3. Define output sizePlease ensure the following:
To see what's new in version 1.2, see the Change Log.
The Rasterbator is an application which creates rasterized versions of images. The rasterized images can be printed and assembled into enormous (or smaller, if you prefer) posters. Enter the online Rasterbation Gallery to see what the images look like.
The Rasterbator originated as a web application at homokaasu.org, but it has gained so much popularity that the web server occassionally cannot handle the load and a standalone version was in place.
The standalone version is the same as the web version, except that downloading images from the web and image cropping are not supported, and you have to set the output size numerically (number of pages wide/high) rather than using a fancy drag handle. The results are exactly the same.
The zip file includes the application, its source code and SharpDevelop project files. The program is licensed under the GPL.
The application requires .NET Framework 1.1.To print the posters, you need a pdf reader such as Adobe Reader. The application might also work with .NET Framework 1.0 (comes with Windows XP) and Mono (available for many platforms, such as Linux or Mac), but the compatibility has not been tested. If you manage to run it on Linux or Mac, please tell me!
The Rasterbator uses iTextSharp and SharpZipLib libraries. These are included in the file.
No installation is needed. Just unzip the file contents and run the included Rasterbator.exe application. The application is wizard-like, which means it asks you questions and you click Continue button (or Back if you want to change what you previously answered). There are five screens with different options.
In this phase you need to select the image you wish to rasterbate from your hard disk. Either enter the file name (with path, such as c:\images\snowman.jpg) in the box, or click Browse... to open the standard file dialog, which you can use to select the file. Note that the Continue button will be disabled if the file does not exist.
The rasterbated image will automatically be split onto several pages and in this screen you select the size of the paper you wish to use. Either use one of the predefined paper sizes (such as A4 or US Letter) and choose either portait or landscape printing (horizontal or vertical alignment of the paper), or use custom paper size. In the latter case, you need to input the paper width and height in millimeters.
3. Define output sizeUsing the paper size you selected, choose the size of the rasterbated poster you wish to use. You can define a specific amount of papers to both dimensions: width and height. The other dimension will be calculated automatically from the dimensions of the source image. The image size and paper consumption will be displayed on the page. Also, the preview image will show how the image will be distributed to different pages.
In this screen you set up the preferred output options. The options are the following:
This should be pretty easy. The default value for the output file is the file name and directory of the source file, except that the file suffix (such as .jpg) is replaced with .pdf. If a file of the similar name exists, the suggested output file name will be suffixed with such a number that there exists no file the name.
Rasterbate!Then, click the Rasterbate! button. The program will produce the output image. If you want to use other programs while rasterbating, check the "Rasterbate on low priority" option. This will slow down the rasterbating, but it makes other programs more responsive.
When the rasterbation is completed, you have the option to automatically open the produced image file (requires that you have a pdf reader in your computer system).
The Rasterbator is free, but surprisingly many users of the web version would have liked to make a contribution. Please consider making a donation to, for example, the following organisations instead of me:
The language files for different languages are located in subdirectory languages. To translate the program into a new language, just make a copy of an existing file and edit it with a text editor. The file looks like this:
Then edit the areas marked with green. If the file is located in languages, it should be available in the list of languages automatically when the application is started the next time. Make sure the file is valid xml and encoded using UTF-8.
Matias Ärje 2005 - rasterbator@arje.net