# transfer mac picture files to pc



## ronsmyth (Sep 26, 2004)

I have a Imation CD with many Mac picture files on it. The pictures were all created in 1996. I would now like to trasfer them to my old Windows 98 PC. I downloaded a program TransMac which had no problem transferring the cd files to my pc. Opening them up and viewing them is another story. 

Most of the pic. files have a .ct extension now on my pc. I tried to open them with a freeware program called Photofiltre but Photofiltre doesnt even recognize any of the transfered files as picture files. When I try to open it from it's folder it shows nothing there. I also notice if I try to open a pic file from TransMac directly MS Paint tries to open it but says it is not proper format something to that effect.

I assume that MS Paint is trying to open because when Transmac tried to open a pic file it showed me a list of programs to choose from and I forgot to uncheck 'always use this program for this type of file'. 

In summation I am unable to view any of these ex-mac files and I cannot download and use PhotoShop (as someone suggested to me) since my PC does not have min. requirements to run it (Maybe a very old version would).


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## MSY-Houston (Dec 5, 2004)

ronsmyth said:


> ...Most of the pic. files have a .ct extension now on my pc...


The problem isn't Mac vs. PC. The problem is the format of the files themselves. I believe the image files you have are in Scitex CT format. Is there any way you can get to a Mac or PC running Photoshop? If so, you'll be able to open the files and then Save As a tif or whatever format you want to use.

You also might try importing one image into Word or another application program (like Quark). It may not work with Word, because I don't think Word supports Scitex format. If you've got Illustrator, you can probably place the file--but I'm not positive.

Scitex format was used in high-end printing at one time. It's pretty much gone the way of the dinos...

Good luck.


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## MSM Hobbes (Apr 23, 2004)

Maybe a program such as Xnview &/or Nconvert might allow you to change them to what you need? 

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/pierre.g/xnview/enfeatures.html
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/pierre.g/xnview/en_ncfeatures.html

I've Xnview, and its pretty sweet application. And,,, free.


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## Flashback (Oct 14, 1999)

What about Irfanview? It's free and should be able to convert anything...


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## Raijin Z (Mar 9, 2005)

Even the mighty PSP (PC, Photoshop alternative, costs less than 1/6th what PS does) can't read Mac's default image format (OS 9 at least), whatever it is... I used PhotoDeluxe (came with my iMac) to convert screenshots to PNG so I could move them to a PC for editing. Bleah...


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## MSY-Houston (Dec 5, 2004)

Raijin Z said:


> Even the mighty PSP (PC, Photoshop alternative, costs less than 1/6th what PS does) can't read Mac's default image format (OS 9 at least), whatever it is... I used PhotoDeluxe (came with my iMac) to convert screenshots to PNG so I could move them to a PC for editing. Bleah...


I will say it once more. The problem is not Mac vs. PC. It is application specific. The problem is that the original files were saved in a format that requires a specific application program to read them.


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## MSM Hobbes (Apr 23, 2004)

Flashback, yea, I was going to recommend Irfanview as I'm a big fan of that software. However, from what I can tell, the .ct format is not supported by Irfanview :

http://www.tucows.com/preview/194967.html
AIF, ANI/CUR, ASF, AU/SND, AVI, B3D, BMP/DIB, CAM (Casio JPG), CLP, DDS, Dicom/ACR, DJVU, ECW, EMF/WMF, EPS, FlashPix (FPX), FSH, G3, GIF, ICO/ICL/EXE/DLL, IFF/LBM, IMG (GEM), JPG2000, JPG, JPM, KDC, LDF, LWF, MED, MID/RMI, MNG/JNG, MOV, MP3, MPG, MrSID, NLM/NOL/NGG, OGG, PBM/PGM/PPM, PCX/DCX, PhotoCD, PNG, PSD, PSP, RAS/SUN, RAW, Real Audio (RA), RLE, SFF, SFW, SGI/RGB, SWF (Flash/Shockwave), TGA, TIF, TTF, TXT, WAD, WAV, WBMP, WBZ/WBC, XBM, XPM, CRW, NEF, ORF, RAF, MRW, DCR, DXF.

Whereas the apps that I mentioned above do support .ct format... however, hopefully the original poster of this thread will reply back and let us know what was succesful or not... [hint,,, hint,,, ].


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## belithrawien (Aug 6, 2003)

image alchemy claims to support Scitex CT format and conversion, the links below are to the official website for you to read, and an online conversion demo, I don't know if that would work or not, just trying to help. I am not an expert, so you may want advice from the smarter folks around here. 

http://www.handmade.com./index.html

http://www.handmadesw.com/Online_Demo/


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## MSM Hobbes (Apr 23, 2004)

belithrawien...  Possibly a tad on the high side, but thanks for the link/info! :up:


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## Raijin Z (Mar 9, 2005)

ronsmyth said:


> I have a Imation CD with many Mac picture files on it. The pictures were all created in 1996. I would now like to trasfer them to my old Windows 98 PC. I downloaded a program TransMac which had no problem transferring the cd files to my pc. Opening them up and viewing them is another story.





Raijin Z said:


> Even the mighty PSP ... can't read Mac's default image format (OS 9 at least), whatever it is... I used PhotoDeluxe (came with my iMac) to convert screenshots to PNG so I could move them to a PC for editing. Bleah...


MEANING I HAD TO CONVERT THE IMAGES FROM WHERE THEY COULD BE READ. PSP can read dozens of formats, but no Mac native formats I've tried with it. I don't see how I'm missing the point here.


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## belithrawien (Aug 6, 2003)

TY MSM, I admit, I did not check the price, sorry  , I will be sure to remember that, thanks for being kind about it :up:


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## MSM Hobbes (Apr 23, 2004)

No problem, at all. More info and resources is a positive thing! 
Seriously, thanks for the links. :up:

I'm just curious if ronsmyth has been able to use any of the programs that have been mentioned w/ any success yet on this situation. 



PS: I think I sortof like that first quote in your signature quite a bit.


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## ronsmyth (Sep 26, 2004)

Sorry for the delayed response. Thank you everyone for all the helpful suggestions. I tried irfanview but as MSM Hobbes mentioned it does not open .ct. I ended up transferring the Mac CD files to a new Windows XP machine also with TransMac. I then downloaded shareware Jasc PaintShop Pro (as per suggestion from TransMac support) and I was able to view all .ct files. However now I have another problem. On another folder on the Mac CD there are a bunch of .qxd files (Quark Express). I did a Google search and was told that Adobe InDesign will convert those just fine.

However after downloading and installing InDesign when I tried opening a .qxd file it told me first that there where missing links in the picture and not all of the file would show. (Not sure what that meant.) And it asked do you want to proceed anyway. I clicked yes. It then said Adobe must close down, there was a serious error. No explanation what the error was. I tried uninstalling completely and then downloading again and reinstalling but the same thing happened.


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## MSM Hobbes (Apr 23, 2004)

Guess from your reply you wasn't able or didn't have chance to try either Xnview &/or Nconvert? Just wondering if they would have worked or not for ya... 

Sorry, but no experience w/ InDesign... anyone else?


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## MSY-Houston (Dec 5, 2004)

ronsmyth said:


> ...Jasc PaintShop Pro (as per suggestion from TransMac support) and I was able to view all .ct files. ...a bunch of .qxd files (Quark Express)...when I tried opening a .qxd file it told me first that there where missing links in the picture and not all of the file would show..there was a serious error.


Here's the deal, and it's not pretty. (And sorry if you already know most of this.)

When you look at a printed piece of paper, (flyer, newspaper, poster, photograph, whatever), the image generally is made using four inks, cyan, magenta, yellow and black (today, it can be six colors). These four colors together, shaped and printed as tiny dots, "make" all the colors you perceive. If you look at the piece with a magnifying glass, you'll see the four colors/dots.

When a piece is printed, four plates are made for the press, one for each of the four colors. Using chemicals, ink bonds with the plate to form the image/text. A piece of paper is run through the press, picking up each color (ink) from each plate, sequentially, before it comes out of the press.

Before there was direct electronic file-to-plate, a piece of film had to be created to make the plate.

With computerization, the electronic files had to be coded to split the electronic image into the four colors. This took massive amounts of RAM.

The Scitex format was created because most PCs didn't have enough RAM to open a high resolution file. To get around that, the Scitex format split the eps or tif file into five electronic files.

1. Cyan
2. Magenta
3. Yellow
4. Black
5. Main/finder file (can't remember what it's called)

When using Quark, the user would import the Main/finder file, which didn't take up much RAM, and which actually linked to the other four files. The Main/finder file would give you a preview picture, in Quark, of what the image would look like.

Do you see where this is going?

If you've got all five image files, with Photoshop (or maybe other program), you can open the Main/finder file and merge all five files back into one tif file. If you are missing even one of the five files, you've got a problem that you may not be able to fix.

Told you it wasn't pretty. There was a reason for Scitex, but the reason no longer exists. Unfortunately, you have to deal with the aftermath.

See if you can merge the documents from within whatever program you are using to open them prior to importing the file into Quark or InDesign .

Alternatively, if you are running OSX, and can open the image onscreen, you take a tif screen shot using the Grab utility.

Good luck. You'll need it. (Been there, buddy....)

Martha


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## MSM Hobbes (Apr 23, 2004)

Martha, just curious, but would Xnview and/or Nconvert be able to have taken the original images and converted those over to a more friendly format?

BTW, :up: on that explanation above...


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## MSY-Houston (Dec 5, 2004)

Tanks, mon...

I just checked the XnvView/NConvert site. Scitex (sct, ct) files are listed under formats supported.

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/pierre.g/xnview/enxnview.html

However, I'm pretty sure that all five files will be needed to do the conversion to a single file.

Houston


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## MSY-Houston (Dec 5, 2004)

Just for grins, if you can open the graphic file, try saving it as a jpeg and see what happens.

Houston


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