Blurred images

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miquar

Hi. I'm writing a book at the moment and have begun to type-set it using Scribus. I don't have the funds for professional help, so I'm hoping that someone will be able to help me with a hitch I've encountered. When I place psd image in an image frame, it is fuzzy, and it is also fuzzy when I print the page. Does anyone know where I'm going wrong?

Many thanks for sharing your experience,

miquar

utnik

hi miquar

       
  • are you printing from a .pdf file?
  • what's the resolution of your placed images? ('extras' → 'manage images' → 'information' → 'layout' → 'effective dpi')
  • what are your settings in 'save as pdf' → 'general' → 'maximum image resolution'?
utnik


mnawij

Hey miquar, any chance of posting the image, scribus file, pdf file?  Easier to troubleshoot.

mnawij

miquar

Hi. Thank you both for your replies.

The effective DPI is 300 x 300, and the image is about 1200 pixels x 1200 pixels. I created these images using photoshop and saved then as psd files, then added them to their image frames. I haven't converted any of what I've done to pdf files yet.

The images are fuzzy on the screen and then very pixelated when printed. The text in the text frames is showing and printing very clearly.

I'll try and attach one of them. It doesn't seem to want to upload the psd file, so I'll try as a jpg. Thanks again.

[attachment deleted by admin]

utnik

#4
hi miquar

Quote from: miquar on June 05, 2014, 10:25:36 AM...It doesn't seem to want to upload the psd file...
this .jpg file doesn't help to understand your problem – for a closer look i need an .sla file and an image that produces this problem. (you could upload a .zip file or place the files somewhere else and post a link...)

utnik

miquar

Hi utnik. Thanks for looking at this. I've sent dropbox links to you by PM.

Best wishes,

Miquar

utnik

hi miquar

i think, scribus can not handle a .psd file with all this unrendered text layers.
every black dot is set as a character on its own layer (some of them with native transparency) – all this will be rendered to the resolution of the image (in your case 300ppi – which is a bit low for text and line art...)

       
  • the best solution for illustrations like this one would be a vector programm (like illustrator, draw or inkscape...)
  • for line art images choose a higher resolution (~1200ppi – depends on the printer...)
  • if you need this file, open it with photoshop and save it as a .pdf file (.pdf 1.3 to flatten the transparency) and place it in your image frame (check 'embed pdf & eps files' when generating your print file – otherwise the file will be rendered as an image...)
hope that helps!

utnik

miquar

Hi. Thanks utnik.

I saved one of the images as a pdf file, and then imported it into an image frame. But I can't see the image on the screen - just a red cross, with the file name across the middle in red writing.

utnik

hi miquar

do you have ghostscript installed? – could be necessary to interpret placed .pdf files. (i don't have a ghostscript free system – so i can't check it...)

utnik

miquar

Ah yes! I ignored the window that keeps coming up about ghost script not being installed. I'll try to install it later and see if that helps.

Thanks for your patience.

Best wishes,

Miquar

miquar

Hi again. I thought I'd downloaded and installed ghostscript just now, but I'm not sure. Every time I try to open it, it just takes me to the installation wizard, which I have followed through to the finish a couple of times. Have you any ideas what I need to do? The pdf image still doesn't go in - just the file name in red letters still.

utnik

hi miquar

you need to tell scribus, where to find ghostscript (don't know the correct path for win 7...)
search for 'gswin32c.exe' or something alike for 64 bit and set the path in scribus under 'preferences' → 'external tools' → 'postScript interpreter'.

utnik

miquar

Hi and thanks. I think it knows where the ghostscript program is now, but still no change with the images. I've tried flattening before saving as a pdf, but its still not going in clearly.

If I use different software to create images, can I definitely avoid this problem?

Thanks again,

Miquar

utnik

hi miquar

i sent you an example .pdf file with your illustration – take a look at it.

there's not a problem with blurred images, but for this sort of illustrations (line art, text...) images (pixel graphics) aren't the best choice. you should really work with vector graphics for this!

utnik

miquar

Hi utnik.

I think I'm getting somewhere now. Thanks for your sustained support. I didn't realise that there was a link to some files on your message - sorry. I printed a page from the pdf file you sent and it prints very clearly - though I can see that the lines might look better if I'd used vectors rather than pixels.

I saved another image as a pdf and put it onto a page in the book and then saved that page as a pdf, with the embed pdf/eps box that you mentioned ticked. When I printed this page, the image (including the text within the image) was almost the same quality as the one I printed from your file, but the text in the text frame had become more emboldened. Have you any idea why this might be?

Thanks again. Best wishes,

Miquar