AJR 2005; 185:273-276
© American Roentgen Ray Society
Using PowerPoint to Create High-Resolution Images for Journal Publications
Chun-Shan Yam1
1 Department of Radiology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 1 Deaconess
Rd., WCC, Rm. 306, Boston, MA 02215.
Received October 26, 2004;
accepted after revision December 14, 2004.
Address correspondence to C.-S. Yam
(csyam{at}caregroup.harvard.edu).
Abstract
OBJECTIVE. In this article, I describe the essential steps for using
PowerPoint to create high-resolution images for radiology journal
publications.
CONCLUSION. PowerPoint 2003 can be used as an alternative to create
high-resolution images for journal publications without the need for other
image-processing software.
Introduction
Recently, I gave a presentation at a 12 noon conference in our
department about using PowerPoint 2003 (Microsoft) to prepare digital images
for journal publications. At the first glance of my title slide, some of my
audience had puzzled looks on their faces wondering if my talk was just
another tutorial on how to use PowerPoint. However, it was the second
slide—"Using PowerPoint 2003 to Create 5'' x 7''
300 dpi TIFF Images"—that stunned everyone in the room. At the end
of my presentation, many in the audience were amazed to learn of PowerPoint's
capability to produce high-resolution images while others were delighted to
learn how to use PowerPoint as an alternative for creating images and
illustrations for journal publications without the need for other
image-processing software such as Photoshop (Adobe Systems). In this article,
I describe how to use this little-known feature in PowerPoint 2003. I also
show how to use this feature to create quality illustrations for radiology
journal publications.
Enabling the High-Resolution Feature in PowerPoint 2003
Unlike the older versions of PowerPoint (i.e., 97, 2000, and XP) for which
the resolution of the exported images was limited to the computer screen
resolution—for example, usually 72 or 96 dots per inch (dpi), PowerPoint
2003 allows users to customize the image resolution to higher values. This
useful feature does not appear in the File menu and is also not documented in
the Help menu in PowerPoint 2003, but detailed instructions are available at
the Microsoft Web site [1].
Because this feature is optional, the manufacturer's default setting for Image
Export is configured at the low-resolution setting (i.e., either 72 or 96
dpi). To enable high-resolution, one must add an optional registry parameter
at the system registry file (i.e., ExportBitmapResolution) to specify the
output image resolution. The instructions for adding this parameter are
documented at Microsoft's Web site
[1].
Figure 1 is a screen capture
of the system registry of my PC system (Windows XP Professional, Microsoft)
after I added this parameter. I set the image resolution parameter at 300 dpi
because this image resolution is commonly required by radiology journals. To
simplify this task, I have included a registry file in Appendix 1 that can be
used to insert this parameter automatically for PowerPoint 2003 in Windows XP.
Users can download this file onto their desktop and run it by double-clicking
on the file icon; see Appendix 1 for details. This will insert the parameter
into the system registry. Subsequently, images exported from PowerPoint 2003
will be set at 300 dpi.
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Fig. 1 —Screen capture of Registry Editor in Windows XP Professional
operating system (Microsoft) shows "ExportBitmapResolution"
parameter for setting output image to 300 dots per inch. User can double-click
on this parameter to enter another resolution value.
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Case Demonstration
The process of creating high-resolution images from PowerPoint 2003 is
similar to preparing a typical slide presentation except that the Save As
function under the File menu is used to export a given slide to an image
format. For demonstration, I discuss the steps that are essential for creating
a standard 5 x 7 inch TIFF image from a slide. In this example, I used a
CT image in Bitmap format that I downloaded from our PACS Web browser. Any
other source of digital images can also be used for this purpose, and the
details about acquiring digital images for use in PowerPoint presentations
have been documented previously
[2-4].
Step 1: Create a 5 x 7 Inch Slide Template
After launching the PowerPoint 2003 application, a new presentation is
created automatically. If a blank presentation does not appear, go to the File
menu and select New to create one. Next, go to the File menu and select Page
Setup to change the slide dimensions to 5 x 7 inches
(Fig. 2).
Step 2: Insert Picture into the Slide Template
Pictures can be inserted into a PowerPoint slide using the Insert function
(Insert 
Picture From File). This can also be accomplished using
drag-and-drop: Simply locate your image file and drag it onto the slide.
Once the image is inserted, click and drag the corner of the image to
resize it to the best fit dimensions within the 5 x 7 inch area
(Fig. 3). Dragging the corner
to resize will maintain the aspect ratio of the image. I can also use some of
the built-in image-processing tools (e.g., color, contrast, brightness, crop,
rotate, flip, and so on) to adjust the appearance of the image. These tools
can be found in the Picture and Drawing toolbars. If these toolbars are not
displayed, go to the View menu and click the Toolbars function to select the
toolbars that you need. However, for this sample CT image, I did not need to
use any of these tools. Again, details for using image-processing tools in
PowerPoint have been previously documented
[2-4],
and most radiologists are already familiar with using these functions in
preparing their presentations.
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Fig. 3 —Screen capture shows CT image inserted into PowerPoint
(Microsoft) slide using drag-and-drop function. It also shows action of
resizing an image to best fit dimensions—that is, 5 x 7 inches.
Note Picture toolbar shows commonly used image-processing tools (e.g., color,
contrast, brightness, crop, rotate, and so on).
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Step 3: Add Arrows and Labels to Images
Arrows and labels are common drawing objects added to radiologic images to
highlight specific features. To enable the arrow-drawing function, left-click
the Arrow button from the Drawing toolbar
(Fig. 4). Then, left-click on
the image to select the starting position of the arrow to be drawn. While
still holding down the mouse button, drag it to the final position and then
release. An arrow will be placed on top of the image. To change the size,
pattern, and color, simply double-click on the arrow and adjust the
corresponding values in the Format AutoShape pop-up window.
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Fig. 4 —Screen capture of 16-MDCT image of heart (5-mm-thick maximum
intensity projection) of 55-year-old man scanned using LightSpeed 16 scanner
(GE Healthcare). In this image, an arrow and a label, "A," were
drawn using drawing tools from Drawing toolbar in PowerPoint 2003 (Microsoft).
Note that using the arrow keys on the keyboard while holding down the Control
(Ctrl) key allows greater control of object placement.
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These functions are also available in the Drawing toolbar. In this example,
the arrow that I used was a solid black four-point line. Similarly, I inserted
a label, "A," next to this arrow using the Text Box function.
Next, I used the keyboard arrows while holding down the Control key (Ctrl) to
fine-tune the placement of the drawing objects (e.g., arrow, label, rectangle,
and so on).
Step 4: Export Slide to TIFF Image
To export the finished slide to an image file, go to the File menu and
select the Save As function. In the Save As window, select TIFF as the output
format and then name the file and select the location
(Fig. 5A). In this example, I
named my file Figure 5A and
saved it to the desktop. To verify the image resolution, simply right-click on
the exported image and select the Properties function from the drop-down menu.
Figure 5B is a screen capture
of the Properties window of Figure
5A that shows the image resolution is 300 dpi; note that all the
figures that appear in this article were created using this method.
Alternatively, one can also print the image directly to a photo printer for
hardcopy manuscript submission.
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Fig. 5A —Screen captures show steps for exporting slide and saving as
TIFF file. Screen capture shows Save As window for exporting finished slide to
TIFF image. This function can be accessed from File menu. Multiple images can
also be saved simultaneously if presentation contains more than one slide.
When multiple images are saved with Every Slide option selected, images will
be saved as: Slide1, Slide2...within a folder labeled with a given file name.
TIFF images then can be renamed.
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View larger version (35K):
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Fig. 5B —Screen captures show steps for exporting slide and saving as
TIFF file. Screen capture of Properties window shows dimensions (2,100 x
1,500 pixels) and resolution (300 dots per inch) of sample TIFF image file
(Fig. 5A.tif). This information is displayed under Summary tab.
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Compatibility Issues
Based on my experience using PowerPoint 2003 to create high-quality images
for manuscript submission for almost a year, I do not see any drawbacks. The
only requirement is that you need to have a copy of PowerPoint 2003. However,
at the time of this writing, PowerPoint 2003 has already been available for
more than a year (since May 2003). Our institution has already started to roll
out Microsoft Office 2003, which includes PowerPoint 2003. Because Microsoft
Office is an essential software application, many academic institutions will
be upgrading to this software in the near future. Furthermore, Microsoft has
announced that this high-resolution feature will be available for all future
PowerPoint versions. This high-resolution feature is also available for
Macintosh computers (Apple Computer) in the latest Microsoft Office versions
(Office 2001 and X).
Limitations
Although this feature is adequate for generating images for journal
publications, other radiology applications that require higher resolution
images and more complex graphics may require more sophisticated software such
as Adobe Photoshop [5]. Also,
the images exported from PowerPoint 2003 will be in red-green-blue (RGB)
format, not cyan-magenta-yellow-black (CMYK) or gray-scale format. Based on my
experience, although some journals (e.g., Radiology and
RadioGraphics) require the image files to be submitted in these two
specific formats for final prints, they accept images in RGB format as long as
the image resolution meets the requirements (Harmon SP, personal
communication). Furthermore, if drawing objects (e.g., arrow and label) are
required to be saved in separate layers, two copies of the images (one clean
and one annotated) may be required. Finally, regardless of the method chosen
for creating high-resolution images for journal publications, starting with
good-quality source images is essential.
Conclusion
PowerPoint 2003 can be used as an alternative to create high-resolution
images for journal publications without the need for other image-processing
software.
APPENDIX 1. Registry File for Setting Image Resolution to 300 Dots per Inch (dpi) in PowerPoint 2003, Windows XP
Instructions
Step 1—Copy and paste the following three registry
statements to a text editor (e.g., Notepad [Microsoft]).
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Micro
soft\Office\11.0\PowerPoint\Options] "ExportBitmapResolution" =
dword:0000012c
Step 2—Save the file with the file extension
"reg" (e.g., 300DPI.reg) on your desktop.
Step 3—Double click the file.
Remarks
This particular registry file will work on PowerPoint 2003 (Microsoft) and
Windows XP (Microsoft) only. For settings for other Windows operating systems
and future versions of PowerPoint, refer to the official instructions provided
by Microsoft at the Microsoft Web site
[1].
Although this one-time registration process is trivial for experienced
computer users, other users should be careful at all times when working with
Windows registry because even a minor typing error in the registry can crash
your operating system.
References
- Microsoft Web site. Microsoft help and support. Available at:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;827745.
Accessed April 11, 2005
- Schreibman KL. Getting images into PowerPoint.
AJR 2001;177:1271
-1272[Free Full Text]
- Lababede O. Digital image editing using PowerPoint. 1. Introduction
to the image-manipulation commands. AJR2004; 183:847
-851[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Lababede O. Digital image editing using PowerPoint. 2. Practical
applications of the image-manipulation commands. AJR2004; 183:853
-858[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Stern EJ, Richardson M. Preparation of digital images for
presentation and publication. AJR2003; 180:1523
-1531[Free Full Text]
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