• Reads uncompressed and compressed 1, 4, 8, 16, 24, and 32 bit bitmaps created by Windows 3.0 Paintbrush. Also reads OS/2 BMP and DIBs. Also reads “Inverted DIBs”.
Note: when a 32 bit BMP is read, it appears as a 24 bit image because a 32 bit BMP actually only contains 24 bits of image information. There is no alpha channel.
BMP WRITER
• Writes uncompressed and compressed 1,4,8, 16 and 24 bit Windows 3.0 BMP images. • WARNING: 16 bit BMP images are not standard and many readers will not be able to read them. So, when saving a BMP file, unless you are sure that the application which is to read the BMP images can handle 16 bit BMP files, you should force the bit depth to 24 or 8 by unchecking “auto set” and selecting 24 or 8 from the “Save # of colors” popup menu in the Save As dialog box.
DP ANIM READER
• Anim (or sometimes called "ANM") format was created for the DeluxePaint animation program. It is an animation type format that supports multiple images in a single file. All frames in an ANM file are the same width and height (usually 320 x 200) and are 8 bits per pixel. Since the individual frames are stored as the difference from the previous frame, it will take a long time to open a frame occurring later in the file, since it has to open all the previous frames to get to that frame. However, if the frames are opened sequentially, this delay will not occur because deBabelizer remembers the last opened frame.
• Enter the frame number which you wish to open. It should be between 1 and the indicated number of frames.
• Note: Don't confuse this format with DPaintIII Anim Brush IFF Format, which is also referred to as "Anim" format.
DP ANIM WRITER
• Outputs a series of images into a DeluxePaint Animator file.
SET OFFSET
• This function sets the offset for the upper left corner of the current image in some larger canvas or page. This is used only by a few formats, such as PICS and Wavefront. It does not affect the display of the image in DeBabelizer.
• The main use is to clear the offset if it is not desired. For example, reading in a Wavefront image with a horizontal offset of 100, then saving to PICS, would result in an undesirable image where there would be a large blank space on the left of the output image. To prevent this, enter all zeroes in this dialog box, then execute this function before saving to PICS format.
FITS Astronomical
• FITS (Flexible Image Transport System) is a grayscale uncompressed image format used by many astronomical organizations and NASA for the storage of space image data and digitized space and terrestial data from satellites.
• This reader reads 8, 16 and 32 bit integer data, and 32 and 64 bit floating point data, converting them all to 8 bit grayscale. It does not currently read 16 bit floating point data. This reader will extract any desired frame (via the Multiple Frames dialog) from a FITS file which contains multiple frames (images).
This reader supports only the basic header keywords, plus the "BLANK" optional keyword.
• The FITS writer writes 8 bit versions only. It does not write more than one image to a file.
• Recommended: many FITS images look better if the "Palette:Equalize:Brightness" function is performed after they're opened.
• Options: to display the FITS options dialog, execute "Misc:Preferences:Readers:FITS".
-- to display a window containing the header or the first 40 cards in the header, check the "Display first 40 cards from header in information window" checkbox.
-- For displaying pixels:
----- to display raw values for each pixel, click the radio button "Use raw values".
----- to display scaled values for each pixel, click the radio button "Find min & max values, then scale all values to fill this min-max range [DEFAULT: looks best]".
JPEG/JFIF READER
• JPEG ("jay-peg") is a standardized compression method for full-color and gray-scale images. JPEG is intended for compressing "real-world" scenes; it does not do as well on line drawings, cartoons and other non-realistic images. JPEG is lossy, meaning that the output image is not exactly identical to the input image. Hence you must not use JPEG if you want identical output bits. However, on typical photographic images, very good compression levels can be obtained with no visible change, and remarkably high compression levels are possible if you don't mind a low-quality image.
• This software implements JPEG baseline and the new progressive compression processes. The progressive processes enable readers to display the image as it is being transmitted to the receiving computer, similar to what is done with Interlaced GIF. WARNING: “Progressive JPEG” was introduced in August 1995. Progressive JPEG files cannot be opened by JPEG readers which have not been upgraded to do this. So, before creating Progressive JPEG files, confirm that the application you will be using to open them can handle Progressive JPEGs.
• Some JPEG programs produce files that are not compatible with this reader. This is because the ISO JPEG committee failed to specify a concrete file format. So some vendors created proprietary formats that no one else could read.
• The JPEG subfile format we support is called JFIF. This format has been agreed to by a number of major commercial JPEG vendors, and it has become the de facto standard.
• This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group, version 6. Their work on producing accessible and high quality JPEG software is much appreciated.
• JPEG/JFIF Writer Preferences: This dialog appears when you do either a SaveAs to the JPEG format, or when you select the Misc:Preferences:Writers:JPEG,JFIF menu command.
- Set the desired quality via the slider bar. The default is 75. The higher the number, the higher the quality and the larger the output file. The smaller the number, the lower the quality and the smaller the output file.
- Force Baseline Compatibility: this will disallow any quality settings below the baseline standard.
- Progressive: checking this will produce a JPEG file which can be read in stages by those readers which have that capability. For example, this would be useful for an application which displays JPEGs as they are being received over a modem. This is similar to what is done with interlaced GIF images.
• WARNING: “Progressive JPEG” was introduced in August 1995. Progressive JPEG files cannot be opened by JPEG readers which have not been upgraded to do this. So, before creating Progressive JPEG files, confirm that the application you will be using to open them can handle Progressive JPEGs.
- Skip this box: checking this will prevent this dialog from reappearing every time you save to the JPEG format. Check it only if you are going to use the same settings for all the JPEG files you save. You can get it to reappear by holding down the Option Key when you click the Save button, or by selecting Misc:Preferences:Cancel All Skip Boxes.
Avid OMF™ Interchange READER
• The Avid OMF reader reads RGB888 & YUV422 formatted, uncompressed or JPEG compressed, full frame or interlaced fields or one field OMF images. It will read all the frames in the first clip in a multiple frame OMF file.
Note: due to a limitation in the OMF Blackbox, MSP Indigo format images are not yet readable.
Avid OMF™ Interchange WRITER
• The Avid OMF writer writes 24 bit images:
- uncompressed, JPEG Custom, JPEG ISO, or JPEG AVR,
- full frame, one field (even lines, odd lines, or the average of each even/odd pair), or interlaced.
- the JPEG compressed predefined AVR formats:
1,2,2e,3,3e,4,4e,5,5e,6e,25,26,27,70 (with NTSC and PAL versions of each).
(one-field AVR formats 1 through 6e output the average of each even-odd line pair).
It also writes JPEG compressed MSP Indigo format.
These save subformat options are selected via a dialog box which appears when a SaveAs to OMF format is executed.
This dialog box may also be accessed via the Misc:Preferences:Writers:OMF submenu item.
PBM Portable Bitmap READER
Portable Bitmap (PBM), Portable Graymap (PGM), and Portable Pixmap (PPM) formatted image files are read. They are 1 bit, 8 bits, and 24 bits deep, respectively. This format was devised by Jef Poskanzer and is popular on UNIX and Intel-PC machines. It is a very simple, uncompressed format.
PHOTOSHOP™ READER
DeBabelizer reads version 2.5 and earlier Photoshop format bitmap, grayscale, palettem and RGB images. It does not read Photoshop CMYK image files.
Reader Options:
Photoshop "Multi Channel" and "RGB" files may contain several alpha channels.
The normal default "RGB" Photoshop reader mode opens only the first alpha channel when it opens a 32 bit RGB image.
The normal default "Multi Channel" Photoshop reader mode opens each channel as if the file were a series of animation frames.
The Misc:Preferences:Readers:Photoshop dialog allows different ways to access the RGB image and the alpha channels.
It has 4 modes for opening "RGB" Photoshop files:
• Open as RGB+Alpha image [Default].
• Open as RGB+Alpha image. Then open each alpha as separate image.
• Open as RGB image. Then open each alpha as separate image.
• Open each channel as a separate image.
It has 4 modes for opening "Multi Channel" Photoshop files:
• Open as RGB+Alpha image.
• Open as RGB+Alpha image. Then open each alpha as separate image.
• Open as RGB image. Then open each alpha as separate image.
• Open each channel as a separate image [Default].
The last three options treat the alpha channels as frames in an animation file. Therefore, when opening a file with multiple channels in batch mode, all the alpha channels (or just those chosen via the standard multi-frame dialog which will appear) will be opened as separate frame images before moving on to the next file.
For example, we have a multichannel image with the first 3 channels being the RGB parts of an image, followed by 10 more alpha channels.
- Open as RGB image with optional alpha channel [Default]: this will open just one image for the file consisting of the RGB channels and the first alpha channel, all together producing a 32 bit image.
- Open each channel as a separate image: First the standard multi-frame dialog will appear allowing the choice of which frames (channels) to open. If the default settings are chosen, this will open the 13 channels as 13 separate image frames (that is, if it is called 13 times either manually or from a batch process).
- Open as RGB image. Then open each alpha as separate image: This is similar to the previous option, except instead of opening the first 3 channels separately, it opens them together, producing an RGB image. Then, when it gets to the 4th channel, it opens all subsequent channels as separate image frames. So this example file would produce 11 separate image frames (1 RGB and 10 grayscale alpha channel images).
32 to 15 Bits More Dither
Does a better job of dithering images containing gradients from 24 or 32 bits to 15 bits. It avoids the unpleasant banding which occurs with the built in method.
32 to 15 Bits Ordered Dither
Also does a better job of dithering images containing gradients from 24 or 32 bits to 15 bits, and uses a 4x4 matrix to perform the ordered dither.
It may also solve the “dancing pixels” problem associated with dithering frames in a sequence.
NOTE FOR BOTH: Unfortunately, they are not built in to DeBabelizer, so these routine must be called explicitly when you must go from 24 or 32 bits down to 15 bits. For example, saving a 24 bit image to a 15 bit format will not automatically call these routines to reduce the colors, but will instead call the built in routine which is not as good. In this situation you must explicitly execute one of these functions on the image before doing the Save As. Note that they can be added to a script, which can then be placed in the Save As or Batch Save dialog to be executed before Saving, if desired.
