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xwpick(1)		     General Commands Manual		       xwpick(1)

NAME
     xwpick - pick images from an X11-screen and store in files

SYNOPSIS
     xwpick  [-local]  [-window  id]  [-gray] [-reverse] [-pause] [-format frmt]
     [<file>]

DESCRIPTION
     Xwpick lets you pick an image from an arbitrary window or rectangular  area
     of an X11-server and write it to a file in a variety of formats.

     The output format is defined whether by the -format option or by the exten-
     sion in the file name. Possible formats/extentions are:

     ps      An  Encapsulated PostScript file with a compressed image. The image
	     is centered, rotated and scaled to fill  the  maximum  space  on  a
	     page. It is displayed in color on viewers and printers that support
	     color Postscript, otherwise it is displayed as grayscale. This for-
	     mat is convenient for transparency preparation.

     eps     Also  an  Encapsulated PostScript file with a compressed image, but
	     the image is only centered, not rotated and scaled. It is	intended
	     for insertion into a document.

     epsi    The same as eps, but contains a black and white preview.

     gif     Graphics Interchange Format (GIF). Use this format when you want to
	     keep  files  or transfer them to other computers. It is also conve-
	     nient for visualisations, for example, with xv by John Bradley.

     pcx     PCX format for IBM PC.

     pict    PICT format for Macintosh. It is intended	for  image  transfer  on
	     Macintosh,  but GIF format is also convenient for this purpose (see
	     Macintosh GIFConverter by Kevin A. Mitchell).

     ppm     PPM format from the PBM Plus library by Jef Poskanzer. Use it and a
	     routine from the PBM Plus library if you wish to have the image  in
	     a format not mentioned above.

     The  main feature of xwpick is that it uses the Lempel-Ziv Welch (LZW) com-
     pression scheme for image encoding in Postscript, thus producing very  com-
     pact  files  (4-5	times  less than files produced with Run-Length encoding
     (RLE) and 10-20 times less than files produced without compression)

HOW IT WORKS
     When xwpick is invoked, the user sees a blinking rectangle surrounding  the
     contents of the window in which the mouse pointer is currently placed. When
     the  mouse  is  moved  to	a  different window, the perimeter automatically
     changes to the size of the new window.  If the mouse pointer is  placed  on
     the  Window  Manager  border  of a window, then the blinking rectangle will
     surround the window together with the Window Manager border. To select  the
     image  inside  the  blinking  rectangle  it is sufficient to click the left
     mouse button.

     If a user-defined perimeter is required, then hold down the left mouse but-
     ton to choose the first corner of the perimeter and then drag the mouse  to
     define  the  opposite  corner.  The blinking rectangle will expand with the
     movement of the mouse.

     If it is required to produce some changes inside the selected area just be-
     fore outputing to a file, for example, to change the palette or  display  a
     pop-up menu, then the -pause option can be used.

OPTIONS
     -local	   When  -local  is in the parameter list, xwpick picks an image
		   from the window under the mouse pointer. This option  is  in-
		   tended  to  pick  images  from pop-up menus, which are on the
		   screen only when a mouse button is pressed and disappear  im-
		   mediately after the button is released.

     -window id    Pick  an  image from the window with integer identifier equal
		   to id.  The identifier for a window can be obtained with  the
		   X  Window  program  xwininfo. To pick the entire screen (root
		   window) the user may use the word root as an identifier.

     -gray	   Transfer the image to grayscale. This option can be	used  to
		   optimize output on level 1 gray scale PostScript printers.

     -reverse	   Transfer  the  image  to reverse colors. This option can help
		   you to save the toner on your printer in case when the  image
		   is too dark.

     -pause	   Do not output the image till the <SPACE> bar will be pressed.
		   This  option  allows to use the mouse to produce some changes
		   inside the selected image just before outputing to a file.

     -format frmt  Set output format. The format is defined by frmt  string.  If
		   this  option  is omited, then the output format is defined by
		   the extension in the file name. Possible frmt  strings/exten-
		   sions  are: ps, eps, epsi, gif, pcx, pict, ppm.  In case when
		   -format is in the parameter list and a file	name  is  omited
		   the output is directed to the standard output.

EXAMPLES
     *	     xwpick

     This  is  the  simplest  form  of use. You will be prompted to input a file
     name.

     *	     xwpick image.ppm
	     ppmtoxpm image  >image.xpm

     This is an example of how to get an image in X11 pixmap format.  First  you
     pick  the image from the screen into the file image.ppm and then convert it
     using the ppmtoxpm routine from the PBM PLUS library.

     *	     xwpick -local menu.epsi

     This is an example of how to pick the image of a  pop-up  menu  window  and
     store it in a file as encapsulated Postscript with preview.

     *	     xwininfo
	     xwpick -w 0x8000c1 -g clock.ps

     This  is an example of how to pick an image from the window by the window's
     identifier. First you find the identifier using the  xwininfo  command  and
     then  pick  an image from the window and store it in a Postscript file as a
     grayscale image.

     *	     xwpick -window root -format ps | lpr

     This is an example of how to send an image of the root window  directly  to
     the printer.

AUTHOR
     Evgeni Chernyaev		chernaev@mx.ihep.su

SEE ALSO
     xwd(1), xv(1), xgrabsc(1), XtoPS(1), xwininfo(1), ppm(5)

COPYRIGHT
     Copyright (C) 1993, 1994 by Evgeni Chernyaev.

				10 September 1994		       xwpick(1)
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