home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
World of Video
/
World of Video.iso
/
gfxprograms
/
conversion
/
rawaga
/
rawaga.doc
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1995-02-13
|
12KB
|
344 lines
"RawAGA" documentation
by Team HOI!
Version 2.0
FIRST NOTE...
This program will only work under kickstart 3.0 (V39) and higher. If you
try to run this program under a lower kickstart version, the program won't
work at all. Note that this version of RawAGA doesn't use any 68010+
instructions, because there might be AGA computers with a 68000 processor
in the future (who knows...?).
IN GENERAL...
This utility enables you to convert graphics from the Interchange File
Format (better known as IFF) to plain, raw data. The raw format is useful
if you want to use graphics in your own productions. RawAGA is also useful
if you want to convert your pictures into sprite data. Note that this
converter can be used for non-AGA pictures as well. A note to the old Amiga
crowd: follow your fellow freaks and upgrade to an AGA machine!
Why bother with a raw format if we've got the highly compressed IFF format?
To be accurate: if you're not into programming, this utility means shit to
you. Just keep using your ol' file formats. However, if you're into
programming this utility can prove to be extremely useful to you. If you
want to display a picture with the computer you HAVE to present the graphic
data to the computer in a raw format (i.e. uncrunched). The same goes for
sprites and Blitter OBjects.
FEATURES: RawAGA...
- handles all types of IFF pictures;
- handles (anim)brushes;
- handles Anim-5 animations;
- is compatible with V39 and AGA Amigas;
- converts while loading (for low memory situations);
- converts AGA pictures as well as old picture types;
- includes a frame cut/save option;
- saves as either aligned (interleaved) or normal raw format;
- can generate sprite data (2 and 4 bitplanes (attached));
- can generate the special AGA sprites (32 and 64 pixels wide!);
- can generate a colormap which is ready to use for a copperlist;
- can generate a colormap for use with the LoadRGB32() function.
INSTALLATION...
Drag RawAGA's icon into your favourite utilities drawer on your System
partition or floppy. Double click on the icon and the program should run.
MAKE SURE THAT THE REQTOOLS.LIBRARY IS PRESENT IN YOUR LIBS DIRECTORY,
OTHERWISE THE PROGRAM WILL FAIL TO WORK. THIS LIBRARY IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR
LOCAL PUBLIC DOMAIN DISTRIBUTOR AND/OR BULLETIN BOARD SYSTEM.
USAGE...
Start the program by double-clicking on the icon or by entering its name
from the shell. If everything goes well, you're confronted with your
workscreen. Select "Load" from the menu and a file-requester will appear.
Select the IFF picture you wish to load. When the picture is loaded you can
save the entire picture as a raw picture or as an interleaved picture. The
difference between the two is as follows:
Suppose you have loaded a picture which is 200 lines high and 3 bitplanes
deep...
rawfile: line1 bitplane1
line2 bitplane1
line3 bitplane1
...
line200 bitplane1
line1 bitplane2
line2 bitplane2
line3 bitplane2
...
line200 bitplane2
line1 bitplane3
line2 bitplane3
line3 bitplane3
...
line200 bitplane3
aligned file: line1 bitplane1
line1 bitplane2
line1 bitplane3
line2 bitplane1
line2 bitplane2
line2 bitplane3
...
line200 bitplane1
line200 bitplane2
line200 bitplane3
Note that RawAGA won't save a colormap behind the pictures because it has a
separate option to do so.
If you don't want to convert the entire picture you can choose to cut a
frame from the picture and save this. This frame can of course also be
saved in either raw or aligned format.
SPRITES...
If you want to cut a sprite out of the picture you have to keep these two
things in mind:
1: Is the picture either 2 or 4 bitplanes deep? If not you're not able to
save sprite data (Sprites are always 2 or 4 bitplanes deep!).
2: Is the frame you've cut either 16, 32 or 64 pixels wide? If not you
won't be able to save sprite data (due to sprite hardware restrictions).
If you have cut a frame which doesn't conflict with these two rules, you
can select either to save the sprite as a source file or as a binary data
file. The two are fully compatible with each other. If you would assemble
the generated source file you'd get the same as the data file!
If you've selected a frame in a picture with a depth of four bitplanes, two
files will automatically be saved. The first file will have the extension
".ATT1" and the other the extension ".ATT2". Obviously the first file will
contain the information for sprite 1 and the second file the information
for sprite 2.
The sprite data will be saved in the following format:
2 bitplanes sprite, 16 wide:
dc.w 0,0
dc.w line1_bitp1,line1_bitp2
dc.w line2_bitp1,line2_bitp2
dc.w line3_bitp1,line3_bitp2
dc.w ...
2 bitplanes sprite, 32 wide:
dc.w 0,0,0,0
dc.w l1_word1_bitp1,l1_word2_bitp1,l1_word1_bitp2,l1_word2_bitp2
dc.w l2_word1_bitp1,l2_word2_bitp1,l2_word1_bitp2,l2_word2_bitp2
dc.w l3_word1_bitp1,l3_word2_bitp1,l3_word1_bitp2,l3_word2_bitp2
dc.w ...
2 bitplanes sprite, 64 wide:
dc.w 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
dc.w l1_w1_b1,l1_w2_b1,l1_w3_b1,l1_w4_b1,l1_w1_b2,l1_w2_b2,l1_w3_b2,l1_w4_b2
dc.w l2_w1_b1,l2_w2_b1,l2_w3_b1,l2_w4_b1,l2_w1_b2,l2_w2_b2,l2_w3_b2,l2_w4_b2
dc.w l3_w1_b1,l3_w2_b1,l3_w3_b1,l3_w4_b1,l3_w1_b2,l3_w2_b2,l3_w3_b2,l3_w4_b2
As mentioned before, In case of attached sprites (4 bitplanes), two files
are saved with the information for sprite 1 (bitplanes 1 & 2) and for
sprite 2 (bitplanes 3 & 4).
ANIMS & BRUSHES...
If you load an anim file, a requester will appear on your screen. You can
either select to load the first frame or the entire animation. To cycle
through the animation, press (or hold down) the right cursor key. All of
the functions in the menu work with anims as well.
In case of a brush, RawAGA loads the brush and makes sure that a screen
which is sufficiently bigger is opened (enabling the menu to keep operating
properly). If an animbrush is selected, RawAGA gives you the same requester
you get when loading an animation. You can either read the first frame of
the brush or load the entire animbrush in memory. Again you can press (or
hold down) the right cursor key to advance through the frames.
COLORMAPS...
RawAGA can save your colormap information in two ways, as a standard AGA
copperlist or as a colorlist you can directly feed to the LoadRGB32 system
function (Graphics base offset -882 (V39)). The save routine always saves
these colormap files as a source file which is compatible with any decent
assembler (like Asm-One, Seka, Devpac etcetera). The file format of these
files is as follows...
Copperlistdata:
dc.w $0106,$0c40 ;colorbank select etc. (see AGA hardware facts)
dc.w $0180,$0xxx ;high nibbles color0
dc.w $0182,$0xxx ;high nibbles color1
dc.w ...
dc.w $01be,$0xxx ;high nibbles color31
dc.w $0106,$0e40 ;loct bit on (selects high or low nibbles)
dc.w $0180,$0xxx ;low nibbles color0
dc.w $0182,$0xxx ;low nibbles color1
dc.w ...
dc.w $01be,$0xxx ;low nibbles color31
dc.w $0106,$2c40 ;bank 1 select, loct bit off
dc.w $0180,$0xxx ;high nibbles color32
dc.w $0182,$0xxx ;high nibbles color33
dc.w ...
dc.w ...
dc.w ...
dc.w $0106,$ee40 ;bank 8 select, loct bit on
dc.w $0180,$0xxx ;low nibbles color 224
dc.w $0180,$0xxx ;low nibbles color 225
dc.w ...
dc.w $01be,$0xxx ;low nibbles color 255
NOTE THAT THIS COLORMAP IS ALWAYS THE FULL 256 ENTRYS, EVEN IF YOU LOAD A
PICTURE WITH LESS THEN 8 BITPLANES!
and the colormap data for the LoadRGB32 function is as follows:
dc.w numberofentrys,0
dc.l $RR000000,$GG000000,$BB000000 ;RGB value for color 0
dc.l $RR000000,$GG000000,$BB000000 ;RGB value for color 1
dc.l ....
dc.l $RR000000,$GG000000,$BB000000 ;RGB value for the last color
QUITTING...
Just select the "Quit" option from the menu or press the shortcut keys
(left Amiga key and "Q").
AGA HARDWARE FACTS/TIPS...
If you want to use the special AGA sprite modes, these registers are
essential:
FMODE ($dff1fc):
BIT 2 and 3 can make these combinations:
%00 = sprites are 16 bits wide and must be word aligned
%01 = sprites are 32 bits wide and must be longword aligned
%11 = sprites are 64 bits wide and must be quadword aligned
BPLCON3 ($dff106):
BIT 6 and 7 can make these combinations:
%00 = sprites are ECS Default
%01 = sprites are LoRes (140 nS)
%10 = sprites are HiRes (70 nS)
%11 = sprites are SHRes (35 nS) (Super Hi-Res)
(these modes are independent of the screen resolution)
BIT 13-15 can make 8 possible combinations selecting the
colorbank for the colorregisters ($0180-$1be).
There are plenty more registers which have got something to do with sprites
and/or colors but that would exceed the purpose of this documentation. It
just helps you to get started!
THE AUTHORS...
RawAGA was programmed by THAIZER and RhInO (Thijs van Rijswijk & Reinier
van Vliet), both members of Team Hoi! You can reach us at the Total
Confusion BBS in The Netherlands. The telephone number is:
+31-(0)35-855918. Our handles are respectively THAIZER & RhInO. Please
leave bug reports and comments whenever you like!
COPYRIGHT & REGISTERING...
These programs are Copyrighted in 1993 by Team Hoi! The programs may be
freely distributed if they are left unaltered. Please note that if the
framecut options don't work, you've got an unregistered version! To
register send 10 american dollars to bankaccountnr: 3917.18.509 in holland.
Don't forget to state your full name and adres on the banktransfernote so
we can send you the correct version.
DISCLAIMER...
We (Team Hoi or any of the individual authors) are in no way responsible or
liable for loss of data, or any other kind of information, due to
(im)proper use of the program RawAGA.
HISTORY...
10-AUG-93> RawAGA V2.0
Added features:
- RawAGA now decodes while loading. This leaves more memory for
multitasking than if you load the picture in memory first.
- RawAGA now handles animations correctly.
- RawAGA now handles brushes correctly and opens a bigger screen when
necessary.
- RawAGA now handles animbrushes (animbrushes use a different format than
normal anim files. They use the so-called "eor" technique).
- RawAGA now uses the v39 doublebuffer-tag when it has to play an
animation.
- RawAGA can now save LoadRGB32 colormapdata
- RawAGA can now cut frames and save them as raw/aligned
- RawAGA can now cut sprites (normal sprites and AGA sprites)
10-APR-93> AGA Converter (old name)
- First version of the program
AND FINALLY...
Do you already own Team Hoi's A.G.A. specific products, like the two
HoisAGA demos ("Planet Groove" and "Mindwarp") and the "Enigma" encoding
tool...? Look forward to the world's first (we hope) REAL A.G.A. game
called Moon Child, the official sequel to our Amiga action game "Hoi!"
Please feel free to send your Team Hoi fanmail (no programme-technical
stuff, just nice correspondence) to:
Metin Seven (Team Hoi's graphic artist and writer)
Albrechtlaan 14
1404 AK Bussum
The Netherlands
C YA !!!