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1993-05-23
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H C S H O W
Version 1.5
May 20 , 1993
A Targa(tm) and GIF(tm) Viewer for Tseng(tm) HiColor(tm) Cards
Copyright 1990,1991,1992 Synergrafix Consulting. All Rights Reserved
HCSHOW is produced by:
Steve Enns Synergrafix Consulting
44 Macdermid Cres. - Custom Programming
Saskatoon, Sk. - Graphical and Numerical Software
Canada S7J 2R2 - Hardware and Software Consultation
Donations gratefully accepted! $10.00 will get you the latest
version of this program on disk! Don't make me hunt you down
like a dog to scream shareware licenses into your face!
This program is dedicated to all those unemployed ray-tracing
artists out there who have the talent, skill (and time ;) to
create truly amazing images out of pixels and imaginary light.
(Miller and Brown - come to town, I'll buy you a beer - not
tomorrow though, I'm washing my hair.)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to all the contributors to the absolutely superb graphics
books:
Graphics Gems Academic Press, Edited by Andrew S. Glassner, 1990,
ISBN 0-12-286165-5
Graphics Gems II Academic Press, Edited by James Arvo, 1991,
ISBN 0-12-064480-0
Thanks as well to some greatly inspirational and explicit code
by Michael Abrash in the November 1991 Doctor Dobbs Journal.
Finally, great thanks to Daniel Lee Crocker and the Stone Soup
Group for numerous tremendous contributions to the public good
through PICLAB, and FRACTINT (the best program ever written) both
containing very enlightening Targa(tm) file code.
Thanks also to John Swenson who wrote TGVIEW, which encouraged me
to write this much faster and better program. ;-)
Trademarks like GIF(tm) and PC(tm) are held by
their respective companies.
DISCLAIMER
The HCSHOW program is provided without warranty of any kind. The
user of the HCSHOW package assumes complete responsibility for
any and all incidental or consequential damages which may occur
during normal or abnormal use of the HCSHOW package. Use the
HCSHOW program at your own risk.
LICENSE
The HCSHOW program and documentation are Copyright 1990,1991,
1993 Synergrafix Consulting. All rights reserved. The HCSHOW
program may be freely distributed to others by any means, as
long the following (three) conditions are met:
1) HCSHOW is distributed in a "package" containing
the following files:
HCSHOW.EXE
HCSHOW.DOC
HCSREAD.ME
2) HCSHOW is not distributed as part of any other
product, except with specific written permission from
the authors.
3) NO fee of any kind is charged for the HCSHOW
package or for the service of providing the package,
except Computer Bulletin Board Systems or Services,
which may distribute the HCSHOW package even though they
may charge a membership or service fee.
Look for the HCSVGA library on your favorite bulletin board
system. The HCSVGA has the Targa(tm), GIF(tm) and HiColor
support used by HCSHOW.
(If you are seriously interested in the source code for the
HCSVGA library, then write me a letter with your proposed uses
for the code, and I'll return a quote for the price. (Probably
$50.00-$100.00 with no royalties.)
REQUIREMENTS
HCSHOW requires the following:
- PC(tm)/XT(tm)/AT(tm)/386(tm) computer
- TSENG 4000 based Video Card equipped with
at least 1 Megabyte of display memory, and
a Sierra HiColor(tm) DAC chip, or a ATI XL
HiColor equipped board, or a VESA compliant
board (like S3 based boards) with a HiColor
DAC.
Optionally:
- A MS compatible mouse for the incredibly
confusing "Cursor Mode"
USAGE
HCSHOW filespec[.GIF|.TGA] [outfilename[.TGA]] /dither /comp
/autoscale /mode=0..3 /text=str /giftag=giffile /comm=str
/nocomm /info /slide=n
where:
filename - the Targa(tm) or GIF(tm) to display.
outfilename - the Targa output filename (used to save dithered
pics, see below.)
/dither - dither the image if it is a 24 or 32 bit Targa(tm)
/comp - compress the output Targa(tm) file
/autoscale - try to scale the GIF(tm) to fit the screen
/mode=n - force mode n. Not all modes work with all cards.
/text=str - display "str" when placing text in cursor mode.
/giftag=filename - display GIF "filename" when placing a GIF in
cursor mode.
/comm=str - display comment "str", and add it to the Targa when
saving.
/nocomm - don't display the Targa comment on the screen. (A
comment can still be placed in the Targa
with /COMM=str
/info - display file information on the screen.
/slide=n - do a slideshow of the specified files, waiting n
seconds between each picture.
/l=x - display the image cropped to the window
/t=y bounded by (x,y) (left,top) to
/r=x1 (x1,y1) (right,bottom).
/b=y1
EXAMPLES
HCSHOW is very easy to use. When the picture is displayed, press
<ENTER> to save the current display as a Targa-16(tm), press "C"
to enter "cursor mode" (see below) or any other key to exit without
saving.
C> HCSHOW picname
will display "picname" on the screen in HiColor mode. Looking
for "picname.gif" first, and then "picname.tga".
or
C> HCSHOW picname out.tga /dither /comp /mode=3
will display "picname" using dithering and 800x600 mode, saving
the output (if any) to the file "out.tga"
or
C> HCSHOW a*.tga /dither /comp /mode=3 /text=Copyright~1992~SE
/giftag=mylogo.gif /comm=Copyright~1992~SE
will display all the files "a*.tga", dithering when displaying
24 or 32 bit Targas, using 800x600 mode and placing the text
"Copyright 1992 SE" on the screen when using "cursor mode", and
into the Targa as a comment when a screen is saved....
CURSOR MODE
Sorry, I'm going to leave this explanation in its current in-
comprehensible state until I decide the future of this program.
In the meantime, have a stiff drink, and just read through it
really fast without stopping, and it will seem really obvious,
just like proofs from your graph theory class...
Press "C" when a picture is displayed to enter cursor mode.
If you have a mouse (and mouse driver software) installed, you
will have a graphical cursor available to define rectangular areas
of the current screen image. Press and hold the left mouse button
to start "dragging" a box to the desired size. Release and re-press
the left button to restart another box. Upon choosing a suitable
area with the "dragging box", press <ENTER> to use the current box
area for further operations, or press <ESC> to ignore the chosen box,
and return to the whole screen. Both <ENTER> and <ESC> exit cursor
mode, and return to normal operation. If you chose a box and pressed
<ENTER> you can now save the area within the box by pressing <ENTER>
again, or you can press <ESC> to exit or <SPACE> to go to the next
picture, if there is one. So there.
Press the right mouse button when moving the mouse to activate
the text (specified with /TEXT=str). This text can now be placed on
the screen by pressing the right mouse button when you are satisfied
with the position. Press "G" when moving the cursor to display the
GIF (specified with /GIFTAG=giffile) a the current position. This
feature is intended to allow placement of graphical logos saved as
GIFs onto Targa images as a "signature."
If you want to wreck the image, you can also press "I" to invert
the colours in the current area, or "r" "R" "g" "G" "b" "B" to
decrease or increase the red green or blue components of the colours
in the current area.
HISTORY
- Version 0.5b Completed December 20 1991
Just a Beta version! Lots more to be done...
- Version 0.6b February 4 1992
Output filenames are now properly recognized. Maybe.
Now compiled with Borland C 3.0 for extra speed,
especially when dithering Targa-24 files.
- Version 1.0b April 4 1992
Dithering of Targa-24's is faster still (Displays/dithers
3 times faster than TGVIEW...Hear that John Swenson?! ;-)
Wildcard input filenames, slideshows and all kinds of
other new crap. (I decided to add a bunch of bugs instead
of waiting for people to find them.)
- Version 1.2b July 1 1992
Added /l /r /t /b switches to display images in a window.
- Version 1.3b November 1 1992
Removed explicit check for particular DAC. Should now
work with newer DACs in HiColor mode. Beware! If you
do not have a Tseng 4000 with a HiColor DAC, HCShow
may hang your computer trying to set the mode...
- Version 1.5b May 20 1993
Added support for the ATI XL video board, as well as support
for VESA compliant boards which have HiColor capability,
such as S3 based accelerator boards.
PROPOSED FUTURE ENHANCHMENTS
- I would like samples of Targa(tm) files (or GIFs) which
do not display properly when viewed with HCSHOW.
- Support for other graphics hardware. Hopefully, we will
be able to support new hardware and graphics modes as they
are introduced.
- Faster GIF(tm) and Targa(tm) decoding and encoding
- Quantizing Targa(tm) images to be saved as GIF(tm)
- All kinds of editing, and picture tuning features.
- Real Documentation! Not a priority, but I'm sure you
guessed that.