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PixMagic* - Windows Image Viewer and Catalog Manager Version 1.0 (c) Allen C. Kempe, 1993. All rights reserved. Published by Wizard Computer Graphics, 2445 Cleveland Avenue, West Lawn, PA 19609-1910 Voice: 215-678-2300 Fax: 215-678-4771 Portions (c) Microsoft Corporation, 1985-1993. All rights reserved. ******** Equipment Requirements ********** While PixMagic* will execute in a minimal Windows installation (for example, a 286 with 2 megabytes of memory) program operation will be severely inhibited by a lack of memory. On such a configuration, large bitmaps may fail, especially 8-bit or 24-bit images. Other applications could be adversely affected as well and fail with unexpected UAE system errors. Actual results will vary depending upon the amount of memory used by other applications running concurrently. It is recommended that PixMagic* be run on a machine with at least 4 and pre- ferrably, 6 megabytes of memory. Running in 386-Enhanced mode will also make available the benefits of virtual memory. IMPORTANT: The display of images containing more than 16 colors requires that you have a Super VGA or better video display and a 256 color Windows device driver in order to display the full range of colors in the image. However, PixMagic* incorporates dithering functions that will allow display of a 256 color image using a 16 color driver such as the standard VGA driver. Such operations are slow and the results are not as good as if you have a video display capable of displaying 256 colors at the same time. ****** Installation and Getting Started******* No installation is required. Speed is dependent on the speed of your CD-ROM drive. ********** Program Limitations ************* 1. PixMagic* on this ColorMAGIC* CD-ROM will only run under Windows 3.1 or higher. 2. PixMagic* may encounter difficulty with extremely large images, those in excess of 1024 x 768 pixels. This is particularly true of 24-bit color color images or gray scale images. This is primarily due to the increased memory requirements. **************************************************************************** PixMagic* is a Microsoft Windows program that can view a variety of bitmapped graphics formats and maintain multiple catalogs of images. The graphics formats currently supported are: BMP/DIB-Windows Bitmap CLP - Windows clipboard file DRW/GRF - Micrografx draw and graph files. EPS - Encapsulated Postscript with imbedded TIFF preview images. FLI/FLC - Autodesk Animator and Animator Pro (tm) files. GIF - CompuServe Graphics Interchange Format ICO - Windows Icon IFF - IFF/LBM (Amiga) used by Computer Eyes frame grabber. IMG - GEM/IMG (Digital Research). JPG - JPEG MAC - Macintosh MacPaint files. PCX - Microsoft Paint & PC Paintbrush RLE - Compuserve Run Length Encoded TGA - Targa TIFF- Tag Image Format. Most formats including 24 bit color are supported. WMF - Windows Metafile. WPG - WordPerfect Graphics The major feature of PixMagic* (available separately) is the ability to build catalogs of images that may reside on different disks. The catalog can then be searched and images can be easily located. Provisions are made for saving a primary and backup location for the image concurrently. To enhance searching for a particular image, PixMagic* can display postage stamp images in a matrix; the Thumbnails. The ability to read an image in one format and to save it in another allows the program to be used as a file conversion utility. THE AUTHOR RESERVES ALL RIGHTS TO THIS PROGRAM. THE AUTHOR DOES NOT WARRANT THIS PROGRAM'S FITNESS OR SUITABILITY FOR ANY PURPOSE. ALL USERS SHOULD USE IT AT THEIR OWN RISK. The author intends to make continuing improvements to PixMagic*, including the support of additional file formats. Users may contact the author or publusher by writing to: Wizard Computer Graphics 2445 Cleveland Avenue West Lawn, PA 19609-1910 USA Main Features PixMagic* utilizes Microsoft's MDI (Multiple Document Interface) so that multiple images can be open concurrently. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * THE INFORMATION THAT FOLLOWS IS FOR THE ENHANCED VERSION OF PixMAGIC* THAT IS AVAILABLE SEPARATELY. NOT ALL OF THE ENHANCED FUNCTIONS ARE ACTIVE TO SUPPORT THE NECESSARY FUNCTIONS ON THIS ColorMAGIC* CD-ROM. THE ENHANCED VERSION FOR USE WITH OTHER IMAGE LIBRARIES IS AVAILABLE SEPARATELY AT SOFTWARE RESELLERS WORLDWIDE. CONTACT THE PUBLISHER ABOVE FOR MORE DETAILS. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * File Menu: New File - create a blank image suitable for pasting from the clipboard. Open File - Open a new file for viewing. Save File - Save an image, possibly in a different format. Move/Copy file - Move or copy a file. Delete - Delete a file. Print - print all or part of an image. Select Printer - select a printer Close Catalog Menu: Select catalog: Create, delete, select or rename an image catalog. Catalog. Create or update a catalog entry for a displayed image. Browse Catalog. View catalog entries one by one; select a subset for viewing. Build Catalog. Create catalog entries for groups of images. View thumbnails of catalog entries. Print Catalog Entries. Two formats are provided. Export - Export the contents of a catalog for input to a database or spreadsheet. Rebuild Catalog Index. Recover lost space in file and compact it. Edit Menu: Paste palette and image from clipboard. Copy all or part of an image to the clipboard. Cut a selected area from an image. Crop an image. Expand an image to fill the dimensions of the current window. Resize an image by a percentage amount or fit to a given dimension. Options: Set background color used when image is expanded. Set whether to use a solid or pattern background color. Display DIB or Bitmap format. Control whether warning messages will be displayed. Establish default operating options. Palette Options: Palette manipulation (Brightness and contrast). Convert to gray scale. Dither to Black & White or color palette. Play a GIF animation sequence. Single step through a GIF animation sequence. Change the speed of a GIF animation sequence. Capture: Capture the contents of another screen or the Windows desktop. Other: Using the mouse in the main viewing window, a marquee can be selected for copying or cutting to the clipboard. The right mouse button can be used to draw a stretch marquee where the selected image rectangle is copied. Help: Context sensitive help is included for all menu items. **** Other Features **** PixMagic* supports OLE version 1.0 as a server only. PixMagic* will automatically register itself as an OLE server the first time that it is executed. PixMagic* will accept "Drag and Drop" filenames from File Manager. ******** Equipment Requirements ********** While PixMagic* will execute in a minimal Windows installation (for example, a 286 with 2 megabytes of memory) program operation will be severely inhibited by a lack of memory. On such a configuration, large bitmaps, especially 8-bit or 24-bit images may fail. Other applications could be adversely affected as well and fail with unexpected UAE's. Actual results will vary depending upon the amount of memory used by other applications running concurrently. It is recommended that PixMagic* be run on a machine with at least 4 and pre- ferrably, 6 megabytes of memory. Running in 386-Enhanced mode will also make available the benefits of virtual memory. The display of images containing more than 16 colors requires that you have a Super VGA or better video display and a 256 color Windows device driver in order to display the full range of colors in the image. However, PixMagic* incorporates dithering functions that will allow display of a 256 color image using a 16 color driver such as the standard VGA driver. Such operations are slow and the results are not as good as if you have a video display capable of displaying 256 colors at the same time. ********** Program Limitations ************* PixMagic* has no limit on the number of catalogs that can be created or the size of these catalogs except as noted below and the amount of available memory. However, the following points should be noted: 1. PixMagic* will only run under Windows 3.1 or higher. 2. The size of a catalog is limited by the amount of disk space where it resides or 2,048 index entries. Catalog records are variable length and depend upon the type of image and how big the comments are. It is recommended that for performance reasons that catalogs be limited to less than 2000 entries. 3. PixMagic* may encounter difficulty with extremely large images, those in excess of 1024 x 768 pixels. This is particularly true of color images and even more so by 24 bit color or gray scale images. This is primarily due to the increased memory requirements. 4. While PixMagic* and Windows supports 24 bit color and gray scale images, the display of such images using a video driver that only displays 256 colors can result in some lengthy delays whenever Windows has to reduce the 24 bit RGB data to an 8 bit palette. It may take 15 to 20 minutes to realize a 640 x 480 image depending upon the speed of your machine. Dithering a 24 bit image to 256 colors can take more than an hour in some cases. If you plan to work with 24 bit images, you may wish to invest in a video board that supports "high color". One such board that appears to work quite well is the ATI VGASTEREO F/X card. 5. The support for GIF animation in PixMagic* requires large amounts of free memory. GIF animation files with a large number of frames or overlays may unexpectedly fail if PixMagic* runs out of memory. Autodesk FLI/FLC animation files likewise require large amounts om memory. To provide maximum performance, the entire image is loaded into memory to reduce delays caused by reading from disk. A lack of physical memory that requires Windows to utilize paged virtual memory (in 386 Enhanced mode) can result in "jumpy" animations. A high performance video board and driver is recommended to optimally display animation files without pauses that destroy the effect. 6. PixMagic* has not been rigorously tested in a network environment. The affect of network operations and more than one user accessing PixMagic* files concurrently cannot be predicted. 7. Not all graphics formats are supported equally with respect to reading and saving a file. For example, not all of the compression options are currently supported for saving TIFF images. GIF images can only be saved in GIF87a format. Likewise, some of the more obscure or obsolete formats such as 4 color CGA formats for PCX cannot be written although they can be read. CCITT Group 4 TIFF file compression formats are not supported at this time. 8. PixMagic* has been tested extensively on printers that print in color under Windows 3.1. It is reported that PixMagic* gives very good results printing color images on Start Micronics NX-1000 Rainbow and NX-1020 printers but you must obtain the OEM driver from Star Micronics. Use of HP Deskjet 500C printers requires obtaining the latest drivers. Printer performance when running under Windows 3.1 is much improved. It is both faster as well as of higher quality. Changes to the printer drivers also enable printing to color printers such as the Epson LQ-2550. 9. The implementation of Micrografx .DRW and .GRF files is not rigorous. Some features of these files are not supported. Unless you have Adobe Type Manager or scalable typefaces, the rendition of fonts used in these files may not be optimal when Windows matches fonts. 10. Other program limitations, if any, can be determined by accessing the online context-sensitive help. ****** Installation and Getting Started******* No installation is required. Speed of operation is dependent on the speed of your CD-ROM drive. To add PixMagic*’s Icon to a program group, use the Program Manager "Add" command to add PixMagic* to the desired program group. When PixMagic* runs for the first time, it will establish a section in your WIN.INI file with program variables. These default options should enable you to start using PixMagic* immediately. Once PixMagic* is running you may access the online Help command for specific instructions and explanation of PixMagic* menu commands. A quick review of PixMagic* features and operating procedures can be gained by reviewing the user guide. ****** Credits ****** The author of PixMagic* would like to recognize the efforts of Mr. Paul Hachey, who performed an invaluable service by getting deeply involved in the extensive testing prior to product release. Paul is responsible for the design of the PixMagic* Icon and "About" dialog box and has influenced the "look and feel" of PixMagic*. Other people who have participated in the testing of PixMagic* include: Luis Alvarez David Brune Monte Davis Bruce DeVries Sean Gonzalez James Horner Tom Little John Sabo Their help is appreciated. Copyright © 1993, Allen C. Kempe. All Rights Reserved. Other products mentioned are trademarks of their respective holders. 
