For NT machines only, to configure for smallest file size, set dithering to ‘Dither from 256 colors’, setting the dither mask to Big 2x2, and  set ‘shift’ to ON.

Computer -Aided Design/Drafting (CADD) to TIFF

The TrueIMAGE print drivers do a great job of converting AutoCadd drawings to TIFF or JPEG.

Basic problems that you are likely to run into getting set up:

            Getting your application to recognize the driver

            Image rotation, resolution, and dithering options

Choosing the proper form size.

Setup Instructions:

1)     Install driver

2)     Set driver as the default

3)     From the Cad/Cam application, set the ‘windows printer’ as the default, and check  printer settings

4)     Do a ‘file preview’ and confirm the image is properly scaled

5)     Rotate the image as required

Adjust the dithering options and print resolution to get the best effect.  Error Diffusion dithering creates the largest file size, but gives the best shades.  Suggested optimal resolutions are 200x200 or 300x300.

For Windows NT users only:

To reduce the image to only 5 shades, choose ‘Dither from 256 colors’.  To force all colors to black, choose ‘force all colors to black’.

If the image is not properly scaled, or the correct paper size is not selected, play with the Forms setting to create a custom form.  For some paper sizes, you need to define a 'custom' size that is a few mm larger than the default paper size - otherwise Autocad switches to a smaller paper size.  You can create custom paper sizes from the Printer Properties, click once on Add Printer, then from 'file' in the menu, select 'configure', and add the form.  This can only be done under NT.

Electronic filing of Patents:

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's requires that patents filed electronically contain drawings and graphics formatted as Group 4 TIFF images.

To create full sized drawings and diagrams:

1)     Set the output file type to TIFF Group 3 reversed bits.

2)     Set the output resolution to 300 dpi.

3)   Create the output file.

To create ‘cropped’ images for insertions into the patent document:

1)     View the image using the free TIFF viewer.

2)     Set the scaling to 100% (exact size)

3)     Using the ‘box’ tool, select the area to be extracted.

4)     From the file menu, select ‘save selection’

5)     A properly formatted output file is created for use in patent applications.

Why use TIFF as a standard document type:

There are 5 popular TIFF variants:

TIFF Group 3 – popularized as the standard format to send FAX images though GammaLink fax cards back in the 1980’s.  A standardized file format that encodes image pages using Huffman G3 compression, as defined by CCITT and ITU fax standards, where each page is separately defined in the TIFF file.  Offers very good compression of text, and good compression of bi-tonal images. Used extensively as a storage format for scanned black and white documents.  Has the additional advantage that if one bit changes, you only loose the rest of the line.

TIFF Group 4 – popularized as the  TIFF fax file format for next generation G4 fax cards and G4 fax machines.  Very popular in Japan.  Extremely good compression of text, but not so good at bi-tonal images (can end up larger than Group 3 files).  Used extensively as a storage format for scanned black and white documents.  Used by PDF files as the compression method for bitonal images.  If one bit changes, you loose the rest of the page.

TIFF Packbits or RLE – original TIFF file compression format for bitonal and color images.  Similar compression to PCX files.  24 bit color image compression is lossless, but images are very large.

TIFF JPEG – multiple 24 bit compressed images in one file.  Image sizes can be very large, and there are only a limited number of viewers capable of viewing multi-page images.

TIFF LZW – supports up to 256 colors. 

Advantages of using TIFF as a document storage format:

• Virus free compact file format for B&W and color images.
• Universally supported Raster based file format (TIFF Spec).
• Equivalent file format to scanned document input.
• Format compatible with OCR systems.
• Format compatible with Scanners.
• Format compatible with Document Storage Systems.
• Format compatible with COLD data storage.
• Format compatible with MicroFiche Storage (200 years plus).
• Compatible with all major FAX card vendors.
• No patents or other technology or copyright licensing issues.
• Format compatible with Electronic Patent Filing.
• Legal document (un-editable).
• Support for multiple pages per document.
• What you see is what you get (WYSIWYG).

·        Multi platform support.  Built in viewer support provided by all major operating systems and internet browsers.

·        Allows a user to print a form, annotate or fill in details, and then re-save as a TIFF.

Disadvantages of using TIFF as a document storage format:

• Does not store the text contents of the image, useful for document indexing and searches. ImagePRINT has the option to create an ASCII text string while rendering a document and store this in a shadow file.
• No native display support in browsers (must currently install a plug-in).
• PDF does a better job of compressing Color documents.

Other Electronic Document Storage File formats:

PDF – excellent compression, and display attributes.   Creating encoders and decoders can be expensive (requires licensing software, or reverse engineering the file format).  The file format is copyright Adobe, and is likely to change in future releases.  Difficult to convert to other formats (Text, OCR, TIFF).  Difficult to fax, or migrate to non-supported platforms (PDA’s).

DOC – Microsoft Word used to be the standard for all file storage and distribution.  File format changes every year or so, is not easily transportable to other operating systems.  May contain viruses.  Can be quite large.  Cannot be easily locked.

HTML – moving standard, likely to change radically over the next few years.  Wide variety of commercial viewers.  Can be easily modified. Requires multiple files, and can be difficult to ‘send’ or ‘store’ without loosing pieces of the document.

XML – rapidly changing standard.  Requires documents to likely still be stored in one of the above file formats in order to be transferable.

EPS – encapsulated postscript.  Can be created by doing a ‘print to file’ from any application, including MAC and UNIX operating systems.  Can also be easily converted to PDF using the Acrobat Distiller..  File formats tend to be large, and commercial viewers are limited. (Ghost-script).

PCL – can be written to any Hewlett Packard printer.  Allows text to be parsed ‘in place’ – useful for forms generation.  Difficult to keep up with later releases (PCL 6).  Proprietary file format.  Limited number of commercial viewers.  Creating encoders and decoders can be expensive.

            BMP – very large, un-compressed.

PCX – does not support multiple pages per file.  Is not an industry standard.  Not extensible.

DCX – Intel file format for sending FAX documents.  Compression not as good as TIFF.  Limited viewer support.  Not extensible.

GIF – Uses the LZW compression algorithm – portions patented by Unisys, and popularized as a download format for pictures by first Compuserve, and later all internet browsers..  Does not support multiple pages.  Is not extensible.  US Patent to expire in 2003.

PNG – Portable Network Graphics File. Un-patented version of LZW compression.  Supported by most web browsers, comparable to GIF in capabilities and compression ability.  Still early in its development and acceptance as a standard file format.

JBIG – an alternate compression standard for bi-tonal images that attempts to do better than TIFF G4 compression.  Many patents, most of them held by IBM.

TXT – ASCII or Unicode text.  Very easy to search.  Does not support graphics, or complex formatting information.

DjVu – extremely good compression of color images (comparable to JBIG).  Developed by AT&T, and licensed by LizardTech.  Most documents compress to smaller than the equivalent PDF.  Uses fractal compression. Used extensively for maps, catalogues, and large color documents and books.  Free downloadable browser plug-in.

Non-Electronic Document Storage formats:

HOLOGRAM – the up-and-coming storage mechanism of choice.  Be careful not to loose the decoder ring though or it all starts to look like a bunch of wavy lines.

PAPER – invented by the Egyptians as a high tech replacement for rock. Is likely to still be around long after your current desktop computer gets the heave-ho. 

ROCK – good enough for the 10 commandments, and the Rosetta stone.  May be the only way to get the message across to the next civilization.

MICROFICHE – 200 years plus shelf life. Must be stored in a darkened room. Can loose half of its information (bits) and still be readable.

DNA – after a few million years or so tends to contain a lot of junk, and doesn’t look much like the original.

Dithering and Resolution Samples:

                                    204x98                      200x200                    300x300

Error Diffusion

Stocastic

Windows Fast Dithering

Error Diffusion:

-         Optimal output quality for colored images and objects

-         Looks good if printed or converted to a different resolution (no artifacts)

-         Optimal output for PDF and Powerpoint

-         File size tends to be larger than other alternatives

Windows Fast Dithering

-         fast file creation

-         minimal memory requirements for conversion

Stocastic:

-         best file compression for colored images and objects

-         poor rendering of color images and objects

File Compression Comparison:

Not sure what the best file compression format to use?  Check out our results. Typical compression sizes for the following file types are as follows:

B&W: Error Diffusion (best image quality)

B&W: Windows Fast Dither (fastest conversion speed)

B&W: Stocastic Dithering (best file compression)

24 Bit Color

Other Reference File Sizes:

Generally, as you improve image quality, file size increases, and time to render increases. 

If compression speed is critical, then image quality may suffer.  To get the absolutely smallest file size, images must be reduced to a small number of shades (or colors).

Admin Install option to the ImagePRINT to TIFF Print Capture Drivers Product Specification

At many large companies, policies have been put in place that prevents a user from installing hardware onto his own machine. This is done in order to decrease administration costs by allowing standardization on a single type of hardware, and to prevent calls to IT departments required to support machines with non-standard hardware which may conflict with hardware necessary for the actual work at hand.

Since the print driver mimics a physical printer, this means that in these shops, it was impossible to install the print driver without having someone with an administrative ID and password physically visit each NT4 or Windows 2000 workstation.

With the release of our Administrative Install package, it is now possible for you to provide a simple program on a shared resource, which, when run, logs in as a member of the administrators group, installs the printer, and then logs out, without need for physical attendance by an administrator.

Purpose:

To provide a simple method for users to install the ImagePRINT to TIFF Print Capture Driver on machines which they do not have admin access to. This is of particular use to system administrators responsible for installing drivers on hundreds to thousands of client systems, as it reduces the cost of installation and support. Individual users without administration privileges can now do a print driver installation on their local client machine.

Solution:

The system administrator runs AdmInst.exe on the network server with the \admin command.

The administrator then fills in the admin name and password for the client workstations into a standard dialog box, and presses OK. The admin name and password are stored in an encrypted file AdmInstfax.dat in the same directory as the AdmInstfax.exe program. The program then exits after displaying a status dialog: "Users without administrator privileges can now remotely install the print driver by running the driver installation from \\server\share\...\"

The local user runs the standard installation from the network server \\server\share\...\". The standard installation has been modified to call AdmInst.exe instead of Instfax.exe. If the user is not in administrative mode, then AdmInst.exe looks in the AdmInstfax.dat file for the security sign-on information, and attempts to log-on. If log-on fails, it then prompts for admin info. AdmInst.exe then calls Instfax.exe with the standard command line parameters.

Installation:

1. Administrator first sets up the hidden password by running AdmInst.exe on the server, creating a file AdmInstfax.dat.

1. User (or installation script) copies installation files (including AdmInstfax.dat) to a local directory, then runs AdmInst.exe with the same installation command line as instfax.exe
2. AdmInst.exe in turn installs a service.
3. The service launches the instfax.exe in the 'impersonate administrator' context.
4. On completion of installation, AdmInstfax removes the service.

Note: The driver files must be local to be installed. From the 'impersonate Admin' context we don't have access to the network.

Exe's provided:

• AdmInst.exe - compatible with Instfax.exe, and Winstfax.exe. supports /admin switch
• Finstsrv.exe - installation service.
• instfax.exe / Winstfax.exe – standard ImagePRINT installation exe’s.