Hi Grace.

We have been using Crystal XI for quite a while.  While there is the
annoying limitation that it does not yet run under TMS, there is an
advantage that more than makes up for it: Crystal XI allows you to get the
images from a folder rather than from the database. This means that you can
make a folder that contains images properly sized for reports. While it may
seem somewhat tedious to create yet another copy of each image, it can be
done with a batch action in Photoshop.  

In brief, here are the steps we used to get consistent images in reports:

Create a folder called something like \reportimages
Create an action in Photoshop that:
 - opens each of your high res images 
 - resizes them to 240 pixels per inch and 3.5 inches in height. (Be sure to
check the resample box.)
 - saves them in \reportimages\ with a filename that you can construct in a
formula in the following step
         [this action can be a little tricky -- feel free to call us for a
sample]
Change the Crystal report to:
 - insert an OLE object rather than the thumblob from the DB; the "graphic
location" should be contain a formula that builds the filename of the file
in the \reportimage folder.

The images now print perfectly either directly out of Crystal XI or through
Adobe Acrobat.

Dick Grant

The Richard Diebenkorn Catalogue Raisonné
3200 College Avenue #2
Berkeley, CA 94705
510-428-1400
510-459-4556 (mobile)
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-----Original Message-----
From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Jeffrey Smith
Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2006 10:47 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Images in PDFs


The only solution I have found is to install and use the Adobe Writer
application, and then select it as a printer when it's time to output a PDF.
The image quality is excellent.

Has anyone used Crystal Reports XI yet? I wonder if the PDF export quality
has improved?

>>> [log in to unmask] 11/30/06 12:42PM >>>
Hi all,

I know that there have been discussions in the recent past about minimizing
distortion (stretching) and duplication of images when exporting thumbnails
to PDF, but have people also dealt with pixilation of images?

When we print a report with thumbnails from TMS, the thumbnails look fine
but when we export it to a PDF file, the images are not stretched or
duplicated, but they are very blurry.

If anyone has a solution for this, we would be very grateful!

--Grace

Grace Murakami, Associate Registrar
Hammer Museum
10899 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Tel. 310-443-7071; Fax. 310-443-7079
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