qrttoppm

Convert a QRT file to a PPM image

$ qrttoppm [path/to/file.qrt] > [path/to/image.ppm]

qrttoppm [-verbose] [qrtfile]

-verbose
    Causes qrttoppm to print informative messages about its processing to standard error. This can be useful for debugging or understanding the conversion process.

qrtfile
    Specifies the path to the input QRT image file. If omitted, qrttoppm reads the QRT image data from standard input (stdin).

qrttoppm is a utility from the Netpbm package designed to convert image files created by the QRT (QRT Ray Tracer) software into the Portable Pixmap (PPM) format. The QRT Ray Tracer is an older ray tracing program for generating images. PPM is a widely supported uncompressed image format, making qrttoppm useful for importing QRT-generated images into modern image processing workflows.

It reads the QRT image data from standard input by default, or from a specified file, and writes the resulting PPM image to standard output. This allows for easy piping with other Netpbm tools or redirection to a file. The command primarily serves as a bridge for accessing legacy QRT image data within the Netpbm ecosystem.

The QRT Ray Tracer format is a legacy format, and qrttoppm might not support all possible variations or features of the QRT format, especially if new versions or extensions were developed for QRT after qrttoppm's last update.

As with many Netpbm tools, output is to standard output, which needs to be redirected to a file or piped to another command to save the resulting PPM image.

By default, qrttoppm expects the QRT image data to be provided via standard input (stdin). This allows for flexible piping of data from other commands.

The converted PPM image is always written to standard output (stdout). To save the output to a file, users typically redirect stdout using the shell's `>` operator, for example:
qrttoppm image.qrt > image.ppm

The qrttoppm command was introduced into the Netpbm collection by Bryan Henderson in 2000. Its creation facilitated the conversion of images generated by the older QRT Ray Tracer, allowing users to integrate these legacy images into more modern image processing pipelines via the versatile Netpbm toolkit. The command has remained relatively stable since its inception, reflecting its specialized role in handling a specific, older image format.

ppmtoqrt(1), netpbm(1), pam(1), ppm(5)