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1995-04-16
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//
//
// S P E E D
// of
// L I G H T(tm)
//
// Summary of changes
// from version 3.1 to 3.8
//
Changes in version 3.8 from 3.7
===============================
-=> A bug was fixed that caused the machine to become unstable when
loading an image after clipping. The problem was caused by the longer
file name extention ".CLIPxx" It is now truncated to .CLI. This
problem was dependent on which fileselector you used.
-=> Clipped images no longer have corrupted color palettes.
-=> SOL 3.7 would crash when loading a new image in after clipping a
previous image, but only in monochrome modes. This has been fixed as
of version 3.8.
-=> FOREIGN.TXT is included and tells how to register more easily if
you are registering from Europe.
-=> Registered users with cities of more than one word can now register
with their old key codes.
-=> Speed of Light now works old STs and STEs in monochrome modes and
does not say "SOL does not work in truecolor modes."
-=> Other minor bugs fixed.
Changes in version 3.7 from 3.6
===============================
-=> "New" now works when using Selectric Fileselector or wildcards. The
first file replaces the current one, and all the others are added to the end
of the image list. If you are using Selectric, you can also select multiple
files to load at one time.
-=> Slideshow feature was added to automatically flip through the images in
memory. Control direction, wrapping, start image, end image, and display
time. Hidden drawing supported. And for more power...
-=> Speed of Light now supports a powerful scripting language for customized
slideshows. You can write your own Speed of Light Scripts (.SLS) from
scratch, or simply let SOL write them for you by recording your actions.
When using slideshow scripts, you can even load and uncompress images in the
background while viewing the last image!
-=> Speed of Light can now be run from resolutions with less than 16 colors
(monochrome too!). The color editor and filtering may not be used, however.
You can now use SOL from Medium resolution, and still display in Low
resolution (on STs). Monochrome users can now also use SOL (with dithering, of
course.)
-=> Lines (for clipping and zooming) now look right in monochrome and 4 color
modes.
-=> GIF uncompressing time now takes 85%-90% of the time SOL 3.5 took.
-=> You can now have the screen be blank when drawing the images so
they appear instantly. Great for slideshows.
-=> Dithering was changed slightly to provide an easier user interface and
support for future updates.
-=> Some user interface improvements like tabbed dialog boxes.
-=> Fixed some bugs in DSP JPEG code from v3.6.
-=> SOL now loads GIFs with local color maps without complaining.
-=> Other miscellaneous bugs fixed (you'll be amazed)!
Changes in version 3.6 from 3.5
===============================
-=> Added some DSP support code in the JPEG routine for the Falcon to make
decoding faster. Greyscale and fixed colormap take 3 times more memory than
without it, though. Still can use CPU decoding if out of memory or no DSP.
-=> Bug fixed that made STs and STEs bomb when switching to greyscale.
-=> Picture information box was added to the bottom of the screen while
loading to give information about picture size, type, and number of colors.
Changes in version 3.5 from 3.3
===============================
-=> SOL now starts out with the Options Dialog (unless starting in GEM mode)
so that you can change the settings before loading an image if you want. I
found this to be better especially when loading JPEG images because I
usually want to set the truecolor loading preferences before loading, but in
earlier versions, I had to load a junk image first just to get to the
preferences.
-=> Truecolor conversion now can use Octree colormap quantization to reduce
to 256 colors. You can also dither the image using different patterns
including loaded patterns. Inverse colormaps are supported to allow faster
mapping both for truecolor quantization and with color filtering. All
truecolor octree and color reduction parameters are in the preferences
dialog box.
-=> Fixed Palette truecolor loading can also be used with other dithering
patterns besides just random dithering. Other fixed palettes are supported
with biases toward red, green, or blue, and combinations of red, green, and
blue.
-=> A new preference allows you to display the image immediately after
loading without going to the Options Dialog or GEM Menu.
-=> You can load multiple files using Selectric fileselector as well
as using wildcards [*/?]. Selectric also offers extensions of all
the images that SOL can load.
-=> JPEGs with bad data can be loaded with less trouble.
-=> Fixed GIF saving! No more messed up data! Stayed up all night to fix
this one! =)
-=> Speed is great! Just compare! A 800 x 600 256 color GIF...
SPEED OF LIGHT 3.5 GEMVIEW 3.00
LOADING/UNCOMPRESSING TIME: 8 sec 11 sec
GIF COMPRESSING/SAVING TIME: 14 sec 1 min 32 sec
FILE SIZE IN BYTES: 98846 100517
This GIF had 115 colors and lots of blank space, only SOL realized
that it could save it as a 128 color GIF and saved file space! How
about another...768 x 512 256 color GIF
SPEED OF LIGHT 3.5 GEMVIEW 3.00
LOADING/UNCOMPRESSING TIME: 11 sec 15 sec
GIF COMPRESSING/SAVING TIME: 20 sec 1 min 19 sec
FILE SIZE IN BYTES: 334829 334802
These are actual saving and loading times, no lie!
-=> Saving and loading display information in GIF89a images now works
correctly.
-=> A "Flat" wave was added in warping to allow discrete shifting of the
image in places. Ideal for corrupted JPEGs.
-=> Lots of bugs fixed involving the capture of the image when going from
display to dialogs and back.
-=> Zoom Area now centers your zoom on the screen when the area you selected
is not the same aspect ratio as the screen.
-=> Colormap Editor was changed a bit:
-=> The palette can now be edited in VDI order as well as Device order.
-=> A new command "Take" works like "Select" except that you choose a
pixel from the image and the color you are currently editing will be set
to the image's original color at that spot. Confused? Me too...try it!
-=> You can switch to a different image while in the Color Editor.
-=> The unimplemented feature "omit colors" was omitted (ha ha) from the
Color Editor. Ho Hum, so not all of my ideas are cool! =)
-=> Filtered Scaling was really worked-over:
-=> Greyscale Filtering is a little faster.
-=> Color Filtering is now almost as fast as Greyscale Filtering by
using an inverse colormap. The inverse color map resolution can be
changed for fast approximations or accurate renderings. Dithering is
also supported with color filtering using true random dithering as well
as standard matrix dithering.
-=> Complex color transformations now also work with filtering.
(A previous bug made this look funny.)
-=> The filtered image is much more accurate both in brightness and in
position. The pixels in previous version were shifted incorrectly up
and to the left.
-=> Up and down scrolling now works with filtering. This was caused
because the filtering routine always drew one less scan line than it was
supposed to!
-=> New filters were added and two groups were created: Standard and
Enhancing filters. Standard filters try to reproduce the original image
as closely as they can. Enhancing filters change the image in weird
ways, especially when enlarging the image.
-=> Asymmetrical enhancing filters can be flipped, and all filters can
be wrapped or faded at the edge of the image.
-=> Filters can be scaled in height as well as width both horizontally
and vertically. Scaling in height causes the filter to brighten the
resulting image. Scales less than 1 will darken the image. Blurring by
scaling the filter horizontally and vertically can often cause the image
to darken, so you can compensate for this with height scaling.
-=> When using the "Change Picture [P]" option from the display screen, you
can now select the position on the image that you would like to display
next. This is done by dragging a small box (representing the display area)
to the position you would like to move to. You can also move between small
greyscale pictures with the arrow keys as well as the slider bar.
-=> You can now access images 21-30 with ALTERNATE-Function Key, and you can
move to the next/previous image with the '[' and ']' keys.
-=> Holding down ALTERNATE in the display screen prevents scrolling when the
mouse moves into the scrolling area.
-=> Scrolling right and left now has less "annoying flickering" in 256
colors.
-=> "Image = Screen [X]" feature now supports a "Shrink" option so that it
only converts the parts of the screen that are used. It essentially clips
the image for you and omits any blank space.
-=> Two new histograms were added: DARKCONT.HST and LITECONT.HST. These are
contrast histograms that only apply contrast to either the dark or light
intensities in a color plane.
-=> A glossary was included (GLOSSARY.DOC) to explain some of the more
complicated image processing terms.
-=> Fixed some Graphics Card bugs.
-=> The E-Z Registration form can now be printed to an ASCII disk file as
well as to your printer. A blank file is also included: REGIFORM.TXT
-=> More bugs fixed than I can remember!
Changes in version 3.3 from 3.1
===============================
-=> Double clicking on "Purge" in the options dialog allows you to purge all
the images except the first one.
-=> A feature "Image = Screen" fuses the screen into an actual image. This
makes any warping or filtering permanent so you can do other alterations of
the image. By making the screen an image, you can now save the screen as a
GIF by using "As Original" when you save it.
-=> The Warp feature was added. Two warping effects can be combined: bulge
(stretching) and ripple (shifting). Bulge zooms the scan line outward or
inward, causing the stretching effect. This can be applied anywhere on the
image (to the scan lines) and can be set to any size. Ripple is merely a
shifting of the scan lines a certain amount (horizontally). Warping only
effects the displayed image, not the original image. You must use "Image =
Screen" to make it permanent. You can then rotate the image 90 degrees to
apply warping on the vertical axis, use "Image = Screen" again, and then
rotate it 90 degrees back for example.
-=> Unregistered versions now can use filtering, but every eighth line is
blank. This is the same for warping.
-=> The Display Screen Popup Menu was changed slightly to accommodate more
entries.
-=> CONTROL-F toggles filtering in the Display Screen.
-=> Rotations are FASTER!
-=> The name of the current file being processed appears at the top of the
screen during loading and color reduction.
-=> TONS OF BUGS FIXED!!!
-=> A bunch of other stuff.