Mako Samnai (マコサムネイル)

"Samnai" is Japanese for thumbnail, so Mako Samnai is a way to rasterize a PDF page. You can choose color, grayscale, or monochrome output, and for monochrome choose from a number of EDS (error diffusion screening) methods.

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Mako Samnai v1.0.0.X

Usage:
   Makosamnai input.pdf|xps|pxl|pcl [output.jpg|png|tiff|bmp] [parameter=setting] [parameter=setting] ...

Where:
   input.pdf          source PDF to render pages from, where xxx is pdf, xps, pxl (PCL/XL) or pcl (PCL5).
   output.yyy         image file to write the output to, where yyy is jpg, png, tiff or bmp.
                        If no output file is declared, <input>.png is assumed.
   parameter=setting  one or more settings, described below.

Parameters:
   pw=<password>      PDF 'User' password, if required to open the file.
   p=<page range>     One or more page ranges separated by a comma, eg p=1-10,5-30,92,600-720,40-50.
                        If no page ranges are declared, all pages are processed.
   w=<width>          Output size width in pixels, eg w=1700.
   h=<height>         Output size height in pixels, eg h=2200.
                        If width and height are both specified, height is ignored for non-BMP formats.
   r=<resolution>     Resolution in dpi, eg r=300. Default is 72.
                        Calculated value overrides resolution (r) when width (w) or height (h) are specified.
   rx=<resolution>     *For BMP output only*  X-direction resolution in dpi, eg rx=600. Default is 72.
                        Ignored when resolution (r) or width (w) is specified.
   ry=<resolution>     *For BMP output only*  Y-direction resolution in dpi, eg ry=400. Default is 72.
                        Ignored when resolution (r) or height (h) is specified.
   f=<lpi>            Frequency value for mono output spot function in lpi. Default is 60.
   t=<threshold>      Threshold percentage for bi-level output. Default is 50%.
   so=on|off          Simulate overprint. Default is off.
   o=<render type>    Output render type. Allowable values are:
                        coloraa (anti-aliased RGB. Default)
                        color   (RGB, no anti-aliasing)
                        gray    (grayscale, no anti-aliasing)
                        cmyk    (CMYK, no anti-aliasing. Not available for BMP)
                        mono    (monochrome using a simple 45° halftone spot)
                        bilevel (monochrome thresholded output, using t value)
   e=<eds type>       Apply an error diffusion screen. For BMP output only. Allowable values are:
                        atkins  (Use an Atkinson error diffusion screen)
                        floyds  (Use a Floyd-Steinberg error diffusion screen)
                        stucki  (Use a Stucki error diffusion screen)
                        sierra  (Use a Sierra error diffusion screen)
                        s-lite  (Use a Sierra Lite error diffusion screen)

How it works

All of the rendering is carried out by the embedded Jaws RIP, using an instance of IJawsRenderer. The BMP output makes use of render-to-buffer APIs added in Mako 4.4, which can be faster and allow for non-square resolutions (that is, the resolution in the x-direction can be different from the y-direction).

A rendered grayscale image can then be screened with an error diffusion algorithm. Five common methods are offered, including Floyd-Steinberg and Stucki.

Useful sample code

Use of IJawsRenderer to render pages in a variety of ways
Using IJawsRenderer::CThresholdHalftone to create a threshold halftone
Using IJawsRenderer::CSpotHalftone to create a spot halftone
Use of an IOptionalContentFixerTransform to control rendering of optional content (PDF layers)
Use of an IOverprintSimulationTransform to simulate overprint, while dropping overprint for CMYK black text
Use of an EDS screening algorithm operating on the rendered image
Use of the encode convenience method for writing an image file, eg IDOMJPEGImage::encode
Methods to encode as BMP (Mako does not support BMP as a standard format)

Examples of Makosamnai commands

Makosamnai test100.pdf	Produces 100 72dpi RGB PNG files with the filename test100_pX.png, where X is the page number.
Makosamnai test100.pdf MyOutput.tif p=10-20 w=1000	Produces 11 RGB TIFF files with the filename MyOutput_pX.tif with a width of 994 pixels. (Width may be adjusted down to ensure the effective resolution in an integer.)
Makosamnai test100.pdf test100.bmp p=30-40	Produces 11 RGB BMP files with a resolution of 72DPI
Makosamnai altona_visual_1v2a_x3.pdf r=200 so=on	Produces a 200dpi PNG of this popular test file, with overprint simulation