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Pope1402555

: Is there a simple program to lay out images on a series of pages for linux? I am constantly needing to print out pages with 4 graphs on one page or 2 graphs and a diagram, etc.. So far

@Pope1402555

Posted in: #Images #PageLayout

I am constantly needing to print out pages with 4 graphs on one page or 2 graphs and a diagram, etc.. So far I have been using LibreOffice Draw to import the images and then manually lay them out on a page and it works but it gets a bit slow and is far too heavy for my needs. By slow, I mean that it crawls when trying to move high resolution images and it is also too heavy on memory requirements when I have over 18 high resolution images to play with. I basically need a a program that lets you import images and then lets you scale, rotate and move them around on a page. It also needs to have support for multiple pages so Inkscape is ruled out (I think). I don't really want to use something like Scribus either. If it has grid based layout management, that would be even better. Oh and it must work on linux.

Any pointers would be great! If I can't find something, I might just write a simple app myself.

Cheers!

Durand

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@Speyer780

Since you already have a process in place for using LibreOffice Draw, I would suggest trying the following steps.


Maintain two directories of your images, each with identical image names. One directory, say, temp, would be for scaled down low-resolution versions of your images; the other directory, say, originals, would house your full-resolution images.
Create your document as you've been doing, but using the low-resolution version of the images. Be sure to link the images instead of embed them. (There may be a way to set link as default, but I can't remember or find it at the moment.)
After your document is as you would like it to be, replace the images in the temp directory with those in your originals directory, then go to Edit > Links and update the links. (If you think you might be doing more work on the document, one way to test your progress would be to first rename temp to something like temp-old, and then rename originals to temp. That way, you can reverse any changes you've made if needed.)


I think this should be able to help you with making LibreOffice Draw seem less slow or heavy for your needs. You might also want to play with some of the memory settings under Tools > Options > LibreOffice > Memory.

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@Cofer715

I have never used it, but Scribus is open source DTP software for multi-page layout.

For the purposes of printing out on 8.5 x 11 sheet 2-up, you max size per image would be somewhere around 6 x 4 inches. At 300 dpi, your max pixel size would be 1800x1200. If Scribus can't handle a 3000x2000 image, you can batch the lot of them prior to insertion (ImageMagick etc).

I routinely deal with 100 page books with 70+ 3000x2000 images. I am unsure if Scribus is your problem here or if you have an underpowered computer for the job. One trick is to disable any full-res previews in the layout software so you link a high res but manipulate a low res FPO (for position only) image in the software. If you are "pasting" the images instead of linking, then link them. Can't be sure the ins and outs since I haven't used the package.

From ( wiki.scribus.net/canvas/FAQ:_Adding_Content ):


A possible solution to the loading issue is to reduce the image
preview resolution for your document: Go to File > Document Setup >
Tools, and click on the image frame icon (second from top). In the
"Images" dialog, set "On Screen Preview" to "Low Resolution Preview",
and click "OK". Note that you can also change the resolution for
individual image frames from their context menu. In the context menu
you can even switch off the preview of the image

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