Export in slices - jpg quality

[Anna]

Ah ..... I see. You are using the objects themselves as named objects, right? My image objective is so convoluted that I have to slice it along frame lines, and other criteria. If you look at :

http://falcon.unibase.com/redesign2001/index.shtml

you will see that the falcon in the upper left is actually in 4 different frames, so I had to split him up 4 ways. That is where I get into the 'overlap' warnings. Sometimes it works, no problem. Sometimes, it doesn't. I could have done as you said to get the text to be a gif instead of splitting it, I think, and I will try that next time.

I found if I moved each square in on itself, (the square you draw on top in a new layer, name the squares, then hide to slice), in other words, made it smaller on all 4 sides by moving it in, then hit "redefine", then move them all out and "redefine" again, that worked most times.

Other than that, I found I had to keep a close eye on the names. Sometimes, I was working in a new square, but the little red dot was in the one I had previously been working in as well as the new one. I had to make sure to clear the previous dot first before redefining, and make sure it was only in the one I wanted to name.

Still not satisfying to all of the squares, I redefined the square repeatedly (as described above making it smaller then larger again), and it always came up that there was a problem.

In the end, I took the outline out of each of the squares, redefined them making them smaller, and to fit again (redefine again). That time it took!

So, good idea on the way you did it, Big Frank, and I will remember to do it that way for less complicated splits, and perhaps on the overlaying text if I can figure it out, but on this one, I needed a lot of splits. Come to think of it, I need it convoluted on most of the stuff I do. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif[/img]

So, it's challanging, and fun when it finally works, but lots of frustration and annoyance in between. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

If someone sees anything wrong here, or an easier way, please feel free ...... I am always looking for shortcuts. Perhaps there is something obvious I am not seeing. For sure, I got a lot of practice in naming objects.
[img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

[Anna]

Oh, by the way, Big Frank. I forgot to say how much I like your demos. I should figure out how to do that - much better than my long winded explainations. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[Anna]

Well, I've had an opportunity to try both ways now. Your way certainly worked better for a less complicated image, Big Frank. I had the same kind of image, single text on a background, and saving all as JPG, then as GIF was certainly the better method.

I think I am stuck with the other method as mentioned by Jens for more complex slicing, however. One day, I will figure why it gives an overlap warning when there is no apparant overlap (apparant to me, that is). That will make slicing much less frustrating!

[Klaus Nordby]

Anna wrote: "I kept getting "overlapping" warning, and it wouldn't slice. I seem to always get that . . . "

INDEED! DITTO! I have come to DETEST the image slicing "function" in Xara! I am now doing all my image slicing in Photoshop/ImageReady - works like a charm.

Jens wrote: "Yes, it's kind of complicated, but it's worth to get used to it."

No, it isn't. In this respect, my slogan is: XaraX suX!


K

[Mickie]

Anna,

This shouldn't be necessary:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>I found if I moved each square in on itself, (the square you draw on top in a new layer, name the squares, then hide to slice), in other words, made it smaller on all 4 sides by moving it in, then hit "redefine", then move them all out and "redefine" again, that worked most times.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

When you are drawing your rectangles on your slicing layer keep the line width narrow (I use .25) but more importantly make sure "scale to line width" is turned off (arrow backslash on the infobar). I've used this slicing method along with snap to grid and have had no problems.

I prefer naming the slicing rectangles rather than the objects because it gives me greater control over how it is sliced.

Hope this is helpful.

Mickie

[Anna]

Thanks Mickie, One more thing to try. I already snap to grid, and have my line width turned down, to .25 I think, but not sure about the "scale to line width" option. I haven't paid attention to this, but will next time.

I tried to eliminate the overlap by dragging the first square (begining on the opposite side handle) and dropping a copy next to it - adjusting the length and snapping the length to grid. That is how I do it on Photo Paint, and the alignment is perfect, but ...... No Go here!

You can see I have fiddled with this a bit, but still no guaranteed way of doing the slicing effortlessly. So, thanks for the tip - I will check on the "scale line width" on my next attempt. That makes a great deal of sense.

AnnaB.

[Anna]

Mickie,

Well, I did some testing last night. I made a simple circle, and set up a grid of 8 squares. The object was to split the circle into 8 slices.

I realized that I have had the "scale to width" ok - or turned off, but realized that my line width were set at default - .5 rather than .25.

In this instance, I set them all to .25, and the slicing went smoothly - or at least didn't give me the warning which was what I was looking for.

So thanks, perhaps it is as simple as all that! Just set the line width to .25. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif[/img]


AnnaB

[Mickie]

Anna,

I'm glad we got it figured out. Logically line width shouldn't matter with "scale to line width" turned off. However... Maybe it has something to do with how snap to grid works.

Sometimes it's the simple things that cause the most problems. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]

Mickie