Zarkan Posted February 22, 2012 Posted February 22, 2012 Just a curious observation I thought I'd point out. I was downloading some instruction PDFs from Lego.com today, and I noticed something rather bizarre. For some reason, some of the manuals for newer sets have absolutely huge file sizes. Normally, none of Lego's pdf's go beyond 10 Megabytes or so, but for some reason the pdf's for sets such such as Cole's Tread Assault and the first half of Fangpyre Truck Assault reach upwards of 80 megabytes or more. I have no idea why this could be, but you'd think TLC would realize this is is probably a serious hassle for people with slower computers. Quote
Jan Posted February 22, 2012 Posted February 22, 2012 Just a curious observation I thought I'd point out. I was downloading some instruction PDFs from Lego.com today, and I noticed something rather bizarre. For some reason, some of the manuals for newer sets have absolutely huge file sizes. Normally, none of Lego's pdf's go beyond 10 Megabytes or so, but for some reason the pdf's for sets such such as Cole's Tread Assault and the first half of Fangpyre Truck Assault reach upwards of 80 megabytes or more. I have no idea why this could be, but you'd think TLC would realize this is is probably a serious hassle for people with slower computers. I download a lot of manuals for my son, he likes them as much as I liked the LEGO ideabooks 30 years ago, and what is see that there is a lot going on in the manuals put online. What I have seen coming along are the following types: - scans of older manuals (often the same as on other manual resources) - compressed, good quality pdf's optimized for webview (I guess all should be like this) - original vectorized pdf's, everything is scalable, best quality but very large files. - original bitmaped material for press. (cutting marks, color scales and everything needed for press is available) large file sizes - low quality bitmapfiles with extremly large file size, 100mb and up, thats what's happenning a lot nowadays. It just looks as if they put them online at a given moment, ready or not. All I know is that I use the file compression function on Adobe Acrobat pro a lot, to bring back these huge manuals to a decent size. I guess it's just a time thing, maybe something to complain about at custommer service. Jan Quote
Lyichir Posted February 22, 2012 Posted February 22, 2012 Just a curious observation I thought I'd point out. I was downloading some instruction PDFs from Lego.com today, and I noticed something rather bizarre. For some reason, some of the manuals for newer sets have absolutely huge file sizes. Normally, none of Lego's pdf's go beyond 10 Megabytes or so, but for some reason the pdf's for sets such such as Cole's Tread Assault and the first half of Fangpyre Truck Assault reach upwards of 80 megabytes or more. I have no idea why this could be, but you'd think TLC would realize this is is probably a serious hassle for people with slower computers. The reason for that is probably that rather than hosting scans (like they do for most of the older sets), newer sets often use the actual vector graphics. This means that they're scalable, but also massive file sizes. Personally I like having the scalable PDFs, since that means I can increase the clarity by zooming in at any time. But I understand how this would wreak havoc on an older, slower computer, so there are benefits to the scanned instructions as well. Perhaps LEGO could include multiple versions of each, one optimized for download speed and one with the full file so that users with faster computers can reap the benefits of these scalable graphics? Quote
woolie Posted February 22, 2012 Posted February 22, 2012 (edited) No, it's just the resolution of the embedded bitmap images that's changed. I checked out a couple just now. Old manuals are just simple, full-page, relatively low resolution scans. And compressed. Newer manuals are a mix of vector artwork (page layout, dividers, borders, numbers..) but the assembly illustrations are still bitmap graphics. The newest manuals are the same as above, but with higher resolution embedded bitmaps. If the manuals were 100% vector artwork, the file sizes would actually be much smaller, and you could print nearly any size you wanted. But the assembly illustrations are probably generated using their internal design tools, and then sent to the manual designers as high resolution bitmaps. To turn the 3D model into a 2D vector illustration might be very difficult unless they just redraw it by hand. Although they should finally realize that their color system is useless because you can't tell the difference between the different greys and blacks Edited February 22, 2012 by woolie Quote
Toadtorrent Posted February 22, 2012 Posted February 22, 2012 I embrace the larger file sizes because of the higher resolution. I've never had problems downloading them in less than a few seconds (very fast connection) unless going through a proxy / firewall. What's nice about the larger filesize docs is that if you zoom in to see what's going on, or if you are looking for element id's and need to see what torso or head is being referenced by a particular element id...you can't see the face prints or torso prints in enough detail to determine which part it is you are looking for unless the pictures are higher res. Quote
Jan Posted February 22, 2012 Posted February 22, 2012 If the manuals were 100% vector artwork, the file sizes , would actually be much smaller, and you could print nearly any size you wanted. But the assembly illustrations are probably generated using their internal design tools, and then sent to the manual designers as high resolution bitmaps. If you have some time left, it's nice to download the instructions for set number 5600, this I guess is how we would want it ultimately. Fully scalable vectorformat, resulting in a reasonable file size. Quote
Graysmith Posted February 23, 2012 Posted February 23, 2012 I'm all for higher file sizes if it means the manuals are of actually printable high quality. Most of the ones I've looked at are just horrible and just barely useable. That said, I do wish they would offer them as straight up vector-based. As others have mentioned, then you'd have crystal clear, pixel perfect instructions at any size/zoom level, and the file size would be very low. Quote
splatman Posted February 23, 2012 Posted February 23, 2012 Although they should finally realize that their color system is useless because you can't tell the difference between the different greys and blacks When that involves vector graphics, here's a challenge for those that can take it on: Write a utility that corrects the offending colors. Until TLG does it themselves. Maybe this will get their attention. Quote
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