShop?
Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2008 00:17:25 -0400
References: <002201c89cb7$e48db6e0$2f01a8c0@blue><LLEOLCHBMEBAFFAAMPPOGELFCJAA.steve.stevens@verizon.net><000701c89cca$884095c0$6501a8c0@ttopa20p>


According to Steve Broyles, DM captures images for export as files,
precisely with screensaver technology. But it is limited to producing
200dpi images, and then only if .BMP or .TIF formats are selected. I've
actually been using my own screensaver, ScreenPrint32, to capture the images
direct from the DM screen, in preference to DM SaveAs, mostly because
ScreenPrint32 lets me define the exact image window, which helps compensate
for DMs ability to zoom only at 2x, which inevitably leaves me with a map
which is smaller than it needs to be, and which has extra margins framing
the important content, which I can thus lop off when I save.

However, your mention of another screensaver prompted me to wonder whether
there was any noticeable difference in quality between them. In the
process, I discovered that my utility SP32 can save as JPG, BMP, PNG, or
GIF. So tried saving the same image in the first three of these formats,
comparing each with the BMP image produced by DM SaveAs. The observable
differences were fairly subtle, given the inherent limitations of monitor
resolution (I don't have a color printer, so I can't make the comparisons
that way), but in my opinion the rank according to quality runs:

1. SP32 PNG format (best)
2. DM SaveAs BMP format
3. SP32 BMP format
4. SP32 JPG format

So DM's screensaver comes off rather well, but next time I do this I will do
the capture with SP32 PNG.

It would be interesting to make a more definitive test with a hi-res color
printer.

John
----- Original Message -----
From: "John R Mort" <>
To: <>
Sent: Saturday, April 12, 2008 2:25 PM
Subject: Re: [DMU] Does Anyone Know How to export DM plots asoverlaysto
PaintShop?


> Try Snagit, much simpler general purpose utility
> www.techsmith.com
> John
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
> [mailto:] On Behalf Of Steve Stevens
> Sent: Saturday, April 12, 2008 1:31 PM
> To:
> Subject: Re: [DMU] Does Anyone Know How to export DM plots as overlaysto
> PaintShop?
>
> Do you have a digital camera?
>
> Take a picture of your 200dpi at high resolution then blow it up as high
> as
> you want. Simple as that.
>
> Regards,
> Steve Stevens
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
> [mailto:]On Behalf Of John B. Robb
> Sent: Saturday, April 12, 2008 12:02 PM
> To:
> Subject: [DMU] Does Anyone Know How to export DM plots as overlays to
> PaintShop?
>
>
> This is really more of a PaintShop question, but it bears on the perennial
> DM question of how to create ready-to-print images with DM plot overlays
> and
> map backgrounds. I have the plots and the background USGS 7.5' topo maps
> integrated in DM, and I can simply SaveAs such an image, preferably in
> .BMP
> format to maximize resolution, but the resulting image comes out at
> 200dpi,
> rather than the 300dpi I scanned the maps at. Good enough quality for
> producing smallish maps, but I'm looking to print somewhat more blownup
> maps
> suitable for framing, and 200dpi just doesn't cut it. Indeed, the 300dpi
> I
> scanned the maps at may not be good enough, but it's enough better that
> the
> difference between 300 and 200dpi is apparent on my sharp monitor at
> 1280x1024. The photo printshop I use can print at 400dpi, and I may just
> rescan the maps at that density - if I can figure out how to do what I
> need
> to do in PaintShop.
>
> So lets say, that I've exported just the plot outlines from DM, at 200dpi.
> I import them into PSP, change them to 300dpi, and use the blur function
> to
> reduces the jaggies in so many of the lines. PSP is able to layer several
> images, then combine them in various ways, including, as far as I can
> tell,
> the way I want to, namely overlaying the DM plot image on the topo maps at
> 300dpi.
>
> Two possible ways of doing this suggest themselves, but I can get neither
> to
> work. The .GIF format is supposed to be able to represent a "transparent"
> (null) color, and I can create such a file in PSP by changing the white
> background of my DM plots to this "transparent" value. But when I attempt
> to layer this .GIF file over the topo map image by reading it back in, the
> white background reappears, even though I supposedly wrote it out when it
> was transparent.
>
> The other possible method is to create a PSP "mask" as an overlay layer,
> or
> in other words, to take the same plot image for which I've reduced the
> background to transparency, make a fully opaque mask out of that (so my
> background image, the map, comes through the transparency), the overlay
> the
> mask on the map as a layer. But I can't get that to work either.
>
> If there is anyone out there who has managed to accomplish what I'm trying
> to do, who knows their way around PSP, I'd be grateful for their response.
>
> John Robb
>
>
>
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