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GR2GIF (tm) GR2PCX (tm) GRAI2GIF (tm) GRAI2PCX (tm) GR2ANSI (tm) GR2ASCII (tm) ********* Conversion Utilities for use with the GRABBER(tm) Screen Capture Program DOCUMENTATION November 26, 1992 Copyright 1991, 1992 by Gerald A. Monroe All rights reserved except as expressly provided. YOUR LICENSE TO USE THIS SOFTWARE: ----------------------------------- This documentation and the following programs are Copyright 1991, 1992, by Gerald A. Monroe. All rights are reserved except as expressly provided here: GR2PCX.EXE, GR2GIF.EXE, GRAI2PCX.EXE, GRAI2GIF.EXE, GR2ASCII.EXE, GR2ANSI.EXE. These files have been distributed as part of the GRABBER(tm) screen capture package, under the terms of a shareware license that is fully set forth in the file GRABBER.DOC. (GRABBER.DOC is the reference manual for GRABBER.EXE, which is the main program module in the package.) The shareware license terms in the GRABBER.DOC file are incorpo- rated here by reference. This license permits you to copy and distribute the files listed in the first paragraph above, provid- ed that: these files are always distributed together with each other and with the GRABBER.EXE and GRABBER.DOC files; none of the files is modified in any way; and no fee, premium or donation of any kind is charged or requested for their distribution except as permitted on the terms described in the GRABBER.DOC file. Continued use of any of these programs for more than a 10-day trial period requires you to register your use of the software with the author. For more information about the benefits of registration and how to go about registering, please refer to the full licensing and ordering information in the GRABBER.DOC file. GRABBER CONVERSION UTILITIES Page 2 of 12 Table of Contents Overview ..................................................... 3 The GIF file format .......................................... 3 The PCX file format .......................................... 4 What these programs can convert .............................. 4 Special note for Super-VGA graphics .......................... 5 Explanation of GRAI2PCX and GRAI2GIF ......................... 5 Interactive vs. Command Line Operation ...................... 6 Using GR2PCX: Interactive Mode .............................. 6 Using GR2PCX: Command Line Mode ............................. 7 Using GR2GIF: Interactive Mode .............................. 9 Using GR2GIF: Command Line Mode ............................. 10 "Thanks for trying GRABBER" messages ......................... 10 Using the Resize feature ..................................... 11 Using GR2ASCII and GR2ANSI ................................... 12 GRABBER CONVERSION UTILITIES Page 3 of 12 OVERVIEW OF THE GRABBER CONVERSION UTILITIES --------------------------------------------- GR2PCX and GR2GIF are companion utilities to the GRABBER screen capture program. GRAI2PCX and GRAI2GIF are companion utilities to the GR4AI screen capture program. You can use them to convert graphic images, captured from your video display in the form of GRABBER "offspring" files, into the widely recognized image formats called PCX and GIF. In addition, if your computer has an EGA or VGA video graphics adapter and a color monitor, the GR2PCX utility can also convert 80 x 25 text images captured by GRABBER to the PCX graphic format. (If you are unfamiliar with how the GRABBER or GR4AI programs work, or what an "offspring" file is, please consult the program manuals GRABBER.DOC and GR4AI.DOC before continuing.) THE "GIF" FILE FORMAT ---------------------- "GIF" (pronounced like "Jif") stands for Graphic Interchange Format. The GIF image format was developed by CompuServe, Inc., as a generalized method of exchanging and displaying graphic images on the widest possible variety of computer graphics hardware. GIF is one of the most widely accepted formats for exchanging graphics information among all makes and models of microcomputers, whether IBM-compatible or not. One of the reasons for the popularity of the GIF format is its very effec- tive data compression method. Generally, there is no other widely used file format which can compress a graphic image into a smaller space than GIF can. The GIF format is supported extensively on the CompuServe Infor- mation Service and many other on-line BBS services that make graphic images available for downloading. In addition to these on-line services, however, there are several PC application programs which can employ the GIF format. These include word processing, desktop publishing, and "paint" programs, as well as numerous picture viewing utilities. Therefore, you can use GR2GIF to convert almost any graphic image captured by GRABBER into GIF format, so that the image can be imported into any word process- ing, desktop publishing, or paint program which "understands" the GIF format. If you want to find out whether a particular appli- cation program you use can work with GIF files, and therefore import the files created by GR2GIF, you should consult that program's documentation or contact its publisher. GRABBER CONVERSION UTILITIES Page 4 of 12 THE "PCX" FILE FORMAT ---------------------- The PCX image format was developed by Zsoft Corporation, which is the publisher of the widely used graphics "paint" programs PC Paintbrush and Publisher's Paintbrush. Both of these programs use the PCX format for storing and retrieving graphic images to and from disk files. However, many other PC applications which involve graphic data, in addition to the two Zsoft products mentioned, also employ the PCX format. These include other paint programs, word processors such as WordPerfect Version 5.0 and later, desktop publishing programs such as Aldus' PageMaker, and picture viewing utilities. The PCX format uses a data compres- sion scheme to reduce the disk space required to store graphic images. You can use GR2PCX to convert almost any graphic image captured by GRABBER into PCX format, so that the image can be imported into any word processing, desktop publishing, or paint program which "understands" the PCX format. Use GRAI2PCX to do the same thing with screens captured by GR4AI. If you want to find out whether a particular application program you use can work with PCX files, you should consult that program's documentation or contact its publisher. WHAT THE CONVERSION UTILITIES CAN CONVERT ------------------------------------------ These programs are able to convert almost any GRABBER offspring file containing a graphic image into a separate PCX or GIF file. This includes any image originally captured in any CGA mode, any EGA mode, any VGA mode, and the Hercules monochrome graphics mode. Also, the GR2PCX utility can be used to convert text-mode images to the PCX graphics format. To use GR2PCX to convert a text-mode image, your computer must be equipped with an EGA or VGA adapter and a color monitor, and the text screen must measure 80 columns by 25 rows. GRABBER CONVERSION UTILITIES Page 5 of 12 SPECIAL NOTE FOR SUPER-VGA GRAPHICS ------------------------------------ If you want to use GR2PCX or GR2GIF to convert a high- resolution Super-VGA graphic image to another format, you should note that the conversion utilities will not work properly unless GRAB- BER.EXE is installed in memory, *and* is properly configured for your particular type of Super-VGA display adapter. For more information on configuring GRABBER for your type of display adapter, consult page 13 of the GRABBER documentation file (GRABBER.DOC). WHAT ARE GRAI2PCX and GRAI2GIF? -------------------------------- GRAI2PCX is functionally identical to GR2PCX. GR2PCX is designed exclusively for creating PCX files from screens captured by the GRABBER.EXE program, while GRAI2PCX is designed exclusively for creating PCX files from screens captured by the GR4AI.EXE pro- gram. GRAI2GIF is functionally identical to GR2GIF. GR2GIF is designed exclusively for creating GIF files from screens captured by the GRABBER.EXE program, while GRAI2GIF is designed exclusively for creating GIF files from screens captured by the GR4AI.EXE pro- gram. You operate GRAI2PCX and GRAI2GIF in exactly the same way as you would operate the GR2PCX and GR2GIF programs. For the sake of brevity, the command examples used in this documentation will refer only to GR2PCX and GR2GIF. However, if the screen you wish to convert was created by GR4AI and not GRABBER, then you can substitute GRAI2PCX wherever you see GR2PCX mentioned here, and substitute GRAI2GIF wherever you see GR2GIF. GRABBER CONVERSION UTILITIES Page 6 of 12 INTERACTIVE vs. COMMAND-LINE OPERATION --------------------------------------- If you run a conversion utility from the DOS prompt or a batch file without any command-line parameters, you will be running the program in an "interactive" mode. This means the program will prompt you on screen for the answers to several questions, detailed below, before it goes to work converting your input image file to the desired format. If you don't like working with command-line switches or can't remember them all (there are quite a few), you will want to use the interactive mode. However, if you want to avoid having to answer each question individually, you can run each conversion utility in a "command-line" mode, by following the program name itself with the names of your input and output files, plus any of the option- al command-line switches, which are described below. USING GR2PCX: INTERACTIVE MODE -------------------------------- (1) Enter the command GR2PCX and press <RETURN>. (2) Specify the name of the offspring file you wish to convert (the "input file"). You may optionally precede the filename with a drive and/or pathname if necessary. If the input filename ends with ".EXE" as it should, you may omit this extension from the filename. (E.g., entering SCREENXX is the same as entering SCREENXX.EXE.) (3) To give the "output file" the same name as the input file but with a ".PCX" filename extension, press <RETURN>. If you wish to give it a different name than the default which the program shows you, or place it in a different drive or directory than your input file, you must enter the full file specification, including drive, path, and ".PCX" extension. (4) If you want to convert the entire image to PCX, respond to the "Resize image?" prompt by pressing <N> or <RETURN>. The resulting output file will contain data for the whole image as it is displayed when you execute the offspring image file. If you want to crop out portions of the screen and create an output PCX image that is smaller than the original image, press <Y> at the "Resize image?" prompt. If you do this, the image will be displayed with a rectangular "resize box," which you can adjust to fit the shape and position of the portion of the image you want to convert. Complete instruc- tions for changing the size and positioning of the resize box can be found below on page 11. GRABBER CONVERSION UTILITIES Page 7 of 12 (5) If the input file contains a graphic image, and you have a VGA-compatible system, you will then be asked to specify a color or gray-scale output file. Press <C> or <RETURN> to choose color, or press <G> for gray-scale. If you are converting a graphic image, this is the last question you will be asked. If the input file contains a text image, you are given the additional choice of monochrome (black-and-white) output. If you choose this option by pressing <B>, most color varia- tions will be stripped from the output file. Some word processing and desktop publishing programs do not do a good job of displaying or printing imported PCX files which contain color or gray-scale information, so you may wish to experiment with this option. If you do choose black-and-white output, you will then be asked whether you want to invert the black and white colors in the output image. If the output PCX is destined to be printed on paper, you may wish to experiment with this option also. (6) Finally, for text-mode input files only, one last question: You may choose the size of the screen font into which the characters in the input file will be translated. These are the menu choices and the results they produce: Menu Option Font Cell Emulation Total Image Size ----------- --------- --------- ---------------- A 8 x 8 CGA 640 x 200 pixels B 8 x 14 EGA 640 x 350 pixels C 9 x 14 EGA/MDA/ 720 x 350 pixels Hercules D 9 x 16 VGA 720 x 400 pixels USING GR2PCX: COMMAND-LINE MODE --------------------------------- To avoid the GR2PCX menu prompts described above, you can specify the name of your input .EXE image file on the DOS command line immediately after the GR2PCX command itself. To select details of program operation, you can follow the input file name with the optional switches described here. Certain default parameters, also described here, will take effect for certain program fea- tures if no optional switch is specified. A GR2PCX command line looks something like this (optional parameters are shown in brackets): GR2PCX inputfile [outputfile] [/S] [/C] [/G] [/B] [/I] [/8] [/4] [/9] [/6] GRABBER CONVERSION UTILITIES Page 8 of 12 GR2PCX inputfile [outputfile] [/S] [/C] [/G] [/B] [/I] [/8] [/4] [/9] [/6] "inputfile" is the name of your GRABBER offspring .EXE image. The .EXE extension may be omitted. "outputfile" is the full name of the .PCX file you want to create. You must add the .PCX extension yourself. The name may be preceded by a drive and/or directory path. If omitted, the output file will automatically be named "inputfile.PCX" and will be placed on the same drive and directory path as the input file. /S tells GR2PCX that you will want to crop a portion of the image using the resize box before actual conversion takes place. If omitted, the entire image is converted to PCX format. /C tells GR2PCX to produce a color output file (if the input file is also a color image). If omitted, no big deal. Color output is the default anyway for both graphics and text conversions. /G tells GR2PCX to produce a gray-scale output file (if the input file is a color image). This option is available only on VGA-compatible systems, and is accepted for both graphics and text conversions. /B tells GR2PCX to produce a monochrome (black-and-white) output PCX file. This option is valid only for text screen conversions. /I tells GR2PCX to produce a monochrome (black-and-white) output PCX file, *and* to invert the white and black elements of the image. White becomes black and vice-versa. This option can be useful if you intend to print the PCX output on paper, and is valid only for text screen conversions. All of the remaining optional switches are used to specify screen font choices and are valid only for text screen conversions. For more information about the image dimensions associated with these fonts, see the chart on the previous page under item (6) in the section headed "Using GR2PCX: Interactive Mode." /8 selects an 8x8 font cell which emulates CGA /4 selects an 8x14 font cell which emulates some EGAs /9 selects a 9x14 font cell emulating MDA, Hercules and most EGAs /6 selects a 9x16 font cell which emulates VGA GRABBER CONVERSION UTILITIES Page 9 of 12 USING GR2GIF: INTERACTIVE MODE -------------------------------- (1) Enter the command GR2GIF and press <RETURN>. (2) Specify the name of the offspring file you wish to convert (the "input file"). You may optionally precede the filename with a drive and/or pathname if necessary. If the input filename ends with ".EXE" as it should, you may omit this extension from the filename. (E.g., entering SCREENXX is the same as entering SCREENXX.EXE.) (3) To give the "output file" the same name as the input file but with a ".GIF" filename extension, press <RETURN>. If you wish to give it a different name than the default which the program shows you, or place it in a different drive or directory than your input file, you must enter the full file specification including drive, path, and ".GIF" extension. (4) If you want to convert the entire image to GIF, respond to the "Resize image?" prompt by pressing <N> or <RETURN>. The resulting output file will contain data for the whole image as it is displayed when you execute the offspring image file. If you want to crop out portions of the screen and create an output image that is smaller than the original image, press <Y> at the "Resize image?" prompt. If you do this, the image will be displayed with a rectangular "resize box," which you can adjust to fit the shape and position of the portion of the image you want to convert. Complete instruc- tions for changing the size and positioning of the resize box can be found below on page 11. (5) If you have a VGA-compatible system, you will then be asked to specify a color or grayscale output file. Press <C> or <RETURN> to choose color, or press <G> for grayscale. This is the last question the program will ask you before it goes to work. GRABBER CONVERSION UTILITIES Page 10 of 12 USING GR2GIF: COMMAND-LINE MODE --------------------------------- To avoid the GR2GIF menu prompts described above, you can specify the name of your input .EXE image file on the DOS command line immediately after the GR2GIF command itself. To select details of program operation, you can follow the input file name with the optional switches described here. Certain default parameters, also described here, will take effect for certain program fea- tures if no optional switch is specified. A GR2GIF command line looks something like this (optional parameters are shown in brackets): GR2GIF inputfile [outputfile] [/S] [/C] [/G] "inputfile" is the name of your GRABBER offspring .EXE image. The .EXE extension may be omitted. "outputfile" is the full name of the .GIF file you want to create. You must add the .GIF extension yourself. The name may be preceded by a drive and/or directory path. If omitted, the output file will automatically be named "inputfile.GIF" and will be placed on the same drive and directory path as the input file. /S tells GR2GIF that you will want to crop a portion of the image using the resize box before actual conversion takes place. If omitted, the entire image is converted to GIF format. /C tells GR2GIF to produce a color output file (if the input file is also a color image). If omitted, no big deal. Color output is the default. /G tells GR2GIF to produce a gray-scale output file (if the input file is a color image). This option is available only on VGA- compatible systems. "THANKS FOR TRYING GRABBER" MESSAGES ------------------------------------- Because this is an unregistered, shareware version of GRABBER, most of the images which you convert using this version will contain a small message in the lower right corner of the screen expressing our "Thanks for trying GRABBER." By including these messages, we only hope to remind you that this version of GRABBER and the conversion utilities are shareware, and to encourage you to register the programs if you continue to find them useful. Users who register with the publisher (for the full $59.00 ver- sion) will find that the registered version of GRABBER which they receive creates PCX, GIF and PIC files that do not include this or any other message superimposed on converted images. GRABBER CONVERSION UTILITIES Page 11 of 12 USING THE RESIZE FEATURE: CONTROLLING THE RESIZE BOX ------------------------------------------------------ The following keys are available to you when using the resize feature within GR2PCX, GR2GIF, GRAI2PCX and GRAI2GIF: <Esc> .................. Abort the conversion process and exit. <Return> ............... Accept the area enclosed by the select box, and begin converting. <Left Arrow> <Right Arrow> Move the select box in the indicated <Up Arrow> direction, but do not change the shape <Down Arrow> ........... of the box. <Shift><Left Arrow> .... Shrink the box horizontally. <Shift><Right Arrow> ... Expand the box horizontally. <Shift><Up Arrow> ...... Shrink the box vertically. <Shift><Down Arrow> .... Expand the box vertically. <Insert> ............... Toggle between coarse and fine incre- ments for moving or reshaping the box. <Home> ................. Move the box to the upper left-hand corner of the screen. <End> .................. Move the box to the lower left-hand corner of the screen. <Ctrl><PgUp> ........... Move the box to the upper right-hand corner of the screen. <Ctrl><PgDn> ........... Move the box to the lower right-hand corner of the screen. <PgUp> ................. Move box to top edge of the screen. <PgDn> ................. Move box to bottom edge of the screen. <Ctrl><Left Arrow> ..... Move box to left edge of the screen. <Ctrl><Right Arrow> .... Move box to right edge of the screen. GRABBER CONVERSION UTILITIES Page 12 of 12 USING GR2ASCII and GR2ANSI --------------------------- GR2ASCII and GR2ANSI are companion utilities to the GRABBER screen capture program. You can use them to convert text images, captured from your video display in the form of GRABBER "off- spring" files, into plain ASCII or ANSI formats, respectively. These programs work only with character-based text images cap- tured by GRABBER. They do not work with pixel-based graphic images. To create an ASCII text file from a captured GRABBER offspring image, enter a command similar to the following at the DOS prompt: GR2ASCII inputfile[.exe] [outputfile.txt] "inputfile" represents the name of the GRABBER offspring image you wish to convert. The .exe filename extension may be omitted. "outputfile.txt" represents the name of the new ASCII text file you wish to create from the contents of the input file. This output file name is optional. If you do not specify it, the program will create an output file which has the same name as the input file, but with an extension of ".TXT". For example, the command GR2ASCII C:\PICTURES\SCREEN99 will cause the program to read the SCREEN99.EXE file and generate an output ASCII file called C:\PICTURES\SCREEN99.TXT. To create an ANSI graphics file from a captured GRABBER offspring image, follow the first command example shown above, substituting GR2ANSI for GR2ASCII. (Each of these programs is operated the same way as the other.) If you do not specify the optional output file name on the GR2ANSI command line, the program will create an output file which has the same name as the input file, but with an extension of ".ANS". For example, the command GR2ANSI C:\PICTURES\SCREEN99 will create an output ANSI file called C:\PICTURES\SCREEN99.ANS. * * * End of CONVERT.DOC * * *