Working with Other Applications

Interacting with MacOS

Choosing Memory Size

GIFConverter comes preconfigured to run with approximately 2Mb of memory under MacOS. Even though GIFConverter stores data on the disk when necessary, it must have enough memory to store the images it’s actively working on. This might be one image it’s drawing on the screen, or two or more images when performing more complex operations.

GIFConverter will use system memory when available. To give GIFConverter more breathing room, quit other applications.

In extreme cases, try allocating more memory to GIFConverter. To do this, quit GIFConverter, then find the GIFConverter icon in the Finder. Click on it, and select Get Info from the File menu. Type the new size into the box marked Current). Then close the Info window.

Running GIFConverter in background

“Juggler” Cursor

When the “Juggler” cursor appears, GIFConverter is performing an operation that may take a long time to complete. GIFConverter can run in the background if you’re using Multifinder. You can click on other windows and work with other applications or use the Finder.

When the possibly lengthy operation is complete, GIFConverter will beep and a small version of the GIFConverter icon will flash over the application. Then you can use either menu to go back to GIFConverter to continue working.

Using the Clipboard

GIFConverter places images on the Clipboard according to the Display settings in effect when the Cut or Copy commands were selected. If you select the Eight Bit mode is, the clipboard will contain a PICT2 image.

Some applications will work better with One Bit or Grayscale settings.

To paste high-resolution halftone images into other applications, such as word processors or page layout programs, follow these steps:

Set the Display menu to One Bit and Grayscale
Choose one of the halftone dithering methods from the Dither submenu on the Special menu.
Choose the Set Resolution command from the Image menu. Pick an appropriate resolution, with image rescaling turned on.
If GIFConverter does not automatically redither the image because you have Automatic Recalculation turned off, choose the Recalculate command from the Image menu. The display on the screen should contain blobs of various sizes. This is the halftone image.
Click on the images you wish to copy with the pointer tool.
Use the Copy command to copy the images to the clipboard.
Switch over to the other application and paste the images. Before printing from that application, choose Page Setup . Make sure the Precision Bitmaps option is on, if there is one for the printer you’re using.

Using halftone images with QuickDraw printers

If you have a high-resolution QuickDraw printer, you can use the following method to place halftone image into documents using a word processor or other application that accepts graphics from the clipboard:

Open a file with GIFConverter.
Select the area you wish to use as a graphic and invoke the Crop command. Use the pointer tool to push the image into the upper left hand corner of the document. You may also resize or rotate the image, but the point is to get the size you want and have it in the upper left hand corner.
Make sure to set the Display menu to One Bit and Grayscale
Choose one of the halftone dithering methods from the Dither submenu on the Special menu.
Choose the Set Resolution command from the Image menu. Set it to a resolution of 288 dpi, with image rescaling turned on.
If GIFConverter does not automatically redither the image because Automatic Recalculation is off, choose the Recalculate command from the Image menu. The display on the screen should contain blobs of various sizes. This is the halftone image.
Choose Select All from the Edit menu.
Choose Copy from the Edit menu.
Switch to the other application.
Select the location to place the image, then choose Paste from the Edit menu.

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