Bug 123178 - Thin white horizontal lines in photo prints
Summary: Thin white horizontal lines in photo prints
Status: CLOSED INTENTIONAL
Alias: None
Product: kdeprint
Classification: Unmaintained
Component: general (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Platform: openSUSE Linux
: NOR normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: KDEPrint Devel Mailinglist
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2006-03-06 19:38 UTC by Bernie
Modified: 2008-12-31 19:37 UTC (History)
1 user (show)

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:


Attachments
Print preview of photo print via Digikam (149.29 KB, image/jpeg)
2006-03-06 19:39 UTC, Bernie
Details
Screenshot of print preview (printing via Digikam 0.8.1) (290.24 KB, image/jpeg)
2006-05-25 18:05 UTC, Bernie
Details
Screenshot of print preview (printing via Gwenview 1.3.1) (284.60 KB, image/jpeg)
2006-05-25 18:09 UTC, Bernie
Details
Print preview of photo print via Gwenview ( to canon MP780 via turboprint driver) (144.42 KB, image/jpeg)
2006-05-29 15:52 UTC, Bernie
Details
Print preview of photo print via Gwenview ( to PS driver) (118.38 KB, image/jpeg)
2006-05-29 15:54 UTC, Bernie
Details
Print preview of photo print via KWord ( to canon MP780 via turboprint driver) (117.94 KB, image/jpeg)
2006-05-29 16:07 UTC, Bernie
Details
Print preview of greyscale print (772.95 KB, image/png)
2006-06-07 10:27 UTC, Bernie
Details
Print preview of colour print (292.69 KB, image/jpeg)
2006-06-07 10:38 UTC, Bernie
Details

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Description Bernie 2006-03-06 19:38:36 UTC
Version:            (using KDE KDE 3.5.1)
Installed from:    SuSE RPMs
Compiler:          x86_64 
OS:                Linux

Printing photo's via Digikam (0.8.1), plugins KIPI 0.1.2 or Gwenview (1.3.1) causes thin horizontal white line(s) to show up in the picture, both on paper as in the print dialog preview (Digikam: click on photo --> menu file --> print). These lines show up anywhere in pictures. This phenomena shows up using several programs using kdeprinter interface, not only gwenview (ref bug # 118141 and 118205)
Driver settings: Canon MP780 Turboprint driver, 4800 DPI resolution (problem also shows up at lower resolution - lines at exactly same heights in pictures).
This problem is really annoying! Please let me know if I can be of any help in solving this issue.
Comment 1 Bernie 2006-03-06 19:39:32 UTC
Created attachment 14983 [details]
Print preview of photo print via Digikam
Comment 2 Bernie 2006-05-25 18:05:50 UTC
Created attachment 16270 [details]
Screenshot of print preview (printing via Digikam 0.8.1)
Comment 3 Bernie 2006-05-25 18:09:12 UTC
Created attachment 16271 [details]
Screenshot of print preview (printing via Gwenview 1.3.1)
Comment 4 Michael Goffioul 2006-05-29 09:42:16 UTC
Do you also have the problem when you print to a PS file and view the result?
Is this problem related to photo-printing software? If you put one of the image in a kword document and try to print it, do you have the problem?
Comment 5 Bernie 2006-05-29 15:52:14 UTC
Created attachment 16330 [details]
Print preview of photo print via Gwenview ( to canon MP780 via turboprint driver)

Flower preview when printing via Gwenview (landscape, keep aspect ratio).
Printing to Canon MP780 (turboprint driver)
Comment 6 Bernie 2006-05-29 15:54:22 UTC
Created attachment 16331 [details]
Print preview of photo print via Gwenview ( to PS driver)

This time preview of exactly the same photo printed to the built-in PS driver
(print to file (postscript).
Comment 7 Bernie 2006-05-29 16:07:44 UTC
Created attachment 16332 [details]
Print preview of photo print via KWord ( to canon MP780 via turboprint driver)

Print preview via KWord also shows the white lines :(
Comment 8 Michael Goffioul 2006-05-29 16:23:41 UTC
As any application shows the problem, I'm starting to think that the problem lies in the PS generator, which is Qt. KDEPrint is not responsible for the print content, it starts its job after receiving a PS file to be printed. This file is generated by the app using Qt features. However, what you see in the print preview is what kdeprint receives, and it already contains the problem. So the cause is the be found *before*, during PS generation.
Comment 9 Bernie 2006-05-29 19:57:09 UTC
I've got another PC, also with Opensuse 10 on it but the 32bit (i686, AMD duron processor) version instead of AMD 64bit. After solving bug 107306 the problem also shows up on this machine when printing to postscript..... How can this be?  Can it be a Suse specific problem? I've put an official Knoppix DVD in my pc and on that OS the problem doesn't show up when previewing a print to a postscript file.....
Comment 10 Cristian Tibirna 2006-05-30 03:18:07 UTC
What is the relation with bug 107306?
Comment 11 Michael Goffioul 2006-05-30 09:05:35 UTC
Compare the versions for the Qt library. Is it the same on OpenSuse and Knoppix?
Comment 12 Bernie 2006-05-30 11:27:53 UTC
Versions of Qt libraries:
On my AMD64 x86_64 machine:
rpm -qa | grep qt
yast2-qt-2.12.12-2
qt3-32bit-3.3.4-28.3
poppler-qt-0.4.4-14
dbus-1-qt-32bit-0.35.2-8
dbus-1-qt-0.35.2-8
qt3-devel-3.3.5-60
gtk-qt-engine-32bit-0.6cvs20050229-11
python-qt-3.5.2-4
qt3-devel-tools-3.3.5-60
qt3-devel-doc-3.3.4-28
qt3-3.3.5-60
gtk-qt-engine-0.6cvs20050229-11

on my AMD duron 32bit i686 machine:
rpm -qa | grep qt
yast2-qt-2.12.12-2
poppler-qt-0.4.4-14
dbus-1-qt-0.35.2-8
gtk-qt-engine-0.6cvs20050229-11
qt3-3.3.5-60
python-qt-3.5.2-4

On the Knoppix 5.0 DVD I took allook at /usr/lib:
ls libqt*
libqt-mt.la
libqt-mt.prl
libqt-mt.so
libqt-mt.so.3
libqt-mt.so.3.3
libqt-mt.so.3.3.5
libqt.so.2
libqt.so.2.3
libqt.so.2.3.1
libqthreads.so.12
libqthreads.so.12.3.0
libqthreads.so.9
libqthreads.so.9.0.0
libqtmcop.a
libqtmcop.la
libqtmcop.so
libqtmcop.so.1
libqtmcop.so.1.0.0
libqtopiakonnector.la
libqtopiakonnector.so
Comment 13 Bernie 2006-06-07 10:21:14 UTC
Hi there,

I got so desperate because of this bug that I 've done a clean install of OpenSuse 10.1, without any extra software or alterations in configuration. Immediately after the installation process I've followed the same procedure as above and printed to PDF file (again with default settings), with preview on. Again the lines show up!! I got so frustrated that I investigated a little further:
My photos are generally 8 or 10 megapixels.
-If I print a photo (windmill) in full color the lines show up in the preview (see screenshots following this comment)
-If I print the same phote in greyscale (kprinter dialogue --> properties --> greyscale, horizontal lines still show up but in another pattern

- Now if I reduce the size of the photo a quarter using gwenview --> menu plugins --> resize image (so from 2592x3872 to 1296x1936) and then print it, the image looks great without any white line in it.   
Comment 14 Bernie 2006-06-07 10:27:49 UTC
Created attachment 16498 [details]
Print preview of greyscale print

The horizontal white lines pattern is different when printing in greyscale than
when printing in colour (see next attachment)
Comment 15 Bernie 2006-06-07 10:38:14 UTC
Created attachment 16499 [details]
Print preview of colour print
Comment 16 Bernie 2006-06-07 10:40:22 UTC
Every time I downsize the photos they show up correctly on screen and printer.

So my hypothesis up to now is that part of KDE that is responsible for the conversion of JPG to postscript doesn't handle high resolution images correctly. Now where to address this problem ?
Comment 17 Michael Goffioul 2006-06-07 11:16:19 UTC
Qt is responsible for the conversion. So you might report the problem to TrollTech as well.
Comment 18 Cristian Tibirna 2006-06-07 13:46:48 UTC
You should go by elimination and isolate the component of the system that is responsible for introducing the white stripes.

Try printing from a non-KDE/non-Qt program (e.g. Gimp) and see what happens.

Try finding a pure Qt program (non-KDE) able of printing photos and see what happens (a google search returned only http://www.mtoussaint.de/viewpic.html and it seems old, but you might find some other).

The KDE printing system doesn't modify the files received for printing, so the PS file generated by the app (for preview or printing) has to already contain the white stripes.

Sorry for not being very helpful. As you might understand, your problem might span many components of the system and investigating it wholly would require knowledge, but most especially time, that I don't have right now.

It is a bit puzzling that the number of reports for this issue is so small. I doubt that so few people print photos with KDE. It would be good to have a clear means of reproducing the bug on other people's systems.
Comment 19 Bernie 2006-06-14 13:43:37 UTC
How to reproduce this problem:

- Download a high resolution photo and save it, like
http://img2.dpreview.com/gallery/nikond200_samples/originals/dsc_0099-raw-capt.jpg
This is a 10 megapixel jpeg.
Open this photo in Gwenview.
Print this photo to a PDF file, portrait orientation and choose preview in the print dialog. In the preview window increase the zoom level to 150%. On my pc white lines show up at the bottom of the preview.
Comment 20 Cristian Tibirna 2006-06-15 04:29:01 UTC
I tried your receipt and I can't confirm your report.

I downloaded the photo you indicate, I opened it in gwenview and printed to a PDF, with preview. The preview indeed shows white stripes, at 100%, then randomly at other zoom levels (not at 125%, not at 150%, then yes at 200%, then no at 150%, then yes at 125%, then no at 100%).I printed the image to pdf then opened the resulted file with kpdf, acroread and gv and can't view any white stripes. I printed (from gwenview, not from pdf) to KDE's Ricoh printer and no white stripe appears.

So, once again, it is my conviction that what you observe is a flaw in the old and unmaintained kghostview part used by KDEPrint for previews. Thus this problem should probably be reported to kghostview. KDEPrint will most probably use kpdf (okular) part for previewing in future versions. kghostview will be deprecated (because of its slowness mostly, and because of problems like the one you experience).

Since I can't reproduce your problem (at least in what concerns printing and own KDEPrint code), I am inclined to merge this bug report with the similar others and close them as "WORKSFORME" or to transfer it to kghostview.

I will wait, before doing this, more details from Bernie.

Thanks
Comment 21 Michael Goffioul 2006-06-15 09:51:16 UTC
Maybe the problem lies in ghostscript. AFAIK, kghostview uses gs to view PS data. OTOH, most non-PS-printer drivers are based on gs as well. So the problem might not be the PS generator, but the PS renderer.
Comment 22 Bernie 2006-06-15 16:41:39 UTC
I cannot totally agree on comment #20. I changed the print preview application from Kghostscript to KPDf (via konqueror --> settings menu --> konqueror settings --> file associations, application "postscript" and changed the programme for embedded from kghostviewer to KPDF) . Now when I choose preview KPDF is used (although the GUI doesn't look too nice) and no lines show up, whatever zoomlevel I choose. However, when I really print to my Canon printer, photo quality 4800dpi, several thin lines do show up! My conclusion thus is that KGhostview isn't the culprit in this. Maybe the lines didn show up in the case of Cristian because of the smaller resolution of the printer ? Does KGhostscript somehow still play a role after preview ??

Regards,

Bernie
Comment 23 Michael Goffioul 2006-06-15 17:16:22 UTC
As I said, the problem might be ghostscript, which might be involved during the rasterization process of the PS data (printer drivers corresponding to non-PS printer are oftent based on ghostscript for the rendering process). In that case, it would be *normal* that the problem appear in kghostview and in the final print result, as both use ghostscript. KPDF does not.

It could be interesting to compare the ghostscript versions on the various setup where you made the test (SuSE and Knoppix).
Comment 24 Kurt Pfeifle 2007-01-13 00:43:06 UTC
This thread seems to have fizzled out....

In any case, it was a "printer driver" and/or "application print job generation", not a KDEPrint thing.


Bernie,

one last advice in this thread: try to print from the commandline directly to CUPS:

  lp -d your_printername -o scaling=100 -o PageSize=A4 /path/to/your/JPEG.jpg

and 

  lp -d your_printername -o natural-scaling=100 -o PageSize=A4 /path/to/your/JPEG.jpg

and see what it looks like.
Comment 25 John Layt 2008-12-31 19:37:08 UTC
Closing old Resolved status bug.