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To save your graphic:
After completing and saving your graphic, you have several options for processing Graphics Editor files. Table 3-6 explains how to use each command.
Command | Use To |
---|---|
DOCUMENT/GRAPHICS=EDIT | Invoke the interactive graphics editor to create or modify an illustration. |
DOCUMENT/GRAPHICS=VIEW | Preview Graphics Editor files, as well as sixel, Xbitmap, Bookreader, and DDIF images. |
DOCUMENT/GRAPHICS=RENDER | Create Encapsulated PostScript, Bookreader, sixel, Xbitmap, and DDIF output files from a Graphics Editor (source) file. |
DOCUMENT/GRAPHICS=TEXT_FILTER | Extract text from, and merge it back into, a Graphics Editor file (for translation purposes). |
The following sections contain examples showing you how to use the previous commands except DOCUMENT/GRAPHICS=TEXT_FILTER. All examples are simplified. Each command has additional qualifiers that are not shown in these examples. See Appendix C for more information on all four commands.
3.21.1 Previewing a Graphics File
The DOCUMENT/GRAPHICS=VIEW command lets you preview a drawing outside
of the Graphics Editor at the command line. This command lets you see
what the drawing contains and see how it is cropped.
Enter the following command at the DCL command line to preview your graphic:
$ DOCUMENT/GRAPHICS=VIEW WORKSTATION.GRA |
The Graphics Editor creates a window the size of your workstation drawing and displays the drawing in that window.
To exit the previewer, choose the Exit menu item from the Control menu.
3.21.2 Formatting a Graphic for Printing
Before you can print a graphic created with the Graphics Editor, you must
format it for printing using the DOCUMENT/GRAPHICS=RENDER command.
These commands produce output files in the following formats:
Output Type | File Extension |
---|---|
Graphics metafile | .GRA |
Bookreader | .BRF |
DDIF image | .IMG |
PostScript | .EPS |
Sixel | .SIX |
Xbitmap | .XBM |
There are other options on the Export dialog box and qualifiers for the VMS DOCUMENT/GRAPHICS=RENDER command. The exercises demonstrate the most common options and qualifiers for documentation figures. See the online help for more information on the Export dialog box. See Appendix A for more information on the DOCUMENT/GRAPHICS=RENDER qualifiers and the mops qualifiers.
There are two ways to format a graphics file for output. Use:
The VMS command-line utility is useful for formatting files in batch mode or from a non-DECwindows terminal that is pointing to a DECwindows display.
Identical formatting options are available with both the Export menu item and the command-line utility.
The following sections show you how to format your workstation graphic. They create the following files:
File | Description |
---|---|
WORKSTATION.EPS | A PostScript file, scaled 65 percent in both the horizontal and vertical directions |
WORKSTATION.BRF | A Bookreader file, not scaled |
WORKSTATION.SDML | An SDML file with <FIGURE_FILE> tags for inserting the graphic as a figure in a DECdocument file |
To format your workstation graphic using the Export ... menu item on the File menu:
Figure 3-9 Export Dialog Box
To format your workstation graphic using command-line utilities:
$ DOCUMENT/GRAPHICS=RENDER/TYPE=(EPS,BRF)/SDML=FIGURE - _$ /SCALE=(X=65,Y=65,EXCLUDE=BRF) WORKSTATION.GRA |
The SDML file that results looks like the following:
<comment> This file was generated by DOCUMENT/GRAPHICS=RENDER with the following commandline: <endcomment> <line> DOCUMENT/GRAPHICS=RENDER /TYPE=(EPS,BRF) /SDML=FIGURE /SCALE=(X=65,Y=65,EXCLUDE=BRF WORKSTATION.GRA <FIGURE_FILE>(BOOKREADER\WORKSTATION.BRF\13.09) <FIGURE_FILE>(LN03\SPACE\13.09) <FIGURE_FILE>(LINE_PRINTER\SPACE\6.0) <FIGURE_FILE>(PS\WORKSTATION.EPS\9.91) |
To share files with other users, copy them. Do not mail files containing Graphics Editor graphics; mail often distorts the files or does not send them. |
Images in the DECdocument Graphics Editor are bitonal, two-dimensional grids of pixels (picture elements) referred to as bitmaps or pixmaps. The pixels in the displayed image are arranged in rows and columns coinciding with the dots of the workstation screen. They are either on or off, typically meaning they are either black or white.
Image objects in the DECdocument Graphics Editor are obtained in one of two ways:
Images may be automatically created when a Version 8 GRA file is saved to an older Version 5 file if the Version 8 file contains objects, such as EPS objects, that are not identifiable to Version 5.
Images are distinct from object-oriented or structured graphics such as lines, circles, arcs, and so on, in the following ways:
This chapter explains how to:
For information on formatting and printing screens, see Chapter 3.
4.1 Using the Graphics Editor with Images
There are two menu items for working with images:
The Import ... menu item on the File menu lets you read in and display an image in the Drawing window.
To import and display an image:
The Screen Capture menu item on the View menu lets you capture and digitize areas of your workstation screen. For example, you can capture and digitize:
After capturing a screen, you can crop it or white out sections not wanted, and save the image in several image file formats.
The Graphics Editor does not digitize colors. All colored images you capture are converted to monochrome.
To capture the DECwindows Session Manager screen:
Figure 4-1 Capturing the Session Manager Screen
Figure 4-2 Displaying Captured Screen
Figure 4-3 Centering a Captured Screen
The Screen Capture ... option lets you control the appearance of color screens giving the resultant captured black and white image a more accurate and realistic appearance.
When you choose Screen Capture ... from the View menu, a dialog box appears. Figure 4-4 shows the options on the dialog box, Table 4-1 explains each of the four options, and Figure 4-5 shows a comparison of the results from the six possible option combinations.
The results of the Screen Capture operation varies with your choice of customized interface colors. |
Figure 4-4 Screen Capture ... Dialog Box
Option | Explanation |
---|---|
Threshold | Colors in the captured image that have greater than 50 percent luminance become white when printed or viewed. Colors in the captured image that have fifty percent or less luminance become black when printed or viewed. |
Halftone
(High Frequency) |
Simulates grey tones by using patterns of dots when the colors in the image to be captured tend to be different from pixel to pixel; for example, photographic-type or continuous tone images. |
Halftone
(Low Frequency) |
Simulates grey tones by using patterns of dots when the colors in the image to be captured tend to be the same from pixel to pixel; for example, when capturing application interfaces. |
Convert Interface Colors | Converts the colors in the image to be captured to simulate the appearance of a monochrome screen. This option is useful when capturing application interfaces. Use this option with the Low Frequency Halftone option. |
Figure 4-5 Comparison of Screen Capture ... Options
To capture a dynamic menu, such as a pull-down menu for which you must hold down MB1 to display, similar to capturing a static screen:
Figure 4-6 Captured Menu
The Redo Screen Capture option lets you recapture the previously captured area of the screen and place it into your drawing. Use this option when you need to repeatedly capture the same area of the screen. The Redo Screen Capture option uses the selected settings on the Screen Capture ... dialog box.
Redo Screen Capture uses a previously captured screen; therefore, you must use Screen Capture or Screen Capture ... before you can use Redo Screen Capture. |
To use the Redo Screen Capture option:
There are two ways to delete unwanted objects or text from an image:
To crop the top line off the image of the Session Manager screen you captured:
Figure 4-7 Example 1 Cropping
Figure 4-8 Example 1 Cropping
To recrop the original image:
To white out the word Print at the top of the Customize pull-down menu you captured:
Figure 4-9 Example 2 White Out
The finished image should look similar to Figure 4-10.
Figure 4-10 Example 2 White-Out
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