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From: bernie@umbc3.umbc.edu (Bernard J. Duffy)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
Subject: Re: Tek pahser PX
Summary: poor quality observed with  tocolps program
Message-ID: <1991Jun3.223025.8536@umbc3.umbc.edu>
Date: 3 Jun 91 22:30:25 GMT
References: <9106012100.AA28850@masig4.ocean.fsu.edu>
Organization: University of Maryland Baltimore County
Lines: 40

In article <9106012100.AA28850@masig4.ocean.fsu.edu> davis@MASIG4.OCEAN.FSU.EDU (Alan Davis) writes:
>
>  I am trying to use a Tektronix Phaser PX on a PI 4D/35 3.3.2 without much
>luck.  I have been using both tocolps and tops to make color PostScript which
>I am sending to the printer.  The quality of the print is extremely poor, the
>image comes out with a very mottled appearence, like something happened
>during the dithering, ie the whole image is speckled with white dots.  I assume

      I don't have a color postscript printer, but I do have the GNU gs
previewer.  The output from the tocolps program (obtained from sgi.com)
didn't render the .rgb plot in full color.  The resultant .ps file only
had about 7 colors (includes black and white) and the original .rgb had
a rainbow of at least 256 colors.  It turned a plot that had several
steps worth of a contour-like coloring into 5 steps.
      I then tried the topost (I think this was on ftp.brl.mil) and that
didn't work at all (no real data ended up in the .ps file).
      I then tried the ppm utilities (giftoppm ... ppmtops) and got the
"dithered" like output that Alan got.
      I also checked out the sdsc.edu imtools' imconv and found it didn't
have a picture to color postscript conversion.  I did make one run of the
utility from .rgb to .ps (imconv junk.rgb junk.ps) and it didn't do any
dithering or RGB==>Grayscale conversions.  

       SO.... does anybody know of another "pix" to color postscript
converters out there.  The ones I've mentioned above use colorimage PS
operator and I'm beginning to think it doesn't do a good job.  I'm surprised
to see on one-to-one converters for color pictures like .ppm or .gif !


>you must be able to make normal prints on this printer and would like to hear
>from someone who has done this already.  All my other experience is with the
>4693D which makes very good prints.  Thanks in advance.
                                      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  me too...


-- 
Bernie Duffy   Systems Programmer II | Bitnet    :  BERNIE@UMBC2
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