PPT2000: Slides Look Bad When Pasted into Other Programs (197697)
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft PowerPoint 2000
This article was previously published under Q197697 SYMPTOMS
Slides and graphics from PowerPoint for Windows may not look as good
when pasted into other Windows-based programs. For example, a gradient-
filled slide may not be as clear when pasted into Microsoft Word or
Microsoft Excel for Windows. Or, you may notice that a slide or graphic
looks fine when pasted into Microsoft Word 2000 for Windows, but when that
Word document is opened in Microsoft Word 97, it does not look as good.
CAUSE
This problem occurs because of the different methods in which programs
handle color palettes under Windows when running with a 256-color
display driver.
WORKAROUND
Depending on the desired results and capabilities of the system
displaying the graphics, there are several possible workarounds.
Method 1: Use an Enhanced Display Driver or Card
If your display card supports the simultaneous display of 32,000 or 16.7
million colors (16 bit or 24 bit) you can install a display driver for
your card that supports either of these color modes.
Method 2: Switch to 16-color Mode
Reducing the number of colors that Windows displays simultaneously can
often make complex color images actually look better when viewed in some
programs. Windows can still dither the colors for which there aren't
exact matching colors available.
NOTE: If the color graphics are bitmaps (such as *.BMP, *.TIF, *.PCX, and
so on), this is generally not a good workaround because Windows cannot
dither bitmaps.
Method 3: Ignore It
If you plan to print the document that contains the PowerPoint slide,
do not worry about how it looks on the screen. How it appears on the
screen does not affect the print quality.
Method 4: Don't Use Gradient Fills
The most common cause of this problem is using gradient fills because
many very similar colors have to be available. By eliminating gradient
fills and using solid backgrounds and fills, you have a much better
chance that the palette in the target application can provide all the
colors that you want.
MORE INFORMATION
There are several different methods of palette management used by
Windows-based programs running under a 256-color video driver.
Static Palette Management
Static palette management is what Microsoft Word 6.0 for Windows and
Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows use. They have a fixed rainbow
palette that they use at all times. They do not look at the objects
embedded or pasted into them to see what colors they are using. They
simply assume all pictures can be displayed reasonably with the rainbow
palette. This is often true for bitmaps and most generic metafiles such
as clip art because their colors are usually spread across a broad
spectrum. The rainbow palette is designed to have colors that are
relatively close to any arbitrary color.
This does not work well with gradient fills (such as PowerPoint shaded
backgrounds). This is because a gradient fill needs to have many very
similar colors (varying only slightly from the previous color) for it
to display properly. A gradient fill from a blue color to black
requires approximately 30-50 shades of blue. Because the static rainbow
palette must contain a mix of all colors and is limited to 256 colors
total, it cannot have 30-50 shades of blue. Therefore, each of the
30-50 shades of blue map to one of the 6-12 nearest shades of blue that
are available in the rainbow palette. What would have been many color
bands shrinks down to a half dozen or so.
Dynamic Palette Management
Dynamic palette management is the process of taking into account the
color content of all objects native or foreign to your program and
creating a palette that best suits that combination of objects. This
is the method PowerPoint employs. To do this, the program must scan the
objects that are pasted or embedded for colors.
Because the combination of many objects may have more colors than can
fit in the palette, there are many algorithms for choosing the best
colors to omit from the palette. These colors map to other colors in
the palette. This allows pictures with many similar colors (such as
gradient fills) to get a better rendering. PowerPoint uses this method
of palette management. It is more complex than static palette
management. Applications that are not graphically driven may not
employ this technique.
No Palette Management
The final method is to have no palette management at all. This causes
your program to behave as it would on a 16-color VGA system. It allows
for 16 system-defined pure colors with every other color used being
dithered. This is what Word version 2.0 for Windows does.
One thing to note about PowerPoint pictures is that PowerPoint actually
includes a palette that matches the picture in its exported pictures.
For this reason, a PowerPoint slide embedded or pasted in Word 2.0
looks quite good. This is because the picture itself would tell the
system what colors to put in the palette when the picture is displayed.
However, multiple pictures on one page could cause degradation between
each other because there is no code to manage the different pictures'
palettes. Word 6.0 and Microsoft Excel 5.0 now override these palettes
with their own palette management, and therefore the pictures themselves
have no control of the system palette.
Microsoft applications that implement static palette management
include:
- Word version 6.0 for Windows
- Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
- Microsoft Excel version 5.0 for Windows
- Microsoft Access versions 1.0 and 1.1
- Works versions 3.0 and 4.0 for Windows
- Publisher version 2.0
Microsoft applications that don't implement any palette management
include:
- Microsoft Word 97 for Windows
- Word version 2.0 for Windows
- Works version 2.0 for Windows
- Publisher versions 1.0 and 97
| Modification Type: | Major | Last Reviewed: | 7/11/2001 |
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| Keywords: | kbprb KB197697 |
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