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ppmtoacad(1)							  ppmtoacad(1)

NAME
       ppmtoacad - convert portable pixmap to AutoCAD database or slide

SYNOPSIS
       ppmtoacad [-dxb] [-poly] [-background colour] [-white] [-aspect ratio]
	       [-8] [ppmfile]

DESCRIPTION
       Reads a portable pixmap as input.  Produces an AutoCAD® slide  file  or
       binary  database import (.dxb) file as output.  If no ppmfile is speci‐
       fied, input is read from standard input.

OPTIONS
       -dxb   An AutoCAD binary database import (.dxb) file is written.	  This
	      file  is	read  with the DXBIN command and, once loaded, becomes
	      part of the AutoCAD geometrical database and can be  viewed  and
	      edited like any other object.  Each sequence of identical pixels
	      becomes a separate object in the database; this  can  result  in
	      very large AutoCAD drawing files.	 However, if you want to trace
	      over a bitmap, it lets you zoom and pan around the bitmap as you
	      wish.

       -poly  If  the -dxb option is not specified, the output of ppmtoacad is
	      an AutoCAD slide file.  Normally each row of  pixels  is	repre‐
	      sented  by  an  AutoCAD  line entity.  If -poly is selected, the
	      pixels are rendered as filled polygons.  If the slide is	viewed
	      on a display with higher resolution than the source pixmap, this
	      will cause the pixels to expand instead of appearing as discrete
	      lines  against  the screen background colour.  Regrettably, this
	      representation yields slide files which occupy more  disc	 space
	      and take longer to display.

       -background colour
	      Most AutoCAD display drivers can be configured to use any avail‐
	      able colour as the screen background.  Some users perfer a black
	      screen  background, others white, while splinter groups advocate
	      burnt ocher, tawny puce, and shocking grey.   Discarding	pixels
	      whose  closest  AutoCAD  colour  representation  is equal to the
	      background colour can substantially reduce the size of the Auto‐
	      CAD  database or slide file needed to represent a bitmap.	 If no
	      -background colour is specified, the screen background colour is
	      assumed to be black.  Any AutoCAD colour number may be specified
	      as the screen background; colour numbers are assumed to  specify
	      the hues defined in the standard AutoCAD 256 colour palette.

       -white Since  many AutoCAD users choose a white screen background, this
	      option is provided as a short-cut.  Specifying -white is identi‐
	      cal in effect to -background 7.

       -aspect ratio
	      If  the  source  pixmap  had non-square pixels, the ratio of the
	      pixel width to pixel height should be specified as  ratio.   The
	      resulting slide or .dxb file will be corrected so that pixels on
	      the AutoCAD screen will be square.  For example, to  correct  an
	      image  made  for	a  320x200  VGA/MCGA  screen,  specify -aspect
	      0.8333.

       -8     Restricts the colours in the output file to the 8 RGB shades.

       All flags can be abbreviated to their shortest unique prefix.

BUGS
       AutoCAD has a fixed palette of 256 colours, distributed along the  hue,
       lightness,  and	saturation  axes.   Pixmaps which contain many nearly-
       identical colours, or colours not  closely  approximated	 by  AutoCAD's
       palette, may be poorly rendered.

       ppmtoacad  works	 best if the system displaying its output supports the
       full 256 colour AutoCAD palette.	 Monochrome, 8 colour, and  16	colour
       configurations will produce less than optimal results.

       When  creating  a .dxb file or a slide file with the -poly option, ppm‐
       toacad finds both vertical and horizontal runs of identical pixels  and
       consolidates  them  into	 rectangular regions to reduce the size of the
       output file.  This is effective for images with large areas of constant
       colour but it's no substitute for true raster to vector conversion.  In
       particular, thin diagonal lines	are  not  optimised  at	 all  by  this
       process.

       Output files can be huge.

SEE ALSO
       AutoCAD	Reference  Manual: Slide File Format and Binary Drawing Inter‐
       change (DXB) Files, ppm(5)

AUTHOR
	    John Walker
	    Autodesk SA
	    Avenue des Champs-Montants 14b
	    CH-2074 MARIN
	    Suisse/Schweiz/Svizzera/Svizra/Switzerland
	    Usenet:  kelvin@Autodesk.com
	    Fax:     038/33 88 15
	    Voice:   038/33 76 33

       Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software  and  its
       documentation  for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, with‐
       out any conditions or restrictions.  This  software  is	provided  ``as
       is'' without express or implied warranty.

       AutoCAD and Autodesk are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc.

				10 October 1991			  ppmtoacad(1)
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