Using Photogenics with Other Applications


Using Photogenics with Scala

Using Photogenics with Lightwave

Using Photogenics with Deluxe Paint

Using Photogenics with Workbench Backdrops

Using Photogenics with Wordworth/Final Writer

Using Photogenics with Professional Page 4

Using Photogenics with Pagestream

Using Photogenics with Studio II

Using Photogenics with AdPro, ImageFX & ImageMaster

Using Photogenics with TV-Paint

Using Photogenics with Windows Applications

USING PHOTOGENICS WITH SCALA

If you are creating images to use as a Scala backdrop, then first make sure that your picture is of the correct size. Normally you would want to use hires laced images with overscan. Typical maximum sizes for images to use with Scala would be:

PAL (Europe, Australia): 736x580 (interlaced hires overscan)

NTSC (North America, Japan): 736x480 (interlaced hires overscan)

The actual values may vary slightly depending on your monitor and on your Overscan preferences settings. However, using images at these sizes should allow you to use the full overscan area of your monitor, although the image may be slightly larger than absolutely necessary. Once you have created your image inside Photogenics, you need to save it out in a format that can be loaded into Scala (which is usually as an IFF-ILBM image, 256 colours or less). Remember to save another copy of your work as a 24-bit image (IFF-24, IFF-Deep or JPEG) so you can continue to work at full quality with the image later.

Scala Home Titler/Scala Video Titler

To load into Scala Home Titler (original) or Scala Video Titler you will need to save the image as an IFF-ILBM image (select ILBM from the savers list, or from the 'Save As/Other' menu item). When the requester appears for ILBM options, you will need to select a depth of no more than four bitplanes (which is 16 colours), it is best to enable Floyd Steinberg dithering. As the resultant images only have 16 colours they will not be as high quality as the original image. Save the image and load that image into Scala as your background.

Scala Multimedia MM200/MM300

You will need to save your image as an IFF-ILBM (as above), but if you have an AGA Amiga you can work with higher quality images at up to 256 colours.

Scala Multimedia MM400

Scala Multimedia MM400 can load in a variety of different image formats, including IFF-24, directly. Save your image as IFF-24 (menu item 'Save As/IFF-24') and load that image into MM400. If you are planning to distribute a presentation on floppy disk you may prefer to save out as 256 colour IFF images (see the MM200/MM300 entry above) You can also use Scala (all versions except Home Titler) as a text generator for Photogenics. Start with a blank page in Scala. Make sure that colour zero in the palette for your page is set to black. If you want anti-aliased text make sure black is set as the anti-alias colour. If you want to use Color Fonts, or otherwise make use of fancy borders or styles, you must make sure that the background colour is black (Red = 0, Green = 0, Blue = 0). If you want to use a 'black' colour in your text you should define another colour as near black (Red =1, Green =1, Blue = 1) and only use that colour for your black text (or borders). You should not use anti-aliasing if you want to use coloured text. Now position your text on the page as normal in Scala. Select the SAVE IFF button and save the current page as an IFF file. In Photogenics, load in the image you want to add the text to, andthen select the 'Open As/Secondary' menu item. Select the image you saved from Scala from this file requester. Now, select the first image window (the image without text) and select 'Compose' from the Image menu. You should click on the 'Brightness Key' gadget in the compose window if your text was anti-aliased white text, or on the 'Black Trans.' gadget if you used coloured fonts. The background should disappear leaving your text on the image you chose as the background. You can now position and resize the image if necessary, and click on the OK button when you wish to position the text.

USING PHOTOGENICS WITH LIGHTWAVE 3D

Lightwave accepts images as IFF-ILBM. If you wish to use the image as a backdrop, projected image map or the final artwork is to be print quality, save your image as IFF-24 (menu item 'Save As/IFF-24'). For most texture maps 256 colour IFF images with dithering should be all that is required, this will also be faster rendering and use less RAM.

IFF-24 output from Lightwave ( save RGB Images in Record menu) and IFF-8Bit Alpha ( save Alpha Images in the Record menu) can both be loaded directly into Photogenics. When rendering it is often useful to switch on the Alpha channel save, as the 8Bit image is a useful aid when using rubthru and compose in Photogenics.

The new LWOB (Lightwave Object) format loader for Photogenics 2 provides an easy way to create texture maps for objects. Load in your 3d object and you are given a wireframe view. Paint over this, save the resultant image and you have a ready-made texture map that will fit perfectly onto your 3d model!

USING PHOTOGENICS WITH DELUXE PAINT

Early versions of Deluxe Paint can only load up to 32 - colour low resolution or 16 - colour high resolution images. You will need to save images using the 'Save As/Other' menu item, selecting the 'ILBM' saver, and setting the number of bitplanes at a maximum value of 5 (for 32 - colour low resolution) or 4 (for 16-colour high resolution). Floyd Steinberg dithering will improve the quality of the image, but it will not be as good as your 24-bit image (you have reduced the number of colours from a potential 16 million down to 32 or 16). Make sure you do not overwrite your original 24-bit data file with this new lower-quality image.With Deluxe Paint IV you can load HAM images. In Photogenics use the 'Save As/Other' menu item and select the 'HAM6' saver. Only low-resolution or low resolution interlaced HAM images are supported by Deluxe Paint IV. With Deluxe Paint 4.5 (AGA) and later you can load in higher quality images, including 24-bit IFF-24 images. Save your image as 24-bit IFF ('Save As/IFF-24'), and on loading into Deluxe Paint 4.5 you will be asked if you want the image dithered. Dithering will increase the quality of the image but will take longer. You MUST select the screenmode you wish to convert the image to before loading (for 256 colours, HAM8, or whatever other screenmode you prefer). It is important to remember that however you load your images into Deluxe Paint you will lose quality. Do NOT load images into Deluxe Paint, save them out, load them back into Photogenics and expect them to remain as good as they were when you started. Converting the image down to a format that Deluxe Paint can understand will invariably cut the quality of the image and introduce dithering which may look unpleasant inside Photogenics. If you have to load images back into Photogenics, try using the Blur paintmode to 'smooth out' unwanted dither patterns.

USING PHOTOGENICS WITH WORKBENCH BACKDROPS

Under version 3.0 and higher the Amiga operating system allows you to put a picture on your Workbench screen, or in your Workbench windows. To save out an image suitable for use with Workbench you will need to first set up your Workbench screen to the correct number of colours. Run the ScreenMode preferences item inside the preferences drawer on your system drive (if you are running from floppy disk it is impractical to use Workbench backdrops). Change the number of colours. The default is eight, but you will have better quality images with more colours. Warning! Using more colours will eat up more of your precious chip memory and make Workbench run slower. 32 colours is usually enough to allow a decent Workbench backdrop. Note down the width and height values of your Workbench screen, you will need these later. Select the SAVE button to save your changes to the system preferences.

If your Workbench has not now changed to the new screen depth (it may display an error telling you that intuition cannot close the screen), then close down all your other applications and, if necessary, reboot your Amiga. Start up Photogenics and load your image. Your Workbench backdrop will be best if it is the same size as your Workbench screen. If your image is not the same size, either scale the image or use crop to make the image the same size. Save out your image using the ILBM saver (select the 'Save As/Other' menu and choose ILBM from the list). The options determine the number of colours (the bitplane depth of the image), whether the image is colour or grey scale and if you want the image dithered. For the best results select the number of bitplanes that is one less than the number of bitplanes in your workbench screen, and make sure that dithering is set to Floyd Steinberg.

Now you can quit Photogenics and enter the WB Pattern preferences program. Select Workbench for the 'Placement' option and change the 'Type' to Picture. Click on the Select Picture option,and select the file that you have saved from Photogenics. Click on Test to see if you like it, and if you do select SAVE to permanently install that image on your backdrop.

USING PHOTOGENICS WITH WORDWORTH & FINAL WRITER

Both Wordworth and Final Writer (and most other word publisher programs) are capable of reading standard Amiga IFF-ILBM images in up to 256 colours (or shades of grey). To save an image from Photogenics in a suitable format to include in your document, save as IFF-ILBM (menu 'Save As/Other', select ILBM, set number of colours to 256 or less. If you are printing a colour document set Dither to Floyd-Steinberg and Mode to Colour, otherwise set Dither to None and Mode to Grey scale).

USING PHOTOGENICS WITH PROFESSIONAL PAGE 4

Save your images as IFF-24 format (menu 'Save As/IFF 24') to get them in the best quality for loading into ProPage 4. If you are only printing out monochrome final artwork, you may prefer to save the image as a 256 - colour grey scale IFF (menu 'Save As/Other', select ILBM, set bitplanes depth to 8, dither to None and Mode to Grey scale). Make sure you read the page about 'Getting the best out of your Printer' before starting work for use in Desk Top Publishing.

USING PHOTOGENICS WITH PAGESTREAM 3

Pagestream 3 is capable of loading in a variety of different image formats. Using IFF-24, Grey scale or 256 - colour ILBM imagesmay not be the most efficient way to transfer data to Pagestream but it will certainly work. See the instructions for Using Photogenics with ProPage 4 above.

USING PHOTOGENICS WITH STUDIO II

Controlling Studio II is simple within Photogenics. Load in your image and select 'Print/Via Studio II' from the Project menu. Once the image data has been transferred the Studio II print window will open on the Photogenics screen which allows you to set various options for print size and quality. Please refer to the manual that comes with Studio II for information on how to configure Studio II.

USING PHOTOGENICS WITH ADPRO, IMAGE FX OR IMAGEMASTER

If you want to quickly transfer images between AdPro, ImageFX, ImageMaster and Photogenics you will find that although the IFF-24 format works fine, other formats are faster for transfering raw 24-bit data. Unfortunately, most of these programs do not support the IFF-Deep format, which would be ideal. BMP, QRT, PBM and Targa are all simple file formats which load and save quickly. BMP and QRT format are supported by all these packages.

USING PHOTOGENICS WITH TV-PAINT

TV-Paint can read and write IFF-Deep format files. Use 'Save As/IFF Deep' from Photogenics to output a file to load into TV-Paint.

USING PHOTOGENICS WITH MICROSOFT WINDOWS APPLICATIONS

There are two formats that can be created with Photogenics that are supported by nearly all Windows applications. Windows .BMP format files are universally accepted by all PC applications, and .PCX files are accepted by nearly as many. You will need to format a disk for PC use. Consult your Workbench manuals as to how to set up CrossDos on your Amiga to read and write to PC format disks. Save the image from Photogenics by using 'Save As/Other' from the Project menu and selecting either BMP or PCX. Note that these files can be big and may not fit on to standard double density - disks (720Kb). There are several PC applications that are capable of reading other file formats (eg, JPEG) and converting these to other formats the PC can understand. Graphics Workshop for Windows and PC Paintbrush are two such programs that are widely available.

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