How are *official* schematics presented?

Methinks you delude yourself on the file size ;-)

...Jim Thompson

Just tried a simple A-size...

PDF = 42KB

PNG = 102KB

For the _same_resolution_ the only thing that comes close in file size is TIFF, and it generally looks like crap.

...Jim Thompson

Did you try GIF? (lossless compression)

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

GIF (UDC) = 19KB PDF (Adobe v4) = 9KB

The PDF looks significantly sharper.

...Jim Thompson

Joerg wrote:

The Borg has been the reason for the slow adoption of PNG.

I have used PNG in the past when I was dumb enough to think PowerPoint was the way to make a presentation. (PNG's insert and size easily in PPT's).

However I discovered that I can make hierarchical descendible schematics with Adobe v4, which is a MUCH nicer way to go.

I've always found PNG's to be larger than PDF's, but maybe it's the capabilities of MicroSim Schematics that make that so.

...Jim Thompson

Is that what you use when you have to give a live presentation?

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

And herein lies the key.

A PDF, properly generated from schematics, is a LINE DRAWING. Well, and other shapes too, including text. The contents of the file are the endpoint coordinates and the line style (or other *description* of the elements, not a *photo* of the elements), so the line looks like a nice clean line no matter the resolution of the device you're viewing it with, or any magnification. Text has smooth anti-aliased edges regardless of how you view it. Etc.

A PNG is a raster. You can make a PNG smaller than the PDF by simply choosing a lower resolution, but then your line turns into a row of squares at higher resolution or magnification, and printouts may have that "stairstep" look.

So, *if* your software generates a PDF that truly is a line drawing, and not a pdf-wrapped raster, you're better off keeping it that way so it doesn't get pixelated. If, however, your software just wraps a raster in a pdf (you can tell by zooming way in and seeing if the lines remain lines, or become blocky), then you may be better off with a PNG.

Now, considering that most schematics have primarily vertical and horizontal lines, which PNG handles well, the benefits of PDF may not be apparent. If you want to see what/if the differences are, choose a test schematic that has many diagonal lines, curves, and text.

Was the 1MB a PDF? If so, how was it created?

...Jim Thompson

"Jim Thompson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

What's yoru current tool of choice?

Yep. Using laptop and projector.

Make up a PDF that contains the whole project... at least MY sections of it.

Sit on ass, click mouse, talk ;-)

First sheet is top-level block diagram... clicking a block descends into the contents of that block. Block may even have sub-blocks.

POP brings you back up one level, or all the way to the top, if you like... programmer's choice.

...Jim Thompson

I do all my reports and design reviews using Adobe v4. Later versions of Adobe are bloatware... so much so that they put M$oft to shame ;-)

MicroSim Schematics prints beautifully using (Adobe) PDFWriter, slightly smaller files than the freebies. You can also insert "pictures" into MicroSim Schematics.

Word also can use PDFWriter to make compact PDF's.

With Adobe v4 you can merge many different pages into a single document, and "Save As" compacts.

/begin personal opinion/ OrCAD Capture is the biggest piece-a-crap on the face of the earth. /end personal opinion/

...Jim Thompson

Methinks it could be the PDF conversion in OpenOffice that bloats it. My CAD can output a lot of formats but not PDF. At least that I know of. It really was 1MB. And the TIFF looks sharp even if zoomed to 800%. So does the PNG schematic.

Thought it might be due to the schematic being mostly analog parts. But so are yours I guess so I'll have to look into the file size thing some more.

You should have seen my last one. It was about a noise problem and solutions I had devised. So I needed to show before-after images but it had to be video loops.

I made the last slide to jump into a DICOM software (that's the medical imaging standard), then started one loop, then two, then three. Some folks were looking at my laptop when the fan came on full blast, to see if smoke would start pouring out of it. During the dry run here at the office I was quite surprised that this little Dell laptop could do that.

Cadsoft does that, too. It's really nice to place scope plots in there just like it used to be on TV schematics.

I was never enthused about any of the Windows editions either. However, the old SDT 3.22 was the best schematic editor ever IMHO. It has a nice hierarchical sheet structure that did this top layer block -> descend very professionally. I could do the design reviews just like you do them and this was back in 1990. Except that PowerPoint didn't exist back then AFAIR. And they didn't have projectors, we all had to sit around a monitor. Laptops back then didn't have space heaters that came on at random, no fans.

Yes. With OpenOffice.

Aha! I guess OpenOffice needs to fix its OpenOrifice ;-)

...Jim Thompson

Yep. I abandoned OrCAD when they went from SDT 3.22 into that first "Window" version of their own... what a piece-a-crap ;-)

...Jim Thompson

Yeah, it's probably not the best PDF converter and when zooming in things like inductors begin to look fuzzy at the edges. Where did that good old HPGL standard go? None of the new SW seems to understand that anymore.