Scribus Forums

Scribus => Beginner Talk => Topic started by: miquar on June 04, 2014, 11:55:23 PM

Title: Blurred images
Post by: miquar on June 04, 2014, 11:55:23 PM
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
Title: Re: Blurred images
Post by: utnik on June 05, 2014, 12:03:17 AM
hi miquar
utnik

Title: Re: Blurred images
Post by: mnawij on June 05, 2014, 05:21:36 AM
Hey miquar, any chance of posting the image, scribus file, pdf file?  Easier to troubleshoot.

mnawij
Title: Re: Blurred images
Post by: miquar on June 05, 2014, 10:25:36 AM
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]
Title: Re: Blurred images
Post by: utnik on June 05, 2014, 06:24:03 PM
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
Title: Re: Blurred images
Post by: miquar on June 05, 2014, 09:06:54 PM
Hi utnik. Thanks for looking at this. I've sent dropbox links to you by PM.

Best wishes,

Miquar
Title: Re: Blurred images
Post by: utnik on June 06, 2014, 09:50:56 AM
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...)
hope that helps!

utnik
Title: Re: Blurred images
Post by: miquar on June 07, 2014, 12:10:33 PM
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.
Title: Re: Blurred images
Post by: utnik on June 07, 2014, 01:30:14 PM
hi miquar

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

utnik
Title: Re: Blurred images
Post by: miquar on June 07, 2014, 01:36:03 PM
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
Title: Re: Blurred images
Post by: miquar on June 07, 2014, 10:14:25 PM
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.
Title: Re: Blurred images
Post by: utnik on June 08, 2014, 08:50:14 AM
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
Title: Re: Blurred images
Post by: miquar on June 08, 2014, 09:38:22 PM
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
Title: Re: Blurred images
Post by: utnik on June 08, 2014, 10:19:10 PM
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
Title: Re: Blurred images
Post by: miquar on June 09, 2014, 10:07:45 AM
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
Title: Re: Blurred images
Post by: miquar on June 09, 2014, 10:31:37 AM
And if you don't mind me throwing in another question: I've created a table, but it won't let me type text into it. Do you know what I'm missing here?

Many thanks
Title: Re: Blurred images
Post by: utnik on June 09, 2014, 11:10:22 AM
Quote from: miquar on June 09, 2014, 10:07:45 AM...the text in the text frame had become more emboldened. Have you any idea why this might be?

i'm not sure about that. when i open your .psd file photoshop (cs4) tells me: 'some layers might need to be updated beefore they can be used for vector based output.' – i clicked 'update' – might have something to do with it. (text converted to outlines becomes a little bit bolder than real text. it's rendered in a different way...)

QuoteI've created a table, but it won't let me type text into it.

press the 'alt' key, while you double click a cell – but tables in scribus are not really advanced. a table is a simple group of text frames. (i try to avoid them...)

utnik
Title: Re: Blurred images
Post by: miquar on June 09, 2014, 12:19:45 PM
Many thanks for all your help, utnik. I'll try allowing the software to make that change.
Title: Re: Blurred images
Post by: miquar on June 11, 2014, 10:27:56 AM
Hi. Thanks for all your help utnik.

I've had to leave the images as psd files while I'm working on the book, because the pdf files are very pixelated on the screen. But I'll switch them all for pdf files before I save the whole thing as pdf pages.

And yes, I was surprised how primitive the tables are on Scribus - I've had to create most of them on photoshop and put them in as images.

Thanks again. Best wishes,

Miquar