Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Topic: New excellent method revisited (Read 2886 times) previous topic - next topic

New excellent method revisited

(I tried posting this in the "New excellent method..." thread, but for whatever reason it wouldn't let me...)

For whatever reason, commonly available .wmf readers such as Irfanview import .wmf files at the resolution specified by the resolution of the default or active printer when the file was created. The problem with, say, 300 dpi is that the note stems are still but one pixel wide. Resizing them to a lower resolution causes most of them to disappear, resampling (i.e. applying anti-aliasing) makes them grey and fuzzy.

Joe, I got your system to work by simply copying your resolution definitions into my existing printer definition file (defprtr2.ppd, as supplied by Adobe with their Generic PostScript printer driver... I've recently switched to this because the Windows one crashes on some files for no good reason). What a great idea!! The low-res gif images produced using your method are far superior to resampled hi-res images.

If anyone wants to do an A-B comparison, have a look at these files:

http://www.netidea.com/~fredn/other/test96.gif

(96 dpi)

and

http://www.netidea.com/~fredn/other/test300.gif

(resampled 300 dpi)

Re: New excellent method revisited

Reply #1 –
Indeed, Fred's two samples show the difference. (Fred: I just sent you an E-mail suggesting how to fix your installation problem. I hadn't read your above message first. I now see that you found the solution yourself).

NWC users: Remember, it is asking too much of your computer monitor to have it display anything complicated at monitor resolution. My "Dummy Resolution" method is for simple things. A GIF image showing just how well the method works is on the page where I put the software:

http://www.scshop.com/~joemusic/dummyres.htm

If you have installation difficulties, I suggest that (1) You read the accompanying instructions dummyres_readme.txt, or if that doesn't help, use Notepad to open the DUMMYRES.PPD file and take a peek at what I did. Knowledgeable users can figure out what to do from there.

Re: New excellent method revisited

Reply #2 –
Did you reverse those two samples? because on my monitor the resampled 300 dpi is VASTLY superior to the other in clarity, legibility, crispness, etc. etc. etc.
 

Re: New excellent method revisited

Reply #3 –
I'm sure that Fred put the samples in correct order. On my monitor, the scaled 300 dpi looks better, too. There is a reason.

My method of "Dummy Resulution" achieves one purpose only" sharpness of the line art (and text). In certain situations, particularly when there are a lot of staffs (staves?) or notation on a page, the staff size has to be kept small in order to fit everything in. In such a situation, using "Dummy Resolution" is counter-productive. In fact, when the music is complicated, PDF format is the way to go.

As I stated originally, "Dummy Resolution" works best when the desired GIF image is of something relatively short and simple, such as a folk song or church hymn without many staffs (staves?). That allows the staff, lyric, and text sizes (within NWC) to be set large enough for "Dummy Resolution" to play with. See the sample "Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light" on http://www.scshop.com/~joemusic/dummyres.htm

It is a matter of personal taste. Sharp images can be made fuzzy (or, anti-aliased) more easily than fuzzy images can be made sharp.