# Help! Can't get screen capture to work with MR DVD



## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

I was so excited to get my 75 Years of MR DVD because I thought I could print out plans and such. Turns out, if you hit the "print" button and set your printer to enlarge image, you will still get only the normal size image, as the instructions tell you. They tell you that if you want to say, enlarge an image (plans, in this case) you have to do a screen capture. I Googled Screen capture and read that you hit the Print Screen button on your keyboard. Well, I did and nada! Also, right clicking gets you nothing. I used a "Save Favorites tab on their program and the stuff went somewhere into my hard drive, but I can't find it by searching. BTW, the whole thing is on Adobe.


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

When you do a "Print Screen", it does not send the image to the printer. Instead it copies the present screen image to the "Clip Board" and you then need to paste that data into another program that can save the image in some "Picture" format on the disk for later printing or send it to the printer right then.

Personally, when working with screen images I run the MS PAINT program (free with Windows). Once I have done the "Print Screen", I run Paint and then type the keystroke "Ctrl-V" (hold down the "Ctrl" key and type the "V" character) to Paste the clipboard data to the Paint window. I then use the tools in Paint to clip the image to just the portion I want and then save that to a file using the "File|Save As..." menu entry. If it is a technical image (drawing of an apparatus) I save it as a ".BMP" (Bitmap) file; if it is a photo of the great outdoors, I save it as a .JPG file. Other picture editor programs will work the same way.

There is another keystroke you can use that can save some work in doing this. Hold down the "Alt" key when typing the "Print Screen" key will copy to the clipboard just the window that has the Focus at the time, and thus you will have less to crop out of the Paint image after you paste it into that workspace.

Hope this helps. If you need more info, feel free to ask.


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Joe

I don't have the "75 Years of MR DVD" so I'm not sure what you mean when you say "BTW, the whole thing is on Adobe.", however, if you mean that the file(s) on the DVD disk are Adobe Acrobat files and you use the Acrobat Reader to view the files. Then depending on the version of Acrobat Reader that you currently have installed on your system, the security settings that MR has set on the files, and just which software created the PDF file(s) there may be an easier way to copy the drawing images. So let me know if the files are PDF documents.


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Try right clicking again and then Save As, on the left side of that box should be Recent Additions (or Changes, still early), click that open. I've used this to track down recent saves as my pc suddenly decided to hide my new photo uploads in obscure files instead of in Pictures. 
Can't help with the rest. 

John


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## peter bunce (Dec 29, 2007)

Hi Joe,

You could download the free program 'Screen Hunter' (http://wisdom-soft.com/products/screenhunter_free.htm) that caputures the screen as a .jpg file so a paint program can the re-scale it 

Use the 'Stand by' button which sets up F6 to capture any screen when pressed. It saves it to your desktop.


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By peter bunce on 18 Dec 2011 07:53 AM 
Hi Joe,

You could download the free program 'Screen Hunter' (http://wisdom-soft.com/products/screenhunter_free.htm) that caputures the screen as a .jpg file so a paint program can the re-scale it 

Use the 'Stand by' button which sets up F6 to capture any screen when pressed. It saves it to your desktop.



Joe,

I use Screen Hunter 5.1 (free) and Hyper Snap 6 ( you have to pay for, forgotten how much). Both work great.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

My wife is getting me the Model Railroader collection for Christmas. I'm looking forward to once again reading such features as "Letters from Jim" and referring to plans and articles I used as a beginning scratch builder in high school. 

The online ad for the collection states that the files are PDF's. Assuming that's true, and assuming they can be accessed with the standard Adobe Reader, it should be easy to print them to any desired scale from within Adobe Reader itself. I've already done this on some PDF files and sent them the the D-size plotter at work. As not everyone has access to such a plotter, I would think the necessary files could be copied to a flash drive and taken to Kinkos for plotting. I would hope that Kalmback has not locked the files up on the DVD to a point where they can't be copied for such purposes.


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

In order now-- 

Steve, the files are in Adobe Acrobat and are on three DVDs. Ya load the first one (a must, since it has the instructions to the computer, thumbnails for all issues, and the first 20 years or so of MR), then load the other two as prompted on screen, to access later years. You do not have to load the other two discs if you choose not to, but the instructions say it's easier if you do because then you don't need the DVDs anymore. I have not done so because I don't want to clutter up my hard drive, especially when it says loading make take up to two hours, but I noticed that the capacity of one disc (folder, I guess) is around 7 meg, which is what a bunch of my RAW with jpg photos consume, so I may do so. Do you think I could store this program on one of my other hard drives? 

I have the free version of Reader, which I've heard, doesn't allow you to do the things the pay-for version does. So maybe that's my problem. BTW, when you click on the program's "Favorites," it sends that file/folder to your hard drive. But if you click on it to open, you get a message from Adobe saying, "MR_1964_02 pdf" is password protected. Please enter a document open password." Then there's a box where you can enter the password, if you know it (I don't). 

John, clicking either left or right mouse buttons does nothing. There is no response on screen or anywhere else. The only thing that works is, as I said, if you click on their "Favorites" icon in the toolbar or whatever. You can click "Print," but the instructions say it will print the page only in magazine size, and not enlarged, even if you enlarge it on the screen. In other words, what you see on screen is not what the printer will spit out and it took me about five tries to determine that. 

Peter and Gary, I'll give your freeware a try, but if my computer explodes I will send you all my unwanted spam  

Dwight, at least you are of the same mindset as I (me?): you like the idea of this DVD. So, like yourself, I hope Kalmbach has not locked these files (they say they haven't) because I would like to print plans and such to large scale without having to rush off to the copy store. BTW, I went through some indexes (indicies?) and came up with a bunch of plans for houses, stores, factories, stations, etc, that I'd love to model. In that sense, this DVD is the treasure trove of information I expected (I'm already scheming about my next project). 

One thing--and I am going to call Kalmbach to ask 'em--the type, plans, etc, that I see on screen and get on my printed copy, are not as sharp as what's in the magazine (I know because I have some of the original stories). Do you suppose it's my printer not having enough acuity/dpi? Or did their scanner not have the definition to render the original properly? And could I sharpen these images in Photoshop, if I ever get them into my computer? 

On another topic, Dwight, did ya really build that there steamboat (paddlewheel r.r. car ferry?) If so, you are truly a master modeler, dude!


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

People are having problems with these DVDs. 

I came across this on the Model Railroader website: 

Anyone else who has problems with their discs should call Customer Service at 800-533-6644 or e-mail [email protected]. You won't find help on the Forums. 

-- 
Steven Otte, Model Railroader associate editor 
[email protected]


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

krs, that's interesting. And good news for us Kalmbach DVD consumers. I have always found Kalmbach to be a topnotch operation (despite the derisive, snarky comments you sometimes see on this site). Customer service is always polite and attentive and their magazines such as Model Railroader are well done. And this comes from someone who has spent 40-plus years in the magazine business and works for a publication that does very well. 

On the DVD thing: Kalmbach is really on the cutting edge of putting archival material on DVDs so if they don't hit a home run first time up, they are to be forgiven.


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

Posted By joe rusz on 18 Dec 2011 06:21 PM 

On the DVD thing: Kalmbach is really on the cutting edge of putting archival material on DVDs so if they don't hit a home run first time up, they are to be forgiven. 


I wouldn't exactly call this "cutting edge"
MIBA, more or less the German equivalent to Model Railroader, has been offering their archival material of all their issues on three DVDs for almost ten years now:
http://www.bahnundbuch.de/de/CDs-CD...n-1948-2003?x6cfbb=bvlanv04vglbu1j9h8ss3tjea3

and at $40 Euros, a bit over $US 50.-, it's also priced much more reasonably.


There is also a DVD of 80 special editions for 25 Euros and each year now a DVD of the 12 issues is available for 15 Euros.

http://www.bahnundbuch.de/de/CDs-CD-Roms

What I was wondering about the Moder Railroader DVDs - are those pdf scans of the pages which is what the description on the MR web site indicates or is the text portion actually editable (and copyable) letter by letter?

Knut


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By joe rusz on 18 Dec 2011 05:21 PM 
In order now-- 

Steve, the files are in Adobe Acrobat and are on three DVDs. Ya load the first one (a must, since it has the instructions to the computer, thumbnails for all issues, and the first 20 years or so of MR), then load the other two as prompted on screen, to access later years. You do not have to load the other two discs if you choose not to, but the instructions say it's easier if you do because then you don't need the DVDs anymore. I have not done so because I don't want to clutter up my hard drive, especially when it says loading make take up to two hours, but I noticed that the capacity of one disc (folder, I guess) is around 7 meg, which is what a bunch of my RAW with jpg photos consume, so I may do so. Do you think I could store this program on one of my other hard drives? 

I have the free version of Reader, which I've heard, doesn't allow you to do the things the pay-for version does. So maybe that's my problem. BTW, when you click on the program's "Favorites," it sends that file/folder to your hard drive. But if you click on it to open, you get a message from Adobe saying, "MR_1964_02 pdf" is password protected. Please enter a document open password." Then there's a box where you can enter the password, if you know it (I don't). {snip...}[/i]

{snip...}[/i] One thing--and I am going to call Kalmbach to ask 'em--the type, plans, etc, that I see on screen and get on my printed copy, are not as sharp as what's in the magazine (I know because I have some of the original stories). Do you suppose it's my printer not having enough acuity/dpi? Or did their scanner not have the definition to render the original properly? And could I sharpen these images in Photoshop, if I ever get them into my computer? {snip...}[/i] Joe

OK, as for the version question, there's only one flavor of Acrobat Reader and that's the "free one" but there is more than one version of the reader (i.e. v1, v3, v7, v9, etc. etc.). The "pay for" software is the Adobe Acrobat program, which is used to create PDF documents. Anyway the question that I was asking, was what version of the reader software do you have installed.
[*] The way you can locate this information is.









[*] On the Acrobat Reader menu bar click the "Help" menu button (see above image).
[*] Then point to and click the "About Adobe Reader" menu item.










[*] Then you can locate the software version (see arrow #1 above image).










[*] Next you need to find out whose software actually created the PDF file, because it could be someone else other than Adobe.
[*] On the Adobe Reader menu bar click the "File" menu button (see above image).
[*] Then point to and click the "Properties..." menu item (see above image).










[*] After the Properties dialog displays.
[*] If not on the "Description" tab, point to that tab and click it.
[*] Check the "PDF Producer:" field contents to see which software created the PDF file (see arrow #1 above image).










[*] Next, point to and click the "Security" tab (see above image).
[*] Here you can see what security features have been enabled.
[/list] The reason why the information about whose software created the PDF file(s), and what security features have been enabled. Is because that will determine what features of the Adobe Reader are availble for use, and if the desired features are available which ones to use.

For example...
[*] If no security restrictions have been enabled to prevent you from using the "select" tool.
and...
[*] If the PDF file(s) were created by Adobe Acrobat then you can use the "Select" tool to select and copy both "text" and "images" directly from the displayed PDF document.
on the other hand...
[*] If the PDF file(s) were created by software other than Adobe's then.
[*] You'll have to use the "Select" tool to only select and copy text.
and...
[*] You'll have to use the "Snapshot" tool to select and copy images.
[/list][/list] Let me know what you find out by using the above information.

If I remember correctly, you have MS/Word installed on your computer. If that is true, then use Semper's suggestion of using {Alt+PrtScn} to copy the current active window to the "clipboard." Make sure to have a blank MS/Word document open, and after copying the active window to the clipboard, switch to the Word document and use the "Edit" menu and the "Paste" menu item to paste that image directly into the Word document (FYI - you can also use the {Ctrl+V} keyboard shortcut to do the same thing). You'll have a limited amount of image editing capability within MS/Word.


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

Wow Steve, 

You should run a PC Help forum. 

Those are very nice, easy to follow step-by-step instructions - most impressive. 

Knut


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

Steve, krs is right. Yous should run a PC Help forum and I will copy and print your instructions and follow them letter for letter, moving my finger across each word (and moving my lips as I read). Seriously, I am way beyond 20-something and beyond computer literate. Although the g'mint spents thousands of dollars on me trying to teach me 'lectronics 9I know my way around a vacuum tube, pal), computer lingo is way beyond me. So you gotta speak slowly and clearly, as you did. And hey, I just got an iPhone 4S, which is a marvelous device. 

On the subject of getting an object (page or whatever) onto my clipboard, I'm assuming that's what happened, since when I click on that and get one of the pages I saved, it calls up that page, slugged (that's newpaper jargon for "labeled") with say, MR blah-blah, I get that Adobe Reader message telling me that this page is not aceisble without a password, as I said. I'll try what you suggested, but since I can't get past that stage, how can I try more stuff? 

About the Germans--as a big fan of MIBA magazines, which I always bought when in Germany, I can see that the Deutsch would be the ones on the cutting edge of DVD archiving. But for an 'Merican company, Kalmbach, which is a German name, I believe, isn't too shabby. 

Anyway, I will try everything you guys suggested, including e-mailing Steve Otte and calling Kalmbach customer service in the morning. 

Thanks


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

Steve, let me preface this by saying that I will not be responsible for what I may say, but I'm tired and frustrated. I tried to follow your suggestions and after countless swings at various Adobe hits, which kept trying to get me to upgrade to the latest version (I have 10.1, but now there's 10.1.1 or some goofy stuff like that) I finally, from my Programs menu got to 10 and the page the tells you which version I have, which I already knew, since it says that in my Programs menu. Anyway, if you click on that it gives you two pages of boilerplate telling you about all the wonderful guys and gals who toiled for years writing this thing. But there's no way to click on File, because that is blanked out. Similarly, if I bypass clicking on Help and try to go directly to File, it doesn't show me Properties. And in some cases, it freezes up my screen. 

I haven't tried the other methods some of the others suggested, but at this point I am so p-offed at the whole thing that I'm ready to call Kalmbach and tell them I want either an easy way to download and work with my images or the deal is off and I want my $199 back. 

Have a nice day.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

On another topic, Dwight, did ya really build that there steamboat (paddlewheel r.r. car ferry?) If so, you are truly a master modeler, dude!Thanks Joe. Yes I did scratch build it back in the 80's. It's a compressed HOn3 model of the Lagunitas, a stern wheel narrow gauge car ferry built for the North Shore (successor to the North Pacific Coast) that ferried narrow gauge freight cars across the Bay to San Francisco at the turn of the (20th) century. My original - and unfullfilled - idea back then was to model the entire Sausalito ferry dock.










*More photos...*


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

Wow! Now I'm depressed again. 

Hey,Dwight, looking at all the work that you put into that, I'm reminded of something I did as about a 6-year old in the 1940s. A good friend of the family, George Malinowski (RIP) had built a fantastic stick and tissue paper model of a Luscombe high-winged monoplane replete with interior, Gulf Oil stickers, etc, and handed it to me to admire. I don't know what got into me, but I grabbed the plane, "flew" it around by waving my hand--accommpanied by the appropriate "Nyawww" sound--and smashed it into a wall, turning it to junk, as I declared, "Hitler did it!" I watched the tears well up in George's eyes and the fact that he didn't kill me is a testimonial to a fine man. BTW, if someone did that to one of my models I'm not sure I would be that Christian about it.


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

On second look, "Holy Moly!" 

When I checked out the other photos and looked more closely at the details I got to thinking that you are among the handful, literally, of master modelers on this site.


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

Meanwhile, back in DVD download land, as suggested by Peter (I think) I downloaded Screen Hunters and tried to make it go. What I wound up with in my folder or on my clipboard is a screen that's blank on the top half, separted by a line with the Screen Hunters keyboard or menu kinda hanging over the line and filling up the bottom half of the screen. But no sign of any photo, plan or anything else I had supposedly clicked on by pressing F6. By the way, when I did press F6 when looking at one of the images from the DVD, it closed the image and/or program. I was thinking that maybe the image got sent to my folder, which is why the DVD closed, but not finding anything in the folder, other than what I described above, I don't know where it went or if it went or whether to **** or go blind, as we used to say in Buffalo. 

And I am gonna call Kalmbach, so there!


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Joe

Once you've got the red about Adobe screen displayed, the only thing you can do is left-click anywhere in the red screen that is inactive this will clear the window. Well, other than clicking either the "Legal Notices" or "Credits" buttons as you've found out, sorry I should have been clearer about that.

To explain, when you open a dialog box like the "About xxxxxxx." The programmer can cause the dialog to open in one of two ways.
[*] One way, after you perform the actions to open the dialog you can still perform other actions within the software without having to close the dialog. Just as a FYI this type of dialog is refereed to as being "modeless."

[*] The other way, after you perform the actions to open the dialog, you are prevented from performing any other actions with the software. Except those actions available through that dialog, and when those actions are completed the dialog is cleared and you can then continue on to do whatever else you wish to do. The only other choice usually available is to manually cancel the the dialog, sometimes there's a "Cancel" button other times there isn't (e.g. the Help menu's "About" dialog). In the instances where there isn't any "Cancel" button provided, merely placing the mouse pointer over any inactive portion of the dialog and clicking the left mouse button will cause the dialog to clear. Not that you really wish to know this, but this type of dialog is referred to as being "modal."
[/list] OK so now you (and me too) know that you're running version 10.1 of the software. Yes I know that you knew it was Adobe Reader 10, but there is a difference between version 10 and 10.1

The "clipboard" is basically an area in RAM (random access memory) reserved for temporary storage of something. For example, when you select some text in one MS/Word document and copy it, then switch to a different MS/Word document and paste that copied text into it. When you click the "copy" the software makes a copy of the text you selected and stores it in the "clipboard" area of RAM. Then when you paste that text into the other document, the software retrieves that stored copy from the "clipboard" area and places it into the other document. The process works the same way with images too.

From what you have described in your most recent reply, when combined with your statement of _"They tell you that if you want to say, enlarge an image (plans, in this case) you have to do a screen capture."_ in your originating reply, it seems that they have the PDF document security locked really tight, so it is likely that you won't have any of the native Adobe Reader tools available for your use.

If you are willing to try it the following steps should provide you with some headway.
[*] Open a new MS/Word document.
[*] Make sure that the MS/Word window does not take up the whole screen of the monitor.
[*] Hold down the {Enter} key until you've got at least two pages of blank lines.
[*] Return to the top of of the first page, and make sure to place the insertion point cursor (i.e. the blinking vertical line) on the very first line.
[*] Now open any one of the MR PDF files in Adobe Reader, it doesn't matter what part of the document is displayed.
[*] Once again, make sure the the Adobe Reader window doesn't take up the whole monitor screen.
[*] Make sure the Adobe Reader window is the active window (i.e. has the focus).
[*] Tap the {PrtScn} key.
[*] Now make the MS/Word window the active one, by clicking within it and also make sure the you cursor is still on the first line of the first page.
[*] Point to and click the "Edit" menu on the MS/Word menu bar.
[*] Point to and click the "Paste" menu item.
[*] You should now see an image of what was displayed on your monitor screen, displayed at the top of the MS/Word document.
[*] If the image is too wide and runs off the right side of the document page.
[*] Place your mouse pointer over the image and double click the left mouse button.
[*] You should now see the "Format Picture" dialog displayed.
[*] Now point to and click the "Size" tab.
[*] Next locate the "Width" field in the upper right of the dialog.
[*] Use your mouse to select whatever is in that field and type in the numeral 5, then tap the {Enter} key.
[*] Now the whole image (although smaller) should be displayed.

[/list][*] Next switch back to the Adobe Reader window and once again make it the active window.
[*] This time use the {Alt+PrtScn} keyboard shortcut.
[*] Switch back to the MS/Word window.
[*] Make sure to place the cursor on some line that is below the bottom of the first image you pasted into the document.
[*] Then again use the "Edit" menu and the "Paste" option, to place the second image in the document.
[*] If need be use the above instructions to resize the image.

[*] Now compare the two images.
[*] The first image (i.e. created with just the {PrtScn} key) shows the complete monitor screen.
[*] The second image only shows the Adobe Reader window.
[/list][/list] I hope the above is found helpful.


P.S. The screen capture software that I use is ScreenshotCaptor[/b] it is a sort of shareware type deal with a donation if you find that the software does what you want. Personally, I find it to be the best screen scraping software program that I've ever had the pleasure to use. There are not many screen capture programs that will capture a web page that you have to scroll to see all of it. Any way take a look-see and see what you think.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks Joe. It was a fun project. 

Scratch built a Bell 47G helicopter about 10-12" long when I was about 13 and was really into the old TV show "Whirlybirds." Came home one evening to find the dog had chewed it up. 

As for the MR DVD's, I'll take a good hard look once I get my collection for Xmas and report back on what I'm able to do with printing stuff from them. Until I can actually get my hands on them, I'm afraid I can't be a whole lot of help. Looking forward to hearing what Kalmbach has to tell you.


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

What Kalmbach said: 

Called Kalmbach this morning and spoke to Sandy, who told me that you must download all three discs, not just the startup disc to get the thing to print and stuff. I'm not sure about that, as printing was never a problem. The problem was/is, being able to work with a file--say, enlarge the image and if I had my way, sharpen it, as the downloaded image does not appear to be as sharp as the one in an actual magazine. I asked her about sharpness and she said, "Well, some of those issues are 75 years old," but I told her that recent issues, say 2009, had the same "problem." She had no answer for that. BTW, she did say that total disc space is 27 gigs (2g for the programing data and 25g each for the archived material). That's about the equivalent of three photo shoots for me. Not a deal breaker, but boy, is that hard drive starting to fill up! 

So after all of my bluster on MLS last evening, I am reduced to sitting in the back of the class and trying to behave like a good little boy. 

Dwight, you're up!


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

I assume by "download" you mean transfer all the material to your hard drive? 25 gigs isn't a huge amount of space anymore what with 500gb drives. Heck, even my notebook has a 500gb drive, 448gb of which is usable. 

Tell me this Joe... if you insert a DVD and look at it with Windows Explorer (your file manager program), can you see a whole bunch of PDF files?


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

Posted By joe rusz on 19 Dec 2011 09:52 AM 
The problem was/is, being able to work with a file--say, enlarge the image and if I had my way, sharpen it, as the downloaded image does not appear to be as sharp as the one in an actual magazine. I asked her about sharpness and she said, "Well, some of those issues are 75 years old," but I told her that recent issues, say 2009, had the same "problem." She had no answer for that.
Can you send me one of the pdf files you're having trouble with or upload it somewhere and post the link here.

Could be that the resolution these pages were scanned at was just too low to give you a good sharp image like in the magazine.
Also depends if the page was scanned as a pdf directly or as an image file and then converted.
But one should defiitely be able to enlarge the file and with the appropriate program, one can also sharpen it to some degree.

Knut


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

Posted By Dwight Ennis on 19 Dec 2011 10:05 AM 
Tell me this Joe... if you insert a DVD and look at it with Windows Explorer (your file manager program), can you see a whole bunch of PDF files?






What I read out of this thread is that Joe has trouble enlarging the pdf files and also that the drawings/images are no longer clear and crisp like in the printed version of MR.

I experimented a bit converting old paper copies to pdf since I occasionally need to do that for pdf documents we publish in the Large Scale database with the approval of the original copyright owner.

If I scan at 300 DPI and the whole page is an image file since the original text file no longer exists and running OXR is too time-consuming, I get a nice, clear crisp pdf that I can enlarge eight times (800%) before the text starts to become a bit fuzzy.
File size is roughly 1 Meg per page
If I run that same file through Adobe Axrobat to reduce the file size, the reduction is significant - goes down to 200K per page or roughly one-fifth, but the small text is now fuzzy even at normal 100% size with no enlargement.
If I relate these numbers to the MR DVD which is advertised at having about 100 000 pages, the file size at 300 DPI should be around 100 GB; if the file size is reduced via Acrobat it drops to around 20GB but any enlargement ends up becoming fuzzy.


There are of course umpteen different ways MR could have digitized these 900 issues to reduce the file size and still maintain the quality - for paper copies where there are no soft text files available like the early issues of MR, the best compromise I found was setting the scanner at 200 DPI, for files where there are soft text files, by far thye best way is to convert the text files to pdf and just scan the image files.

Maybe a bit too technical for some - all I want to get to is that the way the pdf files were created will make a huge difference on how clear the diagrams and drawings are going to be and how much they can be enlarged. I haven't come across anything published by MR that provides some insight into how these DVDs were actually created, however since there are only three DVDs, the total file size can't possibly exceed about 25GB (8.5 GB per double-layer DVD).


Knut


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

Steve, 

Yay! What you described here (excerpt below)did the trick. I copied a page--in two forms as you decribe--into a Word folder. So thank you so much. And God bless Tiny Tim too! 

BUT--how do I move my captured material (a page from MR) into another program? For example, I tried to move the page into Lightroom (I have Photoshop CS5 too) so I could sharpen things like I do with my photos. But Lightroom recognizes only images and since this is a Word file, it basically said, "Whaa?" 

Now I see that I can perform some limited resizing in what I have (I tired it and it works), but as you enlarge the image it gets fuzzier (duh!). 

Anyway, at least we're somewhat out of the clutches of Kalmbach, which as you suggested earlier in your post, may have Reader locked up pretty tight. 

But, I'm thinking that the glass is half full, so again, thanks ("Big Mahalos, braddah," as they say in Hawaii). 


If you are willing to try it the following steps should provide you with some headway. 
■Open a new MS/Word document. 
■Make sure that the MS/Word window does not take up the whole screen of the monitor. 
■Hold down the {Enter} key until you've got at least two pages of blank lines. 
■Return to the top of of the first page, and make sure to place the insertion point cursor (i.e. the blinking vertical line) on the very first line. 
■Now open any one of the MR PDF files in Adobe Reader, it doesn't matter what part of the document is displayed. 
■Once again, make sure the the Adobe Reader window doesn't take up the whole monitor screen. 
■Make sure the Adobe Reader window is the active window (i.e. has the focus). 
■Tap the {PrtScn} key.


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Hey Joe

Glad that helped you out.


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## bnsfconductor (Jan 3, 2008)

Posted By Dwight Ennis on 19 Dec 2011 10:05 AM 
I assume by "download" you mean transfer all the material to your hard drive? 25 gigs isn't a huge amount of space anymore what with 500gb drives. Heck, even my notebook has a 500gb drive, 448gb of which is usable. 

That's nothing! I just bought a 1.5 tera byte external hard drive to store everything. I really hope I never fill that thing up.  


Back to the issue at hand. Is the DVD set really worth the high price? Now for the not so honest people out there, what's preventing 1 person from buying the DVD set, copying the files to their hard drive, and handing the DVD to another computer/person to upload. I'm assuming they thought of this already and have some sort of restrictions on the DVD's? If not what's preventing a 'club' buying one and letting every take it home for a day or two? 
For those who have it, is there a search feature for all the PDF's? 

I'm too wondering about the quality of the prints/scans when enlarged. 


Craig


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By joe rusz on 19 Dec 2011 04:16 PM 
{snip...}[/i] BUT--how do I move my captured material (a page from MR) into another program? For example, I tried to move the page into Lightroom (I have Photoshop CS5 too) so I could sharpen things like I do with my photos. But Lightroom recognizes only images and since this is a Word file, it basically said, "Whaa?" {snip...}[/i] Joe

So, instead of opening MS/Word, open PhotoShop instead, then...
[*] Open PhotoShop in one window, make sure you have no image loaded.
[*] Open one of the MR PDF files in another window.
[*] Make sure that the Adobe Reader window is the active one.
[*] Use the {Alt+PrtScn} keyboard shortcut.
(Note, the {Alt+PrtScn} term means to depress and hold down the "Alt" key, then tap the "PrtScn" key)
(Remember by doing this you're copying only the image of the Adobe Reader window from the screen to the "clipboard")

[*] Next, switch back to the PhotoShop window.
[*] Then create a new blank image.

Here I'm not sure whether this feature is on the "File" or "Edit" menu that you do this, it has been awhile since I've used PhotoShop.
or...
Maybe it's automatically created when you attempt to paste an image from the "clipboard" and have no image loaded.

[*] If you have to manually create a new blank image, if I'm not mistaken it will automatically size the blank image to what is stored on the clipboard.
[*] Then click the "Edit" menu button on the tool-bar.
[*] Point to and click the "Paste" menu item.
[*] At this point you should now have copied the image stored on the "clipboard" into PhotoShop and should be able to manipulate as desired.
[/list] Bahh Humbug!


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

Steve -

If you use the Print Screen command, ie
Use the {Alt+PrtScn} keyboard shortcut.

don't you end up with a much lower resolution than the original which in turn creates a problem if you want to enlarge the image?

For example, if I take a picture that has an original resolution of 300 pixels/inch and I copy it using the print screen command I end up with a picture that has a resolution of 72 pixels/inch, ie the resolution of the monitor I'm using.


Knut


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

Craig, the DVD set is worth it to me because I like to plow through old stuff and I also like to scratchbuild structures and am always looking for plans and ideas. Plus I'm always dreaming about maybe building a module or maybe even a smaller scale indoor model railroad, so I'd like to know how to build scenery, make trees, etc. And I still think that the best, most accurate model railroad is an indoor one because you can control everything. I've seen one great indoor layout--built professionally by Jack Verducci for a wealthy guy near Buffalo, N.Y. Floor to seven foot high scenery. Working waterfall. Beautiful Colorado-like mountains. All contained in a dedicated, 30x50 foot (I guess) building, which has (had?) a separate room with a huge Lionel layout and a real caboose. But back to the "Is it worth it" question: yes, to me. I don't spend a lot of money on other things so this is an indulgence. 

About "lending" the DVD to others: I don't know if there's a limit to how many times you can copy this DVD. I know that with my various other programs the instructions seem to imply that you can load stuff onto a couple of your other computers, but I don't know if at some point you get a message that says, "Sorry. That's enough." Ask Steve, unless you are an IT guy and already know the answer. I suspect/wonder that Kalmbach was more concerned about people pirating things like plans and photos and going commercial with 'em. For example, some time ago I called a guy who builds HO laser-cut models to ask him the dimensions of a small cabin that I wanted to build. He grudgingly gave me the footprint (length and width) but said, "Why don't you just buy my kit?" Then I start checking out my new DVD collection and lo and behold, what do I find? A story on that very cabin, photos, plans and all, in one of the back issues of MR. The story even has the building positioned the same way--on a hillside! I guess it all comes down to honesty or trust or something. 

About a search function: Yes, there is one and you can search by word, topic, author, etc. 

Quality: You'll have to ask Steve or one of the guys about that. All's I know is the DVD image is just a smidge less sharp than the magazine image, when compared side-by-side (if you happen to have the magazine, of course). 

Steve: thanks for your recent bit of advice. I'll give it a shot. BTW, I succeeded in enlarging the screen image somewhat, but when I printed it I got only the left third or so of the material. It's like the printer wasn't capable of printing beyond 8-1/2 by 11. And yes, I did set the printer for Landscape, not Portrait. 

Knut:I did use Alt+ PrtScn and just PrtScn. Both ways worked and frankly, I don't know what the difference is (I'm so ashamed for not learning my lessons better, Steve). I can't speak to resolution because I don't know. Steve, what do you think? 

Anyway, thanks gang. It's been fun. Happy holidays of your choice.


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Knut

What you say may be true, but if you can't access that 800 pixel/in. data directly and can only make a copy of what is displayed on the monitor screen, what difference does it make?


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Craig - yeah, I'm well aware that 1/2 gig is relatively small by today's standards, but it's a decent size for a notebook. My first computer, a TRS-80 Model 1, had no hard drive at all, nor was one even available. What WAS available was an "Expansion Interface" That added a whopping 32 KILObytes of RAM to the 16kb of usable RAM that came with the machine and allowed connection of one or two 5-1/4 floppy drives - each of which could store a max of 48K (if memory serves). The Z80 processor ran at a hair over 1 MHz. 
Back to the issue at hand. Is the DVD set really worth the high price?To me they are as well. MR today is a mere shadow of what it was back in the 50's and 60's. I got rid of my MR collection when I got out of the hobby, and I miss many of the features that used to be part of the magazine. It would cost me a lot more to buy all those back issues even if I could find them, not to mention the necessary space to store them. 

To each his own.


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## Ironton (Jan 2, 2008)

You can easily create a new window in Photoshop which will be sized to the current image in the clipboard. Just do the following (I like to use some of the keyboard shortcuts so I will mention them). 

1) Copy image to clipboard (In Steve's example this is the alt-prt screen). 
2) Make Photoshop the active window (switch back to it your favorite way). 
3) Press ctrl-n (hold down the control key and tap the n key, release both) 
You will get a dialogue box, just click on OK. 
4) Go to the EDIT menu and click on paste. (I prefer to just use ctrl-c, hold down the control key and tap c them release both of them). 

You should have your image open in Photoshop, ready to work on. 

Hope this helps.


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## bnsfconductor (Jan 3, 2008)

Dwight, 
I was laughing about your comment about computer hard drives.. Someday soon we'll have 1TB flash drives. 

I think I may put the DVD set on my wish list for some day. It seems kind of pricey at the moment, but like you said cheaper then buying all the old magazines. I wonder if MR will cut the price in 6/12 months after the initial release? 
I used to get MR only 15 years ago and noticed a decline in the magazine. Does MR plan on putting out updates every year for the current issues? Say after 2011 has been published, put out and update in July of '12? 

Craig


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

I used to subscribe to MR as well and cancelled a few years ago since there was hardly an thing in that magazine any more of interest to me. 
I also think it was much better years ago as someone mentioned. 

Knut


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

Good information, all, and thanks to everyone of you. 

About the current state of magazines and MR, which to me, is not in decline, but in another period of transition as they cycle through editors. What's that all about? 

While boxing up some of my paper copies I checked the heft of them and looked at the page count: those from the late Nineties, 212 to as many as 242 pages; current issue, 104 pages. Who or what's to blame? The economy. The Nineties were boom times, these days, not so much (just check your stock investments). I don't know what MR's formula is, but at R&T it used to be (when I was working full time) 50-50, meaning 50 percent editorial for 50 percent advertising. We had some telephone-book-size issues back then. 

Hey, speaking of telephone books, at lunch one year, we all watched our Formula 1 correspondent, the late Rob Walker (of Johnnie Walker) tear a telephone book in two with his bare hands. The restaurant owner was madder than heck, but we thought it was a hoot! 

Sorry, some senior citizen ramblings (ya get that way with advancing age). 

Have fun, all.


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

Posted By SteveC on 20 Dec 2011 12:02 AM 
Knut

What you say may be true, but if you can't access that 800 pixel/in. data directly and can only make a copy of what is displayed on the monitor screen, what difference does it make?

Steve - that is true enough but I didn't think the issue was accessing the original data, that obviously must be possible, I thought the issue was enlarging specific pdf files and printing the enlarged file.
And the secondary issue was tha the pdf files were not as clear as the equivalent in the magazine.

But maybe I'm all confused what problem(s) Joe is trying to solve. 


It would be nice if MR clearly specified what is possible with the DVD pdf files and what is not.
$200.- is a fair chunk of money and I for one would be pretty upset if I can't to some basic functions like enlarge a pdf file and print the enlargement.


Knut


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Back in the mid-60s (I can't remember the exact year), MR began a feature on building the 5' x 9' Manchester and Paradise (the MA & PA). That feature ran several pages with much of it being written text as opposed to a few pages of captioned photos that make up such features today. The next issue, Part 2 was again made up of largely text, again took several pages, and laid out a quite lengthy fictitious history of the railroad, including developing characters and prominent citizens who were instrumental in building the road, a fair amount of the geography it ran through, etc. It read like a short story and was highly entertaining. 

Overall, that feature spanned 13 issues, was very informative for its day, was a very entertaining series, took the reader step by step through building the entire layout, and included a number of plans for scratch building various and sundry structures unique to the layout. Nothing like that is done with today's similar features - not even close. 

Another column that ran sporadically in several issues was "Letters from Jim." It was a very humorous series written by Jim Findley, one of the pioneers in the hobby and a good friend of John Allen. Jim scratch built many of the structures on John Allen's G&D. The column chronicled, in Jim's own words, his attempt to build a model railroad while living in Korea. I remember laughing out loud while reading some of these, and these are high on my list to read again once I get my collection. 

The cartoons that appeared in every issue were often poking fun at the flak the poor model railroader was getting from his totally unsympathetic spouse - something that would never appear in today's PC world but was so common as to be a cliche back then. 

In short, MR in those days featured far more depth in their articles, many more plans for structures and bridges one could build, a lot of info on steam era operations, structures, and equipment that isn't covered today, and a lot more humor. 

Just mho.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Oh yeah, I meant to mention that the creation of a fictitious history and geography for one's railroad was a lot of fun, and provided a "back story" that guided one's efforts, provided a sense of consistency, and thereby added to the sense of realism and purpose conveyed by the layout. It's something that's, generally speaking, sorely lacking today. If you've ever read Phil Creer's *The Saga of the Toenail Ridge Shortline*, you know what I mean. If not, give yourself a treat and read it. Highly entertaining!! Phil's writing style strongly reminds me of Mark Twain.


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

Dwight; 

I had the pleasure of meeting Jim Findley once. At that meeting, Jim recalled that he and John Allen came up with the name Gorre & Daphetid after each of them had consumed one too many beers. John kind of regretted the name years later, but the model railroad was by then too famous - so he was loathe to change it. 

Hope I still like Brandywine & Gondor ten years down the road. 

Best, 
David Meashey


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Dave - I remember reading that story someplace - perhaps in the John Allen tribute book Linn Westcott put together. There's the story where Jim built a station for John's layout with a secret telescoping chimney. Jim installed it on John's layout and would weekly sneak the chimney down a bit. Finally John noticed and complained that the chimney was too short. So Jim took the station to his workbench (presumably at home), and after a sufficient amount of time had gone by, brought the station back with the chimney set to the correct height. He then would weekly sneak the chimney up a bit, until John finally complained that "the damn chimney was now too tall." hehehe Sounds like something I might do. 

John, Jim, Linn, and a handful of others like Witt Towers, John Armstrong, and Frank Ellison were the true pioneers of this hobby. I look forward to once again reading their words. Wish I could have met them. You're lucky to have met Jim.


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By krs on 20 Dec 2011 09:28 AM 
Posted By SteveC on 20 Dec 2011 12:02 AM 
Knut

What you say may be true, but if you can't access that 800 pixel/in. data directly and can only make a copy of what is displayed on the monitor screen, what difference does it make?
Steve - that is true enough but I didn't think the issue was accessing the original data, that obviously must be possible, I thought the issue was enlarging specific pdf files and printing the enlarged file.
And the secondary issue was tha the pdf files were not as clear as the equivalent in the magazine.

But maybe I'm all confused what problem(s) Joe is trying to solve. 


It would be nice if MR clearly specified what is possible with the DVD pdf files and what is not.
$200.- is a fair chunk of money and I for one would be pretty upset if I can't to some basic functions like enlarge a pdf file and print the enlargement.


Knut
Knut: 
Since I don't have access to the MR DVD I can only go by Joe's statements and in his originating reply the following statement was made.
"They tell you that if you want to say, enlarge an image (plans, in this case) you have to do a screen capture." [/i]

Which leads me to believe that the only way to make a copy of what is being displayed in the Adobe Reader's window is via screen-scraping, and then importing that into a image editing program for manipulation. Which if I'm not mistaken is what Joe was attempting to do, so that he could enlarge various drawings up to the scale in which he desires to build his models.

As you've stated, obviously the Adobe Reader can access the original image that was stored within the PDF document. However, it seems from Joe's above quoted statement the only external access to any images stored in the MR PDF documents is via screen-capture/screen-scraping that which is displayed on the monitor.

Joe did mention, that to him the image displayed on the monitor was not as sharp/crisp as that that's in the printed magazine. That may be the result of displaying a larger document in a smaller area on the monitor screen. Attempting to display too much information in too small an area something has to be lost, you've only got just so many pixels in a given area on the monitor.

For example, the following image is one that I screen-scraped off my monitor while viewing a 1910 issue of the American Engineer & Railroad Journal. Note, the below image is being displayed at 800 x 272 and it does not have the sharpness of detail that the original image has. Additionally, the below displayed image is in itself a hyperlink to the original image, whose dimensions are 3058 x 1040. If you click the image a larger one will be displayed and it will look much better. Now depending on just which browser you are using and the configuration of its "auto-resize" parameter you may not yet be viewing the image at its full size and need to click that image yet again. Once again, if the displayed image size again increases you'll also see an improvement in the sharpness of detail.

 

If you only use the screen-capture/screen-scraping method to copy the above image you're going to have as a result a pretty poor image to start with, however, if you use the browser's native "Save picture as...", "Copy", or "Properties" tools you then gain direct access to the original image.

If the respective Adobe Reader tools are available for use on the MR PDF documents. Then Joe could use the "Zoom" tool to enlarge the displayed image, which may in turn also improve its sharpness of detail, then use either the "Select" tool or the "Snapshot" tool to capture the image and copy it to the "clipboard", and then finally import the image from the "clipboard" into his graphics editing software (i.e. PhotoShop) for further manipulation.

On the other hand, if Joe can't enlarge the MR image displayed by the Adobe Reader, and doesn't have access to the native Adobe Reader "Select" and/or "Snapshot" tools. then he is stuck with what is displayed, and the resulting image accquired via screen-capture.

If he can enlarge the displayed image using the Adobe Reader's "Zoom" tool and thus possibly improving the sharpness of the image, but doesn't have access to the other tools. He is limited by the capabilities of the screen-capturing software he's using.

I don't have all the answers, sometimes it feels like I don't have any at all.








Just my thoughts.
Steve


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

Steve, 

I can't argue with anything you posted above - everything is 100% correct. 

I missed this part in the thread: 

"They tell you that if you want to say, enlarge an image (plans, in this case) you have to do a screen capture." 

If that in fact is true, then many of the the plans that are published in that DVD are not very useful if one needs to enlarge them three or four times to use them in Large Scale because the resolution of a screen capture is no better than the resolution of the LCD screen itself, in my case 72 pixels/inch. 

Knut


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By krs on 20 Dec 2011 04:07 PM 
{snip...}[/i] If that in fact is true, then many of the the plans that are published in that DVD are not very useful if one needs to enlarge them three or four times to use them in Large Scale because the resolution of a screen capture is no better than the resolution of the LCD screen itself, in my case 72 pixels/inch. {snip...}[/i] Knut

Personally, I would have thought that since they were going to offer this as a commercial product and being something more than just an index to all the past issues, which had been lost because of aging software incompatibilities. Some thought would have been given to how individuals that would be interested in the product would desire to use it. Since using the drawings of structures being used to build said structures is a pretty good bet, and since there are more scales prevalent today than just H0. To me, including a native feature within the product that would provide for not only printing out an image, but at the same time allow for scaling of the drawing and if need be automatically spreading the resulting image across multiple pages with associated alignment guides, based upon the size of the paper (e.g. 8-1/2" x 11" or A4). Would have been a really great selling point for the product. Like RailDriver did with its Cyclopedias product (i.e. ScalePrint Utility).


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## bnsfconductor (Jan 3, 2008)

Steve, 
For your information and others the model train index is back up again. 
http://trc.trains.com/magazineindex 

Craig


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Hey Craig,

Thanks, now that you mention it I sort of remember that they did decide to take the bull by the horns and do what was needed to bring the index back on-line.


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

Dwight and all, I think what has happened to model railroading is that there's so much ready-made stuff out there--especially in HO--that there is little incentive to build anything from scratch. Large scale may be the last frontier because it's one of the few segments of our hobby that still doesn't offer a lot in the way of structures, kits, etc. And some of what's out there is pretty expensive, although the good stuff in HO isn't that cheap either. Vince Morgan of Morgan's Big Trains once told me that large scale model railroaders want their stuff ready to use and are interested mostly in just running trains. Al Kramer of San Val thought of large scalers as a bunch of guys playing with trains and not modelers. Look at MLS. How many serious modelers do we have? Not that there's anything wrong with just running trains. I'm just sayin'... 

MR has gone through many phases, each driven by the editor on deck. Neil Besougloff has a vision that's different from David Popp, whose vision was different than Terry Thompson's, Andy Sperandeo's, Jim Hediger's, Jim Kelly's etc. The guys in the Fifties and Sixties had a nutty sense of humor that inspired humorous, fictional stories, railroad names like Gorre & Daphetid (gory and defeated) and such. And do you remember Finescale Railroader's "Railroad Man," who drove the white Pontiac ?? Aztek?? and ate Fig Newtons? He's gone and Uncle Russ now does three special magazines a year. I don't know what to say except time marches on. Now where's that DVD?


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

Good news, mostly. The captured image did go into Photoshop where I sharpened the **** out of it--top and bottom sliders to the max and only radius left at normal (about 2). Looks much better, as I hope to demonstrate if I can paste in said image. I also tried to blow up that image by 300 percent on my printer, but got a pixilated mess, which might be OK if it's only straight lines like in a drawing (I did type). So unless things change (I e-mailed Steven Otte at Kalmbach), I guess it's off to the copy store to make those large-scale plans for my next project. 

The image--maybe? 

Nope, wouldn't paste.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

I guess it's off to the copy store to make those large-scale plans for my next project.Don't feel too bad Joe. That's probably exactly what you'd have to do if the plans were in the hardcopy magazine anyway.


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

What Kalmbach said: 

The images on the DVD are locked to prevent people from being able to save them off to their computers. Though we knew this would be an inconvenience to some users, we were most concerned with the possibility that people would pirate the DVD and share its contents on the Web. 

As for the resolution of the images, I'm afraid this is a function of the fact that most of the issues on the DVD were scanned from hardcopies. Only in the most recent years were digital versions available for direct conversion to PDF. Making the scanned issues any higher resolution would have resulted in bigger data files, more discs needed, more space needed on your hard drive, and even longer installation and loading times. We had these issues scanned at the highest resolution we thought practical. 

To print an image at a larger size, you can print it out at full size, then enlarge it on a copier â€" just as you'd have to do with a paper version of the magazine. The print function is part of the MR program, not Adobe Reader. 

I hope you find the advantages of having 76 years of Model Railroader issues indexed, searchable, and printable all in one compact package outweigh any minor difficulties you may encounter. Happy railroading!


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## bnsfconductor (Jan 3, 2008)

Hum sounds like Kalmbach is worried about people sharing the DVD's! Does there seem to be a visible quality difference between the different types of scans? And image files? 

Here's a possibility for getting a larger image. Print the image/drawing, rescan on a scanner and create your own PDF and then enlarge it. I wonder how the image would turn out? 

Craig


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Print the image/drawing, rescan on a scanner and create your own PDFUnnecessary... download a copy of PDF Creator (it's free). Printing to PDF Creator creates a PDF file directly, bypassing the scanning process.


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

Craig, that's a path to follow. I kinda thought about it too. Since I mentioned that my Photoshop sharpened image looks better than the stock image on the DVD, scanning my improved image makes sense. But Dwight's idea simplifies the process and is the way to go, assuming I can figure out how to download PDF Creator and then process my image (hint, hint). 

Truth be told, I don't know why I made such a big deal over enlarged images. The ones I get from the copy store--usually HO plans enlarged to O, then enlarged again to 1:22.5 or 1:20.3 (I check them with my scale ruler) wind up as merely guides for my styrene work. In other words, I don't glue them atop styrene sheet the way all the articles suggest (it's too messy), I just keep them handy to check dimensions, and so as long as they're in the ballpark, I'm happy. 

Anyway, I am going to download that cabin I mentioned, make some large scale plans, and start cutting that styrene. My wife forbids me to do this until I finish all my other building projects (Orbisonia Fire House, Riders Crossing general store, old-time gas station and my current work in progress, a small hotel repelte with a nice logo by Stan). In fact, rather than send this e-mail, I should get to work on the hotel, which is cluttering up our dining room table and caused my wife to remark," Well, at least I don't have to dust the table." Ouch!


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## bnsfconductor (Jan 3, 2008)

Posted By Dwight Ennis on 21 Dec 2011 01:33 PM 
Print the image/drawing, rescan on a scanner and create your own PDFUnnecessary... download a copy of PDF Creator (it's free). Printing to PDF Creator creates a PDF file directly, bypassing the scanning process.  
But doing so, wouldn't change the image file? Cute PDF writer is another free program that you can use to 'print' with. Taking a file image from one PDF to another PDF seems like would be similar as copy/pasting? I was thinking that by printing out the image, you could scan it at a higher rate, thus allowing you to enlarge on a new PDF without losing the quality of the scan.
I don't know, just a thought.

Craig


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## bnsfconductor (Jan 3, 2008)

Joe, 
Here's a link to the Cute PDF printer 
http://www.cutepdf.com/ 
Download it, and then when you want to print a file, page, etc open the print option on Abode, and you should see something that lists your regular printer. Click on that, and scroll down and select the Cute PDF printer (or what ever PDF printer you have) and click print. Once you click print, a new folder will open that will ask you were you want to save the new PDF file. Select your folder, and hit save (I think) and your done. It's really easy! 

Craig


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## Bruce Chandler (Jan 2, 2008)

When I try to print to a PDF, I get an error message: "Redistilling encrypted PDF is not permitted". Not sure if it happens with ALL PDF printers, but I have a feeling it does. I'm not sure about that word, "redistilling", either. 

I've had success using the XPS Document Writer as discussed in the other thread on this.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Good to know Bruce - thanks. Acrobat (the full version) creates a printer on your computer called "Adobe Distiller" - printing to it creates a PDF. I suspect that's where the word "redistilling" comes from - Adobe's term for creating a PDF file from a printer source.


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

I use Cute PDF to send Mastercam drawings to folks who don't have Mastercam (high-end Cad-Cam software) on their machines. Never had a problem using this.


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