PalmPilot Image Creator
Copyright © 1997 Art Dahm
(adahm@earthlink.net)


Introduction
------------

PalmPilot Image Creator (pimg.exe) is a Windows 95 application for converting
GIF, JPG, PCX, DIB, RLE, and TGA graphic files into PalmPilot .PRC images
compatible with the PalmPilot Image Viewer.


Installing Image Converter
--------------------------
Unzip the file pimg.exe and NViewLib.dll into their own separate folder.
To start the Image Converter, double click the pimg.exe file from the
Windows 95 Desktop or Explorer.

Creating an Image
-----------------

The steps involved in creating an Image Viewer image are:

- Select the image source.  The source of an image can be a graphic file,
the Windows clipboard or an area of the screen.

- If the image source is a graphic file, click the 'Open' button to select
the graphic file to convert.

- If the image source is the Widows Clipboard, click the 'Open' button to
load the contents of the clipboard into the image converter.

- If the image source is the screen, click the 'Open' button to hide the
image converter window.  Click the left mouse button in the upper left
corner of the area of the screen to be converted.  Drag the mouse to the
lower right corner and click the left mouse button again.  The image
converter window will be restored and the selected area will be loaded into
the image converter.

- The Image Title is the name of the image as it will appear on the
PalmPilot.

- The Image File is the name of the PalmPilot database file (.PDB) containing
the image which will be hotsynced to the PalmPilot.

- Check the 'Compress Image' checkbox if you want the image compressed.
Compressed images take up less space on your PalmPilot, but take longer to
view and may not be viewable under low memory situations.

- Click the 'Convert' button to convert the image.  The new PalmPilot
database file will be stored in the same folder as the .BMP file.

- If the image is too large, a dialog box will pop up with a suggested amount
to decrease the size of the image by.

Command Line Syntax
-------------------
Usage:

  pimg [file] [image title] [image notes] [-compress] [-c] [-nocompress] [-nc]
    [-grayscale] [-g] [-bw] [-autoinstall] [-a] [-noautoinstall] [-na]
    [-dither] [-d] [-nodither] [-nd]

Where:

  [file] is the name of the graphic file to convert.
  [image title] is the name of the image as it will appear in the image list
    on the PalmPilot.
  [image notes] is a string enclosed in quotes which will appear in the
    image notes.
  [-compress] [-c] compresses the image
  [-nocompress] [-nc] doesn't compress the image
  [-grayscale] [-g] creates a grayscale image
  [-bw] creates a black & white image
  [-dither] [-d] dithers the image
  [-nodither] [-nd] doesn't dither the image
  [-autoinstall] [-a] will auto install the image
  [-noautoinstall [-na] won't auto install the image

All command line parameters are optional.  However:

  If a command line switch is not specified, the state from the most
  recent image conversion will be used.

  If a file is specified, the image coverter will exit after it converts
  the image.

  A file must be specified in order to specify and image title and image
  notes.

  A file and image title must be specified in order to specify image notes.

Tips
----

Use your favorite paint program to convert an image to grayscale to get a
better idea of how it will look on your PalmPilot.

The PalmPilot uses four levels of gray (white, light gray, dark gray and
black) which are evenly distributed among the range of grays used in a paint
program.  If an image loses certain details when converted, try changing the
brightness of some of the colors so they map to a different grayscale level.

If an image is too large, use your paint program's Crop feature to decrease
the size of the image.

Updates
-------
v2.9	- Added command line options
v2.8b
	- Fixed bug which caused B&W images to be offset to the left by one pixel.
v2.8
	- Improved process used to convert color pictures to grayscale.
v2.7
	- Added image compression.
v2.5
	- Added support for GIF, JPG, PCX, DIB, RLE, and TGA graphic file types.
v2.4
	- Added a light next to the Convert button which turns red if an image is too large to be converted
v2.3
	- Added ability to convert an image in the Windows clipboard
	- Added ability to capture and convert an area of the screen
v2.2
	- Fixed multiple user auto-install bug
v2.1
	- Added grayscale 'dither' option
	- Added black & white 'dither' option
v2.0
	- Redesigned UI: Tabbed dialog replaces multiple windows.
	- Added auto-install option: No more need to run USR Install Tool.
	  Just convert and hotsync.
	- Added preview tab: See how PalmPilot images will look before
	  installing them.
	- Removed 'dither' option
V1.3
	- Added support for black & white images
V1.2
	- Added support for attaching notes to images
V1.1
	- Added 'dither' option to simulate three more grayscale levels.
	- Increased maximum image size by about 10%