My Scribus seems to be limited

[Bill-in-Ky]

  I already created a print book with Scribus; 158 pages.  I had photos in Tiff format.  Then I worked on a second book, also with photos in Tiff format.  Got to page 175 and could go no further.  It would not load a photo after page 175. I then started over and changed all photos to jpeg format.  Got to page 175 and then was blocked again.  The big X in the image box changes to read and the file name of the photo is shown across it.  Looking at "info", it says "missing", after the other wording.  The photo is not missing.  I can try other photos, and they will not load.  Sometimes, instead of the big X changing to red, it disappears.

   I opened a new one page Scribus document, and loaded two photos on it.  Worked for that.  Seems to me that Scribus will not go past 175 pages.  This happened on my laptop which I was using.  I then tried it on a desktop computer with a lot more memory.  Same problem.  Would not load a photo after page 175.  Bought a higher capacity memory card for my laptop, then switched back to it, after re-doing most of the book with jpeg images.  Got to pg 175 and was stymied.  Is there a limit?

[AdmFubar]

check the image cache setting in preferences. It may be related to the settings there. How big are the tifs you are using? what is the total size of all the images?

[a.l.e]

Is there a limit?

No there is no hard limit at 175 pages.

You correctly guessed that RAM can be limiting, but this time it does not seem to be the cause of the issue you're facing.

Just to be sure: can you load the images from page 175 in a different document? can you load other images on page 175 of your "broken" document?

[Bill-in-Ky]

I just typed a long message on here, but lost it because I was timed out.  I forgot this forum has a time limit, and didn't think to copy it.

[Bill-in-Ky]

Here is a shorter version of what I typed this morning.

   I opened my book in Scribus, to page 177, the last one.  I was mistaken about 175. I forgot to mention last night that almost all the pages have one or two photos.  Only a few are all text. I was able to load two photos on page 178, but when doing the second caption box, Scribus crashed. I cleared the page and started again, but had trouble.  Closed Scribus then opened the manuscript again. Was able to load one photo on page 178, but then had trouble again.  I also had Open Office open with the eBook version of this book, and that is not a problem, I think.  I can open a photo in Photoshop Elements, even though it won't load in Scribus. Attached is a screenshot showing what happens sometimes when I try to "get image" on page 178.  The X disappears.  Anyway, Scribus works fairly well until I get way up in page number, although it will crash any time if I click in the wrong place. I've had that happen numerous times.  I just reopen the book manuscript.

[Bill-in-Ky]

   I didn't answer some questions about file size.  My jpeg images are around 500 kb or more, even for horizontal images.  Some are lower. They have to be 300 ppi.  Verticals are around 800 kb, some I checked are at or over 1 meg.  It all varies according to photo content.

  The first print book I did with Scribus, 158 pages, has a Scribus file size of 1206 kb.  The PDF version, with Tiff photos embedded, is 494 megs.  I tried to save my current book I'm working on, at 177 pgs now, as a PDF to see how big that file size is.  Can't complete it.  One of the photos, on page 22, is a Tiff version.  I selected the wrong one, not the one I changed to Jpeg.  PDF conversion would not continue.  I tried to change the photo on page 22, but got the same result I got on page 178.  The X disappeared and I could not load a photo.  I tried twice, and it failed.  Even on an early page, I can't insert a photo, now.  Makes no sense.

  When this all started, my first idea was to go backward and change photos from Tiff to Jpeg, at least for some pages, to see how that worked out.  I thought computer memory was the problem.  I changed one or two photos, then ran into that problem of not loading photos.  Gave up on that and started over on the book.  I changed photos to Jpeg, then started putting the book together again.  Worked ok until I got to page 178.

[Bill-in-Ky]

  I tried again to reload a photo on page 22, and this time succeeded.  Then I tried to convert to PDF.  Again, it found a Tiff photo, on page 25.  Evidently I got a few Tiff photos mixed in.  PDF conversion stops when it gets to one, even though my whole first print book had all Tiff photos.  Now, in this 2nd print book, almost all photos are Jpeg, but PDF conversion stops when it finds a Tiff photo.  Makes no sense.  I tried to change the photo on page 25 but can't do it.  The X in the image box disappears.  Info shows that a photo is there, but it is invisible if it is.  Can't see it.  I loaded the Tiff version of that photo for page 25 in Photoshop Elements and re-saved it, with a slightly different file name.  I tried to load that one in the manuscript, but it too won't work.  Scribus is screwy and I cannot recommend it.  It's a wonder that I got the first print book done, and converted to PDF.  I can't get this second one published if I can't convert it to PDF and upload it to the publisher.  I can't get past page 177, but I could cut it short, delete a few pages, and end the book at the end of a previous part.  I'm doing a series of books about my hiking experiences, so I could cut this one a little short and continue in the next book.  I guess I'm not going to be able to use Scribus.

[AdmFubar]

I see you are using scribus version1.4.8, upgrade to 1.5.x version and see if the problem gets resolved.
If that fails, Then navigate to the scribus config directory. in windows Documents and Settings/%username/.scribus

Rename the directory without scribus running and then restart scribus. It might be there is a configuration issue, and starting with a default congfiuration might clear this. It is worth a shot.

[MrB]

While I certainly recommend moving to 1.5.x and 1.6.0 in a few weeks, your doc layout will change if you move now from 1.4.8 due to improved text rendering.
There might be some export settings you could change, eg the image compression options. You have said you need certain DPI settings but you may be able to change export format.
Alternatively, just export pages 1-100, then 101-the end and join the PDFs together.

[Bill-in-Ky]

   I finally got most of my manuscript converted to PDF.  I didn't get past page 177, so I backed up a little, deleted the last several pages, and ended the book before I intended to, at the end of a previous part, page 168.  I added one more page for a short note about what happened, and the continuation in the next book.

   I have fiddled with this for the last four days, on and off, going round and round with this issue.  Besides the page limitation, I was having trouble getting the PDF converter to work.  By the way, I looked for other PDF software, and downloaded two, one to combine multiple PDF files if I needed that.  I also got another one to convert a file to PDF.  Tried that, but then found it didn't work with sla flles, from Scribus.

   This evening I tried the PDF converter, within Scribus, to make blocks of that manuscript, 50 pages in each.  A test.  It actually worked. Got four blocks.  Later when I was about done with it all, I noticed that I had converted the first manuscript, the one with the Tiff photos.  It even worked with that.  The only thing I did differently was to check the box for photo resolution. The box with the number, 300, already showed that number, but was grayed.  I had been skipping that because I thought it was already set.  This evening, when I got on that issue again, I checked the box.  The number box lit up.  Then I tried a conversion, and it worked.  Did three more.  I guess that was the key.

   Then I made my table of contents which I had been leaving undone until I found that the PDF issue would work.  Got that done, then tried the PDF conversion on the current document.  It went a short time then Scribus crashed.  I had made a couple alterations just before, and it seems that doing anything like that can interfere with PDF, and sometimes other actions.  It closed and I reopened it and then started the PDF again.  That time it went all the way through, 169 pages, with Jpeg photos.

   Before I gave up on going past page 177, I tried again on page 178, for the umpteenth time. I actually got a photo loaded.  Then I made a caption box under it.  Got that ok.  Then made another image box and tried to get a second photo on that page and Scribus crashed.  It has crashed many times on this project. I tried a couple times more and then gave up.  Enough is enough.  I deleted those pages of the section I was working on and backed up to the previous section and ended the book there, as I said at the beginning of this post.

   Last night I downloaded the 1.5.9 verson of Scribus and opened my manuscript in that.  It showed up, but without photos.  I had the warning that if I loaded a document made with an older version, and saved it with the newer version, I could not use an older Scribus with it again.  I already had it saved with 1.4.8.  Not an issue. No photos was, so I could not use the newer version.  Had to try again with the older version.  I have put a lot of time in this book, having to re-do it with Jpeg photos this time, and didn't want to have it all fail.  Got most of it completed.  It is mandatory to have a PDF file to upload to the publisher, which is Lulu. I have to have a PDF file for a photo book, to lock everything in place. Finally got it.  Next time, I'm going to try the newer version.

[Bill-in-Ky]

   I want to add one more post to this subject, in case it might help somebody else struggling with Scribus.

   I got the book finished and published--print on demand.  I thought I was done with problems for that book, but had a big one today.  As I mentioned previously, I first made the "manuscript" with photos in Tiff format.  After page 177, I had trouble.  I think it was due to too much file size for Scribus.  So, I changed all the photos to Jpeg to lighten the load, and then started over, going through all 177 pages.  I was able to copy and paste text, so that helped a lot.  I had to insert photos just like the first time.  Got to page 177 and had trouble again.  As explained before, I had to end the book shorter than intended.  Got all that done.

   Today I used the PDF converter within Scribus to make a PDF file of the book.  I used the "High" compression quality setting, the second level, and got a PDF file size of 1.07 gb.  Way too big.  I then tried the "Medium" and "Low" settings.  Got file sizes of 1.06 gb and 1.05 gb.  Very little difference.  I tried the "Maximum" setting to see what that would do, and it came out as 1.11 gb.

   My first print book, made with Tiff photos, has a PDF file size of 494 megs.  The PDF files of this latest book, with Jpeg photos, all have more than twice that file size.  Makes no sense.  I still have the book manuscript with the Tiff photos, so I tried that in PDF.  It came out to 364 megs, which is usable. I was able to upload that and get it published. As it turned out, it is better to use Tiff photos, and not Jpeg, and that is what I will do for the next book.  Also, I'm going to try a newer version of Scribus, 1.5.9.

[Nermander]

The PDF format is limited in the types of images that can be embedded.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDF#Raster_images

Re-encoding or re-compressing images may in some cases increase the size. Especially if you have a JPEG that is compressed hard and you re-compress it to a lower compression rate the file size will increase but the image quality will not be improved.

[Bill-in-Ky]

   Thanks for the info.  I used the link to see what it brought up.  All that stuff is rather technical.  I don't get into that.  Thanks anyway.

   I had opened my original photos in Photoshop Elements and then edited as needed, and then saved them as Tiff files, at 300 ppi.  Later, when I wanted to use Jpeg images instead of Tiff, I put all those Tiff images back into Photoshop Elements, one at a time, and then saved them as Jpeg images.  I don't know if that caused a problem or not.  They became Jpeg images with a smaller file size, and I used those, then had the huge PDF file size, which cancelled the presumed benefit of using Jpegs.  I'll most likely stick with Tiff images.  Scribus will probably choke after 177 pages or somewhere around that.  I'm going to try a newer version and see if that is any better. 

[Bill-in-Ky]

  Dec. 2023-----------I just published another book, similar to the previous one, but with more pages.  This time I used Scribus 1.5.9 and it worked better.  I used Tiff images instead of Jpeg.  I went back to Tiff images in the previous book, after switching to Jpeg turned out to be bad.  Tiff images work.  I made a PDF file and the size is a little smaller than that of the previous book, yet it has 26 more pages.

Bottom line:  I'm using Scribus 1.5.9 and Tiff images.  For converting to PDF, I checked "Medium" compression quality to keep the file size down.  The previous book, set that way, looks ok.  I had photo quality set at 300 ppi.   My PDF file size is 339 megs.  Lots of photos.

[AdmFubar]

When will we see a bit of a preview of your book?