TechNote (Archived)

Imported Graphics Appear as Gray Boxes in FrameMaker 5 for UNIX

Issue

When you open a FrameMaker 4 document in FrameMaker 5, imported graphics appear as gray boxes.

Solution

Increase the value of the "Maker.clientBitmapSize" X resource in the $HOME/.Xdefaults file, then restart FrameMaker:

1. Make a backup copy of the $HOME/.Xdefaults file.

2. Open the original $HOME/.Xdefaults file in a text editor that can save in text-only format.

3. If the file includes a "Maker.clientBitmapSize" statement, change the value to 5000000. If the file does not include a "Maker.clientBitmapSize" statement, create one so it reads:

Maker.clientBitmapSize: 5000000

4. Save the $HOME/.Xdefaults file in text-only format.

5. Log out of OpenWindows and then log back in, or load the $HOME/.Xdefaults file by typing:

xrdb -l $HOME/.Xdefaults

6. Restart FrameMaker and then open the document. If you want to verify that FrameMaker is using the new X resource, use the dumpRes command line option when launching FrameMaker by typing:

maker -dumpRes filename

where "filename" is the name of the file in which FrameMaker lists the X resources. You can then open the file in a text editor to check the X resources.

7. If the graphics still appear as gray boxes, repeat steps 2-6 and increase the "Maker.clientBitmapSize" X resource by increments of 500,000 until the graphics display correctly.

Additional Information

FrameMaker 5 includes significant graphics display improvements, including color dithering, but requires 2.6 to 2.8 times more memory to display graphics than FrameMaker 4. The default memory allocation for displaying graphics in FrameMaker 5 is 5,000,000 bytes, whereas FrameMaker 4's default is 600,000 bytes.

FrameMaker uses the default memory allocation to display graphics unless you specify a value in your $HOME/.Xdefaults file. If you specified a "Maker.clientBitmapSize" value in your $HOME/.Xdefaults file for FrameMaker 4, FrameMaker 5 will continue to use that memory setting until you change it. If the value you specified is lower that 5,000,000 bytes, FrameMaker may not have enough memory to display imported graphics, and will display them instead as gray boxes.