[Solved] Impress "Graphics filter not found" error message

[Bradish]

XP Pro SP3, OO 2.4.1
(6/11/2008)
I am just beginning to learn Impress. I've never used PowerPoint to create a presentation. I have the "0500IG-ImpressGuide.pdf" file which I'm using to learn.

What I have done:
- Created a simple text outline of what I want to present as a guide
- Opened Impress and used the wizard to begin the creation of a presentation (no special options taken)
- Created a "Title Slide" and a couple of "Title, Text" pages using "Layouts"
- Selected the "lyt-cool" master
- Chose to create the 4th slide using the "Title, Object" layout
* Double clicked on image icon to insert a GIF file
- Had trouble figuring out how to center and size image (my problem, I'll work this out)
- Tried several sizes (of the same GIF file) and options (such as linking to image) and didn't have much success with resizing and centering, there was a large white space around the image which isn't in the original
- After maybe a half dozen or so of these tries I received the message "Graphics filter not found" when I attempted to insert the GIF by double clicking on the icon for adding an object
- Clicked OK and received "General Error. General input/output error."
- Clicked OK and received "Object from file file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Peter/Desktop/John%20Edison%20Presentation/dutch_windmi_lg.gif could not be inserted."
- Clicked OK and was returned to "Title, Object" layout slide editing
- Repeated tries cycled through the above steps starting with line marked with *
- Closed OO and opened it again with slides created above, no change
- Rebooted, no change.
- Searched "Beginners" and "Setup and Troubleshooting" forums for "Impress" coupled with the first error message, "Impress GIF", "Impress" coupled with various other keywords like "filter", and just "Impress". Did not find a related topic.
- Error occurred while using OO 2.4.0.
- I'd seen the announcement that 2.4.1 was just out. I downloaded and installed it. No change.
- Retrieved and saved the GIF file from web site (University of South Florida web site) again
- Error messages went away for a few tries and then returned

(6/12/2008) Further investigation has revealed the following:
- When the GIF file is link-inserted and canceled several times and the error message appears, the GIF file size is seen to become 0 kilobytes and cannot be opened by any graphic image program including MS Picture and Fax Viewer.
- When the GIF file is embedded into the OO Impress presentation and deleted several times, the error message does not appear and all seems to go well.
- I created a PNG file as requested (used IrfanView) and it behaves like the GIF file, the error message appears after several link-insertions, and in fact, Impress aborted, plus the PNG file reduced to 2k in size.
- If the PNG file is embedded into the presentation and deleted several times, the error message does not appear.

What should I try next?

Thank you for your time and effort. Peter Bradish (OO Writer and Calc user since 2.1 came out)

[Hagar Delest]

Can you save the gif file to .png in a basic picture editor and try again?

I move your thread to the Impress forum.

Thanks to add '[Solved]' at beginning of your first post title (edit button) if your issue has been fixed.

[acknak]

Is this the one you're using: http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/24700/24788/ ... 788_lg.gif?

I tried your steps at least ten times with no problem, so it seems to be either specific to OOo on Windows, or something specific to your situation.

When the GIF file is link-inserted and canceled several times...

How exactly are you "cancelling"? Do you click "Cancel" on the file dialog? Do you insert the image and then Edit > Undo? Do you just delete the image and start over?

I tried inserting the image, deleting it, then inserting it again, and so on. No problems after more than ten rounds.

... there was a large white space around the image which isn't in the original...

Assuming we're talking about the same image, the large white space is in the original: the image has a white background. You just don't notice it on the web page because the web page also has a white background.

It should be possible to modify the image to make the background transparent, but I don't know how to do it in a way that works well.

To center the image, you can use a blank slide, or one with just the title, insert the image, select the image and do Modify > Alignment > Centered (horizontally).

Edit: Oops, that's for Draw. In Impress, you have to right-click the image and choose Alignment > Centered (horizontally).

To change the size of the image, select it, then drag any of the green square "handles" around the edges of the image.

[Bradish]

"acknak", thank you for the response.

- I'm using the "lyt-cool" master while creating slides for this presentation.
- When I want to insert an image I'm using the "Title, Object" layout for the slide
- The problem occurs when I link to the image as opposed to embedding it, embedding the image in the slide works fine.
- Yes, I'm using all three of the images from USF. At <http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/24700/24788/ ... 788_lg.gif> it is the large image. I get the same results using the medium (24788_md) and small (_sm) images.
* When I create a new slide using the "Title, Object" layout, I double click on the icon in the middle of the lower section "to add an object".
- In the "Insert OLE object" window I click the "Create from file" radio button, click the "Link to file" box and click on "Search".
- I locate the image using the "Open" window (I'm using the medium sized image for this), select it and click on "Open".
- I then click on "OK" in the "Insert OLE object" window which results in a full window with a very large frame with rulers along the top and left side on top of the slide I'm creating. There is a slide shown in the column on the far left under "Pages". (I confess I have not yet figured out just how to use this frame to size and put the image in the middle of the lower portion of the slide. Mostly I have been experimenting with just moving it around. Anything else just seems to make things worse. Today I'll work on finding instructions on how to do this properly.)
- At this point the only way I've been able to move on in the slide creation process is to click outside the frame to return to inserting the newly created slide into my presentation. When I do I get this dotted line box formed from the click point to wherever move my pointer until I click again. I don't know why, what it is for, or whether this is the proper way to do the slide creation. I'm learning.
- Usually, the image is in the wrong place or cut off in some way. This is where I have been clicking the image (getting the box with the green handles) and pressing the "Delete" button on my keyboard to try again.
- I then repeat the process starting at the point where the * is above.
- I just went through the above process a second time to "link" the image (I noticed that the medium image GIF file had become "0 K" in size) and the error messages appeared. I clicked on "OK" (that's okay) buttons to removed each of the sequential 3 message windows.
- When I tried a third time (starting at the * point above), Impress aborted and closed.
- I don't receive the error messages when I do not check the "Link to file" box on the "Insert OLE object" window to insert the image in a slide. The image is inserted successfully when embedded and not linked to.
- For perspective, I'm on a month old laptop with XP Pro (started with SP2) and all the MS updates. I'm using OO 2.4.1.

Any thoughts?
Thanks and take care... Peter Bradish
P.S. IrfanView produces a transparent background for the GIF's I've used very easily. It works the same way to produce a transparent background for GIF's saved as PNG files. It depends on a white or some solid color in the surrounding area to select to be transparent while saving. It is a much more capable program than I suspected. P.

[acknak]

Any thoughts?

Yes. Avoid the "object" (OLE object) pathway at all costs. OOo (especially on Linux) absolutely stinks at handling embedded (OLE) objects. They're very awkward to work with and very very buggy.

Sometimes, using an embedded object is the only option, and then it's worth some risk, but there is no need for a simple image to be inserted as an embedded object, so I would simply avoid it.

Just follow the steps I outlined above. Here's a step-by-step:
1) Insert > Slide
2) Click the "Title, Clipart, Text" layout
3) Double-click the clipart (image) icon on the slide; choose your image
4) Right-click the image in the slide > Alignment > Centered (horizontally)

You can delete the "Text/Outline" area on the slide, or just ignore it: if it's empty, nothing appears on the slideshow.

Here's a little experiment. See if this works for you:
http://jes1154.googlepages.com/impress_add_image.avi

[Bradish]

"acknak", you solved it! I will mark the "Subject:" as solved shortly.

To do the simple slides with graphic images that I want, I just
- Choose the "Title Only" layout
- Click the "From File" icon in the bottom line (yellow circle, red box and blue triangle)
- Select the image I want from the "Insert Picture" window and click the "Open" button
- Size (with the green handles) and position by dragging (4 headed arrow)
- And I'm done. Vastly easier. No errors. Doesn't abort or crash!

Now I can go on and build the presentation and learn the more advanced functions of Impress (without getting too fancy of course).

Thank you very, very much... Peter Bradish
P.S. I couldn't view your AVI file, it said I needed a codec I didn't have. I'm not a multimedia expert and I don't have a clue where to get such a thing. But thank you for the thought anyway.

[acknak]

Click the "From File" icon in the bottom...

Nice! I never noticed that one.

I couldn't view your AVI file, it said I needed a codec I didn't have. I'm not a multimedia expert...

Me neither. I mainly wanted to know if it would work for you or not, so it's helpful just to know that it didn't work.

I changed the video format to be more compatible; if you (or anyone) wants to try it again and let me know if it works or not, I'd like to know.

[Hagar Delest]

I changed the video format to be more compatible; if you (or anyone) wants to try it again and let me know if it works or not, I'd like to know.

Works fine for me with VLC on my Xubuntu box (hadn't tried the previous file).

[Bradish]

-Clicked on the "impress_add_image.avi" link again
- Chose viewing it with Windows Media Player 11 (11.0.5721.5230)
- Did not get the codec error but WMP just remained blank (black screen)
- Clicking pause and play did not produce any results
Sorry. As I said, I'm not a multi-media guy. It's probably something simple which I don't know about.
Thanks again for the effort. Take care... Peter Bradish