Zipping decks

[Frances Osborne]

Hi, all

I have scanned in my copy of the Lo Scarabeo Lover's I-Ching. They are scanned in at 96 dpi and saved as gifs. I am having a problem though. the entire file is 25 mb and when I sent the file to zip, the file was still 25 mb. I don't understand that at all.

Also, when I send a copy of it to the packs file of Orphalese the program sees the Lovers I-Ching folder, but says there are no decks in it. I don't understand that either.

I sure could use some help!

thanks, Frances
fossie@walla.com

[Dominatrix]

Hi, Frances:

GIF compression is a bit huge: which size cards are (I mean XX pixels by XX pixels). First step is lowering the resolution from 96 to 72 dpi (standard screen resolution). If still is big, reduce the above mentioned size, or try JPEG conversion. This will work for sure!

As for the folder, check the numbering is correct (from 00 to 77), or if the extensions are correct. If I can help you any further, do not hesitate to contact me here or thru my e-mail al All Users. Best.

[Frances Osborne]

Dominatrix,

THANKS A MILLION (bowing down to you many many times in gratitude). Your advice was on target.

The pixel size was indeed the problem. I had Irfanview resize the images down by 50 and it worked like a charms. And the numbering thing was correct, too. I didn't have a 00 card.

But I hope you have an explanation for why zipping the folder didn't reduce its size. Isn't that the point of a zipped folder? Or am I wrong about that?

thanks again. Frances

[Dominatrix]

Love to see you so happy. I got some experience arranging decks, that helps a lot. I also have an answer for your last question: compressors in general only make their job when applied to non-compressed files. Graphic formats like GIF, PNG o JPEG are already compressed with their own algoritms: ZIPing, ARJing or RARing them does not add significative difference. An example: yesterday we received a huge JPG, an advert for inserting in one of our magazines. File was 12,200 Mb in lenght, the girl at the Ad Dept decided to compress it with RAR for e-mail sending. The resulting file was 12,080 in size: 120Kb does not make the difference. But in the case of decks, manage one single ZIP file is much easier than a folder with 80+ files: that's the real use of ZIP compression. Best.