Cootie catchers

Started by Jennifer, May 30, 2020, 10:56:32 AM

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Jennifer

I am making some "cootie catchers" for the grandkids to do as a project while they are mostly at home. For those of you with more sheltered childhoods, a cootie catcher is a piece of paper folded in half several times so that it becomes a toy that has a number of uses. Here is one of many websites explaining how to make them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ikloEqB6uE

I want to print several pages with funny collections of bugs and critters. The problem I am having is file size. I grabbed about 30 images of bugs and the Visio file is already 12.5 MB. If I start copying them to different pages, the file size will quickly grow to 100 MB or more, which means it will take forever to save. I have uploaded the file as it is now to this Dropbox folder.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/yw4v6zqx40pvmzc/AADY1uwDwItpqdre94eAZhMca?dl=0

What's the best way to keep the file size manageable? Do I create a stencil for each bug so I can just copy a link to other pages, rather than duplicating the image itself. I think someone here helped me do that once before, but now I can't remember how.

I tried to search for that thread, but couldn't find it. How do I get a list of all of the threads I follow?

Is there a way that I can shrink the size of each image without losing detail?

Thanks
Using Visio 2019, part of Office 365 on Windows 10

Jennifer

I found the thread. It's master shapes that I want, not stencils. I think the solution is to create a master shape for each bug image then I can make as many copies as I need with very little increase in file size, right?
Using Visio 2019, part of Office 365 on Windows 10

Paul Herber

Cooties are now extinct in most of the world where they previously existed, leaving vestigial pockets of mutated varieties, e.g. here in the UK we still have the dreaded Lurgi.
Attempts have been made to get these on the endangered species lists and protection by CITES, but so far to no avail.
HTH
Electronic and Electrical engineering, business and software stencils for Visio -

https://www.paulherber.co.uk/

wapperdude

Yes.  The Visio "master" representation should be much a much smaller representation of the original image.  But, somewhat time consuming to draw/trace each image.   

A possible alternative that might be a viable compromise...from within Visio, save each image as a png using the least acceptable resolution.  This is faster and should result in a much lower file size.

Cootie catcher???  I think I remember those...you put it on 3 fingers plus thumb, yes?   I'll have to check your link.
Visio 2019 Pro

Jennifer

Quote from: wapperdude on May 30, 2020, 01:20:57 PM
Yes.  The Visio "master" representation should be much a much smaller representation of the original image.  But, somewhat time consuming to draw/trace each image.
I'm not going to be drawing or tracing anything. I pasted images of bugs I found online onto a Visio page. Now I want to copy those to pages that the kids can then fold to make different cootie catchers.

QuoteA possible alternative that might be a viable compromise...from within Visio, save each image as a png using the least acceptable resolution.  This is faster and should result in a much lower file size.
I'm using Visio 2010. I thought Visio didn't support png format, or, at least. didn't support null backgrounds. Most of the bug images I obtained have null backgrounds, which allows me to pack them closer together. When I've compressed images with null backgrounds, they end up with a black background. Is there a way to compress an image with a null background and preserve the null background?

QuoteCootie catcher???  I think I remember those...you put it on 3 fingers plus thumb, yes?   I'll have to check your link.
That's the one.
Using Visio 2019, part of Office 365 on Windows 10

Jennifer

Quote from: Paul Herber on May 30, 2020, 01:13:15 PM
Cooties are now extinct in most of the world...
Not around here. When I've made cootie catchers before, I was always able to find large and scary collections on pretty much everything I tested.
Using Visio 2019, part of Office 365 on Windows 10

wapperdude

After you import an image...either copy/paste or via insert picture, then, you can do a Save As, choose png, current page.  A dialog menu pops up.... it gives you option to choose a transparent color...and something like bit depth.  That's about it I think.

Complete the save.  Find the file, check it's properties to see if there's significant size reduction.  Not knowing the nature of your image, I would anticipate less than 100Kb.
Visio 2019 Pro

Jennifer

Using Visio 2019, part of Office 365 on Windows 10