I got a HUGE response to my question about preserving image quality from arcview layout to jpeg or pdf formats. Hereby let this be the manual: 1. Modify the resolution with the export option button or export the layout as postscript and convert the ps with your graphic package or with the free ghostscript/ghostview into tif. 2. Take a screen picture using the print screen key on the upper right of most PC keyboards. This will copy the contents of the screen to the clipboard. Paste the screen picture into your favorite photo editor, crop it and your done. This works well for web posting, but not high enough resolution for printing. 3. Create a PDF from ArcView by using an Acrobat PDFwriter driver. In other words, creating the PDF directly. In this print dialogue if you choose a decent resolution, make sure to embed all fonts, and compress color images using JPG high. 4. Double the page size of your layout, make all the images fit the page and then export it again at 144 DPI. The result will be an image with double the number of pixels as the original, which should be much better for printing as the printer will fit the image to the page but have twice as many pixels to use. 5. Try creating the final map layout in a graphics program such as Adobe Illustrator or Macromedia FreeHand. With MAP Publisher www.avenza.com you can move your GIS files from Arcview to either of these graphics apps while retaining geography and database information. MAPublisher also has many additional tools for cartographic design. 6. Try exporting through ArcPress, changing the resolution to 300 or more. 7. Make sure you manually set the resolution under options when exporting. I usually set mine to 1200 dpi to match our printer capabilities. I save as *.eps and then convert to *.pdf using the freeware "GSview". 8. Export to a 'PostScript New' file and then use GhostScript (a free piece of software) to convert the postscript file to a JPEG. If I create JPEGs directly in AV, even if I maximize the resolution (you can get it up to 300-600 dpi, even though those choices aren't listed in the Options dialog box), I get fuzzy halos around any details as well as weird color rendition. BUt if go the Postscript-->Ghostscript-->jpeg route, I get crisp clean maps. This method is also very good at preserving transparent fills, e.g. cross-hatching or stippling with a transparent background. I think Ghostscript can also create pdf's from Postscript files. You can get Ghostscript at www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/ . Click on "Obtaining AFPL Ghostscript 7.00", then follow the links for whatever OS you are using. 9. The export resolution is tied to your screen resolution. If your video card will support a higher resolution, change the settings to increase the resolution and use High color (16 bit) or True color (32 bit). I would also try exporting to a WMF file, and then use a graphic program like Corel PhotoPaint to convert the wmf to a gif or jpeg for the website. In a graphics program you can also resample your image to a higher dpi to get a better image. 10. One method involves a screen capture program. The one I use is Snagit. I grab an image of the layout. Text comes out clean and crisp looking. You can include your entire window, or screen for that matter. You can download a demo version of Snagit from techsmith.com. 11. Export the layout to the "Placeable WMF" format and then insert/display this like any image file in a MS Word document. 12. Install Adobe Acrobat full program on the same computer as Arcview and then proceed as if to print. When the print dialog box appears, do not "print", instead select Print to File and chose the Acrobat pdf. 13. In lieu of Acrobat, first select a postscript printer driver, which must be installed on your computer and then Print to File after having selected the ps printer driver. You can increase the resolution in this dialogue window. 14. Create a PDF. Open the PDF in Photoshop. In the "Rasterize PDF Format" dialog box, set resolution to twice what you need - in this case (web use) 144 pixels/inch. Use "Image Size" command in Photoshop to resample resolution down to 72 pixels/inch. Save as jpeg. Photoshop hint: When you reset the resolution in the "Rasterize PDF format" dialog box, make sure your measurement units are set to percent, inches, mm or etc., NOT pixels. Set mode to RGB. 15. The problem with 'thick lettering in pdf' is a problem of font-embedding in ArcView postscript export. Fonts are embedded as type3-fonts (bitmap-fonts). They print fine but look bad. With Acrobat Reader 5 this problem is solved. In Acrobat 5 you have the option of smoothing vector graphics.If this option is enabled, the fonts are fine. -- Bridgette Lery, M.S. Center for Social Services Research UC Berkeley School of Social Welfare 120 Haviland Hall Berkeley, CA 94720-7400 Tel: 510.643.0839 Fax: 510.643.1895 breego@uclink.berkeley.edu Work to eat. Eat to live. Live to bike. Bike to work. __________________________________________________ FREE voicemail, email, and fax...all in one place. Sign Up Now! http://www.onebox.com