Bitmap Graphics File Support - TransAct Epic 3000 Programmer's Manual

Programming Codes

Bitmap Graphics File Support

The EPIC 3000 printer supports direct printing of Monochrome, 4 bit-16 color, 8bit-256
color, 24bit True color bitmap files. The image may be directly printed or saved
temporarily and scaled at 1 to 1 or 2 to 1. Printing in Monochrome, two color or gray
scale is supported based on paper selection.
Color bitmaps are converted to a grayscale representation of its luminance by adding
together 30% of the red value, 60% of the green value, and 10% of the blue value.
These weights are predefined in the printer and are close to the industry standard 30%,
59% and 11%. Two color print is based on the luminance with color weighting of the
selected paper color. Grayscale print is based only on the luminance value.
Note: Where as the printer will process and print an 8 bit or 24 bit color
image, the actual print will be Monochrome, two color or grayscale. The
printer will translate the color image based on its own rules so the resulting
image may not be as you intended. In addition, the amount of data in an 8
or 24 bit color bitmap is extensive. The time required to transfer the image
will be much longer than the same monochrome image. You are much
better off converting the image to Monochrome or 16 colors within your
application.
[ESC] [FS] Print Bitmap File Record
ASCII [ESC] [FS] <Bitmap file data>
Hexadecimal 1BH 1CH
Decimal <27> <28>
IPCL None
EPOS None
Description The [ESC][FS] command is actually a group of commands intended to
print graphics. All bit map files begin with "BM" so when the bitmap data is sent after the
[ESC][FS], the command is really [ESC][FS] B, This command accepts Monochrome
and 16 color bitmap files and saves it as a temporary RAM file. The image may then be
printed with the [ESC][FS]p command or saved in the file system with and [ESC][FS]S
command.
Note: A Bitmap graphic file may also be written to the EPIC 3000's file
system using the file system commands. It can then be printed by the
[ESC][FS]P command. In this case, it is not saved in the temporary file so
the [ESC][FS]p does not work.
[ESC] [FS] p Print bitmap image buffer.
ASCII [ESC] [FS] p<Scale>
Hexadecimal 1BH 1CH 70H
Decimal <27> <28><112>
IPCL None
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T480 Programmer's Guide
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