Inline Mathtype Equations Result in Poor Image Quality

Question

Inline Mathtype Equations Result in Poor Image Quality

When you embed a MathType equation (or any Object) into iBooks Author, you can set the placement as Anchored, Floating, or Inline.

If you select Anchored or Floating, the image quality of the MathType equation is great - looks like a vector graphic when you export as a PDF.

If you select Inline as the placement, and then export the iBooks Author file as a PDF, the MathType equation image quality is very poor (even if you export as best quality of PDF).

Is this a bug in iBooks Author?

iBook, Mac OS X (10.7.4)

Posted on Jul 11, 2012 12:38 PM

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Answer 1

tk0us

Level 2

265 points

Jul 12, 2012 8:50 AM in response to Brian Arneson

generally it is a font issue between Apple and Adobe. If you make your math equation an image and place it in iBooks then the resulting pdf will be as good as the image in the book (most of the time).

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Answer 2

Jul 12, 2012 9:23 AM in response to tk0us

We are saving the MathType equation as a Macintosh PICT file, and then inserting the pict file into iBooks Author. The Macintosh PICT format seems to retain quality when embedded and exported as PDF. Are saying to save it the MathType equation in EPS format, and embedding that file?

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Answer 3

Jul 12, 2012 12:03 PM in response to Brian Arneson

You're going to a lot of unnecessary trouble. There are 2 ways to get MathType equations into iBooks Author that result in great-looking equations. One way is to use the Insert MathType Equation command on the iBooks Author Insert menu. For quicker equations, you can also assign a shortcut to this command. Copy & paste also works (if you leave the Cut and Copy Preferences set to copy as PICT). Both options allow you to double-click to edit an equation.

We have more complete information on our website about using MathType with over 600 applications and websites -- including iBooks Author.

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Answer 4

Jul 12, 2012 12:37 PM in response to Mr.MathType

When I try to use the Insert -> MathType Equation method for adding an equation into iBA, it doesn't seem to work.

I have an iBA file open, and have MathType program closed. I select Insert -> MathType Equation from the menu bar. A gray box appears where my cursor was in the file, and the MathType program launches. I can type the equation in the MathType editor, but then there isn't a way to get the equation to show up in the iBA file. The MathType menu commands just have a Save option.

So then I would just be able to save the equation to a file, delete the gray box that is still in the iBA file, and then drag in the .pict file to the place in the text I wanted to add the equation.

It really seemed like using the Insert->MathType Equation command should have worked more efficiently, but I couldn't figure out how to make it work.

Once I drag the .pict file into iBA, I can double click on it to edit the file - that's fantastic, and why I like using the .pict format.

Since it seemed like we were going to need to save every equation as a file, it was way more efficient to just use the MathType program to create the equations (we have roughly 1,000 in the textbook we made), and then drag them into place.

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Answer 5

Jul 12, 2012 12:43 PM in response to Brian Arneson

After you open MathType the way you described, and create the equation, simply close the MathType window. You can click the red stoplight or use the Command+W shortcut.

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