Output for Offset Printer

rbuser

Hi,

we use ReportBuilder to print large catalogues. The catalogues contain
numerous JPEG images, some of them are grayscale only images others are
CMYK. When printing with ReportBuilder to PDF (Distiller) all images are
converted to RGB and this makes problems because Offset-Printers need CMYK
by design. The Distiller is set to leave all Color-Information as provided
and NOT to convert all Colors to RGB. It seems that RB converts everything
to RGB.

Is it possible to print the JPEGs as they are?

Steve Richmann

nicocizik

Hi Steve,

Have you tried exporting directly to PDF using the built-in PDF device?

ReportBuilder uses the Delphi JPEG library to natively handle JPEG images.
I assume that this is what converts your CMYK images to RGB. It may be
possible to use a more advanced image library to accomplish what you need.
Take a look at the following article.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Article: ReportBuilder Image Support
---------------------------------------------------------------------

ReportBuilder natively supports .bmp, .jpeg, .wmf, .ico image formats.

ReportBuilder has an open architecture that supports any TGraphic
descendant.

For example, ReportBuilder ships with a freeware component called GIFImage
that can be used with ReportBuilder to print .gif images. (see the main
report demo app for an example.)

There is another freeware component called GraphicEx that supports several
additional formats - including tiff, targa, and autodesk.

It can be downloaded from:

http://www.lischke-online.de/Graphics.html


ReportBuilder can easily support TGraphic descendants with a simple register
call.

Below is the code to our ppGIF.pas unit which 'uses' and registers the
freeware GIFImage component.


{********************************************************************}
{ }
{ ReportBuilder Report Component Library }
{ }
{ Copyright (c) 1996, 2000 Digital Metaphors Corporation }
{ }
{********************************************************************}

unit ppGIF;

interface

{$I ppIfDef.pas}

uses
ppCtrls, GIFImage;

implementation

{***************************************************************
*
** I N I T I A L I Z A T I O N / F I N A L I Z A T I O N
*
{****************************************************************}

initialization

ppRegisterGraphicClass('GIF', TGIFImage);

finalization

ppUnRegisterGraphicClass(TGIFImage);

end.


--
Regards,

Nico Cizik
Digital Metaphors
http://www.digital-metaphors.com

rbuser

Hi,

take also a look at www.hicomponents.com, this image lib has a build in
support for delphi image registration, so these formats are also working in
ReportBuilder. The ImageEn from hicomponents has good support for cmyk and a
lot of other stuiff.

--
best regards
chris (EULANDA)

www.eulanda.com
ERP SOLUTIONS

nicocizik

Thanks Chris,

Great tip.

--
Regards,

Nico Cizik
Digital Metaphors
http://www.digital-metaphors.com

rbuser

Hi,

thanks for your replies. I have now tried both graphic libraries: GraphicEx
and ImageEn.
The idea sounds very good but it didn't solve my problem yet.

That is how i have testet ImageEn

- I installed the pakages as described in the manual.
- I called IERegisterFormats in the Create-Event of my MainForm.
- I created a new Report with RB, added two TImage components and assigned a
grayscale and CMYK JPEG. In the Image OpenDialog in RB I recognized that
several FileFormats have appeared that haven't been there before. So I think
I'm using the ImageEn lib correctly

Then I added a piece of code in Detail.BeforePrint-Event to store the Images
back to my harddisk to see wether conversion was made. I expected that those
JPEGs where now RGB, but that wasn't the case.
The colormodes were the same as in the original files. I recognized that
some color conversion was made (the CMYK Channels look different and the
whole image is a bit darker).

However, all images in my PDF document are always RGB. I have tested the
Distiller-Settings with PhotoShop to make sure that the problem isn't there.
PhotoShop did it right, the PDF contained the correct CMYK Image.

Do you have any other clues or am I using the Graphic Lib wrong?

Thanks

nicocizik

Hi Steve,

I'm not familiar with ImageEn however from what Chris said it seems it would
be the best to use in your case as they have CMYK support. Perhaps there is
a property or setting in the image class that will prevent the image from
being converted?

--
Regards,

Nico Cizik
Digital Metaphors
http://www.digital-metaphors.com

rbuser

Hi,

I found out, that ReportBuilder converts each Graphic into a DIB and then
sends it to the printer with StretchDIBits(). StretchDIBits in theory
supports CMYK when the DIB is CMYK and the printer is a postscript printer.

But to enable CMYK support you must not use the old BITMAPINFOHEADER instead
the newer BITMAPV4HEADER must be used with the bV4CSType (Color Space Type)
set to LCS_DEVICE_CMYK.

ReportBuilder creates the DIBs with the old BITMAPINFOHEADER and that is why
it doesn't work.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I think it would be a nice feature if RB would support this in a future
release.

best regards

Steve Richmann

nicocizik

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the information. We will definitely research this for a possible
enhancement to a later release of ReportBuilder.

--
Regards,

Nico Cizik
Digital Metaphors
http://www.digital-metaphors.com