Introducing the perfect DA for viewing and copying graphics files quickly and easily.
Once installed (using Font/DA Mover, or Suitcase or Font/DA Juggler if you have them), PICTuresque is a breeze to use. Just select it from your Apple menu. PICTuresque asks you to open a PICT, EPS, or MacPaint document and displays it on the screen. You also get information about the file such as the full path name (for those of you who never fully got away from DOS) and the file type (for those of you who prefer the Macintosh system to DOS file extensions). The menu commands do the following:
Open: Opens and displays a file.
Save: Saves the current file as a PICT file or as a PICT resource in a file (ResEdit users will be familiar with PICT resources). If you click ╘PICT Resource File,╒ enter the ID number of the PICT resource. If you select 'Merge With File,' PICTuresque will add a PICT resource to an existing file instead of overwriting it (the file must exist to use this option). Note that the Tab key will NOT tab between text edit fields, since the tab key is used to switch drives, as per standard Apple interface.
View at 100%/Fit in Window: You can choose to view the file at 100% or using a percentage at which it will fit in the window.
Frame Picture: If you choose this option, PICTuresque draws a dotted line around the picture. Note that the 'bounding boxes' for some graphics are not the same as you would think (notably, Illustrator files), so this option is useful for telling the 'actual' dimensions of a picture.
EPS Options: For EPS files, you get a few extra options that control how the file gets copied and saved.
Convert Previews is for EPS files that have 'draw-like' preview images instead of 'bitmap' previews. By now, most EPS software has been upgraded to create EPS files with 'bitmap' previews. The only exceptions are Finale if you choose the 'Create Bitmap PICT' option and perhaps MusicProse (Finale and MusicProse are music notation programs from Coda Music Software). If you try to copy a file with a 'draw-like' preview, you may get strange printing results, such as bizarre text where you don't expect it. You can tell a 'draw-like' preview from a 'bitmap' preview because it draws item by item, like a MacDraw document, as opposed to all at once, like a MacPaint document. Turning this option on will fix the draw-like previews. However, it consumes much more memory in the process. It also will convert your color previews to black and white, although these files will print and separate easily.
Don╒t Copy PostScript Code instructs PICTuresque NOT to copy the high resolution PostScript data when copying the EPS file to the clipboard or to a file. This is for cases in which you will never be printing the PICT resource on a LaserWriter and don╒t want the baggage that results from incorporating PostScript code. Be prepared for ugly printing, though.
Remove 'showpage's is used for 'patching' certain EPS files that do unorthodox things in their PostScript code (most notably, Illustrator 3.0, but there may be others). The PostScript 'showpage' command is used to print an imaged page. As you may guess, putting one of these in an EPS graphic can cause havoc, but some programs do it anyway. Turning the "remove 'showpage's" option on means that PICTuresque tries to remove the erroneous 'showpage' commands without disturbing the rest of the PostScript code. If when you copy a graphic into another program, you get multiple pages out of your printer, turn this option on and copy the file again. It will take a bit longer to copy, but it consumes no extra memory.
By the way, these settings are saved between uses of PICTuresque.
About: displays the About box and version number.
Copy: This is the heart of the program. If you choose Copy from the Edit menu, PICTuresque copies the file to the clipboard as a PICT. It doesn't matter what type of data the file originally contained. PICT, EPS, and MacPaint files all get copied as PICT. EPS files (through the use of special PostScript hocus-pocus) even maintain their 'PostScriptness,' so they will print in high-resolution on PostScript printers.
This means that programs that accept PICT graphics but do not accept EPS graphics, such as Word, now can display and print EPS graphics. Just open the EPS file with PICTuresque, choose Copy from the Edit menu, and paste the graphic into Word. It's that simple.
Incidentally, this same principle applies for files that are created using the Save option.
CHANGE HISTORY
1.3: Removed the Download Fonts option from the EPS Options dialog box. PICTuresque now automatically downloads needed fonts based on which fonts are used in the EPS file.
1.4: Fixed a bug that caused erratic printing with older Illustrator EPS files (Illustrator 1.8.3 and earlier)
1.5: Added the Don╒t Copy PostScript Code option and the ability to save as a PICT file.
1.6: Fixed a few bugs and enhanced some parts of the interface, particularly the open and save dialog boxes.
1.7: Added support for color EPS previews. Previously, if you copied an EPS file to the clipboard, the preview image (what you saw on screen) was converted to black and white.
PICTuresque 1.7
Shareware: $20.00
You may give PICTuresque to anyone and everyone you know, as long as this documentation accompanies it. You may NOT sell PICTuresque alone or as part of any package without my express written permission. If you keep PICTuresque and use it, please respect Shareware and pay the Shareware fee.
