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ozean
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How to compress you images losslessly as PNGs

Post by ozean »

sorry, I've been off to a conference for a few days

How to reduce the file size of pngs? If you feel you are very computer unsavvy you should probably open your tiffs and gifs in preview and then choose "Save as…" under the file menu – in the following dialog you have the option to save them as pngs. However, at that point they won't be as optimized as they can be. To further optimize their size you can download an app called PNGcrusher.

However, I use GraphicConverter to convert my images to different formats. It has some great batch functions. Although GraphicConverter is great, it does not compress pngs as well as the optipng algorithm does. PNGcrusher uses the optipng algorithm, but I find its user interface lacking and prefer to use the latest optipng version on the command line. You can find two sources for optipng:

http://pornel.net/optipngosx (this is a precompiled binary of v. 0.5.2 which you have to put into some /bin folder)
http://optipng.darwinports.com/ (this is for installation using the darwinports installer)

and here you can get the optipng sourcecode:
http://optipng.sourceforge.net/
ozean
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changing of image formats

Post by ozean »

this is the information the redlers gave us during the end of the beta process regarding the handling of image formats:
(MB-875) Improved image type selection when pasting. When multiple types of images are present in the clipboard Mellel will choose the type according to the following priority list: PDF, PICT, TIFF, anything else
So when you copy&paste or drag&drop an image to Mellel it will be treated according to this order. That is, if it is a pdf file it will remain so, as is the case with a pict file (both of these are special because they can be vector as opposed to bitmap images). However, if you drag a png file onto a Mellel document, it will be converted to a tiff file.

The way to preserve the format is to use the import command in Mellel (either via menu or via context menu).

I have asked the Redlers to either up png in this order, as it is a more efficient format without legal issues such as those of the gif and tiff formats. (The one backdraw of the png as compared to the tiff format from my perspective is the loss of exif and iptc metadata – however, I don't need that metadata in Mellel anymore, it would just add to the filesize.) Ori said that they will think about these image format related issues.

I would love it if they would include some kind of file size optimization routine that would convert all bitmap images to optipng'ed pngs :D
(since that can take quite a while for documents like my dissertation with more than 120 images in it, this should probably not happen in the background without notifying the user about what is going on…)
SteveH
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Post by SteveH »

I have asked the Redlers to either up png in this order, as it is a more efficient format without legal issues such as those of the gif and tiff formats.
Thanks for the explanation - I feel that I am in a bit more control over the content of my file now.

I would also second your suggestion and also suggest that PNG files are moved closer to being default.
Ori Redler
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Post by Ori Redler »

macsailor wrote:Strange, if I copy and paste a gif file (copy it through the preview application), it will end up as a pict file within the package. But if I drag and drop the same gif file, it will end up as a tiff file within the package.

The same seems to go for the jpg files.

But if I copy and paste a graphics from within OmniGraffle Pro into Mellel, it ends up as a pdf file in the package. The same goes if I export the file from OG as a pdf file and then import the file to Mellel, the graphics stays as a pdf file. If I export as a tiff file, it ends up as a tiff file within the package.

If this is not true science, I do not know what to call it… :wink:
The format of the graphics depends on "best quality" -- as Mellel understands it -- with stuff in the clipboard (and images dragged into a Mellel document also go through the clipboard) Mellel receives the file in several formats, and must decide which is more suitable. If a PDF or PICT (formats with vector graphics) are present, they are usually preferred. If other formats are there, TIFF is usually preferred. When you copy a PNG image, the PNG information is ignored and the clipboard Mellel "sees" contains just PICT and TIFF info. You can avoid this by importing the image into Mellel via Insert > Image... which avoids this forced conversion via the clipboard.
Ori Redler from RedleX
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