Impict File Sizes

[TGreen(#2)]

Query?

Is there any particular reason that Impict files are about 4x bigger than
the base bitmap file. I generally layer about 2 or 3 very small objects on
the original bitmap (say about 2Mb) and then the Impict goes to 8MB.
Can anything be done......or ....will anything be done? If I were to re-save
the Impact as a bitmap, then it goes back down, but I still need to keep the
impict around for changes. Is this the way I must do it.
Thanks

[Tim Green]

To keep quality high Impict stores all images in high color as uncompressed bitmaps. This is OK when you add them to your projects because the images get flattened and compressed automatically when you compile.

Even so, Impict images in projects are still a little larger than ordinary bitmaps, so if output file size is an issue it's best to only use Impict .IPP files in your projects for images with hotspots, for which they are much better than Microsoft's .SHG format (see the Impict help for details on why).

I would definitely recommend keeping copies of images you might ever want to work on again in .IPP format, however -- this preserves the layers and allows you to work on all objects individually.

[TGreen(#2)]

Tim

Thanks for the response. It's what I expected, but the confirmation was
nice to have. We are in the development process here and I daily get
changes to the base images that I am using in the help file from the
developers ( I'm just as guilty, so it works out!), so Impict is
required to keep the layers around for now and probably for revisions
down the road. This has been a wonderful learning process and I thank
the forum users for their inputs and comments....I've actually perused
the forum in my little spare time to pick up some ideas, so when asked
to prepare PDF's and HTML help versions later, I should be able to watch
out for the problems. (But, I'm still learning H&M tricks and traps)
Thanks
Tim#2