PHD2000: Bitmap Appears Blurry After Grouping

When you group a raster-based picture (also called a bitmap) with another group of objects, the picture may become blurred. If you group an object with another group that contains a raster-based picture, that raster-based picture may also become blurred.

NOTE: A raster-based picture is a picture that is composed of pixels, or colored blocks, lined up in a row. Raster-based pictures are typical of photographs and scanned images, and include pictures of the file type .bmp, .jpg, and .gif. The other type of picture file is a vector-based picture. Vector-based pictures are defined by mathematical formulas instead of colored blocks lined up in a row. Examples of these file types are .dxf and .plt files, as well as some .wmf files.

This blurring behavior occurs if you group a raster-based picture in a group that contains another group of objects (also called a multiple group).

For example, if you group two circles (by clicking both objects, and then clicking Group on the Arrange menu), and then group this group with a raster-based picture, the raster-based picture will be blurred. However, if you group the circles and the picture all at once, the blurring does not occur.

If you must group a raster-based picture with any other object, make sure that none of the objects, including the raster-based picture, are part of another group. You can check any object to see whether it is part of a group by using the following method:

• Right-click the object, and then point to Grouping on the shortcut menu.
  
  If the Ungroup command is not available (dimmed), the object is not part of a group. If the Ungroup command is available, the object is part of a group.

If you find that one or more of the objects are grouped, you can ungroup them by clicking Ungroup on the shortcut menu.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in Microsoft PhotoDraw 2000.