ksuzuki@caen.engin.umich.edu (KATSUYUKI SUZUKI ) (05/31/90)
Hi, everyone. I have question about printing grey scale picture on Laser
Printer. I have gray scale PICT format picture,(it is density plot) and
I pasted that file to MS Word 4.0, and printed to Laser Writer, since
Laser Printer can print gray scale. It looked fine on the monitor, but
when it was printed,the picture looked so awful.
Does anybody know how to escape from this problem? I prefer to use
MS Word 4.0 to print, but if MS Word cannot do this and other word
processing or DTP program can do this, I don't mind buying one. Also,
I know that MS Word support Post Script type of picture which you can
option-copy and paste into MS Word, but this is not what I want. (Since
picture is complicated, PostScript data is so huge, and scroll on
MS Word becomes unbearably slow.
Either post or e-mail is fine. I will forward answers I receive if you
are interested. Thanks in advance.
Katsu Suzuki
University of Michigan, Department of Aerospace Engineeringnews@haddock.ima.isc.com (overhead) (06/01/90)
In article <2452@zipeecs.umich.edu> ksuzuki@caen.engin.umich.edu (KATSUYUKI SUZUKI ) writes: >Hi, everyone. I have question about printing grey scale picture on Laser >Printer. I have gray scale PICT format picture,(it is density plot) and >I pasted that file to MS Word 4.0, and printed to Laser Writer, since >Laser Printer can print gray scale. It looked fine on the monitor, but >when it was printed,the picture looked so awful. I have Word, and Digital Darkroom. If you import the PICT in Digital Darkroom, export it as a halftone'd TIFF, you can read that in with Word. Canvas 2.0, 2.1 also have a halftoning feature, though without anywhere near as much flexability. You can cut & paste. Canvas is also convenient for changing the resolution of an image. Say it was 300 dpi (you just halftoned it), you can tell it that it is now 150 dpi (twice as big). I don't know of a word processor that will do halftoning (though I haven't looked). Cheapcolor was posted to the net recently (last six months). It can also halftone for you. It will produce a 75 dpi halftone (rather than 300 dpi as with Canvas or Digital Darkroom). It is designed for color printing on an imagewriter, but I used it to print on my laser printer. I don't recall if it has export capability. I think so. If you are going to be doing much multi-bit-per-pixel stuff on your Mac, I'd get Digital Darkroom. Stephen. suitti@ima.ima.isc.com
thwang@cory.Berkeley.EDU (HWANG TSONG-WEN) (06/04/90)
In article <16756@haddock.ima.isc.com> suitti@anchovy.UUCP (Stephen Uitti) writes: >If you are going to be doing much multi-bit-per-pixel stuff on >your Mac, I'd get Digital Darkroom. > >Stephen. >suitti@ima.ima.isc.com I dunno. Look for a program called Enhance from MicroFrontiers. It's harder to find since it only started shipping recently. On the other hand, it's _much_ faster and has a generally more flexible control set. Also, it works with (read: requires) 32-bit Quickdraw; Digital Darkroom produces pictures with compressed grayscale under 32-bit Quickdraw. Last but not least, it supports compressed TIFF files -- a big space saver. There's a review of it in, I think, the March 1990 MacWorld. John Yen csdq122@emx.cc.utexas.edu
Leo.Bores@f14.n114.z1.fidonet.org (Leo Bores) (06/06/90)
In an article of <30 May 90 18:43:49 GMT>, ksuzuki@caen.engin.umich.edu
(KATSUYUKI SUZUKI ) writes:
KS>Hi, everyone. I have question about printing grey scale picture on
KS>Laser
KS>Printer. I have gray scale PICT format picture,(it is density plot) and
KS>
KS>I pasted that file to MS Word 4.0, and printed to Laser Writer, since
KS>Laser Printer can print gray scale. It looked fine on the monitor, but
KS>when it was printed,the picture looked so awful.
It is doubtful that you will be able to obtain what you are looking for on a
300 dpi printer. Output MIGHT be better on some of the newer printers that use
dots with variable pitch. We've had the same problem and with Half-Tones. To
get the appearance you want - you may have to have it printed out on Varityper
or Lino with at lesat 1200 dpi.
Leo Bores, M.D.
--
Uucp: ...{gatech,ames,rutgers}!ncar!asuvax!stjhmc!14!Leo.Bores
Internet: Leo.Bores@f14.n114.z1.fidonet.orgMM93ECOF@MIAMIU.BITNET (06/06/90)
The Laserwriter print driver may also affect quality. The 6.0 driver gives better grayscale output. I got it on a disk from the Apple Rep as part of the 32 bit QD files.
news@haddock.ima.isc.com (overhead) (06/06/90)
In article <19845.266C6141@stjhmc.fidonet.org> Leo.Bores@f14.n114.z1.fidonet.org (Leo Bores) writes: >In an article of <30 May 90 18:43:49 GMT>, ksuzuki@caen.engin.umich.edu >(KATSUYUKI SUZUKI ) writes: > KS>Hi, everyone. I have question about printing grey scale picture on > KS>Laser > KS>Printer. I have gray scale PICT format picture,(it is density plot) and > KS> > KS>I pasted that file to MS Word 4.0, and printed to Laser Writer, since > KS>Laser Printer can print gray scale. It looked fine on the monitor, but > KS>when it was printed,the picture looked so awful. > LB>It is doubtful that you will be able to obtain what you are looking LB>for on a 300 dpi printer. [stuff about using a variable pitch printer...] I posted about using Digital Darkroom before. Yes, it is true that a 300 DPI printer isn't going to get you photo quality. Yes, it is true that a Linotronics 1200 DPI or better printer will be better (magazine picture quality). Without knowing what you need, I've no idea if it will do it for you. In Boston, you can bring a disk to a self-serve shop and use their phototypesetter for something like $10/page. I did this for a business card master once. I think of halftoning this way: take a grey pixel, create a 4 x 4 dot matrix to correspond to it (you get 17 greys, white, and one grey for each additional dot. Avoid patterns with neighbors by rearranging dots). I've done several 8 1/2 x 11 newsletters. I scan stuff at 75 dpi, 32 grays (Thunderscan), then halftone them. This is enough information for a 300 dpi halftone (it basically gives you 75 dpi with 17 grays). Sometimes I'll print the pictures at 150 dpi (double size) so that it photocopies better. Yes, this is only (roughly) 38 DPI, 17 grays. This is often "enough". Other stuff I've done is 300 dpi halftones, 8 x 10 inches. Basically full page. It can look pretty good. There are enough dots. Digital Darkroom gives you contrast, brightness, clipping, and scaling options to allow you get the most out of a picture. All the painting, splicing, and effects are real nice, too. Disclaimer, I don't work for Silicon Beach... I'm just a happy user. Stephen. suitti@ima.ima.isc.com Nothing is better than sex. Masturbation is better than nothing. Therefore, masturbation is better than sex.
philip@Pescadero.Stanford.EDU (Philip Machanick) (06/07/90)
In article <19845.266C6141@stjhmc.fidonet.org>, Leo.Bores@f14.n114.z1.fidonet.org (Leo Bores) writes: > In an article of <30 May 90 18:43:49 GMT>, ksuzuki@caen.engin.umich.edu > (KATSUYUKI SUZUKI ) writes: > > KS>Hi, everyone. I have question about printing grey scale picture on > KS>Laser > KS>Printer. I have gray scale PICT format picture,(it is density plot) and > KS> > KS>I pasted that file to MS Word 4.0, and printed to Laser Writer, since > KS>Laser Printer can print gray scale. It looked fine on the monitor, but > KS>when it was printed,the picture looked so awful. > > It is doubtful that you will be able to obtain what you are looking for on a > 300 dpi printer. Output MIGHT be better on some of the newer printers that use > dots with variable pitch. We've had the same problem and with Half-Tones. To > get the appearance you want - you may have to have it printed out on Varityper > or Lino with at lesat 1200 dpi. Correction - a laser printer DOESN'T print gray scale strictly speaking. It uses halftones to simulate grey scales. Your screen can vary the brightness of a dot (pixel); your printer can't - it simulates the effect by changing the number of dots it prints. This is why you need so much more resolution for a printer for gray scale (and for that matter color) rendition. Philip Machanick philip@pescadero.stanford.edu