[Issue] Cannot get 300dpi image to insert at 100% size

[Hagar Delest]

I am looking to submit a book to Ingram Spark soon and one of their requirements are that all images are 300dpi or above and "Inserted at 100% size"
I have been using OpenOffice now for seven years and never had to think about this, I have just inserted and resized by shift clicking in the corner of the image and dragging til it looked right. Now I have to conform to someone elses requirement.
I have resized all my images in Photoshop so that they are 300 dpi this has lead to some very precise sizes such as 2.6666666 inches (800 pixels at 300dpi)
If I insert the picture from file, OO fills the page with the image. If I scale it numerically I can get to 2.66 or 2.67 inches, but this gives me 798 pixels or 801 pixels which is not "100%" or "pixel for pixel"
If I then click "original size" it pops the picture back to filling the page.
It is as if OO ignores the images built in dpi setting. In Word I just click the "100%" button and the job is done.
Please tell me there is a way of doing this in OO

[RoryOF]

Try working in .png format (.png images are stored directly in OpenOffice, not resampled) and setting the picture ppi (note: ppi not dpi - your image editor should know about this) to 96 (or whatever your screen resolution is).

[slaphead]

Thanks for the quick reply.
Ok, I'll give that a go
One of the other requirements is the image should be in CYMK at 240% ink density - Not a problem, I can sort that in PShop. Spark suggest Jpeg or Tiff with Jpeg compression. I cannot see anything that says you cannot use .png files. I assume there is a CYMK format of png?!
Guess I'll find out !

[slaphead]

Turns out .png files are RGB only.
I tried Tiff with jpeg compression and OO cannot read the format so I am back to dear old Jpeg and resizing manually.
Surely there is a way to import at correct physical size or to set a document resolution or something?

On a different note, the CYMK jpag has imported incredibly dark looking. I dont know if that will carry through to the PDF export or not

I'll let you know

[RoryOF]

I suspect the problem is the print resolution set in the graphics. This should (I think) match your screen resolution (usually 96 dpi, but check it). Once you get that matching your images should install at exact size. Then worry about CMYK/RGB.

[slaphead]

I have just looked at an image I know to be saved as 300dpi in the jpeg file - if I re open it in PShop it recognises it as 300 dpi and 2.6 inches wide at that resolution. Unfortunately OO thinks the image is 7.39 inches wide and that I have scaled it to 35% of the original size.
Basically it looks as if OO is, as you suggested, reading the screen resolution and ignoring the embedded resolution in the Jpeg file.
I am at work and dont have the option to run the monitor at 300dpi to test this theory. I am not even sure if I can change the dots per inch (or pixels per inch if you prefer) on the monitor

[acknak]

OO Writer is limited to two decimal places in a measurement, so 2.666... is always going to be rounded to 2.67.

But I'm not sure it matters that the result comes out to exactly 800 pixels. The image is being scaled anyway; a pixel or two shouldn't make a noticeable difference.

Maybe more importantly, OO does not support CMYK at all. If your printer requires data in CMYK, I don't see how OO is going to work.

[slaphead]

But I'm not sure it matters that the result comes out to exactly 800 pixels. The image is being scaled anyway;
...
Maybe more importantly, OO does not support CMYK at all. If your printer requires data in CMYK, I don't see how OO is going to work.

I guess it depends how strickty Ingram Spark adhere to their pixel for pixel resolution requirement
Strangely OO has allowed me to import the CYMK jpg file, it just displayes it very darkly. If I do the old "change 'odt to .zip" trick and look at the image in PShop it is exactly as I saved it.... Unfortunately when I convert the file to PDF as Ingram require, then the image is very dark again.

Am I the only person doing a book with pictures using Open Office? - Surely there have been others that used POD printers. I know CreatSpace allow the use of RGB images so this is not that much of an issue, but Ingram are a pretty well known POD printer...

[RoryOF]

Do I remember that Scribus can do CMYK?

[slaphead]

Alrighty, I'll have a look at Scribus and let you know...

[RoryOF]

There is a solution offered in this thread
https://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=35652

[slaphead]

From that topic

(snip)...The other option is to flatten the PDF in Photoshop and then save as a Photoshop PDF in CMYK mode.

Just tried it and PShop opens each page of the pdf as an individual 13Mb image So I had 190 images open and none of the text editable :-/
It also wanted to save each page as its own pdf (unless I was missing something).
Just looking into Scribus now
yeesh... looks like I have a lot of new learning and then reformatting to do...

[Bidouille]

Maybe more importantly, OO does not support CMYK at all. If your printer requires data in CMYK, I don't see how OO is going to work.

Enhancement required with issue 18674

[slaphead]

Maybe more importantly, OO does not support CMYK at all. If your printer requires data in CMYK, I don't see how OO is going to work.

Enhancement required with issue 18674

True, an enhancement would be required.
I submitted a bug about this but it was close as it turned out to be a duplicate of the issue you have posted here Issue 126550 https://bz.apache.org/ooo/show_bug.cgi?id=126550

I must admit I do enjoy using AOO for book layout, I have tried Scribus and it just hangs when I import the text. It looks like my only option is to pay for Acrobat Pro and hope it can do what I want. Everyone mentions the monthly cost but the software is actually a yearly subscription so it will be about £140 or £190 for InDesign (sulk)!

[John_Ha]

I am looking to submit a book to Ingram Spark soon and one of their requirements are that all images are 300dpi or above and "Inserted at 100% size":

They are saying two things:

1 Give us 300 dpi or better so the image is good quality
2 If the printed image is to be 3" wide, then the image needs to have 3" x 300 dpi = 900 pixels or more

So, you need to:

1 Decide how wide your image will be on the page - say it will be 3.5"

2 Calculate the pixels needed as 3.5" x 300 dpi = 1,050 pixels wide. This is the minimum - it can be more if you want.

3 Use an external image editor (I use the excellent IrfanView, you could use Photoshop or GIMP or whatever) to re-sample the image to 1,050 pixels or more - but, critically, not less than 1,050 pixels wide.

4 If the image is a photo, save it as a JPG file. Insert it by any means except copy > paste. JPG files use lossy compression where fine detail is lost when the file is compressed. You can vary the Quality Factor, and the higher the QF (0 - 100), the less detail is lost, and the bigger the JPG file.

5 If the image is a graphic, or has text, or has blocks of same colour - ie it is not a photo - save it as a PNG file. Insert it by any means including copy > paste. PNG uses lossless compression and no detail will be lost. Do not use PNG for photos because the PNG file will typically be 3x bigger than the JPG file.

See [Tutorial] Some useful hints on using images for a discussion on how best to handle images in Writer.

See also Chapter 8 Working with Graphics in the OOo v3.3 Writer Manual