ppmtoacad man page on BSDi

Man page or keyword search:  
man Server   6284 pages
apropos Keyword Search (all sections)
Output format
BSDi logo
[printable version]



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(R)
       slide file or binary database import (.dxb) file as  out-
       put.  If no ppmfile is specified, input is read from stan-
       dard 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  geo-
	      metrical database and can be viewed and edited like
	      any other object. Each sequence of identical  pix-
	      els 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  represented by an AutoCAD line
	      entity.  If -poly is selected, the pixels are  ren-
	      dered  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 repre-
	      sentation 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 available 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 AutoCAD  database	or  slide
	      file  needed  to	represent a bitmap.  If no -back-
	      ground 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.

			 10 October 1991			1

ppmtoacad(1)					 ppmtoacad(1)

       -white Since  many  AutoCAD  users  choose  a white screen
	      background, this option is provided as a short-cut.
	      Specifying  -white is identical in effect to -back-
	      ground 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 Auto-
	      CAD screen will be square.  For example, to correct
	      an  image made for a 320x200 VGA/MCGA screen, spec-
	      ify -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 pre-
       fix.

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, ppmtoacad 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  conver-
       sion.   In  particular,	thin diagonal lines are not opti-
       mised at all by this process.

       Output files can be huge.

SEE ALSO
       AutoCAD Reference Manual: Slide	File  Format  and  Binary
       Drawing Interchange (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

			 10 October 1991			2

ppmtoacad(1)					 ppmtoacad(1)

	    Fax:     038/33 88 15
	    Voice:   038/33 76 33

       Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this soft-
       ware and its documentation for any purpose and without fee
       is hereby granted, without 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			3

[top]

List of man pages available for BSDi

Copyright (c) for man pages and the logo by the respective OS vendor.

For those who want to learn more, the polarhome community provides shell access and support.

[legal] [privacy] [GNU] [policy] [cookies] [netiquette] [sponsors] [FAQ]
Tweet
Polarhome, production since 1999.
Member of Polarhome portal.
Based on Fawad Halim's script.
....................................................................
Vote for polarhome
Free Shell Accounts :: the biggest list on the net