Links. Blog. Great Images for Papers and Presentations 5/24/2011. Overview. Find help for entire process Quick link Theses and Dissertations

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1 Overview Great Images for Papers and Presentations May 26, 2011 Web Tips Definitions Using the Michigan Tech logo Photography 101 Great images from others Great images you create PDF conversion Final words 2 What s important on the web? Find help for entire process Quick link Theses and Dissertations Quick Links are on every page in our domain: mtu.edu/gradschool Resources All forms Links Blog Resources FAQ Online seminars 3 4 Graduate School Blog Theses and dissertations section answers how to questions based on common student questions Quick Link: Professional Resources Online seminar archive Adobe Acrobat July 7, 2009 Embedding fonts, hyperlinks, bookmarks, image settings Sample Word and PDF documents Summer 2010 Seminar Series Tips and Tricks for MS Office May 19, 2010 An Introduction to EndNote June 30, 2010 An Introduction to Copyright July 14, 2010 Summer 2011 Seminar Series Submitting your Thesis or Dissertation May 19, 2011 An Introduction to LaTeX June 23,

2 Requirements for theses & dissertations 300 ppi images Minimum quality for publishing in journal articles Exceptions: Screenshots when it is the only way to obtain an image Technically not possible to be higher quality Not having time or funds to create the images is not a technical reason for not having high resolution images Clear, readable and reproducible Type can be easily read, lines easily distinguished Do not take a low resolution image and make it high res. Definitions 7 Vector Images vs. Raster Images Vector images look good at any size Mathematical representation of lines, curves Generally used for cartoons, line drawings Raster images only look good at the size they were intended to be Images are comprised of pixels or dots The number of pixels you collect and the resolution you need determines the appropriate size of the image Vector images can be converted to raster images by scanning or exporting them Megapixels The size of a raster image is defined by how many pixels are in the image A 3 Megapixel camera will take images with 3,000,000 pixels when photos are taken at the best picture settings Most cameras have multiple quality settings You might select low quality to save on file size and fit more photos on a disk Check the settings before you start taking photos! 9 10 Megapixel Example dpi vs. ppi dpi = dots per inch 1000 pixels 600 pixels 1000 x 600 = 600,000 pixels 0.6 Megapixels Often used interchangeably with ppi, but they refer to different things Refers to the properties of a printer the number of dots per inch the printer can place on paperp ppi = pixels per inch Refers to a property of the image the resolution of it Setting any two of the variables (pixels, inches, or ppi) defines the third Never increase the number of pixels in an image it increases the file size without increasing the quality

3 Resolution recommendations For a thesis or dissertation, 300 ppi is required for images unless a screenshot is necessary A computer screen is limited to 72 ppi or 96 ppi Since the resolution of a computer screen (72 ppi) is significantly less than a standard printer (300 dpi), images can look good on a screen, but not printed Examining your document on the screen without enlarging the page will not tell you if the images are good quality 300% is a good magnification 13 Megapixel Example 1000 pixels 600 pixels Resolution Width (in) Height (in) 100 ppi ppi ppi File formats Choosing a file format can impact the image quality Most common formats jpg, png, tiff, bmp Each format has benefits and disadvantages with respect to file size and quality File formats Best for web; small size jpg (Joint Photographic Experts Group) lossy format loses data every time you resave photo Good for web pages Better suited for images png (Portable Network Graphics) Alternative to gif images for web retains more color information than gif Smaller file size than jpg Newest format, so not all web browsers can read these files File formats Best for printing; large size tiff (Tagged Image File Format) preferred format Largest file size not recommended for web use Preferred for most print images does not create jpg artifacts, and retains higher quality Use if you will be manipulating the image extensively bmp (Windows bitmap) Large file size Windows specific In Photoshop CS3: Image Image size 7.2 Megapixel - will print as an 8 x 10 image at 300 ppi Any ysize esmaller than 8 x 10 will also be high quality Website online to check print size of images

4 Michigan Tech logo One is downloaded at a high resolution One image is saved from the web (right click on image and save) Using the Michigan Tech Logo 20 Tech Logo from Web screen resolution Tech Logo Click on logo from mtu.edu to download print resolution Logo Student Use The University symbols are not for personal use Students may use the logo for professional activities Class projects Conference presentations Business cards for student organization

5 Camera tips - I Photography 101 Learn how your camera works and its settings How does it focus? How do you know if it can focus? How do you adjust shutter speed, aperture, film speed? Select a camera with at least 3 Megapixels Check that your images are in focus before you put images in your final document The screen on the back of a camera is small Images that look good here may not be in focus! View images at high magnification on computer (300%) 27 Camera tips - II Use good lighting Shop lights can be fine use two or three Light bulbs should be daylight bulbs Use a tripod or copy stand Reduces camera shake Allows you to shoot at slower speeds which yields a higher quality photo Crop or compose your images well Nobody wants to see lots of background fill the frame with your subject make it the most prominent feature! 28 Great images from others Using images created by someone else Scan images if available on paper Examine scanner settings Use tiff format, and scan at a resolution of at least 300 ppi Each scanner has its own maximum optical resolution If available digitally, magnify and examine If image is high quality, choose an export method that will yield high quality If image is low quality, there is not much you can do for photographs or line drawings Images from Journal Articles PDFs of journal articles often have lower resolution images in them Check the journal webpage for the html version of the image May be in higher resolution May be in multiple formats (jpg, eps, high resolution, medium resolution) Often more convenient to grab image right click and save rather than trying to tease it out of a PDF

6 Additional options for graphs Data is not copyrighted, so you can create your own graphs using data from papers If data is available in a graph, software can be used to extract data from a digital image of a graph Google extract data plot GraphClick ($8, Mac) Plot Digitizer (freeware, Mac, Linux, Windows) UN-SCAN-IT ($345, Mac, Windows) Also good if you use older equipment that outputs lower resolution images or direct to paper 32 Web images Avoid using images from web pages Presented at screen resolution to save on file space Limited to 72 or 96 ppi in general Try to obtain a high resolution image when possible Example with Wikipedia In Wikipedia, for example, click on the image Often, there are multiple sizes of an image available Image page also includes how the image may (or may not) be reused 33 Three images available Location of image Pixel size Image size at 300 ppi Home page 250 x x 0.37 inches Image page 800 x x 1.19 inches Full resolution link 3621 x x 539inches Getting figures from image creation software to your document Great images you create Copy/paste Can retain vector images; Excel to Word yields editable graphs with high file size Copy/paste special Choose different options for different results in file size and quality bmp options in Word/Excel are generally best Export images Many software programs (Matlab, ChemDraw, Illustrator, Acrobat, etc.) give options to export figures as a raster image (File Export or File Save As ) 37 6

7 Using Word? Word introduced a new feature in 2007 that compresses images to a print resolution of 220ppi Once the file is saved, the image is compressed, and you can t regain the pixels you lost This is set for EACH FILE, not an overall preference in Word To fix: Turn off image compression (see our blog) Delete low resolution images Reinsert high resolution images 38 Exporting images from programs You have options! File format (jpg, tiff, bmp, png, etc.) File resolution (300 dpi/ppi) Type of compression Quality Etc. Google to find help for your program export images tiff matlab yielded a page from Matlab support as the first hit 39 ChemDraw Export Example ChemDraw Export Example 144 ppi 300 ppi 72 ppi 144 ppi 300 ppi PDF Settings PDF Conversion PDFs are not one size fits all. There are many options available to create them. Think of a printer and all of the options available: Double sided, draft mode, multiple pages printed on one page, etc. PDF files have similar (if not more) printing options available. Covered in detail in the presentation we have available online you can define your own settings, or select a built in setting 43 7

8 Standard PDF Settings Images Useful built in settings Top number in each circled area needs to be 300. Bottom number is some amount higher than 300. Settings to reduce file size for or web Standard: doesn t embed all fonts, downsamples images Smallest File Size: no fonts embedded, downsamples Settings for a print quality thesis or dissertation High Quality Print and Press Quality: embed all fonts, high quality images Assuming no one has altered the built in settings (I m not allowed to on my office computer), these settings will give high quality graphics with embedded fonts How can I check my PDF file? Preflight results tab Preflight tools in Acrobat can check a variety of items Graduate School has created a preflight profile that you can use to check that all of your images are 300ppi or above Go to the blog for directions Final Words If you start with a low resolution raster image, there is very little you can do to improve it Adding pixels does not add quality Increasing the resolution above 300ppi will increase the file size, but will not significantly increase quality Don t accept the default settings most are generally set for smaller file size Experiment before you take real images, or when you export your first image Questions! 48 8