Best way to paste images.

[ictfacilitator]

OK so see if we can do the same on copy paste images as for my link question the other day. I am often using other programs like Pages to make a background transparent, or Comic Life (Fancy headings) but pasting leads to the transparency disappearing.
I can: use the properties tab to make the background transparent
BUT: all methods... right click, paste, paste special, lead to loss of quality at times and loss of transparency. (sometimes pasting with a black background and other times white to replace my lovely transparency)
I also noticed something interesting on the way to this... saving a doc as a pdf, and then cropping it in preview.. import into Promethean and lo... the whole doc comes back uncropped! Add the cropped PDF via the images menu and it comes in correct, add it via drag n drop and the software says NO! Nothing like consistency!
Tried importing.. pict, png, bitmap etc but all the same... in terms of losing transparent background.
So can I paste transparent and what is the best way to paste to preserve quality do you think.....

My best solutions are..... design graphic with a coloured background that is not the same as any in the picture I have and then paste that into Promethean and then use the transparent picker.
OR go via resource manager.. navigate via computer toggle to the place where I have saved the graphic and add it with transparent background and colour pick etc (gives better result. See graphic attatched for my work.)

Side Note (I know for text that printing a Word doc (or any other doc) as pdf and then importing gives vastly better quality than copy/paste)

[LisaD]

Have you tried the Activstudio camera tool? That could work and preserve that the image looks like.

Alternatively, I use the Mac screenshot ALL the time (Apple-shift-caps-4) and select and area to clipboard and then Paste in Activstudio.

Lisa

[tomerf]

HI Lisa,

Did you mean Apple-shift-ctrl-4? I use this a bunch, too. It is a real timesaver.

Tom

[LisaD]

HMMM.. I guess it works either way. (just tried both!)

Lisa

[LisaD]

Oh, if you hold the control down it goes to the clipboard automatically ( guess that what you mean!) Then you can paste directly into your flipchart.

Lisa

[ictfacilitator]

Yes I use the screensnapshot a lot.. I was looking though at the transparency options with this and the loss in quality on pasting in specific (same occurs when using the camera tool on the toolbox)... any other thoughts?

[Vicky-d]

Be aware that if you are creating flipcharts on the mac with transparent objects in - if the flipcharts are opened up later on the PC the transparency will become opaque. This is because the two different versions of the software handle transparency in a different way.

[tomerf]

Is this part of what you are describing, Vicky?

TLC Dagmar Ladle recently showed me that there are items in the resource library that "come with" transperancy issues on the Mac. Examples are the Start/Stop Voting and S/S Eraser action icons in the Shared Collections folder and the Perimeter offerings in the Math folder of Shared Images. If you have the Transparency box checked near the top of the RL and pull one of these out, the objects' lines are missing or severely degraded. You can go into the properties of each of these and uncheck the "transparent" option under Appearance to correct. Prior to dragging them out of the RL, you can uncheck the box at the top of the RL and they will drag out properly. Most RL items whould be brought out "transparent", however, so remember to check the box again.

I am including a jpg that shows the differences.

[Vicky-d]

Hi tomerf

Yes I think this is part of the same thing but whichever way you get transparency to work on the mac it still ends up becoming opaque on the pc.

Hopefully this can be put right in a software update or maybe we should all post in the Activstudio Feature Request forum to get it changed!