* Pictures on CD

[jmpjack]

I am just creating my first CD. I think I have got the pages sorted alright, but what I want to know is how to make the images/sources readable. They are really small when they are linked automatically. I see that I can enter each picture of each Census etc individually and these seem to come up clearly, but if I just rely on the report to incorporate them then they are only about 2' large. Am I missing something here please, otherwise I have about 60 or so to copy this way?
Thanks
Jackie

ID:5136

[tatewise]

In the Report Options (for Web or CD) look on the Pictures tab and the Sources tab.
There you can specify the Size, Height & Width of pictures.
On the Sources tab you may need to tick Enlarge Small Pictures To Max Width.
Also if you have more than one picture per Person/Source/Citation you need to increase the Max Pics settings.

[jmpjack]

Many thanks Tatewise, that's sorted it

Could I just ask though, is there any way of linking PDF files direct to the individual in the CD. For example I have some military and pension records which relate to only one individual. Or is the only way to put it on seperately?
Thanks
Jackie

[tatewise]

There is no obvious mechanism in FH for linking PDF Multimedia to Source records in a Report.

The trick is to include an Internet URL hyperlink in any field of the Source record such as Custom Id, Publication Information, Text From Source, or Note field.
This would refer explicitly to the PDF file such as www.website.co.uk/militaryrecord.pdf Military Record.
It is important to include some text after the URL otherwise FH tends to insert a fullstop (.) at the end that disrupts the hyperlink.
Also you must enable the chosen field in the Report Options under the Sources tab Source Information to Include.
You have to load the PDF to the URL yourself.

[jmpjack]

Thanks again Tatewise. Sounds a bit complicated to me. Guess I will just copy the PDFs seperatly
Cheers
Jackie

[tatewise]

It is actually worse than stated - I overlooked that you want to create a CD not a Website, and for a CD the technique I described does not work anyway.

An alternative you might like to consider is to convert your PDF files to JPG or PNG or any other image format recognised by FH.
Then you can link them in the same way as your other multimedia images.

Just do a http://www.google.co.uk search for Convert PDF to JPG PNG free and you will find several solutions.
Many are free online services where you submit the PDF file to a website and it sends a JPG or PNG back often by E-mail.
There also some free software downloads that will do the job.
Of course you could simply display the PDF and use PrtScrn to capture it, or if running Windows 7 use its excellent Snipping Tool found in program Accessories.

[mezentia]

As I suspect with many FH users, I'm amassing a lot of pictures, not just family photos, but images of documents too, that get used in sources.

Whilst there are quite good features for controlling the display of images either singly or in small numbers, when you want to display a large number of images (e.g. 12 pages of military history records, or a sequence of photos)things get a bit complicated.

What would be appreciated is a facility to create media galleries, whereby a thumbnail image is placed in the narrative text which, when clicked on, displays a larger version of the image, with controls to move backwards and forwards through the rest of the images in the gallery, and where there is also an option to display the image full-size.

You can, of course, hand-craft this kind of feature after the CD contents have been generated (using Highslide, for example, to generate the code, thumbnails, controls, etc.), but not only it does  need some skill in HTML coding, it also becomes tedious after the first half-dozen or so instances. Furthermore, it is an exercise that needs repeating when updates to that person are made, and the CD content re-generated.

Maybe one for the Wish List?

[tatewise]

I agree that there needs to be better image support in the create CD & Website toolset.
For my website, I have devised a Java script to allow every image thumbnail to popup enlarged in a new browser window.
Then I have used AutoHotkey to completely automate the Website creation in FH and post-edit the HTML so that every image becomes a hyperlink for the popup.
It also corrects all the HTML bugs that FH introduces, especially when Internet URL are included in Note and Website fields, etc.
To see what I am talking about please visit my online ancestry web pages at:
http://www.users.freenetname.co.uk/~mik ... index.html
It also illustrates my Locations Database concepts.

[jmpjack]

Thanks for the replies. In the end, I just added it seperatly. Also as I dont know what system my friend is using on her computer this seemed the easiest option, but it would be nice if FH could have the facility to incorporate documents easily.

[Torbeg]

As a beginner, can I take this discussion a step back please? I have just attempted my first CD. All the text, records and notes have transferred beautifully but the images have not saved at all and I am staring at so many little blank boxes where images should be. The images concerned are overwhelmingly BMDs and census infomation in tif files and the very few photographs used so far are all jpeg.

Any thoughts?

[Jane]

if you look at the contents of the CD are all your images showing in the data folder?

Do you have any browser plugins which might be blocking the images from showing?

[Torbeg]

As part of the CD I used the gedcom file itself. This means that all the information is on the CD. In the data file the images themselves come through individually in miniscule format and lose all clarity when zoomed in on. When the gedcom file is opened in the data file, no images appear. If I then go into multimedia in the Property Box and click on any of the blank images there I get the message 'Unable to load object. Error on file open'.

Don't think there's a plugin problem.

[Jane]

If you want to use the Gedcom file rather than the CD reports, you would be best to add the whole project folder to the CD rather than the gedcom file as obviously that does not contain any images.

[tatewise]

Torbeg,
I am guessing, but I think you have performed two operations:
(1) Used FH Tools > Make a Family Tree CD to create HTML browser pages and copied them to the CD.
(2) Copied GEDCOM file to the CD directly using Windows Explorer.

(1)
The 'miniscule format' images are what this thread is all about.
If you follow the details above to use Report Options to enlarge the Pictures and Sources images, then the problem should be resolved.

(2)
As Jane says, the images created in (1) are not linked to your GEDCOM, and you must copy the Project folder including its Media sub-folder to the CD.
Then when you open the Project on the CD it should retain the GEDCOM multimedia links.
(This assumes you are using FH V4 Projects - if not, then whatever folder structure you use must be recreated on the CD.)

[Torbeg]

Thanks very much for this. Firstly I can confirm that I am using FH V4 and the comments about 'miniscule format' are what drew me to this particular thread. Your advice is very helpful on this.

Of your two 'guesses' your are precisely correct about the first. I did indeed follow the 'Make a Family Tree CD' guidance. When it invited me in Step 4 to select items for the Table of Contents, I selected 'Gedcom file or other download' and imported the Project File. The miniscule documents I now understand but the lack of media in the download I don't. It is entirely possible that my incompetence is at the heart of this!

Thanks for your help!

[tatewise]

OK, I had overlooked that Step 4 - Download option.
What you need to understand is that the GEDCOM data file does NOT include the multimedia image files.
It only includes a link/path that refers to each image file stored in the Media folder that resides in the same Project Folder that contains the GEDCOM data file.

Furthermore, when you click on the GEDCOM Download link on the CD home page, it will simply open the GEDCOM file as a plain text file.

To put the whole project on the CD you need to copy both the GEDCOM file and the Media folder onto the CD.
This is most easily achieved by copying the Project Folder in its entirety onto the CD.
This is the folder that starts with your Project Name and ends in .fh_data.
It is located within the folder that is simply your Project Name.

However, bear in mind that whoever you give the CD to should also have Family Historian installed, to be able to open the GEDCOM file and inspect multimedia files in the way you do.
Although some other genealogy software may be able to import the GEDCOM and image files.