Format: File Formats
These are extracts from the FORMAT NEWSLETTER.
"A client sent me a Quark file. I don't have Quark." Here's a possible solution which is relatively easy, and free:
<http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1705645356>.
Incidentally The Editorium is a good place for "Microsoft Word Add-Ins for Publishing Professionals", at <http://www.editorium.com>
This example started with a "stuffed" (.sit) Mac file of a book typeset in QuarkXPress. First, you'll need StuffIt for Windows, which will "unstuff" that stuffed file. (StuffIt is a file compression program similar to WinZip.) You can download a trial version at: <http://www.stuffit.com/win/index.html>
When you install, it will ask if you have a "serial number", but you can click "No" it will install in "demo mode" for 30 days. To unstuff the file, drag and drop it to the "Aladdin Expander" icon on your Windows desktop. The unstuffed file will then appear on your desktop as well. There is also a free version of "Stuffit Expander".
Next, you'll need the QuarkXPress 4.1 Demo program for Windows, (not sure if later versions will do this)
Start the QuarkXPress demo, open the unstuffed file, click on "File" then on "Save Text" (which is different from the disabled "Save"). Save the text as a Word document, which will preserve styles and other formatting.
The downside to getting the QuarkXPress demo is that it's 23 megs. However it will run as a demo for ever, to be used a Quark-to-Word converter whenever the need arises.
STRANGE TIFFS
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Photoshop 6 seems to save some new versions of TIFF which PM6.5 and some other programs are not happy with -- so you may need to make sure that there are no unflattened layers (as TIFFs can now be saved with layer info) or strange settings of other kinds (such as grayscale profiles).
For example, there's now an option in Photoshop to "Save Image Pyramid". I read the explanation in the Help file and I'm no wiser.
Another format causing problems has been "indexed grayscale" from programs such as the SnagIt screen capture utility. They can cause problems with printing, and, if they print at all they can print with different grays to those you may expect. A way to overcome the problem with SnagIt can be to create the screenshots in color and batch convert to grayscale in Photoshop.
NEW VERSION OF JPEG FORMAT
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Yet another file format: JPEG 2000. The new format will use the extensions .JP2 and .JPX
Imagine saving an image in Photoshop and then being able to use it for the Web, for that print catalog you've been working on, and even for download to your PDA, all without having to alter or optimize it past that initial save. This is the promise of JPEG 2000. On CreativePro's website, contributing editor Anita Dennis forecasts:
"Since JPEG's genesis more than 10 years ago as a means of allowing photojournalists to transmit images from the field -- its acronym stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group -- there have been numerous improvements in terms of compression algorithms and CPU speed that allow the format to be improved. JPEG 2000, based on what's called wavelet transform, not only results in truer decompressed images but also offers several new benefits. Most notably, JPEG 2000 images let designers and publishers determine the bit depth and resolution of the final decompressed image, making it a much more dynamic and flexible format."
A JPEG PROBLEM
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We've had several problems recently trying to explain how the JPEG file format works. One cause was that we received some JPEG pictures for a newsletter that were nowhere near as good as previous pictures from the same source. The client had purchased a digital camera, and we were impressed enough with the quality to ask what model it was -- they were easily good enough to use close to half tabloid page size at around 85 lines per inch.
Then, a month or so later we received some that just weren't good enough, even for 6 x 4 inch reproduction on newsprint. The file sizes were also alarmingly small -- around 90 to 150kb.
Initial denials that anything was being done differently expired when we asked them to just take a picture, any picture, with the camera, download it to their PC and email it to us. It came in around 400kb.
We knew what was happening. They hadn't been tempted to use the lower resolution settings on the camera to get more pictures into storage. What had happened was that one person had opened the files in a picture editing program, and then saved them. The default compression settings applied to the file and it got smaller.
Photoshop will not automatically bring a JPEG down to a more compressed setting unless you deliberately select that, but it seems not all image editing programs are as forgiving. And even Photoshop warns in its help file: "You should always save JPEG files from the original image, not from a previously saved JPEG."
We've now suggested they print out a notice to go on the wall by the PC -- "if you open a pic to look CLOSE the file, don't SAVE it!". We've also suggested that the keep the pics as downloaded in a separate folder and make a copy for the office to look at. As long as they remember to go back to the originals to send to us, we'll have good pics again.
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