.\" Copyright (c) 1990, University of Michigan
.TH RLETOASCII 1 "Jun 18, 1990" 1
.UC 4 
.SH NAME
rletoascii \- Print an RLE image as ASCII chars.
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B rletoascii
[
.B \-S
.I asciistr
] [
.B \-r
] [
.B \-o
.I outfile
] [
.I infile
]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I Rletoascii
reads a file in
.IR RLE (5)
format, converts it to black and white, then dumps it as ASCII characters. 
The 0 to 255 range of pixel values in
the image is scaled to the length of
.I asciistr
and a the character at that position in the string is printed for each pixel.
Input will be read from
.I infile
if specified, from standard input, otherwise.  Output dumps to 
standard output, or
.I outfile, 
if specified.

Usually, the input will need to be resized by
.IR fant (1)
or
.IR rlezoom (1)
to make it small enough to fit on the screen and to adjust the pixel aspect
ratio to the "character aspect ratio" of the terminal.  To get it
"right side up", use
.IR rleflip (1)
with the
.B \-v
option.  Finally, it may be helpful to maximize the dynamic range with
.IR rlespiff (1).
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.BI \-S \ asciistr
Specifies the range of ascii characters for conversion.  The default string
(\fB@BR*#$PX0woIcv:+!~"., \fP)
was designed to look good with the X 6x13 font.  
.TP
.B \-r
Reverse video.  This causes the 0 to 255 range to be mapped to the reverse of
the ascii string.
.SH SEE ALSO
.IR fant (1),
.IR rleflip (1),
.IR rlespiff (1),
.IR rlezoom (1),
.IR urt (1),
.IR RLE (5).
.SH AUTHOR
Rod G. Bogart, University of Michigan.
.SH DEFICIENCIES
Could be rewritten to use overprinting for output to a real printer.