PSTOIMG
NAME SYNOPSIS OPTIONS DESCRIPTION RETURN VALUE EXAMPLES ENVIRONMENT SEE ALSO NOTES CAVEATS BUGS AUTHOR HISTORY
pstoimg - Convert a !PostScript file to a bitmap image using Ghostscript and the Netpbm utilities
pstoimg -help -version
pstoimg [ __-antialias__? [ __-aaliastext__? [ __-center__ ''num''? [ __-color__ ''num''? __-crop__ ''code''? [ __-debug__? __-density__ ''num''? [ __-depth__ ''num''? __-discard__? [ __-flip__ ''code''? __-geometry__ ''X''x''Y''? [ __-interlaced__? [ __-margins__ ''X'',''Y''? [ __-multipage__? [ __-out__ ''file''? [ __-quiet__? __-rightjustify__ ''num''? [ __-scale__ ''num''? [ __-tmp__ ''path''? [__x__?num ] [ __-transparent__? __-type__ ''type''? [__d__? ] [ __-white__? file ''file2'' ...?
The command line options may be abbreviated to the shortest unique prefix.
-help
Show this help page and exit.
-version
Show the release and version of pstoimg and exit.
-antialias
Use Ghostscript's anti-aliasing feature for rendering ``softer'' images. This applies to lines and edges of polygonal and oval or circular shapes. Only valid if Ghostscipt 4.03 or higher is installed.
-aaliastext
Use Ghostscript's anti-aliasing feature for ``smoother'' font characters, without the jagged edges. Similar to -antialias for graphic components. Only valid if Ghostscipt 4.03 or higher is installed.
-center num
Add the appropriate amount of whitespace to the left of the image so that the image appears to be centered in a total width of num pixels.
-crop code
Crop the bitmap from the given directions. code may be a string of several cropping instructions, which are executed strictly in the given order. Possible values are: h (horizontal, i.e. crop top and bottom), v (vertical), tblr (top, bottom, left, right) and a (all directions). A special case is s: ``shave'' the image at the bottom, but only if a single line of whitespace exists.
-debug
Turn on debugging output. This can get rather verbose. Any intermediate files generated are not removed to help debugging.
-density num
The density (resolution) in DPI in which to render the bitmap. The default is 72.
-depth num or -color num
Specify the color depth of the bitmap. Legal values are 1 (black
-discard
Delete the input postscript file if the conversion was successful. Setting the environment DISCARD to a true value (as perl sees it) has the same effect.
-flip code
Flip all generated output bitmaps. The following codes are recognized: lr (flip left-right), tb (flip top-bottom), xy (flip bottom/left-top/right), r90 and ccw (rotate by 90 degrees counterclockwise), r270 and cw (rotate 90 degrees clockwise) and r180 (rotate 180 degrees).
-geometry XxY
Render only this ``window'' of the !PostScript file. If given, this option can dramatically reduce memory requirements and speed up conversion. The geometry is automatically detected in case of EPS files (Encapsulated !PostScript).
-interlaced
Generate an interlaced bitmap. Interlaced images build up from coarse to fine as they are loaded. This option may not work on every installation and/or bitmap type, depending of the capabilities of external programs.
-margins X,Y
The offset of the rectangle in the postscript file that is going to be rendered from top/left. Can be used together with -geometry to further reduce the size of the intermediate bitmap file generated by Ghostscript.
-multipage
Process a multi-page !PostScript file, i.e. create an individual bitmap for every page. The resulting files are numbered: The decimal number (starting with 1) is appended to the basename of the !PostScript input file (or the basename of the filename specified with -out), while keeping the extension.
-out file
The file where to write the bitmap. If multiple !PostScript files are supplied on the command line, this option is ignored. The bitmap type extension is appended automatically if file does not contain a dot. In connection with -multipage file is extended by the page number as shown in this example:
-quiet
Do not print anything except error messages.
-rightjustify num
Add the appropriate amount of whitespace to the left of the image so that it appears to be aligned to the right in a total width of num pixels.
-scale factor
Scale the image by factor. Valid choices are any numbers greater than zero. Useful choices are numbers between 0.1 - 5. Large numbers may generate very large intermediate files and will take longer to process. If this option is omitted, the environment SCALE is considered.
-shoreup num[__d__?
Make height and width of the bitmap(s) an exact multiple of num. If num is followed by a ``d, then half the extra vertical space is placed underneath. This option is useful, if you want to have ``blown-up images of high quality for print, but downscale them in HTML using . If the actual image is is not an integer multiple of x,y then browsers tend to display distorted images.
-tmp path
Use path to store temporary files. Defaults to /tmp on this installation. This parameter can be set by the environment TMP or TEMP , too.
-topjustify [__x__?num
Add padding whitespace to the image so that it gets a defined height. If an integer value is given, it defines the total height. The whitespace is added at the bottom. If the number is preceded by ``x'', then this multiple of the image height is added as whitespace at the bottom.
-transparent
Generate transparent bitmaps, i.e. the background color (white) is transparent if viewed with certain viewers (e.g. browsers). This option may not be available due to missing capabilities of external programs.
-type type
Instruct pstoimg to render the bitmap in type format. Depending on the local installation, pstoimg is capable of generating either GIF or PNG bitmaps. This site features the following types: png
If omitted, the first type in this list is taken.
-white
Remove TeX's page color information from the !PostScript file before converting so that a white background is used.
pstoimg iterates over the given input files and runs them through Ghostscipt. The resulting pnm (portable anymap files) are processed with different Netpbm tools (cropping, color mapping, aligning, ...) and finally converted into (currently) either GIF or PNG format. The bitmaps can now be included e.g. in WWW pages.
The !PostScript file is converted as is. If a valid bounding box is found ( EPS format), then only this area is converted. The image is not cropped by default.
if everything went all right
x
(x != 0) something went wrong. See the message output.
pstoimg foo.ps
Convert the first page of foo.ps to the default bitmap type.
pstoimg -type png -crop a -trans -interlace foo.ps
Same as above, but force png output and crop all the whitespace around the image and make the color white transparent and generate an interlaced bitmap.
pstoimg -multi -out bar -type gif -crop a foo.ps
Consider foo.ps a multiple page !PostScript file and create output files bar1.gif, bar2.gif, etc.
DENSITY , DEPTH , DEBUG , DISCARD
See -density, -depth, -debug, -discard, respectively.
GS_LIB
This variable is set to the path(s) where Ghostscript libraries have been found on this system during configuration, but only if the built-in paths are not correct. This fixes the problem of relocation that is quite common on Win32 installations. This behavior can be overridden by setting GS_LIB manually before starting pstoimg.
LATEX2HTMLDIR
The directory where the LaTeX2HTML library and perl modules are found. Defaults to ``/usr/share/latex2html'' on this installation.
OUTFILE
Setting this has the same effect as specifying -out. Please do not rely on this feature any more, it will disappear from the next releases!
PAPERSIZE
The papersize to use by Ghostscript to render the image. pstoimg tries hard to optimize for rendering on the smallest possible bitmap size. Still this option is there to enable tuning by hand, although it is deprecated. If pstoimg finds a better setting, this parameter is ignored.
SCALE
See the discussion of -scale.
TMP and TEMP
Unless overridden by -tmp, these variables denote a directory where to store temporary files. TMP is considered first, then TEMP .
gs, pnmcrop, pnmquant, pbmmake, pnmcat, pnmfile, pnmflip, ppmtogif, pnmtopng, giftool, giftrans.
Several people have suggested to use !ImageMagick's convert instead of pstoimg. A few comments on this: convert uses (of course) Ghostscript for conversion of !PostScript to bitmap, so one still needs gs. And for the special requirements of LaTeX2HTML convert's features are not sufficient. The
overhead that can prove killing when processing some 100 images. pstoimg only does what it really has to, so it should be quite efficient. Don't get me wrong - I like
LaTeX2HTML.
This utility is automatically configured and built to work on the local setup. If this setup changes (e.g. some of the external commands are moved), the script has be be reconfigured.
Despite the portability of perl, a pstoimg configured on UNIX will probably not work on Win32 and vice versa.
This is a major enhancement release, so there may be a few bugs. As the user inteface changed a bit, some of your tools that were using pstoimg may not work any more.
Please report bugs to latex2html@tug.org, stating the (debug) output of pstoimg, your perl version and the versions of the external tools. Best is to include the cfgcache.pm file from the configuration procedure.
Marek Rouchal
This script went through a long evolution, beginning with a modification of Doug Crabill's
One page links to pstoimg(1):
