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Written by Tim Herzog
Produced by Two Bits Worth
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Introducing the perfect DA for viewing and copying graphics files quickly and easily.
NOTE: Some FreeHand users have complained that PICTuresque doesn╒t work as well with FreeHand files as with Illustrator files, and that it runs out of memory more quickly. I have not found this to be the case, and in the FreeHand files that people have sent me and that I have generated myself, I have found no problems. If you are experiencing out of memory problems, try the workarounds explained below for low memory situations. Otherwise, feel free to send me a file that is giving you problems (use the address above), and I can take a look.
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.
Options: For EPS and PICT files, you get a few extra options that control how the file gets copied and saved.
╘Include Onscreen Preview╒ means that PICTuresque includes the PICT preview that is normally part of EPS files. You normally want this checked, but if you turn it off, you can save a lot of memory, epecially if the EPS file is large in area. If you turn this off, PICTuresque will include a much smaller, generic preview.
╘Convert to Bitmap╒ means that PICTuresque will convert the PICT preview portion to a bitmap. Most drawing programs already provide a bitmap preview, so this normally isn╒t necessary. Some programs, like Finale, sometimes create non-bitmap previews, which can lead to strange printing.
╘Black and White╒ means that PICTuresque converts the PICT preview to a black and white bitmap. Of course, you╒ll lose the color information, but you will save a lot of memory. Color information will still be available for PostScript printing, since that is part of the EPS PostScript code.
╘Include PostScript Code╒ means that PICTuresque will include the PostScript code when it converts an EPS file to a PICT. This is normally what you want, since you want to get as high a resolution printout as possible. If this option is off, you will just get bitmap printing, like MacPaint. This feature is useful if you just want to ╘rip the preview╒ out of an EPS file, for instance, if you were just using it as part of a screenshot.
╘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.
╘Convert to Black & White Bitmap╒ converts a PICT file to a black and white bitmap before copying it to the clipboard or to a file. This is quite useful if you╒re working with screen shots taken on a color screen. Most screen capture programs make a color PICT file from a color monitor. These are much larger than the black and white equivalent and print MUCH slower. If you really want a black and white screen shot, click this option before copying.
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.
