Microsoft KB Archive/228762

= Homepub: Imported Graphics Apprear as a Blank Box or Program Stops Responding (Hangs) =

Article ID: 228762

Article Last Modified on 10/3/2003

-

APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Graphics Studio Greetings 99 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Graphics Studio Home Publishing 99

-



This article was previously published under Q228762



SYMPTOMS
When you attempt to insert a large graphic into your Greetings 99 or Home Publishing 99 project, the graphic may appear as a blank box or the program may stop responding (hang).

This symptom may occur with both raster and vector-based graphics.



CAUSE
This behavior can occur because the graphic filters installed by Greetings 99 and Home Publishing 99 cannot import pictures that contain more than 16 megabytes (MB) of uncompressed data.

NOTE: The amount of disk space required to store a graphic file has little relationship to how much picture data that file contains. For example, Joint Photographic Expert Group (JPEG) files are extremely compressed. In other words, a JPEG file with a size of 300 kilobytes (KB) might contain over 25 MB of picture data. On the other hand, an AutoCAD Data Exchange (DXF) file may require 2 MB of disk space and contain only 60 KB of picture data.



RESOLUTION
In most cases it is not necessary to use very large graphics in Greetings 99 or Home Publishing 99 You can reduce the resolution and color depth of the image and not sacrifice quality by using any of the following methods.

Crop the Image
If you don't need to use the entire picture, you can use a photo editing or paint program, such as Microsoft Picture It!, Microsoft Photo Editor or Adobe PhotoDeluxe, to select and then import only the part of the image you want to use.

Reduce the Color Depth of the Image
If you are printing using a black-and-white printer, you can reduce the file size by converting a color image to grayscale. Or, in some cases, you can reduce a 24-bit (16.7 million) color image to 256 colors without a noticeable loss of quality.

Reduce the Size of the Image
If you scanned an 8 by 10 inch picture to use in a 4 by 5 inch picture frame, rescan the image at a smaller scale.

Scan the Image at a Lower Resolution
While many scanners scan at 600 dots per inch (dpi) or higher, you should scan a color or grayscale image at no more than 300 dpi. An exception to this is if you are scanning a very small image and you do not want the image to become distorted, grainy, or jagged when you enlarge it in Greetings 99 or Home Publishing 99.

For additional information about how to use scanned images, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

228759 General Information About Using Scanned Images



MORE INFORMATION
The following table gives the estimated size of a 16 MB graphic, depending on it's size, color depth, and resolution.

Additional query words: gr99 greet99 hp99 empty white missing crash freeze object

Keywords: kbprb KB228762

-

[mailto:TECHNET@MICROSOFT.COM Send feedback to Microsoft]

© Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.