How to maintain original size to PDF

[myrrh]

I've used Open Office in the past to acquire a scan of an image and it has always been the same size as the original. Now, using Draw, when I try this, the image is reduced in size. How can I import from my scanner to Draw and get it to import to the original size?

[acknak]

An image has no inherent size; it's just an array of pixels. The scanner may know what actual size th eimage represents, but it may not communicate that, or OOo may not honor it.

Did you try right-click > Original Size?

Could you attach a small image from your scanner, so we could test it as well?

[myrrh]

At what point would I right-click > Original Size?

The image I trying this with is a simple outline drawing but it's 6" x 8". Will that be too large to attach?

[acknak]

Ok, I tried this: I have an image of a business card that I scanned some time ago. The image had no size information stored with it, so when I loaded it into OOo Draw, a default value for the image resolution was used and the image in Draw was 6.9 x 4.1 inches--about twice the size it should be. Since business cards have a standard size of 3.5 x 2 inches, I can just set the size in Draw to what I know the real size should be.

So, if you know that the object you scanned was 6 x 8 inches, just set the size of the image object to 6 x 8. Select the image (click on it) and do Format > Position and Size > Position and Size > Width: 8.0 inch; Height: 6.0 inch. OK.

I also tried loading the business card image into an image editing program (Gimp) and setting the "Print Size" to 3.5 x 2.0 inches, then saving the image file and re-loading that into OOo Draw. This time, the image must have the size information attached, because Draw displayed the image at the correct size.

Perhaps your image has lost it's size/resolution information, or the information is there but OOo does not recognize it, and Draw has used the default value. At least it seems that if the image has the correct resolution value, then Draw will use it and the image size will be correct.

[myrrh]

Okay, thank you for that information - I appreciate it. But I have to ask: I used to be able to do this with OO and the size was always right on. I am using the same scanner as before. What would have changed?

[acknak]

Have you edited the image at all, before loading it into OOo?

Have you saved the image from the scanner in a different file format, perhaps?

Has your scanning software been updated?

Please feel free to post your problem image; that's probably the best way to get to the bottom of the problem. If it's too big to post here, then use one of the free file-sharing sites: mediafire.com, filecrunch.com, or something else.

[myrrh]

The answer is no to all three questions. File attached.

[acknak]

Sorry, I don't think the PDF is what will help. Can you attach your original .odg file, or a sample that shows the problem. Or, even just the image that's causing the problem; that might be best of all.

[TheAmigo]

It sounds like the DPI info is lost between the scanner and Draw. The GIMP test seems to indicate that GIMP saves the DPI in a way that OOo recognizes.

My HP scanner's packaged software always saves the DPI as 300 regardless of the resolution used when scanning. Using other scanning software has fixed the problem for me.

Does scanning images with different scanning software fix (or change) the problem?

[myrrh]

Does scanning images with different scanning software fix (or change) the problem?

I have no other scanning software.

Attached is the original file.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

The image contains no DPI information. It is placed in Draw and Writer at 3.10" wide, which is 298 pixels @ 96 DPI.

[myrrh]

So how do I get it to contain DPI information?

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Open it in IrfanView, open the Information dialogue (shortcut I), enter the value you want, e.g. 96 or 300, and save it as an image on disk. Load that into writer. Or, just copy it to the clipboard in IrfanView without saving it, and paste it into Writer.

If you're not using Windows, no doubt another photo-editor can also do that.

PS You can scan from IrfanView, which will also let you work on the image if it needs cleaning up or cropping, before cutting and pasting it to Writer, or saving it to disk, and then linking it to Writer rather than embedding it. (recommended for large images)

[myrrh]

Before I try that, I wanted to try to scan it into OO. From Draw I go to Insert | Picture | Scan | Request and it opens the scanning utility. But after I scan, it does not appear in Draw. How do I scan into Draw?

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

That's the right way to do it. Make sure you have selected the source first.

When I scan a business card at 300 dpi it comes in at the original size — 4" x 1.8" in the middle of the page in Draw. If I cut and paste that into IrfanView, the info dialogue tells me it is 300 dpi.

If I scan it again at 150 dpi it still comes in at 4" x 1.8" and IV tells me it is 150 dpi.

So there is something wrong with your scanner drivers by the look of it, or you haven't selected the source.