Grabbing Maps

Bitstring <[email hidden]>, from the wonderful person
Phil Hughes <[email hidden]> said

Quoted message said:

I've seen talk of "grabbing" maps from one package (eg Anquet) to use
in other packages (eg Oziexplorer), but can't find any details of how
to go about it. Can anyone point me in the right direction, or give me
some tips. I've seen "mapgrabber" mentioned, but again can't find it.

Never done it myself, but I assume it makes use of the fact that, in
Windows, you can get a bitmap (.bmp) copy of the current active window
by hitting alt-PrtScrn, which you can then paste into any program
that'll take a bitmap (MSPAINT for instance). You can capture the whole
screen with just the PrtScrn key, but hey, who wants all the menus and
taskbar and suchlike copied.

For the very few applications you can't grab that way, there are niftier
tools like 'Hypersnap'.

Hint2: If you are going to play that game, you might as well have your
desktop resolution set to as high as you can stand, since that
determines how much detail you can grab in one swell foop, iirc. Do
remember that .bmp files are bloody huge though, so if you are going to
keep them around, compressing them or turning them into .jpgs, is a good
plan.

--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Outgoing Msgs are Turing Tested,and indistinguishable from human typing.

Phil Hughes said:

I've seen talk of "grabbing" maps from one package (eg Anquet) to use in
other packages (eg Oziexplorer), but can't find any details of how to go
about it. Can anyone point me in the right direction, or give me some
tips. I've seen "mapgrabber" mentioned, but again can't find it.

Thanks, Phil

I use docuPrinter http://www.tucows.com/preview/326559.html
It just redirects the application's printer output to a file. Ozi works
well with a PNG file. I think I set the resolution to 300dpi when I'm
using it. Its shareware and if you don't pay for it you get a banner
along the bottom of the page but that doesn't matter much on a map.

Tony

In message <[email hidden]>, GSV Three Minds in a Can
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Bitstring <[email hidden]>, from the wonderful person
Phil Hughes <[email hidden]> said

Quoted message said:

I've seen talk of "grabbing" maps from one package (eg Anquet) to use
in other packages (eg Oziexplorer), but can't find any details of how
to go about it. Can anyone point me in the right direction, or give me
some tips. I've seen "mapgrabber" mentioned, but again can't find it.

Never done it myself, but I assume it makes use of the fact that, in
Windows, you can get a bitmap (.bmp) copy of the current active window
by hitting alt-PrtScrn, which you can then paste into any program
that'll take a bitmap (MSPAINT for instance). You can capture the whole
screen with just the PrtScrn key, but hey, who wants all the menus and
taskbar and suchlike copied.

For the very few applications you can't grab that way, there are
niftier tools like 'Hypersnap'.

Hint2: If you are going to play that game, you might as well have your
desktop resolution set to as high as you can stand, since that
determines how much detail you can grab in one swell foop, iirc. Do
remember that .bmp files are bloody huge though, so if you are going to
keep them around, compressing them or turning them into .jpgs, is a
good plan.

Thanks. I'd guessed it was along those lines, but thought maybe there
was some software that made it a bit easier, or that people might have
some tips. eg what magnification to use in the original mapping
software.
--
Phil Hughes

GSV Three Minds in a Can said:

Bitstring <[email hidden]>, from the wonderful person
Phil Hughes <[email hidden]> said

Quoted message said:

I've seen talk of "grabbing" maps from one package (eg Anquet) to use
in other packages (eg Oziexplorer), but can't find any details of how
to go about it. Can anyone point me in the right direction, or give me
some tips. I've seen "mapgrabber" mentioned, but again can't find it.

Never done it myself, but I assume it makes use of the fact that, in
Windows, you can get a bitmap (.bmp) copy of the current active window
by hitting alt-PrtScrn, which you can then paste into any program
that'll take a bitmap (MSPAINT for instance). You can capture the whole
screen with just the PrtScrn key, but hey, who wants all the menus and
taskbar and suchlike copied.

For the very few applications you can't grab that way, there are niftier
tools like 'Hypersnap'.

That is a far better way of going about it.set up a screengrabber to
capture the bit you want from the Anquet window and use the navigation
to move the map grabbing a whole lot as you go without having to
continually paste from the clipboard.

Quoted message said:

Hint2: If you are going to play that game, you might as well have your
desktop resolution set to as high as you can stand.

My screen is set as high as it will go at 1280x1024 which isn't all
that much in the grand scheme of things. I've got used to it and find
it very hard when using a smaller screen the typical 1024 is OK at a
pinch but my parents'800 drives me mad.. In Windows you can change the
size of fonts to make them readable.

Quoted message said:

Do
remember that .bmp files are bloody huge though, so if you are going to
keep them around, compressing them or turning them into .jpgs, is a good
plan.

Gaaaagh! No not JPEGSs. Keep maps in reduced colours TIFFs or GIFs,
256 colours is more than enough for maps. Best of all, if you are
using Ozi get the Image to Ozf file converter.
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

Phil Hughes said:

Thanks. I'd guessed it was along those lines, but thought maybe there
was some software that made it a bit easier,

Hypersnap. Can be set to grab a specific area of the screen, then
repeat grab the same area. That way all the areas will be the same size
and fit together perfectly.

Quoted message said:

or that people might have
some tips.

In Hypersnap I set it to "grab to clipboard" or whatever it's called and
paste direct into Photoshop with a grid set to match the map squares so
that they "snap" into position. Using 256 colour mode means that you
don't have to keep flattening the layers.

Quoted message said:

eg what magnification to use in the original mapping
software.

100% of course!

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk
http://www.wildwales.fsnet.co.uk

GSV Three Minds in a Can said:

Do
remember that .bmp files are bloody huge though, so if you are going
to keep them around, compressing them or turning them into .jpgs, is
a good plan.

Noooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not jpegs!!!!!!!!! They horribly
degrade the map images. The original images are 256 colours, so use the
same, i.e. gif, which uses non-lossy compression so there's no loss of
quality. As Phil said, the Ozi specific format is best, but you need to
save in another format first before converting.

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk
http://www.wildwales.fsnet.co.uk

Thanks for the replies. Will have to look at Hypersnap. Then I have to
decide which mapping software to buy 🙂

--
Phil Hughes

Bitstring <[email hidden]>, from the wonderful person
Paul Saunders <[email hidden]> said

Quoted message said:

GSV Three Minds in a Can said:

Do
remember that .bmp files are bloody huge though, so if you are going
to keep them around, compressing them or turning them into .jpgs, is
a good plan.

Noooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not jpegs!!!!!!!!! They horribly
degrade the map images.

That does rather depend on the compression level that you use. Not all
..jpgs are created equal.

--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Outgoing Msgs are Turing Tested,and indistinguishable from human typing.

GSV Three Minds in a Can said:

Quoted message said:

Noooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not jpegs!!!!!!!!! They horribly
degrade the map images.

That does rather depend on the compression level that you use. Not all
.jpgs are created equal.

No, that's not the point. Jpeg compression is designed for photographs.
No matter how high the quality, it's always lossy, and that's noticeable
on maps. The essence of gif and other 256 colour non-lossy compression
formats is that there's plenty of compression, but no loss of quality.
If you'd ever compared a gif map to a jpeg map close up you'd understand
what I mean. In a jpeg map there tend to be lots of random coloured
pixels in areas that are supposed to be pure white.

Jpeg maps and gif maps compress much the same, except that the former
look [censored] and the latter look perfect. Trust me, or make comparisons.
Jpegs are designed for photographs, and they work well for that purpose.
Gifs are designed for images with small numbers of colours, like logos
and maps, and they work great for those purposes.

There's nothing worse than jpeg maps and gif photographs.

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk
http://www.wildwales.fsnet.co.uk

Bitstring <[email hidden]>, from the wonderful person
Paul Saunders <[email hidden]> said
<snip>

Quoted message said:

There's nothing worse than jpeg maps and gif photographs.

I'll sort of believe you, I don't compress maps all that often.
(Although I think there =are= some worse things .. scorpions in your
sleeping bag for instance). 8>.
--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Outgoing Msgs are Turing Tested,and indistinguishable from human typing.