tThe new Preferences program has a second printer graphic screen. The gadgets and their descriptions are as follows:PARA
Gadget DescriptionPARA
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Density 1-7 The user density is SPECIAL_DENSITY1 through SPECIAL_DENSITY7 and it overrides whatever density the application program has selected. You can use this to assure a certain density. The lower the density the faster the print times (on those printers with multiple densities).
}Center Image Turns on or off horizontal centering of the picture on the paper. This options overrides the Left Offset value.
+Scaling Fraction: Normal scaling (default).
u Integer: Every dot on the screen is guaranteed to appear as an even number of dots on the printer both in the x and y dimension, i.e. if your source picture is 320 x 200, the printed picture width will be either 320, 640, 960, etc. dots wide and 200, 400, 600, etc. dots high. This is the option to use when you are trying to print a picture that contains thin vertical and horizontal lines (like a grid). The actual size of the printed picture will be the size you asked for scaled up/down to the nearest multiple of the width and height of the picture. When you do this you completely override the aspect ratio correcting feature of the printer device, i.e. it is possible to get a slightly distorted (non aspect ratio correct) picture. This option is also useful if you are printing out bit-image text (like in NotePad) as the fonts wont be distorted due to fractional scaling.
7Color Correction This option selectively tries to match all shades of either red (R), green (G), or blue (B) from the screen to the printer. Initially the printer device can print all the 4096 colors of the Amiga on a printer. However, as color correction is applied the total number of printed colors is reduced to a low of 3172. To see the effect of this option, print out a picture with solid red, green, and blue shades twice, once with this option on, and once with it off. Now compare the two pictures with the screen display; the results should be obvious.
Left Offset Offsets the printed picture horizontally in increments of tenths of an inch. The 'Center Image' option (above) disables this option.
vDithering Ordered: Color intensities on the printer are formed using an 'ordered' dither method. This is the default.FSCC
HalfTone: Color intensities on the printer are formed using a 'halftone' dither method. This technique is similar to the one used in newspapers and comic books and works best on high density printers (greater than 150 dpi).
G F/S: Color intensities on the printer are formed using the 'Floyd-Steinberg' error distribution method. This option slows down the printing by a factor of two as it has to analyze each pixel before printing. Note that this option automatically turns off anti-aliasing as they can not be used in conjunction with each other.
FMaxWidth Limits the width of the printed picture in tenths of an inch.FSCC
HMaxHeight Limits the height of the printed picture in tenths of an inch.FSCC
ULimits This gadget determines how the above 'limits' are to be interpreted as follow:
d Ignore: The limits are to be ignored. The printed picture's size is bounded by the old standby of:FSCC
width =FSCC
1 (right margin - left margin + 1)/chars per inch.
height =
lines per page/lines per inch.
T This option is here to remain compatible with pre V1.3 software and is the default.TEXT
h Bounded: The printed picture's size is bounded by MaxWidth and MaxHeight, i.e. if you want the printed picture to be no bigger than 4 x 5 (but it could be smaller) set MaxWidth to 40, MaxHeight to 50, and select bounded. This option is here so that you don't have to change the text settings (margins, lines per page, etc.) every time you do a graphic print.FSCC
Absolute: MaxWidth and MaxHeight are taken to be absolute values. The printed picture's size is no longer bounded rather it will absolutely be the size specified here, i.e. If you want the printed picture to be exactly 4.0 x 5.0 inches; set MaxWidth to 40, MaxWidth to 50, and select absolute. When you do this you completely override the aspect ratio correcting feature of the printer device, i.e. it is possible to get a very distorted (non aspect ratio correct) picture. Setting one (but not both) of the dimensions to zero aspect ratio corrects that dimension, i.e. if you set MaxWidth to 40 and MaxHeight to 0, then the printed picture will be 4.0 inches wide and as tall as it needs to be in order to be aspect ratio correct. If both of the dimensions are zero then the printed picture will be the printer's maximum dots wide and as tall as it needs to be in order to be aspect ratio correct.
Pixels: MaxWidth and MaxHeight are taken to be absolute values in printer pixels and not tenths of an inch. The same rules for 'Absolute' (MaxWidth = 0 and MaxHeight = 0) apply here.
+ Multiply: MaxWidth and MaxHeight are used to multiply the source picture's width and height, i.e. If you specified a MaxWidth of 2 and a MaxHeight of 4, the printed picture would be 2 times the source picture's width pixels wide and 4 times the source picture's height pixels high. Thus if the source picture were 320 x 200, the printed picture would be 640 (320 x 2) pixels wide and 800 (200 x 4) pixels high. The same rules for 'Absolute' (MaxWidth = 0 and MaxHeight = 0) apply here. The same benefits that apply to 'Integer' scaling are valid here.
Anti-alias Attempts to smooth diagonal lines. This option slows down the printing by a factor of two as it has to analyze each pixel and its closest neighbors before printing. This option is best suited for use with programs that do graphic dumps of text (like ProWrite, PageSetter, CityDesk, Publisher 1000, NotePad, etc.). Note that this option automatically turns off Floyd-Steinberg dithering (and selects Ordered dithering) as they cannot be used in conjunction with each other.FSCC
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