{
    "mode": "man",
    "parameter": "ppmtoacad",
    "section": "",
    "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/ppmtoacad/json",
    "generated": "2026-10-21T11:58:44Z",
    "synopsis": "",
    "sections": {
        "NAME": {
            "content": "ppmtoacad - convert PPM to Autocad database or slide\n\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "SYNOPSIS": {
            "content": "",
            "subsections": [
                {
                    "name": "ppmtoacad",
                    "content": "[-dxb]\n\n[-poly]\n\n[-background color]\n\n[-white]\n\n[-aspect ratio]\n\n[-8]\n\n[ppmfile]\n\n"
                }
            ]
        },
        "DESCRIPTION": {
            "content": "This program is part of Netpbm(1).\n\nppmtoacad  reads  a PPM image as input and produces an Autocad® slide file or binary database\nimport (.dxb) file as output.  If you don't specify ppmfile, ppmtoacad takes the  input  from\nStandard Input.\n\n(Typographical  note: the name of Autocad is often rendered as AutoCAD.  Netpbm documentation\nuses standard American typography, wherein that is not a valid form of capitalization).\n\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "OPTIONS": {
            "content": "In addition to the options common to all programs based on libnetpbm  (most  notably  -quiet,\nsee  Common Options ), ppmtoacad recognizes the following command line options:\n\nYou may abbreviate any option to its shortest unique prefix.\n\n\n",
            "subsections": [
                {
                    "name": "-dxb   ppmtoacad",
                    "content": "with the DXBIN command and, once loaded, it becomes part of  the  Autocad  geometrical\ndatabase, so you can view and edit it like any other object.  Each sequence of identi‐\ncal  pixels  becomes  a separate object in the database; this can result in very large\nAutocad drawing files.  However, if you want to trace over a bitmap, it lets you  zoom\nand pan around the bitmap as you wish.\n\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-poly   -dxb",
                    "content": "mally  each  row  of  pixels is represented by an Autocad line entity.  If you specify\n-poly, ppmtoacad renders the pixels as filled polygons.  If you view the  slide  on  a\ndisplay  with  higher  resolution than the source image, this will cause the pixels to\nexpand instead of appearing as discrete lines against  the  screen  background  color.\nRegrettably,  this  representation  yields slide files which occupy more storage space\nand take longer to display.\n\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-background _",
                    "content": "Most Autocad display drivers can be configured to  use  any  available  color  as  the\nscreen  background.   Some users prefer a black screen background, others white, while\nsplinter groups advocate burnt ocher, tawny puce, and shocking gray.  Discarding  pix‐\nels  whose  closest  Autocad color representation is equal to the background color can\nsubstantially reduce the size of the Autocad database or slide file needed  to  repre‐\nsent  a  bitmap.  If you don't specify -background, ppmtoacad assumes the screen back‐\nground color to be black.  You may specify any Autocad  color  number  as  the  screen\nbackground;  ppmtoacad  assumes color numbers to specify the hues defined in the stan‐\ndard Autocad 256 color palette.\n\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-white",
                    "content": "a short-cut.  Specifying -white is identical in effect to -background 7.\n\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-aspect _",
                    "content": "If  the source image had non-square pixels (which means it is not standard PPM), spec‐\nify the ratio of the pixel width to pixel height as ratio.  ppmtoacad will correct the\nresulting slide or .dxb file so that pixels on the Autocad screen will be square.  For\nexample, to correct an image made for  a  320x200  VGA/MCGA  screen,  specify  -aspect\n0.8333.\n\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-8",
                    "content": "",
                    "flag": "-8"
                }
            ]
        },
        "RESTRICTIONS": {
            "content": "Autocad  has a fixed palette of 256 colors, distributed along the hue, lightness, and satura‐\ntion axes.  So it may poorly render images which contain  many  nearly-identical  colors,  or\ncolors not closely approximated by Autocad's palette.\n\nppmtoacad works best if the system displaying its output can display the full 256 color Auto‐\ncad palette.  Monochrome, 8 color, and 16 color configurations will produce less than optimal\nresults.\n\nWhen  creating a .dxb file or a slide file with the -poly option, ppmtoacad finds both verti‐\ncal and horizontal runs of identical pixels and consolidates them into rectangular regions to\nreduce the size of the output file.  This is effective for images with large  areas  of  con‐\nstant color but it's no substitute for true raster to vector conversion.  In particular, this\nprocess does not optimize thin diagonal lines at all.\n\nOutput files can be huge.\n\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "SEE ALSO": {
            "content": "Autocad  Reference  Manual:  Slide  File  Format  and Binary Drawing Interchange (DXB) Files,\nppm(1)\n\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "AUTHOR": {
            "content": "John Walker\nAutodesk SA\nAvenue des Champs-Montants 14b\nCH-2074 MARIN\nSuisse/Schweiz/Svizzera/Svizra/Switzerland\nUsenet:kelvin@Autodesk.com\nFax:038/33 88 15\nVoice:038/33 76 33\n\n\nPermission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its documentation  for  any\npurpose  and  without  fee  is  hereby granted, without any conditions or restrictions.  This\nsoftware is provided \"as is\" without express or implied warranty.\n\nAutocad and Autodesk are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc.\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "DOCUMENT SOURCE": {
            "content": "This manual page was generated by the Netpbm tool 'makeman' from  HTML  source.   The  master\ndocumentation is at\n\nhttp://netpbm.sourceforge.net/doc/ppmtoacad.html\n\nnetpbm documentation                       10 October 1991                  Ppmtoacad User Manual(1)",
            "subsections": []
        }
    },
    "summary": "ppmtoacad - convert PPM to Autocad database or slide",
    "flags": [
        {
            "flag": "",
            "long": null,
            "arg": null,
            "description": "with the DXBIN command and, once loaded, it becomes part of the Autocad geometrical database, so you can view and edit it like any other object. Each sequence of identi‐ cal pixels becomes a separate object in the database; this can result in very large Autocad drawing files. However, if you want to trace over a bitmap, it lets you zoom and pan around the bitmap as you wish."
        },
        {
            "flag": "",
            "long": null,
            "arg": null,
            "description": "mally each row of pixels is represented by an Autocad line entity. If you specify -poly, ppmtoacad renders the pixels as filled polygons. If you view the slide on a display with higher resolution than the source image, this will cause the pixels to expand instead of appearing as discrete lines against the screen background color. Regrettably, this representation yields slide files which occupy more storage space and take longer to display."
        },
        {
            "flag": "",
            "long": null,
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Most Autocad display drivers can be configured to use any available color as the screen background. Some users prefer a black screen background, others white, while splinter groups advocate burnt ocher, tawny puce, and shocking gray. Discarding pix‐ els whose closest Autocad color representation is equal to the background color can substantially reduce the size of the Autocad database or slide file needed to repre‐ sent a bitmap. If you don't specify -background, ppmtoacad assumes the screen back‐ ground color to be black. You may specify any Autocad color number as the screen background; ppmtoacad assumes color numbers to specify the hues defined in the stan‐ dard Autocad 256 color palette."
        },
        {
            "flag": "",
            "long": null,
            "arg": null,
            "description": "a short-cut. Specifying -white is identical in effect to -background 7."
        },
        {
            "flag": "",
            "long": null,
            "arg": null,
            "description": "If the source image had non-square pixels (which means it is not standard PPM), spec‐ ify the ratio of the pixel width to pixel height as ratio. ppmtoacad will correct the resulting slide or .dxb file so that pixels on the Autocad screen will be square. For example, to correct an image made for a 320x200 VGA/MCGA screen, specify -aspect 0.8333."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-8",
            "long": null,
            "arg": null,
            "description": ""
        }
    ],
    "examples": [],
    "see_also": [
        {
            "name": "ppm",
            "section": "1",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/ppm/1/json"
        }
    ],
    "tldr": {
        "source": "official",
        "description": "Convert a PPM image to an AutoCAD database or slide.",
        "examples": [
            {
                "description": "Convert a PPM image to an AutoCAD slide",
                "command": "ppmtoacad {{path/to/file.ppm}} > {{path/to/file.acad}}"
            },
            {
                "description": "Convert a PPM image to an AutoCAD binary database import file",
                "command": "ppmtoacad {{-d|-dxb}} {{path/to/file.ppm}} > {{path/to/file.dxb}}"
            },
            {
                "description": "Restrict the colors in the output to 8 RGB shades",
                "command": "ppmtoacad -8 {{path/to/file.ppm}} > {{path/to/file.dxb}}"
            }
        ]
    }
}