Contents

PDF manual "bmeps.pdf" available german PDF manual "bmepsde.pdf" available

	Overview
	Requirements
	Starting the program
	Choosing a directory
	Setting options
		Opening the "Bmeps GUI options" dialog box
		The "General options" panel
		The "Predefined configurations" panel
		The "Full-custom configuration" panel
		The buttons
		Settings for PostScript/EPS output
		Settings for PDF output
		Settings for bounding box output
	Running a conversion
	Exiting the program
	Adjusting the GUI settings

Overview

The GUI allows you to perform the following tasks:

• Choose the directory where the images to convert reside.
• Set conversion options (choose output format and set format-specific options).
• Run the conversion.

Requirements

The following software is required to use the Bmeps GUI:

• bmeps 2.0.8 or later
• a Java runtime environment (JRE), I recommend to use the JRE 6 Update 6 or later from http://java.sun.com.

Starting the program

• On Windows there is a menu entry "GUIs => Bmeps GUI" in the "Dirk Krause's Tools" program group in the start menu.
• On other systems you can use the command

  java -cp /usr/local/bin/dklibsj.jar:/usr/local/bin/bmepsgui.jar bmepsgui.BmepsMainProgram
  

  to start the program.
  A simple script

  bmepsgui
  

  invoking this command in background is installed during the bmeps installation.
• To start the program manually on Windows systems run

  java -cp c:\programme\krause\bin\dklibsj.jar;c:\programme\krause\bin\bmepsgui.jar bmepsgui.BmepsMainProgram
  

  (the directory differs depending on your Windows version and language).
  You can use the "javaw" command instead of "java" if you prefer that.

After the program started successfully the main window is shown.
 

 
Below the logo you see the current working directory and the program state.

Choosing a directory

To choose a directory use either the "File => Directory" menu entry or the "Choose a directory" button.
 

 
The dialog box to choose a directory is shown, navigate to the directory containing your source images and use the button "OK", "Open", "Öffnen"... (the button name depends on your system and language).
 

 
The new directory is shown below the bmeps logo.
 

Setting options

Opening the "Bmeps GUI options" dialog box

To set options use either the "File => Options" menu entry or the "Set options" button.
 

 
The "Bmeps GUI Options" dialog box is shwon.
 

The "General options" panel

• Make mode (check file modification times)
  If this checkbox is enabled the program inspects the modification times of input and output file (if the output file exists) and runs a conversion only if necessary (the output file does not exist or is older than the input file).
• Always open log window
  Normally the BmepsGUI program opens a log window after doing the conversions only if there was an error or an important message.
  If the "Always open log window" checkbox is activated the program always shows the log output after running the conversions.

The "Predefined configurations" panel

In the predefined configurations panel you can choose either one of the builtin configurations or a configuration set up in the bmeps.conf configuration file if this file exists.

The "Full-custom configuration" panel

Use this panel to choose a full-customized configuration.
 

 
Use the "Base output format" combobox to choose the base output driver.
When changing the base driver the remainder of the panel changes to show output driver specific options.
 

 

 

The buttons

• OK
   
  The "OK" button applies the settings made in the dialog box to the program and closes the dialog box.
   
  
   
  
• Cancel
  The "Cancel" button closes the dialog box without applying the settings.
• Reload
  The "Reload" button loads the program settings into the dialog box again (this is equivalent to the use of "Cancel" and opening this dialog box again).
• Defaults
  The "Defaults" button loads reasonable defaults into the dialog box.

Settings for PostScript/EPS output

• Draft mode
  Draft mode can be used to produce small placeholder images only.
  In draft mode all other PostScript/EPS-related settings are ignored.
• General PS/EPS options
  • PS/EPS version
    Choose a PS/EPS version. Normally this should correspond to the PostScript level your printer is able to print.
    Some of the settings below are enabled or disabled depending on the PS level.
  • Encapsulated PostScript
    Enable this checkbox to produce EPS rather than PS.
  • DSC comments
    Use this checkbox to enable or disable DSC comments.
    I recommend not to use DSC comments unless there is a reason to do so.
  • Colored output
    Use this checkbox to choose between colored and grayscaled output.
    This checkbox is disabled for PS level 1.
  • Image interpolation
    Use this checkbox to enable image interpolation. Image interpolation sometimes improves rendering if the image is scaled up.
    This option is disabeld for PS level 1.
  • for JPEGs too
    Use this checkbox to enable image interpolation for directly re-used DCT-encoded data from JPEG files.
    This option is disabled if image interpolation is turned off.
• Image size and resolution
  • 1 pixel -> 1 point
    This is bmeps's default size translation, each input pixel is converted into a small square of 1 point x 1 point.
  • Use image resolution chunk if available
    Use this setting to use image resolution chunks if the input file contains such a chunk.
  • Fit to media size
    Use this setting to best fit an image onto a given papersize, choose the paper size from the list beside.
• Compression and encoding
  • Convert binary data to ASCII
    There are two "final" encodings to convert binary data to ASCII: ASCII-Hex and ASCII-85. ASCII-85 converts 4 binary bytes into 5 ASCII characters (file size increases by 25%), ASCII-Hex converts each binary byte into 2 ASCII characters (file size increases by 100%).
    IF possible you should use ASCII-85 encoding.
    PS level 2 is required to use ASCII-85 encoding.
  • Run-length compression
    Use this checkbox to enable run-length compression (requires PS level 2).
    
  • Multiple data sources
    Set this option to enable the use of multiple data sources for run-length compression if there are lines of the same color in the input image.
    Example: Without multiple data sources a red line is encoded as 0xFF, 0x00, 0x00, 0xFF, 0x00, 0x00... This stream can not be run-length compressed. Using multiple data sources there are 3 streams: (0xFF, 0xFF,...), (0x00, 0x00,...) and (0x00, 0x00,...) which are good candidates for run-length compression.
  • Flate compression
    Flate compression (requires PS level 3) is a lossless compression providing good compression rates.
  • Keep DCT encoding for JEPG images
    Set this option to allow pass-through of DCT encoded data from JPEG files to PS/EPS output. Only ASCII-Hex/ASCII-85 encoding is applied to the data stream.
    Passing the DCT encoded data to the output is much faster than decoding it and recoding the image using run-length/flate/ASCII-Hex/ASCII-85.
  • Allowed SOFs
    Differerent encoding submechanisms are defined for DCT, not all of these mechanisms are allowed in PS. The specification requires each PS interpreter to support SOF 0 and SOF 1. Some interpreter manufacturers provide support for additional SOF types.
    I recommend to use SOF 0 and SOF 1 only unless you know your PS interpreter can handle other SOF types.
• Alpha channel
  • Mix against color
    Set this option to use transparency information in alpha channels to mix the image against a background color (click on the color show area beside to choose a color).
  • Ignore background chunk
    When mixing against a background color you can use either the the background color specified in the background color chunk in the input file (if available) or ignore the background chunk and always mix against your specified color.
  • Create image mask
    When producing PS level 3 you can use transparency data in alpha channels to create an image mask. Use the combobox beside to choose one of the trigger levels:
    • require alpha > 0
      Each pixel having any opacity is drawn. Only alpha=0 pixels are masked.
    • require full alpha
      Only pixels having full opacity are drawn. All other pixels are masked.
• PostScript operators
  • Use separated dictionary for image
    Set this option to use a separated dictionary for all definitions necessary for the image. The image is taken from the dictionary stack after the image is drawn. So the PS interpreters garbage collector knows the definitions and the associated data are not longer used and can be released to regain memory.
    I recommend to use this option.
  • Use "vmreclaim" operatory
    If the separated dictionary for the image is used we can append "1 vmreclaim" to the output to suggest the PS interpreter to do a garbage collection right now.
    This option should be disabled unless there is a reason to use it (print jobs or PS interpretation aborted due to memory problems). Otherwise a PS interpreter might follow your suggestion and run a garbage collection after each included image, this could slow down printing or PS interpreation.
  • Use "showpage" operator.
    Set this option to add the "showpage" operator to PS output.
    You should use this option only when producing PS/EPS files for standalone viewing/printing.

Settings for PDF output

• Draft mode
  Set this option to create small place holder images only.
  If this option is set all other PDF-related options are ignored.
• General PDF options
  • PDF version
    Choose a PDF version your PDF viewer can handle. Some PDF-specific options are enabled/disabled depending on the PDF version.
  • Fit at open
    When opening a PDF document viewers can automatically zoom in or out to fit the page width, page height or the entire page into the viewers window. Choose the appropriate setting from the combobox.
  • Image interpolation
    Setting the interpolation flag allows viewers to interpolate images. This may improve rendering for large zoom factors.
  • for JPEGs too
    This option allows to set the interpolation flag also if DCT-encoded data is passed-through directly.
• Image size and resolution
  • 1 pixel -> 1 point
    This setting (bmeps's default) converts each input pixel into a square of 1 point x 1 point)
  • Use resolution chunk if available
    If an image contains a resolution chunk, this information is used. If an input image does not contain a resolution chunk the 1 pixel -> 1 point setting is used.
  • Fit to media size
    use this setting to fit the image onto a given paper size, choose the size in the combobox beside.
• Compression and encoding: Allowed SOFs for DCT Choose the allowed DCT SOFs. I recommend to use 0 and 1 only.
• Alpha channel
  • Transfer alpha channel to output
    When producing PDF 1.4 the alpha channel data can be written to the output directly.
  • Allow PDF page attributes
    By default Adobe Reader switches the colorspace for calculations to CMYK if there is any transparency data in a PDF file.
    Sometimes this results in colors shown wrongly.
    To avoid use of the CMYK colorspace we can add some PDF page attributes requiring RGB color space.
    You should use this option when producing standalone image.
    When producing PDF images for use with pdfLaTeX you can use

    \pdfpageattr{/Group << /S /Transparency /I true /CS /DeviceRGB>>}
    

    in the *.tex files preamble.
    But be warned: Each pdfpageattr instruction overwrites the settings from previous pdfpageattr instructions, so make sure this instruction does not collide with any package you use.
  • Mix against color
    If the alpha channel is not transferred to output it can be used to mix against a background color (click on the color show area beside to choose a color).
  • Ignore background chunk
    By default bmeps inspects input image files for background color chunks and uses the color shown in the color show area only as default background if not background color chunk was found.
    Use this option to ignore the background color chunks and use the specified default color for all conversion.
  • Create image mask
    If the alpha channel is not transferred to output it can be used to create an image mask. In the combobox beside you can choose the trigger level:
    • require alpha>0
      All pixels having any opacity are drawn, only alpha=0 pixels are masked.
    • require full alpha
      Only pixels having full opacity are drawn, all other pixels are masked.

Settings for the bounding box output

There are no settings required to produce bounding box output.

Running a conversion

Use the "File => Run" menu entry or the "Run a conversion" button to start a conversion:
 

 
The status text color changes to red as long as the conversion is running, the current file name is shown.
After the conversion was finished the status color changes back to green (ready for next action) and the text changes to "Ready".

Exiting the program

Use the "File => Exit" menu entry or the "Exit the application" button to close the application.
 

Adjusting GUI settings

Use the "Setup => GUI" menu entry to configure the GUI.
 

 
The "GUI options" dialog box is shown.
 

 

• Look-and-feel
  You can decide whether to use the system look-and-feel or no specific look-and-feel.
  Using the system look-and-feel attempts to show the program using the same display settings as all other programs on the system.
  If no specific look-and-feel is selected Javas builtin default look-and-feel (metal or ocean) is used, the appearance of the application may differ from the appearance of other applications.
• Component border
  Here you can set the number of pixels for space between GUI elements.
  The number you should use depends on your screen size and resolution, for me values in the range 5...10 are ok.
• Minimum font size
  Here you can specify the application should not used fonts below the spcified size.
• Replace font family / by
  If some fonts in the user interface manager are not changed by the look-and-feel setting you can give the application a hint to replace all use cases for builtin default fonts by a specific font.
• The "Original fonts" and "Fonts in use" show the fonts which would be used before and after applying the "Minimum font size" and "Replace font family / by" setting.
• Use settings for all applications
  Enable this checkbox to use the settings in this dialog box not only for this application but also for other applications using GuiController not yet configured.

The settings made in the dialog box will not be visible before you restart the application.