Re: Display[PICT]
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg17652] Re: Display[PICT]
- From: "Michael J. Sharpe" <msharpe at ucsd.edu>
- Date: Fri, 21 May 1999 03:37:39 -0400
- Organization: Univ of Calif San Diego
- References: <7hr30e$k95@smc.vnet.net>
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
"William B. Marks" wrote:
> It's easy to make small mvies on the Mac; just select the cells and
> ConvertTo QuickTime or SaveSelectionAs BitmapPICT. But FrontEnd memory
> limits the number of frames per batch. To make large movies it's natural
> to try to convert frames as they are made into PICT using Display.
>
> But Display seems to be broken on Macs. Would you execute the following
> Mathematica 3.0 code, look at the resulting PICT, and tell me if it has the
> resolution of the original? If not, how to make it so? There are problems
> with color too, but not with this picture. But if we can solve this
> perhaps I will solve the color ones next. To look at it I just click on it
> so it goes to SimpleText. The picture is the same if I drop it onto Moover.
>
> gr = Plot3D[Sin[x] Sin[y^2], {x,0,4},{y,0,2}, Mesh->False, Boxed->False,
> Axes->False, PlotPoints->30];
>
> convertGrtoPICT[gr_, dir_] :=
> Module[{},
> SetDirectory[dir];
> Display["Gr.Pict", gr, "PICT"];
> ]
>
> convertGrtoPICT[gr, dir]
>
> I have tried various combinations of ImageSize -> and ImageResolution ->
> in Display. Usually ImageResolution just changes the size of the resulting
> pictire. If I compensate by changing ImageSize, the result is just as
> coarse as before.
>
> In short, does Display convert to PICT correctly?
>
> Thanks,
> Bill Marks
I tried this on my mac and looked at the result with photoshop. The resolution
is what it should be (compare the stepping on the edges), but the wretched
color rendition makes it appear to be lower resolution. Where the original had
a broad spectrum of R, G and B, photoshop reveals that the PICT image has only
one level of blue, 3 of red and 7 of green. This leads to the posterizing
effect.
What seems to work is to save as EPS using Display, then use a converter to get
PICT format. One automatable way is Adobe Screenready, which can be set up to
convert to PICT any file dropped in a certain folder. The colors seem to work
out fine using this route.
Michael Sharpe