home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Graphics Plus
/
Graphics Plus.iso
/
msdos
/
viewers
/
ifse100
/
imgfun.txt
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1992-12-11
|
43KB
|
1,026 lines
I M G F U N . T X T
C O N T E N T S
1. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
1.1 ImgFun Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Packing lists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2. ASP Ombudsman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
3. System Requirement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
3.1 Display mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3.2 VESA support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3.3 SVGA support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4. Computer Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
4.1 Gray Level Images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4.2 Color Mapped Images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4.3 True Color Images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
5. What's ImgFun for?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
5.1 ImgFun under Windows and PaintBrush. . . . . . 8
6. General Operations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
6.1 How to start ImgFun. . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
6.2 Main menu functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
6.3 The on line help system. . . . . . . . . . . .11
6.4 Fast Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
7. Image Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7.1 GIF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
7.2 PCX. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
7.3 BMP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
7.4 JPEG (*.jpg) Compression and Decompression .14
7.5 Other Formats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
8. Function Usage: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
8.1 File:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
8.1.1 Load: Load an image to work. . . . . . 17
8.1.2 View: View an image file.. . . . . . . 17
8.1.3 Save: Save the loaded image 1. . . . . 17
8.1.4 Quit: Quit ImgFun. . . . . . . . . . . 17
8.2 Adjust:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
8.2.1 Brighten: Brighten the loaded image. . 17
8.2.2 Darken : Darken the loaded image. . . 17
8.2.3 Contrast:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
8.2.4 cOlor :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
8.3 Set: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
8.3.1 Background: Choose a background color. 17
8.3.2 Cut area :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
8.3.3 Directions:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
8.3.4 Threshold : View a binary map. . . . . 17
8.4 Transform: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
8.4.1 Rescale :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
8.4.2 Smooth:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
8.4.3 shArpen: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
8.4.4 rOtate:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
8.5 Options: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
8.5.1 Display : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
8.5.2 card : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
8.5.3 direcTory: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
8.5.4 Dither : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
8.6 Utility: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
8.6.1 Compress : JPEG compression . . . . . 18
8.6.2 cOnvert :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
8.6.3 sLide show: a manual slide show. . . . 18
8.7 Undo and Update: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
8.8 Swap (F3) :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
8.9 DOS (F6) :Shell out to DOS. . . . . . . . . .19
8.10 Gray (F7) : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 1
1. Introduction
1.1 ImgFun Package
ImgFun is a powerful image compression and enhancement
program for computer images. ImgFun is designed to let you
regain the tremendous amount of disk space occupied by GIF like
images in your system and explore the pleasure of viewing
images in the awesome 256-color SVGA modes.
ImgFun is developed by Speedy Software and distributed
as shareware. For shareware and registration, please read
register.txt. Once again, for supporting affordable quality
software, PLEASE REGISTER!!!
1.2 Packing lists
IFSE100.exe : A self extracting file made by the Lha213
package which is copyrighted by Haruyasu Yoshizaka contains
the following files:
readme.txt A short compilation of important information
ImgFun.exe The program itself
ImgFun.hlp The help file
ImgFun.pif PIF for Windows
ImgFun.txt This file
register.txt Registration and development information
order.frm an easy order form to register
If you are missing one or more of these files, contact the
author at one of the addresses listed at the end of this
document.
For installation, just copy all files to a proper
directory of your hard disk.
Please do read register.txt, it contains important
information about the future development and planning of ImgFun.
Some utilities might be included from Speedy Software.
ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 2
2. ASP Ombudsman
This program is produced by a member of the Association
of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that
the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to
resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by
contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The
ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with
an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for
members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545
Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442 or send a Compuserve message
via easyplex to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536
ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 3
3. System Requirement
A lot efforts have been made to make ImgFun as lean and
fast as possible.
[1] 286 or better PC with DOS 2.0 or above
[2] 300 to 450K of free memory under DOS, no extended or
expanded memory needed. Some of the memory is dynamically
allocated. For the viewer, you need at least 300K.
[3] VGA or SVGA display system. See "SVGA support" for SVGA
support list.
[4] Hard disk space for loading and processing images. One
mega bytes or above free space is required. If you use
ImgFun as a viewer only, no hard disk is required.
For the bulkiness of image data and the tremendous computing
load for processing images, a 386, or 486 computer with 2
mega bytes of free disk space is recommended. ImgFun uses
disk files for loading images up to 1024 by 1024, thus a
disk cache like the smartdrv in DOS 5.0 or Windows 3.0 & 3.1
will help ImgFun a lot and is strongly recommended.
3.1 Display mode
ImgFun uses 256-color mode in the following
resolutions for displaying images:
0. 300 x 200 standard VGA mode
1. 640 x 400 SVGA available for most cards with 256 KBytes
2. 640 x 480 SVGA needs 512 KBytes on board
3. 800 x 600 SVGA needs 512 KBytes on board
4.1024 x 768 SVGA needs 1024 KBytes on board
3.2 VESA support
ImgFun also supports VESA (Video Electronics
Standards Association) drivers with 64K window size starting
at address A000h.
In the auto-detection mode,ImgFun will try to identify
your VGA card and determine the SVGA modes available. When
your VGA card can not be identified, ImgFun will try to test
if a valid VESA driver is present, if so the VESA driver will
be used. If no valid SVGA chip and VESA driver available,
ImgFun will use the standard 320x200 mode for displaying
images.
ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 4
WARNING: NOT ALL VESA DRIVERS ARE SUPPORTED. YOU HAVE TO TEST
YOUR VESA CARD FIRST!!!!
VESA drivers are usually in one of the VGA utility disks
which are included in most VGA card packages or built in the VGA
cards. Please consult your VGA card manual for installation of
the VESA driver. Notice that not all VESA drivers are
accepted by ImgFun. Only those detected and verified by ImgFun
will be used.
3.3 SVGA support
The following SVGA chips are under support in ImgFun:
The highest resolution available is listed.
[1] Trident Series: Everex VGA
8800: up to 640 x 480
8900, 9000 or newer: up to 1024 x 768
[2] Tseng's Lab:
ET3000: up to 800 x 600
ET4000: up to 1024 x 768
[3] Paradise cards or Western Digitals chip sets:
WD90C00, WD90C10: up to 640 x 480
WD90C11, WD90C30 or newer: up to 800 x 600
[4] ATI Technologies:
18800, 28800 or newer : up to 800 x 600
[5] Video 7, Headlands Technology:
V7VGA series: up to 800 x 600
[6] Chips and Technologies: Boca VGA
82c451: 640 x 400
82c452: up to 640 x 480
82c453: up to 800 x 600
[7] Genoa Systems:
up to 800 x 600
A new change has been made in version 1.0. A -s switch is
added for the standard 320x200x256 VGA mode. A new function,
ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 5
card, is added to the Options menu. Now users can choose auto
detection or manual setting of the display driver.
Usually VGA chip manufactures maintain backward
compatibility with their older chips when delivering new
VGA chips. In most cases, your VGA card from the above chip
vendors will be recognized by ImgFun.
If problems are encountered for the SVGA modes, please
contact the author.
ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 6
4. Computer Images
ImgFun operates on computer images, so first a
short explanation of what computer images are and how ImgFun
works with these images.
For our purposes, an image is a data set that describes
the reflectance of a 2- dimensional surface such as a photograph.
In particular, an image is a 2- dimensional array of "pixels",
each of which contains data for the small rectangular area of
the image it represents. Thus a pixel in an image w wide by h
height is addressed by 2-dimensional coordinate (x,y) for x
ranges from 0 to w-1 and y ranges from 0 to h-1. Usually the X
direction is left to right and the Y direction is top down. This
is the native format of ImgFun. Formats storing images in
other directions will be converted into this practice. The
value of each pixel is interpreted differently depending on
the type of the computer image. There are three classes of
computer images as follows:
4.1 Gray Level Images
Gray level images represent images by storing the
intensity of light for each pixel on a scale usually more than
just on/off. Typically, a gray level image will allow 64 to 256
shades of gray at each pixel. Very high quality renderings of
black and white photographs can be stored in this way. In
ImgFun, gray levels of images range from 0 to 255 with
0=Black and 255=White. Some times the gray level might be
referred as the luminance( better to remember 255 is white). No
color information is stored in the gray level images.
4.2 Color Mapped Images
From color theory, any color can be derived from mixtures
of 3 principle colors with proper proportions. Usually, red,
green and blue are used as the three principle colors in
personal computers. Each principle component requires 5 to 8 bits
for most computer images.
Color mapped images are the ones most common on
personal computers. Each pixel in an image is represented by
a number (called an index) that is used to look up the
pixel's actual colors in a table (called the palette). These
images are popular because they can be very colorful, yet take
up less memory than full-color images (described next).
The size of the color palette varies among formats, but
ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 7
is typically 16 to 256. These are the major type of images ImgFun
is designed to work with. In concept, you can treat a gray
level image as a color mapped image with a pre-defined
palette such that all the entries have equal values in red,
green and blue components from 0 to 255.
4.3 True Color Images
True color images are the highest quality representation, and
the largest files as well. Each pixel contains the complete
color information for that pixel, usually expressed as the
intensity of the red, green, and blue color components of the
light at that location. For 24 bit rgb images, each pixel is
represented by one byte in red, green and blue component
respectively. Some images use 5 bit per principle to result in
a pixel represented by 2 bytes( 16 bit) or so called
32768-color images. These 16 bit images are emerging in the PC
world from support of new display cards available. The extra
bit in 16 bit images can be used for other purposes like cut and
paste.
ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 8
5. What's ImgFun for?
ImgFun deals with gray and color mapped images in Ver. 1.00
and the next major update version will deal with true color
images directly. ImgFun does the following jobs for users:
[1] display:
Let user view images. Show loaded images with instant
zooming and scrolling. Reverse and mirror images instantly.
Also a manual slide show is implemented.
[2] enhancement:
Alter colors of images. Process images for visual pleasure.
[3] format conversion:
Convert between any two formats supported.
[4] compression:
Compress color mapped images and gray level
images by JPEG compression. Images are reduced to a
fraction of the original size for reducing the heavy
burden of keeping a large archive of image files.
5.1 ImgFun under Windows and PaintBrush
You can run ImgFun under MicroSoft Windows 3.0 or 3.1.
But please use the FULL SCREEN MODE ONLY and press Alt-Tab
to switch from ImgFun to Windows. In Windows, you can click the
icon of ImgFun to switch from Windows to ImgFun.
DON'T RUN IMGFUN IN A WINDOW UNDER WINDOWS. This might
produce unpredictable results if other Windows application and
ImgFun contend for the video memory.
If you are using Windows 3.1, there's a built in print out
function in PaintBrush, which can be located in the accessory
group. PaintBrush accepts PCX and BMP formats. Both are supported
by ImgFun. To import images to PaintBrush, you just save or
convert images into PCX, or BMP images and use the open function
in PaintBrush to load images. In PaintBrush, you can also write
texts on the image with various fonts and do cut and paste
of images.
The print out quality of PaintBrush is quite good,
ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 9
especially on laser printers. A print out module is under
development in Speedy Software. This print out module will
let users choose different algorithms for printing images, and
the current module will be available as a bundled bonus for
registered users.
ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 10
6. General Operations
6.1 How to start ImgFun
Type "ImgFun" or "ImgFun -s", under the system command line
with ImgFun.exe in the current directory to start ImgFun, or
use ImgFun.PIF to start ImgFun under Windows. Then you will
enter the main menu in the menu mode. A pull down menu (the
main menu), a status box and a function key bar are displayed
in the menu mode. Type in the capitalized letters or use
arrow keys for selecting functions in the main menu. An
on line help system is implemented for easy use, also a
good source of information. The auto-detection mode is
default and backward compatible with previous test
versions. If you have problems in starting ImgFun by the
auto-detection function, even after you installed a VESA
driver, then you should start ImgFun with the standard mode by
"ImgFun -s" in the command line. Now the standard mode will
use the 320x200x256 VGA mode only, unless the user has
changed the display driver by the function Options,
Display, card.
WARNING:ONLY USE MANUAL SETTING WHEN THE AUTO DETECTION FUNCTION
FAILS AND YOU ARE SURE YOU HAVE A VGA CARD WITH A NEWER CHIP OF
SOME VGA CHIP VENDOR LISTED. THE DISPLAY CARD FUNCTION IS
PROVIDED FOR THOSE NEW CHIPS FROM LISTED VGA CHIP VENDORS.
USUALLY NEW CHIPS FROM THE SAME VENDOR MAINTAIN BACKWARD
COMPATIBILITY IN THE MODE SETTING AND PAGING MECHANISM WITH OLDER
CHIPS, BUT MIGHT NOT BE PROPERLY IDENTIFIED BY IMGFUN.
6.2 Main menu functions
File : View, Load, Save, Quit
Adjust : Brighten, Darken, cOntrast, Color
Set : Background, Cut area, Directions, Threshold
Transform : Rescale, Smooth, shArpen, rOtate
Options : Display, direcTory, dIther
Utility : Compress, cOvert, sLide show
Function keys:
F1:HELP, F2:UNDO, F3:SWAP, F4:UPDATE, F5:SHOW, F6:DOS, F7:GRAY
And function key F10 is used to show
registration information.
Some of the functions might require selections from lists
or input parameters to do the job. For the list selection, you
can use Up, Down, Page Up and Page Down to scroll for the
ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 11
item or type in the name of the item, as you type in the
letters, ImgFun will try to match the closest item for fast
access.
For input dialogues, you can always use ESC to abort and
F1 for help.
During the operation of ImgFun, if something went wrong,
ImgFun will report error messages. Simply follow the
instructions to continue to work. The most common errors are
not enough memory or disk space, and an invalid image format
encountered.
6.3 The on line help system
For the help system (activated by pressing F1 in the menu
mode), you can use Page Up and Page Down to scroll, Esc to
abort and Space bar for the topic selection list.
6.4 Fast Start
ImgFun works on images stored in some pre-defined
formats. An image format specifies how information is stored
for the image and eases the job of exchanging images in
different applications. ImgFun supports several formats
which will be explained in the next section. Files with
corresponding format extensions will be treated as images
saved in corresponding formats.
For viewing images, use the File, View function. A manual
slide show can be performed by storing image file names ( do
specify full paths for ImgFun to locate image files) in a text
file by one file name a line from the beginning of each line.
Simply use the Utility ,sLide show for your slide show
entertainment.
A more powerful viewing program for the pleasure of
seeing computer images is provided for loaded images. To load an
image, please use the File, Load function. Up to two images
can be loaded at a time. Information about the loaded image 1
and loaded image 2 is reflected in the status box. Loaded
files will be stored on the current directory. After ImgFun is
started only the help file ImgFun.hlp is needed. You must
specify the help file directory in Options, direcTory, Help to
use the help system, if ImgFun is started in a different
directory other than the directory which ImgFun.hlp resides.
If you use a ram disk to start ImgFun, make sure you have
enough space for loading big files. A disk caching program
is strongly recommended for fast response. According to
experience, a ram drive will be redundant , if the
ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 12
smartdrv from Windows 3.1 is loaded. Smartdrv does a very
good job in disk caching when working with ImgFun.
After an image is loaded, you can use the Show function
by pressing F5. In the show mode, the loaded image 1 is displayed
in the screen by 256-color VGA, or SVGA modes. Press Page Up
and Page Down for instant zooming up to four times in width
and height. Use the arrow keys to scroll and the '+' and '-'
keys to increase or decrease the scroll step size. A lot of
tricks can be played in the Adjust and Set functions. You'll
get instant response by trying these functions. A built in
undo and update mechanism let you experiment on the loaded image
1.
One VERY VERY IMPORTANT thing to remember is that
before switching the display mode by Options, Display, mode
MAKE SURE YOUR MONITOR CAN STAND THE HIGH RESOLUTION MODE you
want to try, OTHERWISE YOU MIGHT BURN YOUR MONITOR'S TUBE,
ESPECIALLY THE KILLER MODE OF MONITORS, 1024x768.
If problems are encountered for some SVGA modes, please
contact the author for technical support. I have tried my best
to include as many drivers as I could for the wild supper VGA
cards.
A set of functions that might need some patience to wait
is grouped in the Transform menu. These functions will
produce another image file from the loaded image 1.
For image compression and format conversions, try
Utility, Compress and cOnvert functions.
Tremendous efforts are spent to make the compression and
decompression as fast as possible by not eating too much
precious memory under DOS.
The compression is designed for continuous tone color
mapped images and gray level images. Color mapped images with
fewer than 32 colors and gray level images with fewer than 16
colors will not be accepted by ImgFun for compression. Just save
or convert these images in the GIF format which should
yields good compression results for these images.
For the compression level required by JPEG compression, try
3 to 10 for color mapped images and higher for gray level images.
The best result might need some experiments depending upon your
eyes and the image contents.
ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 13
7. Image Formats
ImgFun Ver. 1.00 supports the following formats:
7.1 GIF
This is CompuServe's Graphical Interchange Format. GIF
images are widely used in networks like CompuServe and local
BBSes. GIF format stores color mapped images using 12 bit LZW
compression. In the world of personal computers, color mapped
systems still dominate. GIF offers good compression for storing
color mapped images and is supported by a lot software vendors.
There are 2 versions of GIF images, 87a and 89a.
89a is a backward compatible extension of 87a.
ImgFun reads in both versions but ignores features in
89a. For multiple images in a single GIF file, only the first
image is retrieved. ImgFun always writes out GIF images in 87a.
GIF format is recommended for storing images frequently used,
for example in a slide show and images waiting for processing.
Since the coding and decoding are fairly fast.
7.2 PCX
This is ZSoft's Paint Brush's native format. PCX is probably
the first image format gained wide support from
different applications. PCX uses 8 bit run length encode for
storing gray and color mapped images. The latest version supports
24 bit true color images.
ImgFun reads in PCX images with palette information.
Images stored in the latest true color format will not be
accepted by ImgFun.
ImgFun always writes PCX images with palette information.
The next major upgrade version of ImgFun will support 24 bit
true color images in PCX format.
PCX format is recommended for images requiring fast
access, since the decoding and coding are blindly fast.
But the compression is in general inferior to the GIF format.
7.3 BMP
BMP is the device independent bit map format from
MicroSoft.
BMP can store gray, color mapped and true color images. For
ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 14
the popularity of MS Windows 3.0 and 3.1, BMP is becoming
another standard format in PC applications.
Old BMP files before Windows 3.0 are not accepted by
ImgFun. As mentioned before, true color images are left in
the next major upgrade version.
ImgFun reads and writes BMP images in uncompressed form,
since BMP format is designed to be loaded as fast as possible
under Windows.
BMP format is recommended for wall papers in Windows
and exchanges for Windows programs. No compression is used for
the BMP format. Thus you can use the BMP format as the
comparison basis for compression mechanisms used by other image
formats.
7.4 JPEG (*.jpg) Compression and Decompression
JPEG stands for Joint Photo Experts Group. JPEG is an
image compression mechanism by 8 by 8 DCT transform coding and
entropy coding.
JPEG is designed to offer varied level compression of
continuous tone true color and gray level images by throwing away
information barely noticeable by the human visual system.
There are several stages involved in the JPEG mechanism. For
users not interested in the technical stuff can skip the
following materials and go to the end of this section.
First, the true color image is converted into the Y, U,
V space. The Y component represents the luminance, i.e., the
gray level of the image. U,V components store information about
the chrominance, i.e., the colors. For the human visual
system, the luminance is more important than the chrominance.
Thus the U, V components are sub-sampled for reducing the
amount of data. Usually, only half samples in the horizontal
direction and half lines in the vertical direction are
retained. This reduces the U, and also the V components to only
a quarter of the Y components. Comparing with RGB data, only
half amount of storage is required for this sub-sampling in
YUV space. For gray level images, the value of each pixel
is just the luminance, i.e., the Y component of the
pixel. Thus no compression is obtained in this stage for gray
level images.
ImgFun converts color mapped images into true color images
internally, then converts true color images into the Y, U, V
sub-sampled space. The palette information is tagged in the
header of a JPEG compressed image for decoding.
ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 15
In the next stage, the data is divided into blocks such that
each block contains 8 pixel by 8 pixel in Y,U and V components
respectively. Last blocks in each row and column are padded, if
necessary, to form 8 by 8 blocks.
Each block is fed into an 8 by 8 two dimensional discrete
cosine transform to obtain 64 coefficients representing the
block. Then the coefficients are quantized by predefined
tables. Different tables are used for the luminance and
chrominance components. After quantization, information about
the block is packed in the lower frequency coefficients. A
lot coefficients will become zero and all coefficients are
represented by integers. By adjusting the quantization tables,
we can gain various results. This is where the information is
thrown away.
Then an efficient run length coding of zero coefficients
and varied length coding of non-zero coefficients by
Huffman coding (or arithmetic coding which is not supported in
ImgFun) are applied to yield a shrink down result.
The decoding process reverses the above stages. But users
are expecting color mapped images as decoded results. ImgFun uses
the tagged palette to map each pixel into the palette.
According to experience, this process of remapping takes
about a third to more than half of the total decoding
process. This is why it's much slower in the decompression
of color mapped images than the compression. Also the
remapping process loses information. This is the price paid
for the color mapped display system.
ImgFun only accepts JPEG images with Y,U,V 2:1:1 sub sampling
in horizontal and vertical directions with one interleaved
scan. A non-interleaved format stores the luminance
and chrominance components separately. This makes it
impossible for a fast efficient one pass decoding process
without huge amount of memory (bytes needed :three times the
width times the height of the image). Thus these images are
not supported. Although, JPEG document does not specify the
color space, the Y, U, V space is becoming the standard.
For JPEG images without palette information, a uniform
palette is used for decompressing the JPEG image into a color
mapped image. The result may not be satisfied. This problem
is left in the next version. The major drawback of JPEG is
that the decoded result is a true color image which is hard
to appreciate in the PC world. ImgFun attacks this problem by
tagging the palette and remapping the true color image into a
color mapped image in the decoding process.
For a color mapped GIF image, the JPEG compressed image
usually have a compression ratio 3 to 10 depending upon
ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 16
compression level specified.
For a gray level GIF image, a compression ratio above 10
can be achieved without much visual distortion. ImgFun offers
the function to view compressed JPEG images without decoding
into disk files. This will help a lot when viewing JPEG
images stored in a floppy disk, especially for gray level
images which are decoded quite fast under ImgFun.
ImgFun reads in base line JPEG files complying with the
revision 8 and revision 9 drafts with restrictions mentioned
and always writes out JPEG images that comply with the revision
9 except that an application tag is used for the palette and
some private information which should be ignored by other
software.
Users are recommended to store final images (images don't
need processing any more and are used mainly for viewing
and printing from the archive) by JPEG compression for saving
the disk space.
7.5 Other Formats
Support for other formats is under consideration for the
future versions of ImgFun. Please inform the author for
supporting formats desired. Since this is a user-supported
program, features desired from the feed back of users will
be added, too. Also a lossless compression scheme for
256 color mapped images is under development. The goal is
to compress GIF images to 60% of the original size losslessly.
ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 17
8. Function Usage:
8.1 File:
8.1.1 Load: Load an image to work.
8.1.2 View: View an image file.
8.1.3 Save: Save the loaded image 1.
8.1.4 Quit: Quit ImgFun.
8.2 Adjust:
8.2.1 Brighten: Brighten the loaded image.
8.2.2 Darken : Darken the loaded image.
8.2.3 Contrast:
Adjust contrast by gray level remapping of
the palette of the loaded image 1.
8.2.4 cOlor :
Adjust the colors in the palette of the palette
of the loaded image 1.
Two functions, RGB and PSEUDO are implemented.
Please use the on-line help system to get more
information.
8.3 Set:
8.3.1 Background: Choose a background color.
8.3.2 Cut area :
Set a cut area of the loaded image 1.
8.3.3 Directions:
Set horizontal and vertical directions
of the loaded image 1.
8.3.4 Threshold : View a binary map
from the loaded image 1 for a given threshold
on the gray level.
8.4 Transform:
8.4.1 Rescale :
Rescale loaded image 1 to a different width or
height. The new height and new width should be 25% to 400%
of the old values and not exceeding the system limit. For
images with 16 colors or fewer, only zero order interpolation
is used. For images with more colors and the new values of
heights and widths are within 150% of the old
values, zero-order interpolation is used. For others first
order interpolation is used. The result is remapped into the
palette.
ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 18
8.4.2 Smooth:
Smooth the loaded image 1 in the luminance component.
8.4.3 shArpen:
Sharpen the loaded image 1 in the luminance component.
These three functions treat the loaded image 1 as a
true color image. After processing the image, ImgFun remapps
the internal true color into the original palette.
8.4.4 rOtate:
Rotate the loaded image 1 by 90, 180, or 270 degrees.
8.5 Options:
8.5.1 Display :
Set the display mode and the starting display
point (xmin ,ymin) in the screen.
8.5.2 card :
This function is a new add-on in ver. 1.0. It
allows the user to manual select the SVGA driver.
8.5.3 direcTory:
IMAGE: Specify where image files are located.
HELP : Specify where ImgFun.hlp resides.
8.5.4 Dither :
ON or OFF. Use dithering or not when remapping
internal true color images into a palette.
8.6 Utility:
8.6.1 Compress : JPEG compression
8.6.2 cOnvert :
Do conversion between different formats, also
decompression of JPEG images
8.6.3 sLide show: a manual slide show
8.7 Undo and Update:
Undo (F2): Remove all the changes made since last update.
Update(F4): Accept the current image and makes changes since
the last update permanent on the loaded image 1.
ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 19
8.8 Swap (F3) :
Swap the loaded image 1 and the loaded image 2.
8.9 DOS (F6) :Shell out to DOS.
8.10 Gray (F7) :
Turn the loaded image 1 into a gray level image.
The on line help system has more details about these functions.
ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 20
Author:
Here I have to say some special thanks to some people.
Dr. Lane and the JPEG independent group: Some of the work in the
JPEG part is based on JPEG Independent Group's work. I do
appreciate their efforts in promoting the standard JPEG format.
Haruyasu Yoshizaka, the author of the LHA package, and Fabrice
Bellard, the author of the LZEXE package : Their packages do
provide a lot convenience for lossless data compression in the pc
platform.
Steve Estvanik, ASP Author Membership Coordinator: For his
patience in the reviewing process and comments on the ImgFun
package.
<Ver. 0.99>
The program is written carefully to be really lean
and fast under DOS.
Hope you will enjoy the result.
Thanks! 9/15/92
<Ver. 1.00>
This version adds in a manual configure function for the
SVGA display driver and a new function, PSEUDO in the Adjust
Color selection. The true color compression is left in a major
upgrade in 1993. But stand alone programs for compressing 24 bit
BMP and PCX images might be available in early 1993 in the bonus
package for registered users. Please register to support this
program and let you have the rights to obtain the latest bonus
utilities in the ImgFun package.
Thanks! 12/4/92
Chin-Chi ,Hsu at Speedy Software
author member of Association of Shareware Professionals
173 Franklin Ave. San Gabriel, CA 91775
CompuServe ID : 71551,3641 (best way to contact me)
TEL: 818-282-8018
PS. All trademarks mentioned belong to the proper owners.