Why does Exporting Document to JPEG using ArcObjects in Layout View result in bad picture quality?

Question

I want to export the Active View with ArcObjects to JPEG. All Layers in the Document are raster layers (GeoTiff).

I use this code which works quite well when in Data View, but when I perform the same export in Layout View, the picture quality is really bad.

Has anyone an idea what the cause of this problem could be?

If I do File -> Export Map picture quality is good in both Data and Layout View. So Esri seems to be doing it differently in ArcMap.

EDIT: kenbuja had the answer. In case somebody needs the C# variant of the method he mentioned, have a look at the esri documentation

Answer 1

Try setting the output image quality, calling the following subroutine. The iResampleRatio is an value between 1 and 5, with 1 being the highest quality. These correspond with the settings on the export dialog's "output image quality" for vector exports. For image exports, you should always set output image quality to 1 (best).

Private Sub SetOutputQuality(ByVal iResampleRatio As Long)
 Dim pOutputRasterSettings As ESRI.ArcGIS.Display.IOutputRasterSettings = pActiveView.ScreenDisplay.DisplayTransformation
 Dim pGraphicsContainer As ESRI.ArcGIS.Carto.IGraphicsContainer
 Dim pElement As ESRI.ArcGIS.Carto.IElement
 Dim pMapFrame As ESRI.ArcGIS.Carto.IMapFrame
 Dim pTmpActiveView As ESRI.ArcGIS.Carto.IActiveView
 pOutputRasterSettings.ResampleRatio = iResampleRatio
 If TypeOf pActiveView Is ESRI.ArcGIS.Carto.IPageLayout Then
 'assign ResampleRatio to the Maps in the PageLayout
 pGraphicsContainer = pActiveView
 pGraphicsContainer.Reset()
 pElement = pGraphicsContainer.Next
 Do While Not pElement Is Nothing
 If TypeOf pElement Is ESRI.ArcGIS.Carto.IMapFrame Then
 pMapFrame = pElement
 pTmpActiveView = pMapFrame.Map
 pOutputRasterSettings = pTmpActiveView.ScreenDisplay.DisplayTransformation
 pOutputRasterSettings.ResampleRatio = iResampleRatio
 End If
 pElement = pGraphicsContainer.Next
 Loop
 End If
End Sub

• Christian Rapp: Used the C# variant of this method. Thank you very much, works perfectly