GraphicConverter | Internet Marketing on a Mac

The Amazing World of GraphicConverter

Swiss Army Knife of Web Graphics

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Reviewed by Timothy Arends

GraphicConverter is one of the most powerful shareware programs in existence. Don't let the name fool you: while it is second only to Equilibrium DeBabelizer Pro 6 in its graphic conversion capabilities, it is so much more than "just" a graphic conversion utility. It is an image editing tool (ala Photoshop), a paint program, a slide viewer, even an animation maker. In addition, the program is not "crippled" in any significant way. The author trusts the users to pay their shareware fee (and I hope everybody does). This article will give you an overview of some of the well-known and not-so-well-known features of GraphicConverter.

So what can GraphicConverter do? Here's just a brief rundown:

Create paintings. GraphicConverter has a full range of painting tools, including the paint bucket, pencil, square, circle, lasso, eraser and magic wand tools.

Give you a quick way to browse the contents of a folder or even a whole disk, giving you a thumbnail-sized view of every graphic within the specified volume. (Warning: this balloons the file size of the graphics--important if you are trying to keep the files small, as with images that will go onto a web page. The reason the file size of the graphics increases is that GraphicConverter appends the thumbnail and other information it creates to the image itself. Another problem is that the image browser will not be able to create thumbnails of images on disks it can't write to, such as CD-ROMs or full disks.) Edit: This is no longer true. Because OS X creates file previews on the fly, GraphicConverter no longer needs to, and so does not increase the size of images!

Open an amazing number of file formats. GraphicConverter is a super opener, able to display files in an incredible number of different formats. So if you've ever been frustrated because you couldn't open certain images on your Mac (such as Window's bitmaps) you will be pleased with GraphicConverter. A listing of files GraphicConverter opens is at the end of this article.

Convert graphics from one format to another. Graphics that are in one format can easily be converted to any other format that GraphicConverter handles. For example, if you have a PICT file that you want to send to a Windows user, you can convert it into BMP (the native format of Windows) before sending it. Or if you have a large TIFF image that you want to take up much less disk space (for example, for a web page) you can convert it into the GIF format.

Even more amazing, GraphicConverter can automatically convert a whole folder full of images of one format into another. For example, if you have a folder full of MacPaint files that you want to turn into GIFs, you can use the Convert More function of GraphicConverter to do so while you go out for a bite to eat. You can even specify that GraphicConverter convert all the MacPaint files to GIF, for example, but that it leave all the PICT files in the same folder alone.

Create a catalog of thumbnails for a website. If you want to create an image archive site on the Web, you can set GraphicConverter to scan all the images in a folder, create a thumbnail of each, and create the HTML code for a web page that will display all the thumbnails! You can then link the full size image to each of the thumbnails so visitors to your site can click on a thumbnail to call up the full size image. GraphicConverter can also create a single PICT file that shows all the thumbnails, like the "contact sheets" you sometimes find on the binary newsgroups. You can even print out a hard copy of thumbnails of all the images in a folder or on a disk for easy reference.
GraphicConverter image browser

Give a slide show. Simply specify a disk or folder containing the images you want to display in your slide show. GraphicConverter will continuously display on your Mac's screen all the images in that folder, one after the other, either automatically or each time you click the mouse. You can even set GraphicConverter to enlarge small pictures so they fill the whole screen.

Enhance your pictures. GraphicConverter contains a limited set of Photoshop-like features to enhance the sharpness, contrast and color balance of blurry, muddy or color-cast pictures.
GraphicConverter sharpen

Create animations. If you like those animated images on the web, you can create your own. First you create all the frames of your animation, using GraphicConverter's painting tools or another program. Then you save all your frames into a single folder. Call up GraphicConverter's "Convert More" dialog, click "Options," and specify that you want to create an animation. Select all your animation's frames in the left side of the dialog and click the "Convert" button. Your animation is created! You can also edit your animation frame-by-frame using GraphicConverter's painting tools.

There you have it. We covered a lot of powerful features in this brief rundown of GraphicConverter, but you will discover even more as you use the program. Enjoy.

Some of the file formats handled by GraphicConverter

GraphicConverter imports PICT, Startup-Screen, MacPaint, TIFF (uncompressed, packbits, CCITT3/4 and lzw), RIFF, PICS, 8BIM, 8BPS/PSD, JPEG/JFIF, GIF, PCX/SCR, GEM-IMG/-XIMG, BMP (RLE compressed BMP´s also), ICO/ICN, PIC (16 bit), FLI/FLC, TGA, MSP, PIC (PC Paint), SCX (ColoRIX), SHP, WPG, PBM/PGM/PPM, CGM (only binary), SUN , RLE, XBM, PM, IFF/LBM, PAC, Degas, TINY, NeoChrome, PIC (ATARI), SPU/SPC, GEM-Metafile, Animated NeoChrome, Imagic, ImageLab/Print Technic, HP-GL/2, FITS, SGI, DL, XWD, WMF, Scitex-CT, DCX, KONTRON, Lotus-PIC, Dr. Halo, GRP, VFF, Apple IIgs, AMBER, TRS-80, VB HB600, ppat, QDV, CLP, IPLab, SOFTIMAGE, GATAN, CVG, MSX, PNG, ART, RAW, PSION, SIXEL, PCD, ST-X, ALIAS pix, MAG, VITRONIC, CAM, PORST, NIF, TIM, AFP, BLD, GFX, FAX, SFW, PSION 5, BioRad, JBI, QNT, DICOM, KDC, FAXstf, CALS, Sketch, qtif, ElectricImage, X-Face, DJ1000, NASA Raster Metafile, Acorn Sprite, HSI-BUF, FlashPix (with QuickTime 4).

GraphicConverter exports PICT, Startup-Screen, MacPaint, TIFF (uncompressed, packbits and lzw), GIF, PCX, GEM-IMG/-XIMG, BMP, IFF/LBM, TGA, PSD, JPEG/JFIF, HP-GL/2, EPSF, Movie (QuickTime), SUN, PICS, PICT in Resource, PBM/PGM/PPM, SGI, TRS-80, ppat, SOFTIMAGE, PNG, PSION, RAW, WMF, XWD, XBM, XPM, System 7 Clip, PAC, Icon, RTF, VPB, Psion, X-Face.

And last but not least GraphicConverter has the special feature to convert complete folders or a set of pictures from one format to another format.

GraphicConverter's Website

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