I am trying to scan some forms and use the in a DB that I have.

I scan my form and save it in the JPG format. I then go create a new layout
and insert picture into the layout first (which when I do the picture is
huge) it tells me that it extends past the margins. What am I doing wrong?

I know after I get the form set then I select the JPG image and select
Sliding/Printing and check the box to not print the selected object. After
that I lock that item then I can start placing my fields.

My problem is with the scanned JPG.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Carl

"Iced Tea" <icedteas (AT) cox (DOT) net> wrote

You're scanning at far too high a resolution. Since the form is not going to
be printed, the best solution is to scan the form with a setting of 100dpi
(at most) - depending on the resolution of your screen, you may need to
scale down the image slightly in FileMaker to get a 1:1 scale form (you can
use FileMaker's Object Size window to see how big the scanned form is in
inches or mm).

There are two other options. You could save the image as a TIFF instead, but
you'll be wasting a lot of unnecessary space within the FileMaker document
and/or hard drive and RAM. You could scale the image down in Photoshop or
another image editor (it depends on the scan's resolution, for example, if
the form was scanned at 300dpi, then scale it down by one-third, i.e.
33.3333%).

The problem is caused by scanning at a resolution higher than 100dpi
combined with saving the image as a JPEG. Although JPEGs can store
resolution information, many applications simply ignore that information and
display the image using the screen's resolution ... hence a 300dpi image
will appear three times bigger on a 100dpi screen and could be too big for
FileMaker's maximum Layout size.


Personally I wouldn't never even bother putting a scanned form on the
screen, even if it was being printed. Simply recreate the fields in the same
order (you can add any logos you need separately). People's handwriting or
print size is rarely going to match the font size you're using in FileMaker,
so the text field boxes won't need to be the same as on the printed form -
make them smaller and save yourself some scrolling up and down the page. The
screen is also (usually) a different aspect ratio to a printed form, so you
can save more scrolling around by creating the form to fit the screen (e.g.
using two columns perhaps).

Helpful Harry )

On 5/01/11 2:04 AM, Iced Tea wrote:

When you scan it, you are most likely scanning at print resolution e.g.
300 spi (or more), which will make the image much larger when viewed at
screen resolution (e.g. 96 ppi on a typical pc, 72 ppi on older Macs,
30" cinema display is 100.63ppi; 27" iMac is (c.) 108.78 ppi...)

So you need to drag the image down to fit.

And for the sake of definitions:
spi samples per inch scanning
ppi pixels per inch display
dpi dots per inch print



As you are not printing the graphic, you indicate the 'do not print',
then scan at screen res. Anything bigger is a waste.


Be aware of the black/white and grey scale scanned file size
differences too, and certainly do not scan in colour (A4 at 300spi = c.
25MB). Watch the database file size, if you have a number of forms using
background images, the file size can increase surprisingly. If this
becomes an issue, consider pushing the layouts out to a separate
interface file (i.e. data separation ).


The other relatively minor, but inevitably tedious issue is printer page
margins. Also whatever you setup to work without complaint from your
connected printer, will probably be a little different on a different
printer. Watch for clipping.