NAME

       pamtosvg - convert a Netpbm image to a SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) image

SYNOPSIS

       pamtosvg

       [-background-color=colorname]  [-centerline]  [-corner-threshold=angle]  [-corner-always-threshold=angle]
       [-corner-surround=integer]      [-tangent-surround=integer]      [-error-threshold=float]       [-filter-
       iterations=count]  [-line-reversion-threshold=float] [-line-threshold=float] [-width-weight-factor=float]
       [-preserve-width] [-remove-adjacent-corners] [-log] [-report-progress] [pnmfile]

       Minimum unique abbreviation of option is acceptable.  You may use double hyphens instead of single hyphen
       to denote options.  You may use white space in place of the equals sign to separate an option  name  from
       its value.

DESCRIPTION

       This program is part of Netpbm(1).

       pamtosvg reads a PNM image as input and produce an SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) image as output.  Thus,
       it traces curves in the input image and creates a set of splines that represent the image.

       SVG is a vector image format, which means it describes curves that compose an image.  By contrast, PNM is
       a  raster  format,  which  means  it describes dots that compose an image.  The main practical difference
       between the two types is that you can scale vector images better.  A vector image also takes a  lot  less
       data to describe an image if the image is composed of simple curves.

       That means it is really an understatement to say that pamtosvg is an image format converter.  It's really
       an  image  tracer.  Its main job is to trace a raster image and find the lines in it.  It then represents
       its findings in SVG format.

       pamtosvg does the same kind of thing that StreamLine, CorelTrace,  and  Autotrace  do.   It  is  in  fact
       derived from Autotrace.

       SVG  is  a  gigantic  format, capable of amazing things.  pamtosvg exploits only a morsel of it.  The SVG
       image produced by pamtosvg consists of a single <svg> element,  which  has  a  "width"  attribute  and  a
       "height" attribute.  The value of that element is composed of <path> elements.  That's it.

       In the SVG output, distances are unitless, with one unit corresponding to one pixel of the input.

       So  that  pamtosvg  will  find  simple  curves in the image, you may want to remove speckles from it with
       pbmclean and consolidate multiple shades into single colors with pnmquant first.

       For more information on SVG, see the Worldwide Web Consortium's SVG web page .

OPTIONS

       In addition to the options common to all programs based on libnetpbm (most notably  -quiet,  see   Common
       Options ), pamtosvg recognizes the following command line options:

       -background-color=colorname
              Treat the specified color as the background color and ignore it.

              If you don't specify this option, pamtosvg does not recognize any background color.

              Specify  the  color  (colorname)  as  described  for  the argument of the pnm_parsecolor() library
              routine .

       -centerline
              Trace an object's centerline.

              By default, pamtosvg traces an object's outline.

       -corner-always-threshold=angle
              Consider any angle at a pixel which falls below angle angle (in decimal floating point degrees) as
              a corner, even if it is bordered by other corner pixels.  Default is 60 degrees.

       -corner-surround=integer
              Consider the specified number of pixels on either side of a point when determining if  that  point
              is a corner.  Default is 4.

       -corner-threshold=angle
              Consider  any pixel which forms an angle with its predecessors and successors that is smaller than
              angle (in decimal floating point degrees) as a corner.  Default is 100.

       -error-threshold=float
              Subdivide fitted curves that are offset by a number of  pixels  exceeding  the  specified  number.
              Default is 2.0.

       -filter-iterations=integer
              Smooth the curve the specified number of times prior to fitting Default is 4.

       -line-reversion-threshold=float
              When  a  spline is closer to a straight line than the specified real number weighted by the square
              of the curve length, maintain it as a straight line, even if it is a list with curves.

              Default is .01.

       -line-threshold=float
              If a spline does not deviate from the straight line defined by its  endpoints  by  more  than  the
              specified number of pixels, then treat it as a straight line.

              Default is 1.

       -log   Create  a  log  of  the  curve tracing process (suitable for debugging).  Put it in the file named
              inputfile.log in the current directory, where inputfile is the root of the  input  file  name,  or
              "pamtosvg" if the input is from Standard Input or a file with a weird name.

       -preserve-width
              Preserve line width prior to thinning.  Meaningful only with -centerline.

       remove-adjacent-corners
              Remove adjacent corners.

       -report-progress
              Report the progress of the tracing to Standard Error as it happens.

       -tangent-surround
              Consider  the  specified  number of points to either side of a point when computing the tangent at
              that point.  Default is 3.

       -width-weight-factor
              Weight factor for fitting the linewidth.

APPLICATION NOTES

       A convenient way to view an SVG document is with a web browser.  Many understand a file whose  name  ends
       in ".svg" to be an SVG image and can render it.

SEE ALSO

       pnmquant(1), pbmclean(1), pnm(1), Autotrace

HISTORY

       pamtosvg was added to Netpbm in Version 10.33 (March 2006).

       The  core  of  pamtosvg  --  the  curve  tracing logic -- was taken nearly unmodified from Martin Weber's
       Autotrace program.  That program duplicates a lot of Netpbm  function,  so  pamtosvg  is  a  much  leaner
       program.

       Bryan Henderson created pamtosvg, basically just by adapting Autotrace to Netpbm.

       Autotrace  was  first  released in 2000 and updates were released through 2002.  A number of people wrote
       the code in it, but Masatake Yamato and Martin Weber appear to be the principal creators of it.

       As of June 2006, there was a Sourceforge project  for it.

DOCUMENT SOURCE

       This manual page was generated by the Netpbm tool 'makeman' from HTML source.  The  master  documentation
       is at

              http://netpbm.sourceforge.net/doc/pamtosvg.html

netpbm documentation                              23 April 2006                          Pamtosvg User Manual(1)