One thing on file compression?

[dewline]

It never really works right, does it?

I've been sending pencil scans off to the letterer off and on today, in between drawing pages and working on the Basement Project and assorted other stuff. And this is what I have to resign myself to about file compression, I think, after sending him ten pages' of pencil scans.

Comments

[jasonfranks.livejournal.com]

No, dude, file compression is reliable... provided you're using the same software to compress/decompress on the same platform. If you're having corruption it's more likely to be the transmission (uploading to the internet/downloading from) that's responsible.

Try WinRAR by RARLabs for compression. The interface is a bit ugly, but the trial version lasts forever, and it should be super-reliable across different operating systems.

-- JF

[dewline.livejournal.com]

Interesting suggestion, especially that "different operating systems" angle...

[jasonfranks.livejournal.com]

... trust me, I'm a professional... ;)

I've definitely had problems going Mac->Windows and vice versa, although I admit that was a while ago.

Try WinRAR; I've seen compatibility problems with winzip and Windows' inbuilt compression even on the same flavor of Windows.

--JF

[dewline.livejournal.com]

Thankfully, compatibility hasn't been the problem. Just seeing any actual degree of compression worth using the software to achieve. A 17 Mb-sized file ends up compressed to, say, 16.9 Mb.

[jasonfranks.livejournal.com]

Oh, I see.

Well, that will depend on the file format you're using-- a lot of them have provide excellent lossless compression already, so running them through another app isn't going to help much.

I send all of my files as PDFs saved with ZIP compression and they usually end up being in the 15-40MB range... that's pretty reasonable for 11x17" grayscale 600 dpi files, I think.

Save them as TIFs and compare file sizes to see how good the compression really is.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

Which compression scheme do you prefer for TIFFs? LZW or Packbits?

[jasonfranks.livejournal.com]

Both of those algorithms kinda suck, they were both written for speed, rather than size. That's why I generally use PDF with ZIP compression (also lossless) to transfer files around; the files come out at least 3 times smaller than TIF.

I usually submit PDFs to the printer,I'm not really a production guy--I do that because it's easier for me, somebody who can't be bothered learning Quark of In-Design...

-- JF