Compressing a graphic

Well, first off the image should be in GIF format. It won’t lose quality that way. Switch it to about 3 colors gray scale and try that.

http://www.netmechanic.com/accelerate.htm offers on-line free image compression/conversion. If you have hundreds of images to work with, then Ulead's SmartSaver is the best by far - http://www.ulead.com.

Simple rule: photographs >> jpg; straight lines/simple colours >> gif

I think Fireworks 3.0 has a graphic compression thing built in. Right?

Quote: Dumby of the 21st Century

I think I deserve that mantle. Sorry about being as clear as mud with my question ... but what I was trying to ask (and failing having re-read my original post) was about the physical size of the graphic - i.e. reducing it from say 500x200 to 50x20

Sorry I didn't make this clear the first time around ... though I've checked out (and have bookmarked) those useful url's.

BTW> I've been trying to get back to this message all weekend but haven't been able to get in the site ?????

Zinzan

50 X 20 is tinny and with a line drawing like that you'll lose a lot of pixel clarity. I don’t use PSP so I can’t be of much help. But it’s probably something like “image size”.

Parker, Yes FireWorks 3 and PhotoShop 5.5 include a web compression feature. I use Ulead SmartSaver currently, but I’m also still using PhotoShop 5.2 (for a few more days anyway). I’ve never cared for FireWorks for some reason (I own it though).

PSP

Image > Resize

Go on give it a try.

If you're talking about image compression, I recommend [url]http://www.spinwave.com/'s[/url] free GIF and JPEG Crunchers. They seem to offer the most alternatives and best compression methods to preserve the image quality.

Sorry guys, but the best image compression site is Adobe's at http://webservices.adobe.com/optimize/main.html. It's great.

Thanks a lot for the replies. I was rather hoping there would be some kind of "redefine" command that "after" resizing would give some clarity to the individual lines (basically like a scaling command)

Thanks though

Zin

Alright, here's what you do to fix that problem:

BEFORE resizing, you need to bump up the resolution [doesn't matter, just make it a high number. :-)] and then after you resize it you need to put the resolution back on what it was.

Or, if it gives bad results like that, don't replace the resolution.

The picture looks like it's done in MS Paint...

But anyway, you can try http://www.gifoptimizer.com

TheGraphicsExperience> Thanks for that. I'll try it and post back.

The graphic I've posted up was drawn in Autocad and then transferred to Paint Shop Pro using copy and paste. Would it be better to export out to another format rather than doing this?

The export extensions I have at my disposal are:

.dwg (save as...)
.dxf (save as...)
.dwt (save as...) -- but is for templates in ACad
.wmf
.sat
.stl
.eps
.dxx
.bmp &
.3ds

What I want to do ideally is draw the stuff in Autocad and then make it into a web friendly format

Thanks,

Scott

It seems like copy and paste should work fine... But you might try using another format such as .bmp and then once in PSP converting it to .gif. See if you get any improvment in quality. If not, copy and paste will work fine.

Good luck!

Brian Farkas

and if that doesn't work, export from CAD as a .wmf file and then open the .wmf file in an image format converter (IrfanView is the best and it's free and it does all kinds of stuff), and save as your choice of image type.

edited now I have found the IrfanView d/l site http://stud1.tuwien.ac.at/~e9227474/

[Edited by AndyB on 08-03-2000 at 07:52 PM]

If you can save it as .eps do so. Then use a Vector Program (such as Corel DRAW, Adobe Illustrator) to open the file. You can resize it without any loss in quality, and export from those programs to .gif format for the web.

Rather than cutting and pasting, .eps allows you to maintain the vector format. That way you can resize it to any size (practically) without any loss in quality other than that inherent in the display (so there will appear to be a loss of quality on the monitor, but it will still print clearly at smaller pixel sizes).

http://www.gettingstarted.net will help with the difference between true vector programs and raster programs like PhotoShop and PSP (which has vector options, but isn't a vector program). Vector programs have bitmap/raster options as well, but focus on Vectors.

Suzanne