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1988-05-23
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BLD2GIF (c) 1988 Lawrence Gozum & Marvin Gozum
──────────────────────────────────────────────
User Manual
DISCLAIMER
This product is distributed AS IS. The authors specifically disclaim
all warranties ,expressed or implied, including ,but not limited to,
implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular
purpose with respect to defects in the diskette and documentation, and
program license granted herein, in particular, and without limiting
operation of the program license with respect to any particular
application use or purpose. In no event shall the authors be liable
for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage including but
not limited to special,incidental, consequential or other damages.
LICENSING AGREEMENT
You may use this program on a TRIAL BASIS only; this means that you
may freely evaluate the usefulness of this program for a reasonable
period. Should you find this program useful, you must register it
(see last section of this manual). You will then be provided with
the latest release of VGACAD (VGA Computer Assisted Design) and latest
updates of all released utilities.
You may freely distribute copies of this program in its UNMODIFIED
state provided you do not include it in other software packages, with
the exception of distributing it as part of a bundle of Public Domain
or shareware programs on a single diskette. In addition you may not
charge more that $3.50 for copying and/or distributing this program in
the absence of any recognized Users Group guidelines.
WHAT IS BLD2GIF ?
BLD2GIF is a conversion utility for creating files which follow
CompuServe's GIF ("Graphics Interchange Format"). GIF files are
"universal" in that it allows the transmittal and porting of your
pictures to other machines as well as through communication software.
Pictures in the GIF format can be viewed in different graphics modes
and machines depending on the sophistication of the software. BLD2GIF
will convert any screen captured with VGACAP or any screen created on
VGACAD; in effect you can convert ANY viewable picture into a GIF
picture. All screens captured by VGACAP can be edited, garnished or
image processed with VGACAD.
WHAT IS VGACAP ?
VGACAP is a terminate-stay-resident (TSR) utility that allows you to
capture the 256 color palette and screen in the 320x200x256 color mode
and save both the palette and screen in "Bloadable" formats. VGACAP's
main purpose is to capture and "Bsave" the pictures of commercial and
shareware viewing programs as well as painting/graphics and CAD
programs available now and in the future.
VGACAD (one of the first 256 color paint/CAD shareware programs
distributed in the Public domain) will load the captured screens and
palettes, as soon as you rename the files to follow the .plt and .bld
extensions.
REQUIREMENTS
You MUST have a VGA or MCGA adaptor (at least BIOS compatible) present
and an analog monitor to use VGACAP and BLD2GIF. VGACAP uses less
than 2K of your available memory ! BLD2GIF needs about 192KB of
diskspace and free memory to run succesfully.
Note: When in DOS or using a picture viewer (e.g., VGAGIF) or
application which requires a keypress to continue, it is necessary to
hit any key or a specified key (e.g., spacebar or return) after
hitting the 'HOTKEY' before VGACAP saves the screen and palette.
HOW TO USE VGACAP
Simply run VGACAP before entering your painting/CAD or digitized
picture viewer. After loading, press <ALT-F10>, while viewing your
picture in any drawing/paint/CAD or viewing program. Your current
screen and palette will be saved in your default drive and directory
in the standard Bsave format for all BASIC programs.
The first time you run the program it will save your screen and
palette to MCAGSCRN.000 and MCGAPLET.000 respectively. It will then
increase both extensions up to .999. If there is an existing
MCGASCRN.xxx or MCGAPLET.xxx file, then it will increment to the next
higher number. This can be confusing if you keep the captured files
without renaming them since you can have unmatched screens and
palettes. You can use your favorite memory managers to remove this
TSR or reboot to release it from memory.
HOW TO USE BLD2GIF
Every captured picture or picture created with VGACAD will have two
files: the screen and palette. The screen should have the extension
.BLD and .PLT for the palette.
a) WITH captured screens and palettes using VGACAP
If your picture was captured with VGACAP, rename both files
with the same name with the corresponding extensions. For
example rename MCGASCRN.000 to MYPIC.BLD and MCGAPLET.000 to
MYPIC.PLT.
e.g. while in DOS type "rename MCGASCRN.000 MYPIC.BLD"
b) WITH created/edited screens palettes using VGACAD
In VGACAD you have the flexibility of using a single palette
for several pictures. If your screen was named "MYPIC.BLD"
and you used "GRAY64.PLT" for the screen, then rename or
copy "GRAY64.PLT" to "MYPIC.PLT" file.
e.g. while in DOS type "copy GRAY64.PLT MYPIC.PLT"
c) WITH BASIC Bsaved pictures using hardware palette
In BASIC, when you invoke SCREEN 13 the VGA card defaults to
a standard hardware palette. You can BSAVE you screens
using the following lines:
Screen 13: 'init MCGA 256 color mode
DEF SEG=&HA000: 'point data segment to
'screen buffer A0000H
BSAVE"MCPIC.BLD",0,64000: 'bsave the screen
DEF SEG: 'restore data segment
Copy and rename the included file "BASIC.plt" to match your
bsaved picture.
e.g. while in DOS type "copy BASIC.PLT MYPIC.PLT"
If you are directly making pictures from BASIC, I suggest
using VGACAP to save screen and palette changes instead of
being limited by the standard hardware palette. BASIC's
PALETTE USING does not support reading (much more a way to
bsave) palettes in a BIOS compatible format.
Now that you have the screen and palette type "BLD2GIF MYPIC <return>"
then after a few seconds, you picture and palette will be merged and
converted to MYPIC.GIF. This picture can now be viewed with GIF
viewers (e.g., Michael Vigneau's VGAGIF) or used with any software
that supports GIF pictures.
BLOADING captured screens in BASIC
The following lines will load one of the captured screens from
QuickBASIC 4.0
If you are using QuickBASIC 1.0, 2.0 or 3.0, I have included
VGAMODE.obj which you can include in your UserLib.exe through
BUILDLIB.exe.
VGAMODE is a BIOS compatible assembly routine which can call the more
exotic graphic modes of your compatible VGA card (e.g. 800x560x16
color mode of ATI's VGA VIP and EGA Wonder); check your user manual
for the correct hex codes.
USAGE: Call VGAMODE(&H13) : 'MCGA 256 color mode
or Call VGAMODE(mode%): 'where mode is an integer that
'corresponds to the videomode
'after translating it from HEX
The following lines will perform just as well as the listing above.
Call VGAMODE(&H13): 'init MCGA 256 color mode
DEF SEG=&HA000: 'point data segment to
'screen buffer A0000H
Bload "MCGASCRN.000",0: 'load the screen
DEF SEG : 'restore data segment
As a matter of convention, if you are using VGACAD, you should
rename your capture screens with the .BLD extension (e.g., MYPICT.BLD)
for use in VGACAD or conversion in BLD2GIF.
BLOADING captured palettes in BASIC
If you are using QuickBASIC (any version from 1.0 to 4.0), I have
included WRITEPAL.obj, which is, also a VGA BIOS routines written in
assembly, that you can include in your UserLib.exe through
BUILDLIB.exe (v3.0 and lower) or LINK (v4.0).
WRITEPAL is also a BIOS compatible assembly routine that writes to 256
palette registers. Although its main purpose is to facilitate the
overriding of the VGA or MCGA standard palette, since it is an
all-purpose BIOS routine it will facilitate changing the palettes of
more exotic screen modes such as the 640x480x256 color screens of
IBM's 8514/A adaptor. This function is similar to "PALETTE USING" in
QuickBASIC with the major advantage of following the BIOS convention
which VGACAP captures and bsaves.
USAGE: Call WritePal (Dseg%,Offset%)
WHERE: Dseg% =result of VARSEG for array storage
Offset%=result of VARPTR for array storage
The following lines illustrate its use.
REM: Example Routine
DIM UserPal%(769) :' 256 colors x 3 registers=768
:' registers= red grn blu
Dseg%=VARSEG(UserPal(1)) :' get data segment
Offset%=VARPTR(UserPal(1)) :' get offset
DEF SEG=Dseg% :' override data segment
BLOAD "MCGAPLET.000",Offset% :' bload in correct offset
DEF SEG ;' restore data segment
Call WritePal (Dseg%,Offset%)
Palettes captured by VGACAP follow the BIOS calling convention in that
they are contiguous RGB (red green blue) values for all 256 colors.
Not only is this the same way GIF stores the palette in its file, but
one BIOS call can update an entire palette with RGB values stored in
this manner.
USING VGABLD
The "bloadable" format has several advantages over GIF. If you intend
to use your pictures primarily in IBM machines in VGA or MCGA mode
then you will notice that the pictures load INSTANTANEOUSLY !
Bloading a screen is simply a memory dump into your display area;
this is particularly crucial for presentations.
In addition, keeping the screen and palette separate allows you to use
one palette for several pictures or for creating special effects. For
example, you can make a picture shift from a "day scene" to a "night
scene" by simply changing the palette; you can also create animation
effects.
You need not go through the tedium of writing your own program just to
view your captured pictures. VGABLD will load a picture for viewing.
Captured screen and palette MUST have the .BLD and .PLT extensions
respectively for the same picture. The BASIC source code is included
and is ready for compilation.
REGISTRATION
To register your copy, send in the registration form and check for
$14.95 or $19.95 payable to
Dr. Marvin Gozum
2 Independence Place Apt. 303-2
6th & Locust Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
For $14.95 you will be entitled to the latest update of VGACAD without
reminders which pop-up every 20 minutes AND the latest updates of
released utilities: VGACAP, BLD2GIF and CGA2VGA (converts your
library of CGA pictures to VGA 256 color format).
For $19.95 you will be entitled to the next TWO (2) updates of the
latest of everything; this means that from the date of receipt of your
registration we will send you the latest version of VGACAD and all the
related utilities developed and a premier copy of any new utility
developed as well as the next releases of all the aforementioned and
any new fonts (with the font editor) and Clipart files when available.
You can expect spectacular enhancements in VGACAD's updates. At
present it has sophisticated image processing functions, auto/variable
sizing and stretching, image colorization , Cut&Paste, 23 brushes and
more. Future updates will include 3D and 2D transformations, gradient
fills and patterns, and more; many of these routines are in "C" or
assembly and work very fast.
In the pipeline is QBVGA an extensive library of QuickBASIC VGA 256
color graphics routines, VGASHW (a graphics presentation program to
showoff your captured pictures or your own paintings and screen
design, EGA2VGA (a TSR to convert EGA screens to VGA 256 color
format), VGA3DM (3D object/model editor for including models in
VGACAD), and VGAPRN (a print utility for EPSON and IBM dot matrix
printers). If you continue to support maverick authors like us, we
will continue to develop these products like nothing ever seen in
commercial packages - otherwise it will, as many (sigh!) good
"shareware" packages have to go commercial or simply die from lack of
support. Support us and we'll keep developing.