Provided by: netpbm_10.0-15.3build1_amd64 
NAME
pstopnm - convert a PostScript file into a portable anymap
SYNOPSIS
pstopnm [-stdout] [-forceplain] [-help] [-llx s] [-lly s] [-landscape] [-portrait] [-nocrop] [-pbm |-pgm
|-ppm] [-urx s] [-ury s] [-verbose] [-xborder n] [-xmax n] [-xsize f] [-yborder f] [-ymax n] [-ysize n]
psfile[.ps]
DESCRIPTION
Reads a PostScript file as input. Produces PBM, PGM, or PPM files as output. This program simply uses
GhostScript to render a PostScript file with its PNM device drivers. If you don't have GhostScript
installed (invoked by a gs command), or the version you have installed was not built with the relevant
PNM device drivers, pstopnm will fail. You can see if you have the proper environment by issuing the
command gs --help . If it responds and lists under "Available Devices" pbm, pbmraw, pgm, pgmraw, pnm,
pnmraw, ppm, or ppmraw, you're in business.
pstopnm does not use the Netpbm libraries to generate the output files, so may not be entirely consistent
with most Netpbm programs.
psfile[.ps] is the name of the input file. .pstopnm will add the ps to the end of the name you specify
if no file exists by the exact name you specify, but one with added does. Use - to indicate Standard
Input.
If you use the -stdout option, pstopnm outputs images of all the pages as a multi-image file to Standard
Output. Otherwise, pstopnm creates one file for each page in the Postscript document. The files are
named as follows: If the input file is named psfile.ps, the name of the files will be psfile001.ppm,
psfile002.ppm, etc. The filetype suffix is .ppm, .pgm, or .pbm, depending on which kind of output you
choose with your invocation options. If the input file name does not end in .ps, the whole file name is
used in the output file name. For example, if the input file is named psfile.old, the output file name
is psfile.old001.ppm, etc.
Note that the output file selection is inconsistent with most Netpbm programs, because it does not
default to Standard Output. This is for historical reasons, based on the fact that the Netpbm formats
did not always provide for a sequence of images in a single file.
Each output file contains the image of a rectangular part of the page to which it pertains. The selected
area will always be centered in the output file, and may have borders around it. The image area to be
extracted from the PostScript file and rendered into a portable anymap is defined by four numbers, the
lower left corner and the upper right corner x and y coordinates. These coordinates are usually
specified by the BoundingBox comment in the PostScript file header, but they can be overridden by the
user by specifying one or more of the following options: -llx, -lly, -urx, and -ury. The presence and
thickness of a border to be left around the image area is controlled by the use of the options -xborder
and -yborder. If pstopnm does not find BoundingBox parameters in the input, and you don't specify image
area coordinates on the command line, pstopnm uses default values. If your input is from Standard Input,
pstopnm does not use the BoundingBox parameters (due to the technical difficulty of extracting that
information and still feeding the file to Ghostscript), so you either have to specify the image area
coordinates or take the default.
Unless you specify both output file width and height, via the -xsize and -ysize options, pstopnm maps the
document into the output image by preserving its aspect ratio.
It has been reported that on some Postscript Version 1 input, Ghostscript, and therefore pstopnm,
produces no output. To solve this problem, you can convert the file to Postscript Version 3 with the
program ps2ps. It is reported that the program pstops does not work.
OPTIONS
-forceplain
forces the output file to be in plain (text) format. Otherwise, it is in raw (binary) format.
See pbm(1), etc.
-llx bx
selects bx as the lower left corner x coordinate (in inches).
-lly by
selects by as the lower left corner y coordinate (in inches).
-landscape
renders the image in landscape mode.
-portrait
renders the image in portrait mode.
-nocrop
does not crop the output image dimensions to match the PostScript image area dimensions.
-pbm -pgm -ppm
selects the format of the output file. By default, all files are rendered as portable pixmaps
(ppm format).
-stdout
causes output to go to Standard Output instead of to regular files, one per page (see description
of output files above). Use pnmsplit to extract individual pages from Standard Output.
-urx tx
selects tx as the upper right corner x coordinate (in inches).
-ury ty
selects ty as the upper right corner y coordinate (in inches).
-verbose
prints processing information to stdout.
-xborder frac
specifies that the border width along the Y axis should be frac times the document width as
specified by the bounding box comment in the PostScript file header. The default value is 0.1.
-xmax xs
specifies that the maximum output image width should have a size less or equal to xs pixels
(default: 612).
-xsize xsize
specifies that the output image width must be exactly xs pixels.
-yborder frac
specifies that the border width along the X axis should be frac times the document width as
specified by the bounding box comment in the PostScript file header. The default value is 0.1.
-ymax ys
specifies that the maximum output image height should have a size less or equal to ys pixels
(default: 792).
-ysize ys
specifies that the output image height must be exactly ys pixels.
BUGS
The program will produce incorrect results with PostScript files that initialize the current
transformation matrix. In these cases, page translation and rotation will not have any effect. To
render these files, probably the best bet is to use the following options:
pstopnm -xborder 0 -yborder 0 -portrait -nocrop file.ps
Additional options may be needed if the document is supposed to be rendered on a medium different from
letter-size paper.
SEE ALSO
gs(1), pstofits(1), pnmtops(1), psidtopgm(1), pbmtolps(1), pbmtoepsi(1), pnmsplit(1)
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 1992 Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
PostScript is a Trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated.
AUTHOR
Alberto Accomazzi, WIPL, Center for Astrophysics.
28 June 2000 pstopnm(1)