This is version 3.4 of Print2Pict. It is a printer driver that previews and saves printed pages to PICT files or the clipboard.

Press command-C to copy this text in the clipboard.

To get detailed information about every buttons and input fields, choose Show Balloons in the balloon menu.

- Introduction

The PICT file format is the standard format for saving pictures on a Macintosh. Most of the graphical applications can read these files.

If you copy a page to the clipboard, it can be paste into any document that can include pictures.

You can use Print2Pict with any application that prints using the standard Macintosh interface.

- What's new in version 3.0 ?

- Color and high resolution pictures when  possible.

- Custom "paper" sizes.

- Full support of System 7's Balloon Help.

- Any scale factors in the preview window.

- Use of extensions to add new functionality: Print to MacPaint file, Print to PICS format, Print to text format, and Print to whatever you dream of if you can write C or Pascal.

- What's new in version 3.4 ?

- Print2Pict now handles correctly higher resolutions.

- You can set the default paper sizes using the options dialog.

- You can select a background color, a background picture for every pages.

- The PostCard extension can now print without crashing.

- What's new in version 3.5 ?

- The way Print2Pict registers to the application has been changed so it can work with QuarkXPress™.

Print2Pict has four windows :

The style dialog.

This is the "Page Setup …" dialog.

It is similar to the ImageWriter style dialog.

• Paper size

Selecting a paper size will set the picture size. The Custom size enables you to choose any size of paper.

• Orientation

Orientation can be either portrait (higher than wide) or landscape (wider than high).
 
• Disposition

This menu displays the list of all the ways the pages can be processed. Print2Pict has two built-in dispositions:

- Clipboard:

       Puts the first page in the clipboard.

- PICT File:            Writes each page to a different PICT file.

All available Print2Pict extensions  are listed as well. You must find with this copy of Print2Pict:

- Text File: 

  Extracts the text from the pages and writes to a text file.

- Print to PICS: 
 Creates a PICS file.

- PostCard: 

 Creates a standalone application from your document.

- Print to Paint: 
Creates MacPaint files.

- Print to Scrap:
Creates ScrapBook files.

- Remote:

  Sends the pictures to remote applications.

- Pixmap:

Creates a PICT file containing a pixmap.

If the " clipboard" option is chosen, only the first page is copied in the clipboard.

• Options

Open the options dialog.

The job dialog.

This is the "Print …" dialog.

• Page range

You can specify here the pages to be printed. It is useful if you want to copy a given page to the clipboard.

• Disposition

See "The style dialog".

• Preview

Check this box if you want to preview the pages before they are processed. Some extensions do not support previewing.

• Options

Open the options dialog.

The options dialog.

With this dialog you can set some more options. Unlike the options you set with the style dialog or the job dialog, these ones are saved and will still be effective if you restart your machine.

Select an icon in the list on the right side of the window. Each icon represents a group of related options.

• General

These options are general purpose options.

- File name

If the mode is Automatic, the PICT files are named "Appli•Doc•Page" where Appli  is the application name, Doc  the document name and Page  the page number, and saved in the specified folder. Print2Pict will NOT overwrite any existing file.

If the mode is Ask, Print2Pict will prompt you for a file name for each page.

-
File creator

Every Macintosh files as a "creator signature" attached to it. This allows the Finder to find which application has created the file. Double-clicking on the file will launch this application. By default Print2Pict is the creator of the saved pages. You can change this by typing the creator signature of an application in the text field, or select this application with the "Same as …" button.

-
Register as

Some applications look at some flags to see what can kind of printer driver is active. Print2Pict can set this flags with the same values as the ImageWriter™, the StyleWriter™  or the LaserWriter™. If you select the LaserWriter™, you must be aware that some application will send PostScript® code directly to the driver. Print2Pict does not support PostScript®, but as the code is embedded into the picture, the information will be saved with the picture. Some other applications can use them. Always set this value to Undefined unless you know what you are doing.

-
Color

If When possible is selected, Print2Pict will try to create color picture (assuming you are printing some colors). Some applications and some extensions do not support color. This option only works on color Macintoshes. The number of colors is the same as your current monitor.

• Folders

If the File name option is set to Automatic, you can select the destination folder of the printed pages.

You can choose a folder using the Select… button, or choose the desktop as destination.

• Resolution

Every printer driver can implement two sorts of resolutions: a set of discrete resolutions, and a range of resolutions.

To edit the resolutions type the values in the text fields (the unit is dpi or dot per inch) and check the boxes on their left accordingly. You cannot uncheck the first discrete resolution. This is the default resolution of Print2Pict. It should be set to 72 dpi.

Some applications and Macintoshes do not handle other resolution than 72 dpi.

• Extensions

You must tell Print2Pict where its extensions have been installed. If you click on the Search button, Print2Pict will scan the default disk and select the first folder containing some extensions. You can tell Print2Pict manually by pressing the Select… button. 

Note on choosing a folder: When Print2Pict asks you to select a folder, the standard file dialog is displayed with an extra button Select this folder. Clicking on this button will select the currently displayed folder, not the highlighted one in the list.

• Default page

You can select here the default paper size and orientation. See "The style dialog".

• Picture

You can select a default background color and a foreground color. This can be usefull when creating slides. This options is only available on color Macintoshes.

You can also choose to insert a picture either from the clipboard or from a file. Make sure that the picture is not too large, or you may run out of memory. The picture is inserted before the page is drawn.

• Others

Every extension can have its own options in this dialog. Select its icon in the list to display the options.

The preview window.

If you have selected the "preview" box, each pages will be displayed in this window. You can then save them to files or copy them to the clipboard. The page is scaled to fit in the window, but the ratio between the width and the height of the page is conserved.

The preview window resize itself according  to the page size and your screen size.

You can zoom in to see some details of the page by clicking in the picture while holding the shift key down. Clicking in the picture while holding the option key down will zoom out.

Use the "hand" cursor to drag the picture around.

• Next page

Displays the next page (if any).

• Cancel

Abort the print session.

• Copy

Copies the current page to the clipboard. The clipboard can contain only one picture. Any previous pages copied will be lost.

• Save as …

Save the current page in a PICT file, or using the current extension.

• -

Click here to zoom the picture out.

• Set …

Click here to choose a new scale factor.

• +

Click here to zoom the picture in.

• Scale to fit

If you click here, the picture will be scaled to fit exactly the window.

• Max. resolution

If you click here, the picture will be scaled to its maximum resolution. If the resolution of the picture is 72 dpi, the new scale factor is 100%. If the resolution is 144 dpi, the new scale factor is 200%.

Errors and bugs.

Because Print2Pict is using the application memory, complex pictures may not be printed. I have tried to catch every memory problem, but you never know. You may experience some problems trying to open the help or the options dialogs from the Finder. The Finder resizes its memory to the minimum to let the applications get the maximum.

Print2Pict is a ShareWare.

If you decide to use it, please send $10 as CASH to:

Baudouin RAOULT

17 Home Farm Close

RG2 7TD Reading Berkshire

England.

Mail to : mab@ecmwf.co.uk

© 90-93 B.Raoult. All rights reserved.

This software may not be sold or leased directly or indirectly. No warranty, express or implied is associated with this software. By using this software, you assume all responsibility for any direct or indirect mishaps which occur before, during or after the operation of the software.

Macintosh, ImageWriter, LaserWriter and Apple are copyright or trademarks of Apple Computer Inc.