with browser + cataloguer + compressor + decompressor.
An image can be:-
- added to the archive by dropping on the browser window.
- exported by dragging from the browser window.
- decompressed in to a window by double-clicking on it.
- deleted from the archive.
- renamed.
In addition a fuller description of the image can be saved and displayed along with the browse image.
Online help is provided via the Acorn !Help
application.
This application will only run on RISCOS 3.10 or
later.
This software is based in part on the work of
the Independent JPEG Group. Version 4 release
10-Dec-92.
ICON BAR
========
Clicking on the ImageBank icon will open the root browser window.
Dragging a JPEG file to the icon will decompress it and display it in a window (but won't add it to the catalogue).
MENU
- Info
Opens a standard application information box.
- Choices.Use fonts
If this is selected then the Homerton.Medium font will be used in the browser windows, otherwise the system font will be used.
- Choices.Browse size
This allows you to set the maximum size of the browse images created when a new image is imported.
- Choices.Quality
This allows you to choose the quality level at which to compress. 100 is the highest value, 25 the practical lowest. A value of 75 usually gives good compression without any degradation being noticeable.
- Choices.Optimise entropy
If this is selected then extra time will be taken in compression. It will give an identical picture when decompressed but the compressed file size will be slightly smaller.
- Save choices
This saves the above choices plus some defaults for the browser windows (such as save type and sprite type).
BROWSER
=======
Operation of the browser windows is closely modelled on that of the filer. So
- Click SELECT
to select a single item.
- Click ADJUST
to toggle an item in and out of the selection.
- Double click SELECT
on an image to decompress it and display it in a window.
on a directory to open a browser onto it.
- Double click ADJUST
as SELECT but closes the browser window afterwards.
- SHIFT Double click SELECT
on a directory to close the directory browser.
- CTRL Double click SELECT
to open the info window for an object.
- Click ADJUST on the close icon to close the browser and open its parent.
- SHIFT click ADJUST on the close icon to open the parent only.
- Drag SELECT
between browser windows moves the selection from one browser to the other. Note that directories cannot be moved, however you can create a new directory (with the same as necessary) in the destination browser and copy all the images.
to a directory display or to another application will attempt to save the image to disc or to the application. The filetype used will be the one shown ticked in the Save submenu, and in the case of sprites the sprite type used will be that shown ticked in the Sprite submenu.
- Drag ADJUST does the same as above but closes the browser wdinow afterwards.
Files can be dragged to the browser window also. Acceptable types are JPEG, Sprite (8 bit and above) and Clear.
If a JPEG file is dropped onto a browser window it ic copied into the catalogue store and decompressed to create a browse sprite which is then displayed in the browser.
If a Sprite or Clear file is dropped on a browser window then they will be compressed (using the options set in the iconbar Choices submenu) and a browse sprite created.
After decompression or compression the Info window will be opened so that you can enter a longer description of the image.
MENU
- Display.Icons
- Display.Full info
Choose between two display methods as for a standard directory display.
- Display.Sort by name
- Display.Sort by size
- Display.Sort by date
Choose the sort method for this browser.
- Image.Save JPEG
This will save out the compressed image.
- Image.Save sprite
This leads to a further submenu giving the five different sprite types that can be saved. They are described in more detail below. Clicking on one of the menu items will select that as the default sprite save type.
- Image.Save clear
This will decompress the image to a 24 bit Clear file.
Clicking on any of the save menu items will select that type as the default filetype to be used when saving images by dragging directly out of the browser window.
- Image.Rename
Change the 10 character name displayed in Icon view and used as a default when saving.
- Image.Info
This leads to a dialogue box giving full information about the image or directory and allowing the long description to be altered.
- Image.Delete
This will delete a selection of images and directories. Note directories can only be deleted when empty.
- Edit.Select all
Select all objects in the browser.
- Edit.Clear selection
Clear the selection.
- Edit.Copy
Copy a selected image to the clipboard. From here it may be imported by any application that supports the clipboard protocol. The image can be exported as a JPEG, Sprite or Clear file depending on what the receiving application supports. If a sprite file is exported then the exact type of sprite file is determined by what is ticked in the sprite save submenu.
- Edit.Paste
Import an image from the clipboard.
- New directory
This will create a new directory in the browser with the given short name.
- Open parent
This will open the parent of this browser.
DISPLAY
=======
- Save image
Saves the image as displayed as a sprite file.
- Zoom
Allows you to zoom in and out of the image.
Click ADJUST on close icon to open parent browser (or filer window if displaying a JPEG file dropped on the iconbar) as with browser windows.
Note that the sprite displayed in this window is not affected by the default sprite type set in the menus. It will either be a standard palette 256 colour, 32 thousand colour or 16 million colour sprite depending on the current screen mode.
CATALOGUE INFORMATION
=====================
Information on each image stored in the catalogue is as follows
- Original filename of image imported (or task that exported it if it was saved directly from another application).
- Time and date image was imported.
- Dimensions of image.
- Resolution of image (pixels per inch). Note that JFIF files don't store any resolution or aspect ratio information. This means that a file created from a sprite with non-square pixels (eg MODE 15) will appear squashed vertically if decompressed by another application that didn't know this. ImageBank stores this information so that it can recreate the appropriate sprite type.
- Short name for Icon displays and saving.
- Long description for Full info displays.
- Quality factor used in compression. Again this value is not stored in a JFIF file so it is only known from images compressed by ImageBank.
MEMORY
------
When compressing decompressing images, memory is temporarily
allocated from the Wimp Free pool. If there is not
enough then temporary files are created in a
location given by the value of the system variable
<Wimp$ScrapDir>. If you get messages about not
being able to create temporary files then check
that you have a !Scrap directory. In all cases it
will need approx 200K above its wimpslot to run.
DECOMPRESSED IMAGES
-------------------
Images can be decompressed to 6 different types of
file from the Browser menu.
Standard: This is a MODE 15 or 28 sprite with the
standard 256 colour palette and can be viewed
correctly in any 256 colour screen mode.
Grey: This is a MODE 15 or 28 sprite with a
palette consisting of 256 levels of grey. Although
all the detail cannot be viewed on a standard
Archimedes it can be printed on a monochrome
printer with more detail than a standard palette
sprite.
Optimised: This is a MODE 15 or 28 sprite with a
palette optimised to use the most common colours
in the image to give the best possible 8 bit
image. Unfortunately the only current way to view
it correctly is with a 3rd party enhanced graphics
card. It may however give better printed results
on a colour printer than the standard palette
sprite.
32 thousand colours: This is a new format sprite and is
a useful trade off between quality and file size.
16 million colours: This is a new format sprite and
gives the best possible image that can be created.
Clear: This is a 24 bit Clear file and
cannot be viewed in this form. Clear files are a
common interchange format for 24 bit graphics
files on the Archimedes and most applications that
can deal with 24 bit colour will be able to load a
Clear file.
VERSIONS
--------
This application comes in two forms.
Full version - features as described above.
Read only - cannot save Clear files or
add new JPEG files to the archive.
The Read Only version is freely distributable as
long as the following conditions are abided by.
1) NONE of the files within the application are
removed or altered in any way. This includes
all images, code and data files.
2) No charge is made.
Thus it may be uploaded to bulletin boards/archive
