Saving & Printing Charts

[timsk]

I use eSignal and the only way to save a chart (that I know of) is to hit the 'Print Screen' button on the keyboard and then paste it into another programme. Currently, I use MS Paint for this purpose as it allows me to crop, size and save the chart the way I want it. (Normally .jpg file.) From there, it's imported into an MS Excel file, from where I print hard copies. Two questions:
1. The route I've outlined is rather long winded! Is there a faster and easier way of saving charts to be incorporated into an MS Excel document?
2. My main concern relates to the printed quality of the chart which is rather soft and blurred. Is there something I can do to help ensure that the printed result is crisper? (Leaving aside paper and printer quality, which I realise are important considerations).
Cheers,
Tim.

 

[tune]

Might not be exactly what you want but I like this little program. You only save what you wish and the picture quality is good.
MWSnap download and review - screen capture tool from SnapFiles

 

[erierambler]

I use eSignal and the only way to save a chart (that I know of) is to hit the 'Print Screen' button on the keyboard and then paste it into another programme. Currently, I use MS Paint for this purpose as it allows me to crop, size and save the chart the way I want it. (Normally .jpg file.) From there, it's imported into an MS Excel file, from where I print hard copies. Two questions:
1. The route I've outlined is rather long winded! Is there a faster and easier way of saving charts to be incorporated into an MS Excel document?
2. My main concern relates to the printed quality of the chart which is rather soft and blurred. Is there something I can do to help ensure that the printed result is crisper? (Leaving aside paper and printer quality, which I realise are important considerations).
Cheers,
Tim.

Tim,
I use Paint Shop Pro, it let's me annotate the charts before I print them out. I just use Alt + printscreen ( on Esignal chart ) and paste into PSP. With paint shop pro you can save into many different applications.( i prefer .gif ). I'm sure there are other ways.
hope that helps...
erie

 

[timsk]

Thank you GJ, Tune and erie'.
I'll have a play with the various suggestions made!
Cheers,
Tim.

 

[new_trader]

I use eSignal and the only way to save a chart (that I know of) is to hit the 'Print Screen' button on the keyboard and then paste it into another programme. Currently, I use MS Paint for this purpose as it allows me to crop, size and save the chart the way I want it. (Normally .jpg file.) From there, it's imported into an MS Excel file, from where I print hard copies. Two questions:
1. The route I've outlined is rather long winded! Is there a faster and easier way of saving charts to be incorporated into an MS Excel document?
2. My main concern relates to the printed quality of the chart which is rather soft and blurred. Is there something I can do to help ensure that the printed result is crisper? (Leaving aside paper and printer quality, which I realise are important considerations).
Cheers,
Tim.

Tim,

The reason your charts look soft and blurred is because JPEG is a lossy compression algorithm. This means it discards information from the original image. It uses various techniques (which I won't go into) to achieve the smaller file size but the end result is that compression introduces some unwanted artefacts and the higher the compression, the more artefacts. JPEG is better suited to complex images such as natural colour photographs/images, especially ones with lots of different colours and objects because JPEG was designed to discard information that the human eye is unlikely to notice.

Images with straight lines and text don't adapt well to JPEG type of compression. If you want to retain crisp, clear images you need to use a lossless compression algorithm. If your charts are created using the standard 256 colour palette available in windows then you can save your image as a 256 colour Bitmap (Rather than 24bit) which will reduce file size. GIF uses lossless compression but is limited to the 256 colour palette. PNG uses lossless compression and supports palettes of 24-bit RGB colours.

 

[0007]

I'd be lost without this piece of kit

Tim,

I use an excellent little freeware utility for the purpose you describe (pastes into Excel no problem) visit FastStone Image Viewer, Screen Capture, Photo Resizer ...

It can save / print to variety of destinations and there are different options for screen capture depending on your requirements. It's not buggy and won't harm your computer.

Thoroughly recommended. No need to pay for expensive software. Hope this helps.

PS is listed as follows [Click for detail] FastStone Capture 6.0 Shareware (Last Update: 2008-02-13) & although it says it's Shareware which implies payment required, it is in fact free for home (non-commercial use)

 

[Splitlink]

I use eSignal and the only way to save a chart (that I know of) is to hit the 'Print Screen' button on the keyboard and then paste it into another programme. Currently, I use MS Paint for this purpose as it allows me to crop, size and save the chart the way I want it. (Normally .jpg file.) From there, it's imported into an MS Excel file, from where I print hard copies. Two questions:
1. The route I've outlined is rather long winded! Is there a faster and easier way of saving charts to be incorporated into an MS Excel document?
2. My main concern relates to the printed quality of the chart which is rather soft and blurred. Is there something I can do to help ensure that the printed result is crisper? (Leaving aside paper and printer quality, which I realise are important considerations).
Cheers,
Tim.

I used to use special download routines but have found that the quickest is to do a screenshot onto Paint. I only want a record, anyway, and rarely look at them otherwise, so might as well be as quick as possible. I usually find that the longest part is filling in the "File as" box!

Split

 

[bluetipex]

I use eSignal and the only way to save a chart (that I know of) is to hit the 'Print Screen' button on the keyboard and then paste it into another programme. Currently, I use MS Paint for this purpose as it allows me to crop, size and save the chart the way I want it. (Normally .jpg file.) From there, it's imported into an MS Excel file, from where I print hard copies. Two questions:
1. The route I've outlined is rather long winded! Is there a faster and easier way of saving charts to be incorporated into an MS Excel document?
2. My main concern relates to the printed quality of the chart which is rather soft and blurred. Is there something I can do to help ensure that the printed result is crisper? (Leaving aside paper and printer quality, which I realise are important considerations).
Cheers,
Tim.

I use ESignal also. There's a function within ESIgnal for saving charts directly that I always use. I've never used "Print Screen".

When you run the application there should be 2 icons in your system tray. One is the green one which shows you're connected. If you hover your cursor over the other one it should say "eSignal snapshot". Double click on this one. It now brings up the "Capture Window" which allows you to drag and drop the cross hairs onto the window you wish to capture (there may be more than 1 window on your esignal page layout). Drag the cross hairs as you wish and another window will appear called "Image Publisher" with all the options you desire along with the image itself. The options you see here are all self-explanatory.