Q.173 - How can I take nice slides from my ESV ?

Category: S.173 - general

The original question: "There were a lot of messages on the server on how to make slides on the SGI lately. Does anybody know if there is an easy way to toggle off/on the textwindow & menu window on the ESV? And -- are there possibly tools for getting the image off the screen (like snapshot) available for the ESV?"

Andy Sheppard replied: "It is fairly easy to get images off the ESV screen for printing or further manipulation. Either

  1. Install the ImageMagick suite of programs (available from ftp://export/lcs.mit.edu/contrib). The 'import' program allows you to save the contents of a window, the 'display' command, er, displays it and the 'convert' command converts the image file to a wide variety of formats (e.g. Mac PICT, TIFF, Targa etc.).
  2. Use the ESV's built in 'xwd' command to dump the contents of a window to a file. I find it convenient to do further manipulation on a Mac so I transfer the file to the Mac and use the free program 'Imagery 1.8' to convert the xwd file to, say, a PICT file which can be edited/annnotated/printed as desired."

He later added: "In response to several requests about using Imagery for ESV 'xwd' file to Mac file translation, here are some ftp locations for the latest version of this excellent free program:

Europe:

USA:

For a similar program, but which does not handle the ESV 'xwd' files, try Graphic-Converter:

The ImageMagick programs are available from many ftp sites, including:

USA:

Europe:

On a related note, I would recommend the HP DeskWriter 560c as a good cheap printer for getting hardcopy of your Mac slides on paper or transparency. One day I might try and connect the ESV to the DeskWriter..."