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CoCoDave · 02-25-2012, 07:43 PM

While this is a computer application/use question, it does have an RV basis since it involves wiring diagrams for my 2003 Monaco Windsor.

Discovering that Monaco did not include wiring diagrams in the 2003 Windsor's owners manual, I sent off a request to Monaco for copies of same. They promptly sent a CDROM with the requested diagrams in .PDF format.

All is good except for two pages that are not legible unless enlarged. These particular pages look like they are 4th or 5th generation copies, i.e. fax of a fax of a fax, etc. I wrote back to Monaco and their response was "after opening the document, type a CTRL5 then zoom in to a comfortable reading size." Turns out that the zoom and the CTRL5 can occur in either order. After opening, typing CTRL5, and zooming (400% being best) the diagram is crisp, clean, and clear on the computer monitor. Looks like the original must have looked.

These two particular pages happen to be the 12 volt layout and are of interest to the extent that I want to make a hardcopy printout of each of the two pages. Monaco was kind enough to carve out these two pages in a single document and I took the file to two different copy/printing services. Kinkos-FedEx and PostNet. They are the only two that I could find here in the Phoenix area that were willing and able to print in large, 24" X 36" paper, format. The problem is that when the printing services people try to print the crisp, clean, and clear image on the monitor comes out on the printer looking like the 4th generation image mentioned above. This is irrespective of the zoom size, 100%, 200%, etc., selected for the image on the monitor.

It appears as though there are different format regimes for .PDF files but now I'm officially in over my head and saying things about which I know nothing. I don't want to wear out my welcome with the folks at Monaco who have plenty to keep them busy at this time.

Ideas?

TIA

TechWriter · 02-25-2012, 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WindsorDave

It appears as though there are different format regimes for .PDF files but now I'm officially in over my head and saying things about which I know nothing. I don't want to wear out my welcome with the folks at Monaco who have plenty to keep them busy at this time.

A PDF file does not guarantee a quality image as you've discovered.

The 24 x 36-inch file is a C-size CAD graphic that was saved in PDF format.

Try printing as a 11 x 17. Other than that you're probably SOL.

woodburner · 02-25-2012, 08:41 PM

Try saving the file as a photo image; jpg. Or take a picture of the file.
Then use a photo enhancing program to increase the contrast; It will help making it more legible. I've done this in the past and more recently with my coach's documents that I wanted a printed copy of.

Heater · 02-25-2012, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WindsorDave

While this is a computer application/use question, it does have an RV basis since it involves wiring diagrams for my 2003 Monaco Windsor.

Discovering that Monaco did not include wiring diagrams in the 2003 Windsor's owners manual, I sent off a request to Monaco for copies of same. They promptly sent a CDROM with the requested diagrams in .PDF format.

All is good except for two pages that are not legible unless enlarged. These particular pages look like they are 4th or 5th generation copies, i.e. fax of a fax of a fax, etc. I wrote back to Monaco and their response was "after opening the document, type a CTRL5 then zoom in to a comfortable reading size." Turns out that the zoom and the CTRL5 can occur in either order. After opening, typing CTRL5, and zooming (400% being best) the diagram is crisp, clean, and clear on the computer monitor. Looks like the original must have looked.

These two particular pages happen to be the 12 volt layout and are of interest to the extent that I want to make a hardcopy printout of each of the two pages. Monaco was kind enough to carve out these two pages in a single document and I took the file to two different copy/printing services. Kinkos-FedEx and PostNet. They are the only two that I could find here in the Phoenix area that were willing and able to print in large, 24" X 36" paper, format. The problem is that when the printing services people try to print the crisp, clean, and clear image on the monitor comes out on the printer looking like the 4th generation image mentioned above. This is irrespective of the zoom size, 100%, 200%, etc., selected for the image on the monitor.

It appears as though there are different format regimes for .PDF files but now I'm officially in over my head and saying things about which I know nothing. I don't want to wear out my welcome with the folks at Monaco who have plenty to keep them busy at this time.

Ideas?

TIA

Can you email me the 2 PDFs and let me take a look at them. I own a Steel Detailing / Engineering firm and have capabilities / reading and printing options that others do not have. I may be able to print it to a cleaner PDF or change the PDF into a Cad file, clean it up and reprint it to a PDF.

CoCoDave · 02-26-2012, 06:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heater

Can you email me the 2 PDFs and let me take a look at them. I own a Steel Detailing / Engineering firm and have capabilities / reading and printing options that others do not have. I may be able to print it to a cleaner PDF or change the PDF into a Cad file, clean it up and reprint it to a PDF.

Thanks for your generous offer. It's actually a single file/document containing two pages or images. It should be attached to this post. If not, please PM me your e-mail address and I will send it directly to you.

To recap a part of my original post - when the file is opened and zoomed to a readable size and CTRL5 is typed, the image becomes crystal clear.

Thanks again,

Ramblin · 02-26-2012, 06:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WindsorDave

Thanks for your generous offer. It's actually a single file/document containing two pages or images. It should be attached to this post. If not, please PM me your e-mail address and I will send it directly to you.

To recap a part of my original post - when the file is opened and zoomed to a readable size and CTRL5 is typed, the image becomes crystal clear.

Thanks again,

Are you wanting to enhance that such that the text labels in the diagram are readable? If so, I doubt it can be done. For sure, Monaco can get you a better quality drawing than this.

Wayne M · 02-26-2012, 08:03 AM

It's going to be very interesting to see what Heater can do with that drawing. Monaco sure made it difficult to read. Maybe one of their techs working on that particular item should try to use it - but not when he's working on your coach.

I blew it up to 6400% and it was still unreadable.

Good luck. Interested in what the final from Heater will be.

CoCoDave · 02-26-2012, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne M

It's going to be very interesting to see what Heater can do with that drawing. Monaco sure made it difficult to read. Maybe one of their techs working on that particular item should try to use it - but not when he's working on your coach.

I blew it up to 6400% and it was still unreadable.

Good luck. Interested in what the final from Heater will be.

Wayne, yes, I agree with you that a technician would be hampered by that image if required to use it. I hope they have large, paper versions to work from in their shop!

The image becomes clear as soon as the CTRL key is pressed and held while hitting the digit 5 key one time. Once this is done there is nothing wrong with the resolution or clarity of the image.

That's what's frustrating. The image on the screen can be perfectly rendered but what shows up on the printer is that 4th generation representation that appears when the file is first opened and before the CTRL 5 action is executed.

I searched the internet for the meaning of "CTRL 5" in the context of Adobe Reader. The descriptions were vague to me. Perhaps to someone who knew something about Adobe products the information would be more meaningful. It appears to have something to do with applying or removing "layers" on the image.

I should point out that the file that contains the 120 Volt diagrams is fine. It opens and displays the images clearly without having to go through the "CTRL 5" hoop.

BTW: Upon opening the file there is a pop up window that asks for permission to go to full screen. The correct response is to click the "NO" button. If the "YES" button is clicked then the CTRL 5 action does not help.

An Android-based device behaves differently though the file will open and can be zoomed in to a legible size.

Like you, I'm very interested in hearing what Heater finds out.

Best,

rdownward · 02-26-2012, 09:44 AM

Hi Dave. I have a partial solution for you. I say "partial" because when I opened your PDF documents, no matter how large I expanded the view, they were still not crisp and clear on my monitor. Anyway, give this a try. Expand the view of the file so the diagram fills the screen on your monitor. Then, while pressing the Alt key, press the "Print Screen" key which should be located above the directional keys on the keyboard. Once you do that, the computer has taken a "snapshot" of your monitor screen and saved it on your desktop. Now, open a word processor program such as Microsoft Word and on a new clean page, "paste" the saved image onto the page. What you will have is a "photo" of your screen pasted on the page. Now, you can open the photo editing tools and using the Cropping tool, you can remove the unwanted borders around the image. Then, to get the largest possible image of the diagram, switch the Orientation from portrait to landscape. Then, click on the diagram (photo), grab the tabs and expand it to fill the printable area of the document. Now, you can save the document or you can print it out. As I said, I can't get a crisp and clean image when I expand the PDF file, but maybe you will have better luck than I did. Give it a try.

rdownward · 02-26-2012, 10:04 AM

Dave, here is an example of one of the diagrams that I used the procedure on that I described above. You could do this with "portions" of the diagram to expand them up to viewable size. Because whatever you see on your monitor screen will be what you take the snapshot of. Example - you could expand the file so all you see on your screen is the upper left quadrant of the diagram. Then copy that and paste it to the WP document. Do the same for the other 3 quadrants of the diagram to get larger images of each section. I hope this works for you. Here's a PDF version of the Microsoft Word file I did of the diagram:

CoCoDave · 02-26-2012, 10:41 AM

Thanks, Roger, for reminding me of the screen shot mosaic method. It may turn out that it is the only way to get where I want to go.

I took a screen shot of what is displayed when the "open file-type control 5-zoom to 400%" process is followed. My goal is to get one whole page on a single sheet of paper on the same scale as the image in the attached JPG image. Since this is a JPG rendering of what is on my laptop monitor it loses a little bit of clarity in the translation. The real-life view of the monitor is somewhat better than this but you get the idea of where I'm trying to get.

Thanks again for the tip.

codgerbill · 02-26-2012, 10:41 AM

For curiousity sake I opened the file , then did a ctrl5, then did a ctrl+. The diagram detail was exceptionaly clear. When you bring the print up you can do a ctrl+ to zoom in but it will be difficult to read. If you do a ctrl5 that will clear up the print.

CoCoDave · 02-26-2012, 11:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by codgerbill

For curiousity sake I opened the file , then did a ctrl5, then did a ctrl+. The diagram detail was exceptionaly clear. When you bring the print up you can do a ctrl+ to zoom in but it will be difficult to read. If you do a ctrl5 that will clear up the print.

Exactly.

The problem then becomes getting that clear image from the monitor on to a large sheet of paper. The copy/print shops that I have taken the file to can get the clear image on their monitors, just as you and I have, but cannot get it to print on the large format (24"X36") printer.

The image on the paper that comes out of the printer looks just like the image of the PDF file before typing CTRL 5 even though the image on the monitor is very clear.

docj · 02-26-2012, 12:00 PM

I've spent over an hour trying to resolve this mystery. I'm pretty sure that what you have is a PDF that has been print-protected using layers. Layered PDFs can be designed so that certain layers will always print regardless of what is displayed on screen.

According to what I've read Acrobat 9 (but not Acrobat Reader) has the ability to work with layers; until that version layered documents were created in other authoring software and then saved as PDFs. However, it's quite likely that the layers were password protected when they were created.