PictoDS

PictoDS
General
Author	Nicom00k
Type	File Operation
Version	2.1
License	Mixed
Last Updated	2007/08/26
Links
Download
Website

PictoDS is the PC tool that converts your pictures into a .cbds file to be used with ComicBookDS.

Note: You may need to install Java.

User Guide

Launch pictods.exe (or pictods.sh) to convert your comic books into .cbds files for your Nintendo DS.

The pictures can be in a folder a .zip, a .cbz, a .cbr, a .rar.

.pdf files can also be converted thanks to some command line third party conversion programs, such as Ghostscript (free) or PDF To Image Converter v2.1 (not free).

Converter

To use Ghostscript pdf converter in pictods, type in this command line:

"C:\Program Files\gs\gs9.04\bin\gswin64c.exe" -dSAFER -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -sDEVICE=jpeg -r300 -sOutputFile="%outputdirectoryname/image%d.jpg" "%filename"

Another solution to convert your PDF files is to proceed in two steps:

• Use some tools (like the free PDFill) and convert your .pdf into images.
• Once converted, you can use PictoDS with the folder containing those images.

FAQ

Q. Getting "could not find main class" error when trying to run pictds.

The problem must be that when you unzipped the PictoDS zip file, it didn't create the directory structure (e.g. bin, lib, nds folders should be created during the unzipping process).

Your zip tool must keep the directory structure when unzipping for pictods to work.

Compatibility

PictoDS is compatible with Windows, Linux and Mac.

Known issues

It has been reported that .rar (and .cbr) exctraction doesn't work on Mac and Linux (probably a path problem).

Changelog

V2.1

• New: Pictods now runs on Linux and Mac.
• New: Possibilty to link PictoDS to your prefered PDF to JPG software (new command line available in "Path" dialog box).
• New: In command lines ("Path" dialog box) it was just possible to specify the executable to use. That was annoying if you wanted to add an extra option,so now you can use %filename and %outputdirectoryname and enter the exact command line you want (see pictods.properties to have an example).
• New: Possibility to change the software to browse the output directory (command line option in 'Path' dialog). Usefull for linux and Mac users or if you don't like the default Windows explorer.
• New: Possibility to use PictoDS through a command line. Go to 'lib' directory. Enter java -cp org.pictods.jar org.pictods.Pictods. Read the help.
• Change: File extension is not added in the image names after conversion anymore.
• Change: ComicBookDS.ini file is now only generated when the generate button is pressed.
• Change: output directory has been renamed from 'nds' to 'cbds'.

V2.0 (Final)

• BugFix: Image size settings are now correctly used and saved.
• BugFix: Sometimes, the image was not correctly resized.
• BugFix: Better error handling, using popups to display error messages.
• BugFix: Detect when a .zip (.cbz) file is not a .rar (.cbr) file.
• New: Drag N' Drop support.
• New: 'Open output folder' item added in menu.
• New: When the ComicBook name is changed, the output filename is changed accordingly.

V2.0 Beta 5

• BugFix: No more problem for renaming files(in specific cases some images were ot converted).
• BugFix: No more resizing of little images (before, the size was increased to reach the specified size). It's then quicker to convert small images.
• BugFix: There was a problem when some entries in pictods were unchecked.

V2.0 Beta 4

• Change: Adaptation to the new .cbds output (replaced .nds output with cbds output) Testing file is not available anymore. PAFS and .net not needed. New Layout.
• New: comicbookds.ini file generated with various settings allowing ComicBookDS customization. The different options are available through the pictods interface (User Settings).
• New: Title,author and provider associated with cbds files.

V1.3

• New: Removed MS .NET Framework dependency. It is not needed anymore.
• BugFix: The pictods icon is back.

V1.2

• BugFix: No more size differences between .nds file generated from an archive or a folder.
• BugFix: Application is visible in taskbar.
• New: In config path, PictoDs allows to set an 'input path' (by default your home directory).This directory will be opened when you select "add file" or "add folder".

V1.1

• BugFix: No more memory error (freeze) with big images.
• BugFix: Third party programs in directory with spaces characters are now managed (448 ko files problem).
• BugFix: "Restore Default" in config dialog box works.
• BugFix: Images on FAT32 partition are now correctly ordered.
• BugFix: Lower volume for completion sound.
• New: Choice of the output (.nds, .sc.nds, .ds.gba).
• New: Logger activated (pictods/log in lib directory).

Credits

Nate Drake and Alx06 with their help, support and tests of the Linux and MacosX versions.

Rudi R. and his help regarding the pdf conversion.

Thomas L. and his help with the Ghostscript pictods command line.

External links

• Author's website - http://cbds.free.fr/Softwares/PictoDS/?language=en