Message-Id: <mailto:199507072018.PAA16913@library.wustl.edu> Date: Fri, 7 Jul 1995 15:14:08 CST From: David Riecks <mailto:riecks@CC-MAIL.AGCOMED.UIUC.EDU> Subject: Archiving images and documents painlessly To: Multiple recipients of list IMAGELIB
We are in the midst of creating an image library, and also wrestling with regaining control over our already clogged server.We operate an information and communications services unit for the College of Agriculture at the University of Illinois.
One of our first problems is to determine which image format to keep and store original scans. We generally scan directly to TIFF files. Sometimes these are used directly in the application, sometimes they are converted to EPS files for placement into QUARK or ILLUSTRATOR documents.
After a publication is finished it is archived. At present all we are doing is using COMPACTOR to compress and leaving it on the server. Obviously, over time, our server has become clogged. We can add additional storage and servers...but at a point it simply becomes unmanageable. We are considering how to archive digital documents and images so that we can access them later...but not at a cost to our existing network space.
Our design staff would prefer to keep the links between the application document and the EPS file, as this is the least amount of work when going back to the document. However CMYK EPS files typically are several magnitudes larger than the original RGB TIFF scan.
Our quandry at present is to consider whether it would be better to keep the CMYK EPS file with the document and move to a site off the server, or to break the link with the CMYK EPS file and store the original RGB TIFF with the document and keep it on the server.
This is not a simple question.
Can anyone with a similar situation share what they are doing?
Can anyone easily explain why CMYK EPS files take up 3 to 4 times the file size that an RGB TIFF occupies? (I think RIT's ESPRIT publication covered this topic a year or so ago...but I can't seem to locate the article!)
Also, is it possible to convert an CMYK EPS file back to a RGB TIFF with no visible image deterioration? If we can keep only the final EPS file and ditch the original scan it might be possible to save some server space in that manner.
Looking forward to your illuminating comments
David
********************************************************************** *| David Riecks | A reasonable person arranges their |* *| University of Illinois | life to the world around them... |* *| mailto:riecks@uiuc.edu | An unreasonable person arranges the |* *| | world around them to their life! |* ********************************************************************** How unreasonable are you?