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17 Bit Software 6: Level 6
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17 Bit - Level 6 (1998)(Epic Marketing)[!].iso
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quartz
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q1073.dms
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q1073.adf
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IFFTOASC.LHA
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Iff2Ascii
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iff2ascii.doc
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1994-02-20
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4KB
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95 lines
_____ __ __ ___ ___ _ _
l_ _l/ _l/ _l__ \ / _ \ (_l_)
l l l l_l l_ ) l l_l l___ ___ _ _
l l l _l _l / /l _ / __l/ __l l l
_l l_l l l l / /_l l l \__ \ (__l l l
l_____l_l l_l l____l_l l_l___/\___l_l_l
Matthew Stratfold, Feburary 1984 M.P.Stratfold@open.ac.uk
Purpose:
-------
To convert IFF picture images into an ASCII representation. The program
will antialiase the text by selecting the best characters to make the
edge. Characters are also selected for their density when shading.
How to use:
----------
Start the program from either the workbench or shell in the normal way
once it is loaded click to contine then select the picture you want from
the file requester. (I hate that file requester too.)
The picture will load to screen. Decide what area of the pic you want
to convert and click one of the corners of that area (nothing will be
displayed sorry), then click the other corner to define your area. At
this point a dotted line will be drawn around the area - if you've done
it wrong - start again!
You will need to wait for a while (not long) as the conversion takes place.
Then the program exits leaving the text file in the same directory as the
original picture though with the added extension '.txt'.
If the area you selected was large then the chances are that the lines
in the ascii file will be too long to be displayed on many viewers - just
choose a smaller font or use DJ's ASCII-View (good program - though I
couldn't find you real name on the file I got)
How it works:
------------
It's written in AMOS - have a look at the listing. I know the bounding
box stuff is weak, but the main routine is okay. The program looks at
pixel blocks of 2x3 pixels and selects a character that best matches that
block. Consequently the ascii picture will be that much bigger than
the original IFF one.
A binary number is worked out from each block - the base10 number from this
is used to fetch the right character from the data array - simple and
fast.
Preparation of IFF's:
--------------------
The program assumes that any non background colour is a colour, you can
load colour images but the results won't be much good. The best thing
to do is load your favourite image processor (eg adpro) and dither a
2 colour image from that. Dithered images work well since the routine
selects characters for the density of the dither.
Archive:
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In the archive is executable, amos program, program text, this doc, and
some examples. The examples are a dithered picture, and some ascii's.
Bugs:
----
I've been very pushed for time so this isn't as polished or as flexible
as I would like. But it works and it's fairly easy to understand alter
so feel free to improve it - it'd be nice if you can send me the improved
version though :-)
For some reason AMOS on my machine sometimes loads IFF's wrong if they
are much smaller that the screen size. So some IFF brushes won't work.
If this is the case stick your brush.
Distribution etc:
----------------
The Conversion Table is inspired by Jorn Barger's alt.ascii-art FAQ
which had the table by Rob Harley(robert@vlsi.cs.caltech.edu) in it.
The program is freely distributable, though keep the docs,source and exe
together with my name on. If you make changes then document them and
send a copy to me.
Feel free to include this in any archives and libraries that do not
charge any money other than amount to cover the cost of media and
distribution.
This program is BeerWare - if you like it go and buy yourself a beer :-)
My Address:
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Email: M.P.Stratfold@Open.ac.uk
Snail: IET, The OU, Milton Keynes, MK1 1NG