PICTURE FILE TRANSFERS REVISITED ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By Phillip White. I would like to think that I write these articles in response to popular demand. No such luck, no-one has ever got back and said to me that they found my hints and tips useful. Oh well, its just that more often than not I am faced with a problem, and if I manage to solve it then I think that it would make a good story for the magazine. The gist of this article is about picture file transfers between the ST and the Mac. Once upon a time, computer graphics meant bit mapped screen images. The types of files that commonly use this format can include Degas, Neochrome and Spectrum for the ST and Macpaint for the Mac. Also of note are the various types of IFF and GIF picture for the the Amiga and PC. IFF transfers have been covered in previous issues of Inside Info, and I can think of all sorts of excuses not to have to deal with the IBM world, yet. I am a Spectre GCR owner, which means that I have a Mac plus as well as an ST sharing the same case and keyboard. This is not meant to be a Spectre or Mac rave, but rather some tips on bringing new meaning to the marriage between Mr Mac and Mrs ST. The Mac has some great DTP software. Quark Express and Pagemaker reign supreme in the kingdom of computerised layout. Calamus and Pagestream are fine programs in their own right but mention Calamus in a typesetting bureau and lo', a tilt to the head and eh? are the inevitable result. Poor Calamus owners can't even hand over a disk of postscript. Let's repeat the bureau scenario again with an Express disk. Firm nods of understanding, and would sir or madam like a cuppa while we work out the quote. Nup' lets face it the Mac is it for DTP in the real world. Before I get tarred and feathered for treason, I would like to point out that I am a Calamus owner and use it often. My girlfriend is a Machead and can hardly wait till the ST has died on bootup and Spectre ushers in the Mac. Desktop publishing is great fun and profitable too. One of the best ways to enhance a document is to throw in a few snaps. A picture tells a thousand words and one of the most common types of picture to use is that of an image scan. Typically this involves having a photo converted into binary data by a scanner. There are several available for the ST ranging from flatbed to handheld models and the most common image file format for the ST is the .IMG one. The IMG file is not restricted to the screen size, and can extend way beyond the borders of the monitor, it also packs in a few bytes with around 200k being typical for a scan of a 3 by 5 photo at 300 DPI (Dots per inch). The scan rate should reflect the resolution of the output device which is the ultimate destination of the picture. My SLM 804 Laser printer will do 300 DPI fine. A transparency may need 1200 DPI and the IMG file size will bloat accordingly, (even more for colour). Calamus will accept an IMG pic with gay abandon and so too I think does Pagestream. All is happy within the closed ranks of the ST community. But hark! the PC and Mac factions are desirous of our IMG pic. What to do? I have it on good faith that the IMG format is recognised in some PC applications, after all it is the "GEM IMG" format we are talking about, and GEM was written for the PC. No such luck with the Mac however and thus we need some way of getting our pic into Pagemaker. Bit mapped screen images are no problem. Degas to Mac converter and View GIF are two shareware applications that will convert ST bitmapped images to the MacPaint format and vice versa without any problem, although some cropping may result. Others, such as Picswitch will only convert from MacPaint to an ST format pic. The big problem is in how to convert a monster IMG image into something the Mac can play ball with. Attempt number one was to use Degas to Mac converter. Load the IMG file and section it into 8 pieces which were then joined together in Macpaint. Tedious. There must be a better way. I did not have View GIF at this stage so I cannot vouch for it. But a phone call to the ACE NSW president revealed that the latest Touchup would convert an IMG into a TIFF file. TIFF, which means Tagged Interchange File Format is reputedly a machine independent image file format that is fast gaining favour in the industry. I braced myself for a bus trip and the conversion process was completed. A further conversion was necessary in Mac mode to change the TIFF pic into a PICT for importation into a Mac DTP application. This was accomplished using a Mac shareware utility called GIF Converter, (with all these references to GIF or Graphics Interchange Format, I suppose I had better do an article someday on this as well!) So far so good, but there had to be a better alternative to hoofing it over to the Presidents residence every time I want an IMG file converted and I am singularly unimpressed with the speed of Touchup to want to buy it, slow as a wet week really. Then I remembered that an ST public domain utility called ST PIC Converter by Danny Roth had as a file save option, a format called TIF. Would this work? You Betcha! and it converts an entire IMG pic as well. I must point out that it is a one bit TIFF file, which I presume means no grey scales or colours, but it looks pretty good when printed out as a Pagemaker document on a laser printer. What all this means is that ST users can move one step closer into the embrace of the rest of the computer world. It is apparent that no longer is it the hardware that matters so much anymore, but rather the ability to exchange files easily between different computers. The TIFF format is one example. It can be utilised on Macs, PC's ST's and Amigas, albeit with a fair degree of conversion processing, but it is worth it in the end. Also for those Spectre users, a scanner which plugs into the ST can be used instead of relying on a Mac base one with the customary markup. The ShareWare or Public Domain utilities mentioned here are available for perusal on the ACE NSW BBS and through the PD Library.