Save as IPP in Impict / Load IPP in H&M

This section is for suggesting features and capabilities that you would like to see in Impict, Help & Manual's integrated screenshot editor and enhancer.

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jamesp
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Save as IPP in Impict / Load IPP in H&M

Unread post by jamesp »

I would like to suggest the following idea for speeding up a very common and frequently used task when authoring in H&M.

While working on a manual I am constantly doing the following sequence:-

1. Screen capture of the application I am writing Help for, gets saved in project folder as .BMP

2. Right-click on imported .BMP and then select Picture, then Edit with Impict...

3. Work on picture in Impict, adding text balloons, etc.

4. Remember to Save As... in .IPP format (and sometimes forget!!! grrr)

5. Swap back to H&M.

6. Double-click the .BMP then locate and select the .IPP version (as the list of files grows in the project this becomes harder. Alternatively I have to go into the filename box showing the current .bmp file name, position cursor at end and then retype to change .BMP to .IPP).

This is such a common sequence that I really feel some additions would greatly speed up this process.

I have already assigned a Shortcut key to the Launch Impict button so I can select a graphic in H&M, and have it immediately open it for editing. So that saves point 2 above. I use Shift+Ctrl+F12 to do this.

1. Once in Impict the first thing I try to remember to do is Save As in IPP format. Please can we have a new toolbar menu button and File menu option to do this instantly without having to bring up the Save As dialogue. Its action will be to save the currently being edited file type (eg. BMP, GIF, JPG, TIFF, PSD, etc), replace its file extension with IPP and save it in IPP format in the same folder as the original file. Also perhaps include a Save As IPP button in the main Save As dialogue. Usually I will only do this the first time for each graphic, but obviously the program should check for existing IPP file, and warn with the standard "Already exists, do you want to replace? Yes/No" type of dialog.

2. Back in H&M I now need a quick way to replace the original graphic inserted into the topic with the IPP version, so a new option on the top-level of the right-click menu when clicking on a graphic to "Replace with IPP", which tests for existence of a corresponding IPP file for that graphics filename, and replaces the original with the IPP in the topic, whilst retaining any other properties of the graphic (e.g. image caption, alignment, etc). And for consistency the Open Image dialogue could also have a Open IPP button which simply replaces <filename>.<non IPP extension> with <filename>.IPP and instantly opens it.

These would be great timesavers!

Cheers
Jim
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Tim Green
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Unread post by Tim Green »

Jim,

The problem of switching between .IPP and your original .BMP or another graphic is already a known issue and dealing with it is on the programmers' Wish List. However, for general use I would not actually recommend inserting .IPP files in your projects directly. The reason for this is that like JPGs, IPPs are always True Color, which makes the resulting files considerably larger than they need to be -- at least in the case of most screenshots.

Generally, it is recommended to save your "working files" with editable objects in .IPP in a separate folder and use BMP versions with the minimum required number of colors in your project. Of course, this introduces another working step to the IPP/BMP conundrum. What has been suggested here is that Impict should become able to handle two versions of the same file at the same time: I.e., you would define both your .IPP working file save location and your project file .BMP (or whatever) location, and Impict would then automatically save both every time you save the .IPP file. Combined with your suggestion or something like it this would radically streamline the workflow with Impict.

See this guide in Tips & Tricks for details on keeping your graphics files small:

http://helpman.it-authoring.com/viewtopic.php?t=4228

Tip: When working with screenshots in H&M I only use the integrated screenshot utility for screenshots I don't want to edit. To create screenshots I want to edit I use TNT and save the raw shots directly to my working graphics folder rather than my project graphics folder.
jamesp
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Unread post by jamesp »

Hi Tim,

The idea that H&M/Impict will be developed to save both formats simultaneously sounds interesting. I look forward to this feature becoming available. Any idea when?

Thanks also for the useful resource on working with the different graphics formats.
I will look into implementing this because currently the PDF for the project I have been working on is a massive 53Mb (260 page document, with tons of pics)!!

I am curious about your comment re TNT. I really like the features of the H&M built-in screen capture function, and as far as I can see TNT is just a separate external application, which is identical to the H&M functions (ie. you've made these great screen capture features available to those who can't afford, or don't require the full authoring capability of the H&M software).

Surely TNT is just providing in one package, what you get with the combination of H&M for screen capture, plus Impict for editing?
Or are you suggesting that TNT provides more flexibility for working with different libraries/folders of graphics?

So can you explain why it is that you prefer using TNT?

Thanks
Jim
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Tim Green
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Unread post by Tim Green »

Jim,

The dual-format idea for Impict is still that, just an idea. There is no implementation schedule for it yet.

I prefer working with TNT simply because it's more convenient. The integrated screenshot function always adds the screenshots directly to the project and that's something I almost never do -- I generally save working copies to a separate folder and edit with TNT and/or Impict first before actually inserting the image in the project.

TNT and Impict actually have different and complementary capabilities: TNT has paint and 3D rendering features that Impict lacks, and Impict can save objects on layers for later editing, which TNT can't do. I generally edit quick shots that I know I'm not going to change again later with TNT, more complex shots with Impict.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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jamesp
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Unread post by jamesp »

Thanks Tim,

Ok, well I like complete control to be able to update screenshots if our software is updated by replacing the bottom (screenshot) layer, while leaving any text balloons, boxes, and other items that have been drawn over the top in separate layers. So the Layer functionality of Impict is extremely important to us, and I doubt whether we would actually make use of TNT.

I guess really its down to individual working style, but I think I will download the evaluation version of TNT anyway to see if it could help in my situation, and help me understand what you mean.

Just as a matter of interest, I have previously tried using the JPG Compression options for creating the PDF's and found that at 75% compression it actually INCREASES the final PDF from 53 to 58Mb! Go figure. And compressing further just reduces the quality of the images. However I have yet to try some of the other suggestions described in that article, because I think I capture using TrueColor because some of our software screens contain buttons which require Truecolor in order to appear correctly.

Cheers
Jim
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Tim Green
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Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Jim,
jamesp wrote:I have previously tried using the JPG Compression options for creating the PDF's and found that at 75% compression it actually INCREASES the final PDF from 53 to 58Mb! Go figure.
This is possible. As far as I understand it, it's a question of "fuzzyness" -- images with higher compression get more fuzzy and fuzzy images don't compress so well in the final compression used within the PDF.
However I have yet to try some of the other suggestions described in that article, because I think I capture using TrueColor because some of our software screens contain buttons which require Truecolor in order to appear correctly.
This is only the case if you do all your color reduction with Impict, which only has a single color reduction algorithm. When it works it works, but it won't work on all images -- sometimes you will get posterization and color distortion. However, if you use a program like Paint Shop Pro, which has a fully-interactive color reduction feature with live previews, you will find that you never need more than 256 colors for screenshots, even with complex gradients and soft shadows. For a help author PSP is worth the $79 price tag for the color reduction alone, and it's also a very handy graphics program. Of course if you already have another graphcis program that does good interactive color reduction you can use that... 8)
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Martin Wynne
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Unread post by Martin Wynne »

jamesp wrote:Ok, well I like complete control to be able to update screenshots if our software
is updated by replacing the bottom (screenshot) layer, while leaving any text
balloons, boxes, and other items that have been drawn over the top in separate
layers. So the Layer functionality of Impict is extremely important to us, and I doubt
whether we would actually make use of TNT.
Hi Jim,

I agree. I purchased a copy of TNT just so that I had a full set of EC tools, but
in fact I hardly ever use it for exactly the reason you give. I always use Impict instead.
I have yet to create a screenshot that I didn't want to go back to and edit a few days
later! The 3D and other effects in TNT look more polished, but the lack of later
editing severely restricts its usefulness.

I get the impression that Impict is overdue for an upgrade. It is still essentially the
same program that was included with H&M3. It was rather left on the shelf while
all the work was going on to create H&M4. Hopefully EC have it in their sights to
bring it up to date and include some of the special effects from TNT.
I capture using TrueColor because some of our software screens contain
buttons which require Truecolor in order to appear correctly.
If you use Paint Shop Pro or a similar photo editor to convert from TrueColor to
256-Color (8-bit) you will get much better colour conversions than Impict can
manage. In some cases even photographic images can be converted to 256-Color
and still look ok. Converting screenshots to 8-bit .gif is the ONE thing you can do to
significantly reduce file sizes.

This colour conversion is another area where Impict is lagging behind. It's still far
and away the best tool available to create Help screenshots though (as opposed
to flashy marketing screenshots). My standard procedure is to save as a TrueColor
.bmp from Impict, open it in Paint Shop Pro, do any resampling resizing needed
(which can only be done in TrueColor), then convert to 256-Color and save as .gif
for final insertion in the project.

Martin.
jamesp
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Unread post by jamesp »

Martin and Tim,

Thanks both for your comments.

I've been doing some review and experimenting both with the various formats that the H&M Screen Capture offers (BMP, PNG and JPG), and also playing around with Photoshop and Fireworks which are the graphical editors I use.

I think I have come to the opinion that, for future projects, the Screen Capture offers me what I need without having to resort to external editors like Photoshop/PSP/Fireworks (unless I was working with a lot of photographic material).

But I generally work with screenshots. So for the majority I will use 256-color BMP, and for the few screenshots that include Truecolor gradients I will use the Screen Capture and save as JPG, 95%, Full RGB. So I now know for the future how to use graphics in H&M to decrease the final PDF and HTML Help file sizes. Wish I had paid more attention to this before saving always as Truecolor BMP. :(

Because I really don't fancy converting them (the majority) to 256-color and re-implementing them in the IPP files - there are 335 images that I would need to rework.

I hope that Impict will be given a bit of a brush up for the extras in TNT. I think both H&M and Impict together are brilliant products, and I can honestly say that I actually ENJOY working with them! It just gives the professional edge that turns manuals from boring content into something that users actually "like" to refer to, because the screenshots with balloon text and the various clever tweeks and decorations provide a very quick way for users to understand how our software works, and then they can refer to the text content for more in-depth detail.

I know that certainly the Help and Manual I produced for our product produced a lot of interest, both internally with other colleagues asking me the techniques I used to produce such a swish looking manual, and also for our customers who we had to ensure could do everything themselves by referring to the Help so as to minimize support calls.

Anyway, you live and learn.

And thanks again Tim - you are the heart and soul of this forum :D
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Dean Whitlock
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good, inexpensive graphics editor for macs?

Unread post by Dean Whitlock »

This is slightly off topic...

I work on Macintosh as well as Windows and wonder if anyone can recommend a good, inexpensive graphics editing program for OSX. I have used Photoshop and Imageready at a previous job, but need to get something for my home setup. Photoshop may be the Rolls Royce of graphics editors, but I don't want to pay that sort of price. Is there a PSP equivalent in the Mac world?

Thanks,
Dean
jamesp
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Unread post by jamesp »

Yes, I agree this is going off topic now....
...however I used to work on Mac. GIMP immediately comes to mind, but another free vector graphics editor is Inkscape (open source). Whether these two would provide what you need? I thought GIMP was included on Macs as standard nowadays, so not sure if you already use this but find it too limiting, although I think it is considered to be an excellent program.

Check this out too....
http://www.pure-mac.com/graph.html

Jim
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Dean Whitlock
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Unread post by Dean Whitlock »

Jim,
Thanks for the suggestions and the link. There are some likely candidates there, though it looks like I'll have to upgrade my OSX to get some of them.

Good luck with Impict.
Dean
jamesp
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Feedback on Wish List

Unread post by jamesp »

Bump (2 years later).
Pity this Wish List request has been in the forum for so long and yet not included in HM5.

Tim, your original reply to my request seemed amenable to the idea.....
The problem of switching between .IPP and your original .BMP or another graphic is already a known issue and dealing with it is on the programmers' Wish List. However, for general use I would not actually recommend inserting .IPP files in your projects directly. The reason for this is that like JPGs, IPPs are always True Color, which makes the resulting files considerably larger than they need to be -- at least in the case of most screenshots.

Generally, it is recommended to save your "working files" with editable objects in .IPP in a separate folder and use BMP versions with the minimum required number of colors in your project. Of course, this introduces another working step to the IPP/BMP conundrum. What has been suggested here is that Impict should become able to handle two versions of the same file at the same time: I.e., you would define both your .IPP working file save location and your project file .BMP (or whatever) location, and Impict would then automatically save both every time you save the .IPP file. Combined with your suggestion or something like it this would radically streamline the workflow with Impict.
I am fairly patient and understand development cycles (I work in software development), but I posted this idea 2 years ago.

Was it not considered a useful idea? Or was it just not considered?

Yes I do appreciate there are hundreds of new ideas for the dev team to review.

Do you think it would be handy for each Wish List idea to be marked as Reviewed, plus either Added to dev queue, Already Implemented or Rejected+reason, so that folk contributing to the Wish Lists get some feedback?

I know this would create yet more work, for an already busy dev team, and doing this using a forum as the tool may not be the best way to do it. My point is simply to create some positive feedback so users feel that their opinions matter and are being dealt with.

Anyway, keep up the good work in the forum. After all this time I still reckon you guys have it spot on with the forum, which has to be one of the most active and responsive to its users needs that I have seen.

James
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Tim Green
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Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi James,

This problem was solved in a different way: You now have an "Export As" function in Impict that lets you work on your IPP and export to your working directory in your working format. Export As has a separate memory for the output directory so it's actually quite efficient.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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