asciitopgm(1)                                                 General Commands Manual                                                asciitopgm(1)

NAME

       asciitopgm - convert ASCII graphics into a portable graymap

SYNOPSIS

       asciitopgm [-d divisor] height width [asciifile]

DESCRIPTION

       Reads ASCII data as input.  Produces a portable graymap with pixel values which are an approximation of the "brightness" of the ASCII char-
       acters, assuming black-on-white printing.  In other words, a capital M is very dark, a period is ver light, and a space  is  white.   Input
       lines which are fewer than width characters are automatically padded with spaces.

       The  divisor  argument  is  a  floating-point number by which the output pixels are divided; the default value is 1.0.  This can be used to
       adjust the brightness of the graymap: for example, if the image is too dim, reduce the divisor.

       In keeping with (I believe) Fortran line-printer conventions, input lines beginning with a + (plus) character are assumed  to  "overstrike"
       the previous line, allowing a larger range of gray values.

       This tool contradicts the message in the pbmtoascii manual: "Note that there is no asciitopbm tool - this transformation is one-way."

BUGS

       The table of ASCII-to-grey values is subject to interpretation, and, of course, depends on the typeface intended for the input.

SEE ALSO

       pbmtoascii(1), pgm(5)

AUTHOR

       Wilson H. Bent. Jr. (whb@usc.edu)

                                                                 26 December 1994                                                    asciitopgm(1)