| Re .0:
> Has anyone out there sucessfully printed something like a 16 grey scale
> graphic from within Prowrite ?
>
> I do get a picture printed, but the results are somewhat disappointing.
I haven't tried anything beyond simple line drawings, but I think there
may be some mis-understanding of how ProWrite handles graphics. The
visual quality of the graphic is related to two factors, either of
which can make for bad results.
1. When ProWrite imports bit-mapped graphics, there is often loss of
information as the LOWER resolution (ProWrite screen and graphic)
applies. Printers usually have higher resolutions than the ProWrite
screen, so "jaggies" appear. It COULD be that ProWrite 3.2's "High
Quality" mode can reclaim the lost information from the original
graphic data, if it's still around, but I don't know that it does.
I also don't know if ProWrite will properly render STRUCTURED
graphics (al� outline fonts) to retain maximum resolution.
2. ProWrite uses a dithering scheme to render color graphics. It
knows that color printers have a VERY limited palette, so it does
color mixing to achieve colors that match the imported palette.
Again, the limitations of the printer will cause information loss,
especially in the dynamics (brightness & saturation) of the image.
> I am using an LA75 in 'Other' mode, with the CBM1000 (whatever) printer
> driver and selecting the highest-density print mode available. I'm
> using Prowrite 3.2 (with the patches to take it to 3.2.2, thanks to
> however posted the patches !).
I'm also grateful for the 3.2.2 patches.
> Generally on screen it looks like Prowrite is reducing the display
> colours of the picture down to about 4. I am starting Prowrite with 16
> colours specified.
ProWrite does its most serious dithering at print time. Since ProWrite
uses a non-HAM screen, it needs to map the image into its palette
without stomping on the colors used for text and its own display. It's
quite likely that ProWrite reserves a handful of colors for included
graphics and does the best it can within that constraint.
> Tonight I changed pallette before loading the picture and it didn't
> seem to colour reduce the picture as much on screen. Still the printed
> results were still not what I'd hoped.
If you load the same image into Deluxe Paint (or whatever) and set its
palette for the 16 shades of grey. When you print, what do you get?
That's the upper limit of what you can expect from ProWrite. You're
constrained by a number of PHYSICAL limitations as much as anything.
Consider how many printer pixels will be available to represent each
screen pixel. Then consider how 16 shades of grey could be represented
within that small number of dots. You're asking a LOT.
|
| re: Note 5311.0 by Mike "Thank Heaven for small Murphys !"
> -< ProWrite Graphics Printing >-
> Generally on screen it looks like Prowrite is reducing the display
> colours of the picture down to about 4. I am starting Prowrite with 16
> colours specified.
> Any suggestions, comments etc. ?
The screen setup is for display only and usually bears little resemblance to
graphics that get printed. 8 or 16 color screen shouldn't affect what gets
printed.
When the new ProWrite prints, you can specify 8, 64, or 4096 color printing.
Only 4096 color printing will generate 16 grey levels.
(64 color will generate 4 grey levels, 8 color reduces you to black, white,
plus the primary additive and subtractive colors.)
Cheers,
Jim
|
| >>>Only 4096 color printing will generate 16 grey levels.
>>>(64 color will generate 4 grey levels, 8 color reduces you to black, white,
>>>plus the primary additive and subtractive colors.)
Thanks for that, I'll try printing the graphic again and set what
results I get. I did try printing another picture from within Prowrite
last night and as it was 256/ham colours I selected 4096 in the print
requestor. The output was quite reasonable.
Thanks
Mike
|