Anti-alias fonts (smoothng) when "Saved As" pic file

[kkorotev]

I am new to powerpoint and have scoured all the menus to find a way to
anti-alias fonts to their background when I "Save As"
a picture file. It doesn't matter what format. Printed directly from
PPT, the slide is fine...when FONT SMOOTHING is on (CONTROL
PANEL/DISPLAY/EFFECTS) the slide also looks fine...it is only under the
specific conditions I mention that the fonts end up looking like they
were built with a chainsaw.
I am using Powerpoint 2002 with sp3 (although I know this doesn't
really matter either) w/Windows XP.

Fixes?

Kevin Korotev
Milwaukee

 

[Echo S]

What format are you trying to save as? Usually PNG looks a bit better than
most other options. EMF actually does the best with text, as far as I'm
concerned.

When I run into bad text on image exports, I'll use Steve Rindsberg's image
export add-in and set the export size to the next up from what I expect most
systems running the presentation to use. In other words, if I expect most of
my users to have a screen res and view the images on 1024x768, I'll export
at 1152x864 or 1280x1024. When I size them down to fit appropriately on the
screen/slide/page/whatever, the text looks better.

The Image Exporter is here: http://www.rdpslides.com/pptools/FAQ00005.htm

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

I am new to powerpoint and have scoured all the menus to find a way to
anti-alias fonts to their background when I "Save As"
a picture file. It doesn't matter what format. Printed directly from
PPT, the slide is fine...when FONT SMOOTHING is on (CONTROL
PANEL/DISPLAY/EFFECTS) the slide also looks fine...it is only under the
specific conditions I mention that the fonts end up looking like they
were built with a chainsaw.
I am using Powerpoint 2002 with sp3 (although I know this doesn't
really matter either) w/Windows XP.

Fixes?

Kick it. Hard. It doesn't make the images look any better, but you may *feel*
better.

What you need to do is export at high resolution, then use another app to
downsample back to the final resolution you're after. IrfanView works fine,
does things in batch if you like and it's free at www.irfanview.com

Improve PowerPoint's GIF, BMP, PNG, JPG export resolution
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00052.htm

 

[TAJ Simmons]

What Steve R said but also.....


another trick is to either manually do a Screen Grab (using print screen key
on keyboard) of each screen (as this captures the font smoothing /
anti-alias)...or use that screen capture software from techsmith.com (the
name escapes me)

Cheers
TAJ Simmons
microsoft powerpoint mvp

awesome - powerpoint backgrounds,
http://www.awesomebackgrounds.com
free powerpoint templates, tutorials, hints, tips and more...

 

[Guest]

The screen capture software you are talking about is SnagIt, which works very
well, by the way, and leads directly to my question.

My problem is the opposite of kkorotev's. I want Office apps to stop
applying anti-aliasing automatically when I import a screen shot captured
with SnagIt. I need to prepare manuals where I use small screen-shots as
visual cues. When anti-aliased text is shrunk to a small size, it turns to
mush.

I have "Smooth edges of screen fonts" unchecked in Display Properties, and
"Smooth scaling" turned off in SnagIt. If I drop a screen shot captured this
was into Photo Editor or Kodak Imaging, the font edges stay razor sharp (and
jaggy, of course). When I drop them into an Office application, the edges
are anti-aliased. It doesn't matter whether I save the screen shot as a file
(my favorite is TIFF) or paste it from the Clipboard - the result is the same.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[Echo S]

Try saving the snagged file as a PNG. I find those usually do better with
text than TIFs do.

Or better yet, save as a WMF or EMF. SnagIt has both of those file types as
options as well.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com

The screen capture software you are talking about is SnagIt, which works very
well, by the way, and leads directly to my question.

My problem is the opposite of kkorotev's. I want Office apps to stop
applying anti-aliasing automatically when I import a screen shot captured
with SnagIt. I need to prepare manuals where I use small screen-shots as
visual cues. When anti-aliased text is shrunk to a small size, it turns to
mush.

I have "Smooth edges of screen fonts" unchecked in Display Properties, and
"Smooth scaling" turned off in SnagIt. If I drop a screen shot captured this
was into Photo Editor or Kodak Imaging, the font edges stay razor sharp (and
jaggy, of course). When I drop them into an Office application, the edges
are anti-aliased. It doesn't matter whether I save the screen shot as a file
(my favorite is TIFF) or paste it from the Clipboard - the result is the same.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

What Steve R said but also.....


another trick is to either manually do a Screen Grab (using print screen key
on keyboard) of each screen (as this captures the font smoothing /
anti-alias)...or use that screen capture software from techsmith.com (the
name escapes me)

Cheers
TAJ Simmons
microsoft powerpoint mvp

awesome - powerpoint backgrounds,
http://www.awesomebackgrounds.com
free powerpoint templates, tutorials, hints, tips and more...

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the suggestions. I tried all 3 formats, with much the same result
as with TIFF. I also tried BMP, with the same results. The problem seems to
arise when the image is inserted in the Office app (in this case, Word 2000,
but I have a similar problem with Visio), and it applies to all
sharply-contrasting edges, not just fonts. The captured image is not
anti-aliased by SnagIt as far as I can tell - when I view it in other image
software I have, the edges are sharp and distinct. I was hoping there might
be an obscure setting in Office that turned anti-aliasing off. I have a BMP
file that shows the difference, but I do not see a way to attach it to this
reply.

(By the way, I realize I am talking about Word and Visio on a PowerPoint
forum, but this was the only thread on anti-aliasing I could find on the
whole site.)

Try saving the snagged file as a PNG. I find those usually do better with
text than TIFs do.

Or better yet, save as a WMF or EMF. SnagIt has both of those file types as
options as well.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com

The screen capture software you are talking about is SnagIt, which works very
well, by the way, and leads directly to my question.

My problem is the opposite of kkorotev's. I want Office apps to stop
applying anti-aliasing automatically when I import a screen shot captured
with SnagIt. I need to prepare manuals where I use small screen-shots as
visual cues. When anti-aliased text is shrunk to a small size, it turns to
mush.

I have "Smooth edges of screen fonts" unchecked in Display Properties, and
"Smooth scaling" turned off in SnagIt. If I drop a screen shot captured this
was into Photo Editor or Kodak Imaging, the font edges stay razor sharp (and
jaggy, of course). When I drop them into an Office application, the edges
are anti-aliased. It doesn't matter whether I save the screen shot as a file
(my favorite is TIFF) or paste it from the Clipboard - the result is the same.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[Echo S]

I understand what you mean about the antialiasing. And yeah, we have threads
about it now and then, because PPT is generally where people notice the
issue. And it's most definitely a known issue, especially with text.

I believe PPT doesn't antialias vector images. WMF and EMF are vector
images, which is why I thought they might work. But you might try
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00065.htm (MUSHY/BLURRY GRAPHICS in
PowerPoint) -- maybe it will give you some ideas to try. Dunno if they'll
work in Word or not, though.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com

Thanks for the suggestions. I tried all 3 formats, with much the same result
as with TIFF. I also tried BMP, with the same results. The problem seems to
arise when the image is inserted in the Office app (in this case, Word 2000,
but I have a similar problem with Visio), and it applies to all
sharply-contrasting edges, not just fonts. The captured image is not
anti-aliased by SnagIt as far as I can tell - when I view it in other image
software I have, the edges are sharp and distinct. I was hoping there might
be an obscure setting in Office that turned anti-aliasing off. I have a BMP
file that shows the difference, but I do not see a way to attach it to this
reply.

(By the way, I realize I am talking about Word and Visio on a PowerPoint
forum, but this was the only thread on anti-aliasing I could find on the
whole site.)

Try saving the snagged file as a PNG. I find those usually do better with
text than TIFs do.

Or better yet, save as a WMF or EMF. SnagIt has both of those file types as
options as well.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com

The screen capture software you are talking about is SnagIt, which

works
very

well, by the way, and leads directly to my question.

My problem is the opposite of kkorotev's. I want Office apps to stop
applying anti-aliasing automatically when I import a screen shot captured
with SnagIt. I need to prepare manuals where I use small screen-shots as
visual cues. When anti-aliased text is shrunk to a small size, it

turns
to

mush.

I have "Smooth edges of screen fonts" unchecked in Display Properties, and
"Smooth scaling" turned off in SnagIt. If I drop a screen shot

captured
this

was into Photo Editor or Kodak Imaging, the font edges stay razor

sharp
(and

jaggy, of course). When I drop them into an Office application, the edges
are anti-aliased. It doesn't matter whether I save the screen shot as

a
file

(my favorite is TIFF) or paste it from the Clipboard - the result is

the
same.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

:

What Steve R said but also.....


another trick is to either manually do a Screen Grab (using print

screen
key

on keyboard) of each screen (as this captures the font smoothing /
anti-alias)...or use that screen capture software from techsmith.com (the
name escapes me)

Cheers
TAJ Simmons
microsoft powerpoint mvp

awesome - powerpoint backgrounds,
http://www.awesomebackgrounds.com
free powerpoint templates, tutorials, hints, tips and more...


way
to under
the you
may app
to

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Saving as a WMF that includes at least one vector object seems to persuade PPT
to keep its mushy little fingers off your pixels.

MUSHY/BLURRY GRAPHICS in PowerPoint
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00065.htm

 

[Guest]

"MUSHY/BLURRY GRAPHICS in PowerPoint" certainly describes what I am seeing.
To the best of my ability to test, it appears that the PowerPoint trick does
not work in Word. I have had limited success by playing with the brightness
and contrast of captured screen shoots, but it is not really practical when a
lot of captures need to be processed.

Thanks again to Echo and Steve for their suggestions and information - "You
can't get there from here" is not a happy answer, but at least it stops the
head-banging.

If anyone in the Office group at Microsoft is listening, the ability to turn
anti-aliasing off would be a valuable feature tho those of us who write
program manuals using Word.

BrianD. Miller

Thanks for the suggestions. I tried all 3 formats, with much the same result
as with TIFF. I also tried BMP, with the same results. The problem seems to
arise when the image is inserted in the Office app (in this case, Word 2000,
but I have a similar problem with Visio), and it applies to all
sharply-contrasting edges, not just fonts. The captured image is not
anti-aliased by SnagIt as far as I can tell - when I view it in other image
software I have, the edges are sharp and distinct. I was hoping there might
be an obscure setting in Office that turned anti-aliasing off. I have a BMP
file that shows the difference, but I do not see a way to attach it to this
reply.

(By the way, I realize I am talking about Word and Visio on a PowerPoint
forum, but this was the only thread on anti-aliasing I could find on the
whole site.)

Try saving the snagged file as a PNG. I find those usually do better with
text than TIFs do.

Or better yet, save as a WMF or EMF. SnagIt has both of those file types as
options as well.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com

The screen capture software you are talking about is SnagIt, which works very
well, by the way, and leads directly to my question.

My problem is the opposite of kkorotev's. I want Office apps to stop
applying anti-aliasing automatically when I import a screen shot captured
with SnagIt. I need to prepare manuals where I use small screen-shots as
visual cues. When anti-aliased text is shrunk to a small size, it turns to
mush.

I have "Smooth edges of screen fonts" unchecked in Display Properties, and
"Smooth scaling" turned off in SnagIt. If I drop a screen shot captured this
was into Photo Editor or Kodak Imaging, the font edges stay razor sharp (and
jaggy, of course). When I drop them into an Office application, the edges
are anti-aliased. It doesn't matter whether I save the screen shot as a file
(my favorite is TIFF) or paste it from the Clipboard - the result is the same.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

:

What Steve R said but also.....


another trick is to either manually do a Screen Grab (using print screen key
on keyboard) of each screen (as this captures the font smoothing /
anti-alias)...or use that screen capture software from techsmith.com (the
name escapes me)

Cheers
TAJ Simmons
microsoft powerpoint mvp

awesome - powerpoint backgrounds,
http://www.awesomebackgrounds.com
free powerpoint templates, tutorials, hints, tips and more...