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)