Solved WMF/EMF Files Look Like Bitmaps

[Rob W]

Hello,

This is my first post here. I learned about IrfanView a few years ago on the Total Commander forum and I've been using it for small tasks ever since.

On my OLD computer (WinXP 32-bit) I run IrfanView v4.35 and when I open EMF or WMF files, they look beautiful. On my NEW computer (Win7 64-bit) I run IrfanView v4.35 and when I open the same files, they look like coarse bitmaps.

When I discovered this, I downloaded two other EMF/WMF viewers to my NEW computer, WMFview and EMF Explorer, and the same files look great in these programs.

Wikipedia says: "Windows Metafiles are intended to be portable between applications and may contain both vector graphics and bitmap components."

So I'm wondering if on my NEW computer IrfanView is only showing me the bitmap component. How do I get it to show the vector graphics component?

Thanks,

-Rob

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

IrfanView will convert all vectors to bitmaps on opening them. To open WMF and EMF as vectors you need a drawing or DTP program.

Some vector types like PDF will open at a higher resolution if you change the options in Properties/Settings, Plugins, Postscript to more than the default 96 dpi but that has no affect on Windows metafiles.

[Rob W]

@Bhikkhu,

I must not be asking this right. I'm asking if there's a setting that controls the quality of the image on the screen when viewing EMF/WMF files. I captured a screenshot of an .EMF file opened with IV and with WMFview (MetaFile Viewer):

Notice how in IV (left) everything looks coarse and in WMFview (right) everything looks sharp. As I zoom in, IV gets coarser while WMFview remains sharp.

On my OLD computer, IV looks just as good as WMFview. Any ideas?

-Rob

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

IrfanView on your old computer could only open metafiles as bitmaps. A metafile viewer could view them as vectors, so they will not get coarse when zooming in.

You can use the View, Display option in IV to resample the image on zooming in, but its still a bitmap, and cannot compare with using a vector image viewer.

[Rob W]

@Bhikkhu,

Ah so! Your statement:

...but its still a bitmap, and cannot compare with using a vector image viewer.

shines the light. A "vector image viewer" is a fundamentally different kind of viewer that re-renders the image from the underlying vector instructions every time I increase the zoom level so it always looks sharp. IrfanView (and most other viewers) renders the image into pixels once upon initially loading the image. Increasing the zoom level in IV resizes that initial rendering, resulting in a coarser image because it doesn't have any additional information to work with.

Thanks for your patience. (You must've thought I was as thick as two short planks.)

-Rob

[bflmpsvz]

IrfanView on your old computer could only open metafiles as bitmaps. A metafile viewer could view them as vectors, so they will not get coarse when zooming in.

You can use the View, Display option in IV to resample the image on zooming in, but its still a bitmap, and cannot compare with using a vector image viewer.

Hello,
I have just found the page http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/~oduibhin/o...a/viewmeta.htm
and there is this statement:

Note added in 2012: for a number of years now, the free general graphics viewer IrfanView has been able to display .emf files at any desired size, by magnifying the vector graphics and then converting to bitmap (rather than, as previously, by converting to bitmap and then magnifying, which severely limited the obtainable resolution). There is now no advantage in using ViewMeta, and I recommend the use of IrfanView to display .emf files.

But, trying IV 4.37, it seems to me that nothing has changed. So, who is right? Is there any possibility to enlarge vector .emf as vector and not as bitmap in IV?

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Is there any possibility to enlarge vector .emf as vector and not as bitmap in IV?

No. It's a bitmap viewer, not a vector editor. If you enlarge the vector in a vector editor such as DrawPlus, export it at a larger size, then open that in IrfanView it will show all of the hideously poor detail in the original drawing. WMF is a format that should be avoided if you want to produce vector drawings.

See attached files Bike 1 (original size), Bike 2 (double size), and bike 3 (10x size approx) to compare in IrfanView.

See Big Fork Lift, which was exported from DrawPlus from vector clipart that did not originate as a WMF.

[bflmpsvz]

No. It's a bitmap viewer, not a vector editor. If you enlarge the vector in a vector editor such as DrawPlus, export it at a larger size, then open that in IrfanView it will show all of the hideously poor detail in the original drawing. WMF is a format that should be avoided if you want to produce vector drawings.

See attached files Bike 1 (original size), Bike 2 (double size), and bike 3 (10x size approx) to compare in IrfanView.

There must be some misunderstanding...
If I open Bike 1 with usual display option "Fit window to image" (1:1), it is open like 601x353 bitmap. If I zoom the window to 1202x706, I have only enlarged bitmap.

But if I now change display option to "Fit images to window" and "Reopen", now I see Bike 1 in 1202x706 with full details.

That means that IV is able to show vector graphics in any detail - of course, why not, all 3 "Bike" files has the same filesize and contain surely very similar metadata - and that is almost what I need. Now I am able to enlarge Bike 1 only to 1880x1104 with full details, I am limited only by the size of my desktop.
So, why there is no option to enlarge it even more?

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

There must be some misunderstanding...
If I open Bike 1 with usual display option "Fit window to image" (1:1), it is open like 601x353 bitmap. If I zoom the window to 1202x706, I have only enlarged bitmap.

But if I now change display option to "Fit images to window" and "Reopen", now I see Bike 1 in 1202x706 with full details.

That means that IV is able to show vector graphics in any detail - of course, why not, all 3 "Bike" files has the same filesize and contain surely very similar metadata - and that is almost what I need. Now I am able to enlarge Bike 1 only to 1880x1104 with full details, I am limited only by the size of my desktop.
So, why there is no option to enlarge it even more?

I learnt something new today. So, if you use the "Fit images to window" setting you can view vector images in all their gory detail, but they're still bitmaps, not vectors. It does not seem to be true that you can view them at any size as you're limited by the resolution of your display.

Bike 1.wmf was opened in DrawPlus, and stretched to 160" x 110" then exported as Bike 3.wmf. It may be very similar metadata, but it's clearly not identical to Bike 1.wmf.

Big Forklift.wmf was exported from a much better quality vector image, with true curves. If you examine Bike 1.wmf in a drawing program, the valve on the rear wheel and the rear wheel is composed of straight lines, like all WMF (and EMF too I believe).

The bottomline, before we waste any more time on this, is what is the purpose of opening WMF or EMF in IrfanView at large sizes? Why not use a product that can view vector images as vectors and edit them too? DrawPlus Starter Edition is free and can export to SVG too, but any WMF is still a pig's ear.

[bflmpsvz]

The bottomline, before we waste any more time on this, is what is the purpose of opening WMF or EMF in IrfanView at large sizes? Why not use a product that can view vector images as vectors and edit them too? DrawPlus Starter Edition is free and can export to SVG too, but any WMF is still a pig's ear.

Well, I like IV and I am familiar with it. So before I instal something new, unknown, I try if IV is able to do what I need. I just have received big electrical scheme in .wmf (no doubt that straight lines are good enough for this purpose), where notes and labels are too small to read when the whole scheme is over desktop, so I need zoom in and out. That's all - simple task which I hoped IV could do for me.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

LibreOffice Draw is also pretty good for opening and editing image files. Try that if you have it installed.

I would ask for a PDF file if you can.