GeneralLow quality pdf printouts

LaTeX specific issues not fitting into one of the other forums of this category.
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eeprom
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Oct 27, 2008 3:26 am

Low quality pdf printouts

Post by eeprom »

Hello,
I am using Miktex 2.9. My documents are created using PDFLaTex. The documents look perfect while on my computer. But once printed out, the printed document is too light, like there's not enough ink on the page. My printer works fine with all pdfs created elsewhere. I've tried changing the dpi settings in the pdf viewer. I've opened the pdf through MikTex and through adobe. Same results.

Does anyone know how to improve this?

Below is the preamble of my document.

Code: Select all

% Fast Fourier Transform
% =========================================================

\documentclass[10pt]{article}
\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-.250in}
\setlength{\topmargin}{0in}
\setlength{\textheight}{9.0in}
\setlength{\textwidth}{7in}
\setlength{\parindent}{0in}
\setlength{\headsep}{0.1in}
\setlength{\parskip}{10pt}


\usepackage{textcomp}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{rotating}

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Johannes_B
Site Moderator
Posts: 4182
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2012 4:08 pm

Low quality pdf printouts

Post by Johannes_B »

Hi,

better than giving us thee preamlbe would be to give us a short test document. Maybe even a sample pdf file that you compiled and one of the helpers can print. Unfortunately, i don't have access to a printer right now.


btw: Package geometry takes care of margin stuff. You should use that instead of setting the margins by hand.
The smart way: Calm down and take a deep breath, read posts and provided links attentively, try to understand and ask if necessary.
eeprom
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Oct 27, 2008 3:26 am

Re: Low quality pdf printouts

Post by eeprom »

Attached is a shortened version of the document, and the pdf generated.
As I mentioned earlier, the pdf looks perfect on my computer. It isn't until I print the pdf that I notice a quality issue.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Andy
Attachments
FFT_testdoc.tex
(3.86 KiB) Downloaded 256 times
FFT_testdoc.pdf
(329.04 KiB) Downloaded 173 times
User avatar
Johannes_B
Site Moderator
Posts: 4182
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2012 4:08 pm

Low quality pdf printouts

Post by Johannes_B »

Seems no other helper here has a printer at hand as well.

I looked at your code, and their is nothing strange in it. Nevertheless, i polished it up a bit.

Code: Select all

\listfiles
\documentclass[10pt]{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{geometry}
\geometry{top=1in,textheight=9in,textwidth=7in,
}
\usepackage{parskip}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\pgfplotsset{ compat=1.12 }
%\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-.250in}
%\setlength{\topmargin}{0in}
%\setlength{\textheight}{9.0in}
%\setlength{\textwidth}{7in}
%\setlength{\parindent}{0in}
%\setlength{\headsep}{0.1in}
%\setlength{\parskip}{10pt}





%\newcommand{\chart}[1]{\includegraphics[width=5.0in]{#1}}


\begin{document}

\begin{center}
\LARGE{\textbf{Using an FFT to Evaluate Periodic Signals}}

\vspace{.25in}

{\small\setlength{\parskip}{0pt}
Andrew Gentile, P.E.\par
Gentile Engineering, LLC\par
andrewkgentile@gmail.com\par}
\end{center}

\vspace{.25 in}

\thispagestyle{empty}
\noindent\textbf{Abstract}\hspace{.25in} {\itshape This paper discusses the concept of a fast Fourier transform and how it can be used for analyzing periodic signals.  The algorithm itself is fairly simple and can be implemented using Microsoft Excel.  However, the selection of sampling parameters is not intuitive.  This paper will describe how to select appropriate parameters, and how to verify that the algorithm results are accurate.  The code samples included in this document are written in Excel VBA. }

\section{Introduction}
The FFT is an algorithm which can convert a signal in the time
domain into a discrete frequency domain.  The immediate practical
value of this is analysis of periodic signals, such as vibration
signals, electrical harmonics, and induced signal noise.  Knowing
the frequencies at which a signal is occurring is very valuable
in troubleshooting.  Given that an accurate sampling of a
periodic signal can be obtained, the FFT can be used to break
down a periodic signal into individual frequency components.     

\section{The Equation}
The FFT equation is as follows:
\begin{equation}\label{ffteq}
X_k = \sum_{n=0}^{N-1}x[n] {e}^{-j\cdot2\cdot\pi\cdot n\cdot k/N}
\end{equation}
Where $X_k$ is a complex value corresponding to the $k$-th
frequency.  $N$ is the number of samples collected.  And $x[n]$
are the samples, which are real numbers.  Each value of $X_k$ has
a real part and an imaginary part.  The magnitude of $X_k$ is
related to the magnitude of the signal at the $k$-th frequency.
The angle of $X_k$ is related to the phase shift of the signal at
the $k$-th frequency.


\section{Example Data Set}
A sample data set was created in Excel using $y(t) =
1+2\cos(10t+\frac{\pi}{4})+3\cos(20t-\frac{\pi}{3})+4\cos(30t)$.
This discrete array uses a time vector of 102 Hz, or a time
interval of $\frac{1}{102}$ seconds.  There are 128 samples in
the set.  The sampling rate was chosen in order to maximize the
periodicity of this signal and to select integer values for
frequency bins.  Note that the signal is not perfectly periodic.
Table 1 shows how many periods are present in the signal for each
frequency.  These are very close to an integer number, which
would make them perfectly periodic.  However even the small error
will show up in the data.  In this case the error will be small
enough to ignore.

\begin{figure}[b]
	\centering
\begin{tikzpicture}
	\begin{axis}[xlabel={time $t$},ylabel={Magnitude
		$y(t)$}]
		\addplot [domain=0:1.2,samples=100]
		{1+2*cos(deg(10*x)+(pi/4))+3*cos(deg(20*x)-(pi/3))+4*cos(deg(30*x))};
	\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\caption{$y(t) =
	1+2\cos(10t+\frac{\pi}{4})+3\cos(20t-\frac{\pi}{3})+4\cos(30t)$}
\label{sample}
\end{figure}

\end{document}
You can try if their are any differences, but i guess not.

Asking other TeX enthusiasts, the printed output looked normal.
it would at least be a good idea to know (1) Which Program did he use to print, (2) was that program set to print in eco mode?
When it comes to strange printed output, it is almost always the printer(driver) that does some monkey business. Have you tried printing from a different computer with a different printer?
The smart way: Calm down and take a deep breath, read posts and provided links attentively, try to understand and ask if necessary.
eeprom
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Oct 27, 2008 3:26 am

Re: Low quality pdf printouts

Post by eeprom »

Thank you for taking the time to do this. And for the code cleanup. I forwarded my pdf to work and printed it out on a different printer and it looks fine. So the problem is in my printer. I am stumped by this because the printer works fine for all pdfs except those created by MikTex. Anyway, now that I know the problem, I can find a fix.

Thanks again.
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