4.21 Saving Picture Files

Graphic window displays can be saved in various formats (including TIFF and PostScript). There can be slight differences between pictures and the displayed graphics windows, since pictures are generated using the internal software renderer, while the graphics windows may utilize specialized graphics hardware for optimum performance.

Many systems provide a utility to "dump'' the contents of a graphics window into a raster file. This is generally the fastest method of generating a picture (since the scene is already rendered in the graphics window), and guarantees that the picture is identical to the window.