RTF
RTF is “Rich Text Format”.
You can now save Ancestor, Descendant, Hourglass and Bowtie charts in RTF format, to view in a word processing document.
See this example of a book with merged charts.
Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygons – all of which are based on mathematical expressions – to represent images in computer graphics.
RTF is a vector format, where an image is described as lines and X/Y coordinates, as opposed to a raster format (JPG, PNG, GIF) where images are made of rows of pixels. RTF excels at line art such as charts. Raster is better suited for photographs. See Wikipedia for a more extensive explanation.
Advantages of RTF
The benefits of RTF are:
- You can merge the RTF chart into an Ancestor Book or Descendant Book.
- You can create a single document containing multiple different charts.
- Vector images look better. The quality is consistent regardless of which device is displaying them (screen, printer).
- You can print an RTF chart.
- You can zoom in/zoom out while preserving the sharpness of the lines.
- RTF charts can include photos.
- You can email and share RTF charts.
- RTF images are more compact than the raster equivalent. RTF charts are easier to email, faster to download.
- The RTF files are self-contained, including the thumbnail photos: you don’t have worry about uploading or attaching a bunch of image files.
- You can convert the RTF chart to the word processor’s native format: .DOC or .DOCX for MS Word; .ODT for Open Office; .WPD for Word Perfect, etc.
Creating an RTF
To create a chart in RTF format, first choose the chart type (click on “Chartsand Reports, Ancestor” for example), and click “Preview”.
Then click on the Printer icon , and “Publish”. Choose “RTF” as thefile type, and click “Save”.