PowerPoint File Size

[kmk_01kmk]

I need a little confidence boost before I spend the money on buying one of these books (or before I spend much more time on this digital scrapbook project!)...

After trying the BookMaker layouts, I know I'd be happier making my own layouts. I've set up PowerPoint to save out 200dpi jpgs (added the registry setting), and I'm using the default size slides (10x7.5). I inserted some pictures, added some text, backgrounds, etc, and saved the slides out to jpgs.

The image dimensions of the jpgs are 2000x1500, the properties shows that it is in fact 200dpi, but the file sizes are only in the range of 300-500KB, which seems way too small for it to be a high quality picture which is supposed to be printed at 10x7.5. I may be computer literate in other areas, but I don't know much about image quality (except a bigger file is usually a higher quality picture) and this file size just seems way too small!

Can someone help me out? I'd really appreciate it if someone who's been happy with a MyPublisher book using PP slides could check their jpg file sizes for full-bleed pages and let me know if these file sizes are in the ballpark.

I'm wondering if PP is compressing my pictures, even though I didn't ask it to?

Thanks for any help.

[Marti]

Hi kmk_01kmk!

If you read a few of these scrapbook threads, you'll see that I am no expert in this area. However, I just received a Deluxe size book on my Europe 2008 trip, so I have all the photos handy.

Okay, I placed a photo on a full-bleed Deluxe size page. The photo dimensions were 3072 x 2304 and it was 3.22 MB. The photo looks gorgeous on the printed page! Now does that mean that something smaller will be grainy or blurry? I really couldn't tell you. All I can attest to is what my experience was.

But let me clarify: I did not use PP slides in this book. I used the actual photos and dropped them into the pre-set page templates. That does make a difference because my 3072 x 2304 photo would have been much larger than the slide and I would have had to reduce it considerably to fit. Typically you don't need a PP slide for a full-bleed template unless you're adding text to an area that isn't supported by MP's software.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Marti

[kmk_01kmk]

Thanks, Marti, for the input (you don't happen to have your grandbabies PPT still around?! I was really impressed with that book!)

I am using PP because of the short-comings (in my opinion) of putting text on the pages in the BookMaker layouts, so my pages are all photo & text. I tried to use "storybook" style in BM, but I struggled getting what I wanted. What I'm trying to create is more of a scrapbook than a coffee table/picture book, so I'd also like to take advantage of background papers and embellishments not available in BM.

I really like the idea of using PP to save out all the slides to JPGs, but I'm concerned PP is doing something to reduce the quality of the pictures that are embedded on the pages. Despite the meager file size (300-600K), BM loads even the 300K jpgs into full-bleed pages with the blue box around them, probably because PP's (registry-hacked) dpi is high enough(?) I can't quite bring myself to "buy it in and see if it's good enough" when the file size seems so far below what's recommended.

I'm wondering if there's something simple I'm missing in the process of saving off the PP slides - I'd be more comfortable sending this to the presses if my jpgs were at least 1MB jpg files! But if someone has PP slides/jpgs they've used below the recommended size, I'd be very happy to hear about it!

Thanks!

[Marti]

I know what you mean, kmk. MP does an excellent job of producing a professional looking photobook, but if you like the scrapbook-look, then you have to be more creative - and of course, that's what's we scrappers like - the creativity part.

I know there were some threads under the PP search that discussed this very topic. Some people were adjusting the size of the PP slide. It seems like this just came up a couple weeks ago, in fact. I hope someone else will offer a suggestion or pinpoint those threads.

And I don't blame you a bit for not wanting to spend $30-$40 on an experiment. Oh, and on my grandbabies book? What is "PPT" - I'm a little slow in the acronym department.

[kmk_01kmk]

Sorry, Marti, that PPT file was referring to your master PP file for the project.

I think I'm running into the limitation on PowerPoint 2003 where it only allows 307 dpi (from Microsoft's support site). I've spent WAY TOO MUCH TIME experimenting with this to get a bigger file size by making my pages larger, etc, but the larger I make the pages in page setup, the smaller the dpi goes in the jpgs so I think it's "effective" dpi is staying at 307, and the end file size doesn't get much bigger at all. The 400-700K files are either going to be good enough or they're not! (You may notice I've gotten from 300 to 400K!)

I'm thinking of scaling down my project and doing a test book as everyone suggests... it's a little disheartening to spend THIS MUCH TIME plus $30-40, and only be able to cross your fingers and hope it looks OK!

I really appreciate everyone's time who's read through my desperate saga, though! Thanks! :) Hopefully, I can save someone else some hassle!

[Marti]

I hear ya, kmk, but you're not alone in these frustrations. I had no idea if my first PP book would be decent or not. I had never made a PP/MP book before and even though I read a lot of the posts, nothing was really going to tell me if MY project would look okay and satisfy ME. So all I could do was put a book together and purchase it. Upon receipt, I made some modifications for future books, but overall was quite pleased with my first 20-page PP Classic book.

[kzook]

I just put together my first MP book, and used PP for several pages. I, like you, spent a ton of time trying to research how to make the pages the right size and dpi and don't know if I was successful. My book should come in the mail on Monday, so will keep you updated and let you know what sizes my pages were.

[Marti]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you, kzook. Please let us know how it looks on Monday - and yes, post those sizes.

[kmk_01kmk]

Thanks, kzook! I'll check back -- I sure hope it turns out!

I'm so impressed with what I can do with some of these pages digitally, over what I'd scrap manually - I'd never spend extra money or time on special background papers, etc, and I've found SO many cool papers and embellishments for free online, and it's really quick to slap them into the background of a PP slide.

Thanks, again!

[Marti]

You are so right, kmk! That's what I love about digital scrapbooking. I have everything at my fingertips, free of charge online; beautiful images, embellishments and papers. There's no glue, no scissors, no rulers and no stacks and stacks of paper and books lying around.

Digital is quick, easy, clean, fun and addictive. Most people have PP, so you can create a layout on a slide and save it as a .jpg virtually in minutes. It sure beats the hassles of the physical stuff! And with drop shadows and .png format embellishments, your layouts can look realistic. Then upload them into a professional book like MP, and you've got it made!

[kzook]

Okay, so I got my book back on Monday and it turned out great! The pages I used with PP aren't "crystal clear", but then again some of my regular MP pages weren't "crystal clear" either. Anyways, my PP pages were much clearer than when I looked at it in the "preview" section when putting my book together. I'm happy with the results and am already starting on my next book...stay tuned! =)

As for page sizes, my PP pages ran about 6751x5251 and 3072x2389. I followed the directions from the 1st post by CapeMaui in the link below, but did increase the size of the "classic" book page 3 times even though the directions say you don't need to. I am using Windows XP and PP 2003. Hope this helps!

http://community.mypublisher.com/jiveforums/thread.jspa?messageID=9949⛝

[Marti]

I'm so happy that you're pleased with your book, kzook! I thought you would be. The info on the PP page sizes is really good - everyone is looking for this, so you've done them a great service - and with CapeMaui's link, no one should have any more questions on it - well, we'll see . . . :0)

[kmk_01kmk]

Yeah, well, it would seem! :)

The suggestions haven't worked for me to my satisfaction, so I'm considering CapeMaui's second post & suggestion from the above link (if I can get over my fear of loading unknown software on my computer...)

I'm still not happy with my file sizes, but I've maximized the pixels & dpi, and I'm going from there. If I ever get this done (& stop messing around with page sizes, dpi, and file sizes), I'll let you know if it turns out OK!

Thanks,
KMK

[Marti]

Maybe CapeMaui can give you some assurances about the software she mentioned. I know how you feel about that. I feel the same way. Anyway, once you get your book printed, please let us all know how it looks. We're on pins-and-needles . . . just kidding, but we WOULD like to know!

[kmk_01kmk]

Alright - I finally got my book! I made all the pages in Power Point (except the cover and title page), and I boosted the DPI output of PP by meddling with the registry.
The book turned out nice, but if I get a chance to do it again before the Costco discount ends, I'll try using another 3rd party software, or just try using the BookMaker software layouts (even though I found their limitations very frustrating before).

I'm pretty sure saving my Power Point slides as jpgs reduced the quality of my pictures. I have more than enough pixels (3072x2374), but the jpgs are around 700K which I think is too small for a high resolution picture of that size. If you look closely at my pictures, you can see pixelation, and you can see the dithering of the printed letters. On the cover and title page (made in BookMaker), the letters printed cleaner.

But to keep this in perspective, you have to look CLOSELY. In fact, a guy at work who told me the Power Point slide jpgs would NOT be adequate (in theory) has admitted that the finished product does look nice - he really thought the pixelation was minimal. I'm just looking at it with a very critical eye so other people will know what to expect if they use Power Point. I'm happy with my book, I just don't think the pictures turned out "photo-quality".

My main obstacle at this point to continuing with MyPublisher is that my husband simply doesn't like the format because "it looks like a school yearbook". Well, I don't see him helping with any of the prints & scissors scrapbooking, and so far that hasn't worked for me! He gave me plenty of advice on the digital layouts...
:)
I hope my review helps someone! Power Point really was an easy tool me to use - I liked using it, but I personally am going to try something else next time to see if MyPublisher is capable of printing photo-quality books (I suspect they are).

Message was edited by: kmk_01kmk

[breeze3005]

Would it be possible to give us the link to your book? I would love to see it. I'm patiently awaiting the arrival of my book. I used Scrapbook Factory Deluxe 4.0, for this book, our vacation. But I'm wanting to put together some family pictures and try PP.

[Marti]

Your comments are very truthful, kmk, and will help people make choices. I have had some Powerpoint layouts comes out very nicely in MP, but if I really scrutinize, which I usually don't, then I could probably find imperfections. Give Photoshop a try and see if you have different results.

[kmk_01kmk]

Breeze3005 - check your PM. Sorry - I'm not comfortable posting it publicly!

[AWilson]

Hi,

I have been reading your threads and they have helped a lot. I have been making all of my pages on PP but as I have read in many of your posts you have changed the dpi of the picture. I have no idea how to do this. I do not want my picture quality to be poor. Can someone guide me on how to do this.

Thank you

[kmk_01kmk]

You can change the DPI of PP (to some extent) but it still does not give you an option to export pages as "high quality" JPGs. It appeared to me it compressed the picture to minimize file size. Even though I could get the DPI around 200, I still think picture quality was lost in the compression.
Here's the article on how to up the DPI in PP2003 (adding a registry setting) - however, I don't think PP2007 with SP1 recognizes the registry setting. I have PP2003.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827745
And if you read this through, you'll note that PP2003 has a jpg limit of 3072 pixels in either direction. My interpretation of this is that even if you make your pages 2x or 3x the recommended size (like 33"x25.5"), the jpg created will NOT be 2 or 3 times the number of pixels needed - it's still limited to 3072. So you can't make up for the lost compression quality with lots of extra pixels, you can only get a few extra pixels.

I think the best advice I could give you would be to take one of the PP jpg pages you've saved to a photo processor and get it printed. Costco develops digital 8x10s for $1.50 - and 8x10 is probably close enough to get an idea how it's going to print in the myPublisher 8.5x11 book (or crop your page to 8x10 to print off the exact size). If you like how it prints, you'll probably like how the book looks. If not, consider other software!

Hope that helps!