Crawly Crypt Collection 1/crawlyvol1.bin/graphics/picsw101/picsw101.doc

Text File | 1993-03-10 | 24KB | 549 lines

PicSwitch v1.0.1
Graphics File Viewer / Printer
(c)1993 John Brochu for Advanced Software

---------------------------------------------------------------------------


This is the long-awaited update to PicSwitch, the award-winning graphics
utility from Advanced Software.  This version actually bears no
resemblance to its predecessor, being totally rewritten with a standard
GEM interface with enhancements.  Many new input formats have been added,
as well as a new 'Adjustments' control panel, windowed displays, and
much-enhanced printing support for Epson 9-pin, 24-pin and HP LaserJet
compatibles.

This will also, unfortunately, be the final update, since I have retired
from the Atari platform and switched to the Mac.  This version, originally
intended as a commercial release, is a thank you to all the people who
have paid their shareware fee for PicSwitch 0.7, and other shareware
products released since 1985, including ProCalc and Deluxe SlideShow (you
know who you are).  For those who haven't yet paid, and find this version
of use, you are asked to send a very modest $10. payment to the address at
the end of this document.  If I get enough payments, I may be tempted to
come back!

It is important to note that this version is more of a display and print
utility, rather than a conversion utility.  The ONLY output format
supported in this release is IMG, and only in monochrome.  But the display
and printing support are very complete and robust.  There are many types
of dithering, for best output on monochrome displays, fully adjustable
brightness, contrast, and scaling, and color optimization for excellent
color rendition in any of the ST video modes.  Support is also provided
for the Crazy Dots video card in 256-color mode (highly recommended!).
Although options exist for all the TT video modes, this has not been
tested.

Printing support is also excellent.  Printers supported are Epson 9 and 24
pin printers and compatibles, and HP LaserJet compatibles.  Many options
are provided for dithering, scaling, resolution, and brightness
enhancement.  If you are using a LaserJet, you also have an option (called
tiling) to print as many images as possible on a single page, for
cataloging purposes.  There is also support for Outburst!, a printer
speedup utility by Frank Pawlowski, to dramatically speed up printouts for
many printers.

Following is a list of all formats supported by this release:

NeoChrome [NEO]
Degas [PI1-3]
Degas Elite [PC1-3]
Tiny [TNY, TN1-3]
Art Director [ART]
Spectrum 512 [SPC, SPU]
Prism Paint [PNT]
GEM IMG [IMG]
Atari Image Manager [IM]
Compuserve GIF [GIF]
Compuserve RLE [RLE]
PC Paintbrush (Monochrome, 16-color, 256-color) [PCX]
Amiga IFF (1-5 planes, HAM) [IFF]
MacPaint [MAC]
Mac StartupScreen [MAS]
Atari Portfolio Graphics File [PGF, PGC]
Atari 8-bit Koala [KOA]
Atari 8-bit MicroPainter [MPT]
Atari 8-bit Graphics 8 [GR8]
Atari 8-bit Graphics 9 [GR9]



ABOUT THE INTERFACE
-------------------

PicSwitch was designed from the ground up to be easy and intuitive to
learn and use.  Finding the GEM interface to be too restricting and in
some ways outdated, I have written a library of interface enhancements,
familiar to Mac users, to improve the user interface.  You will find new
radio buttons, checkboxes, popup menus, sliders, and other graphical
elements, as well as internally an optimized memory manager.



ABOUT MEMORY USAGE
------------------

To more effectively manage memory, PicSwitch uses custom memory-management
routines using a system similar to the Macintosh's Memory Manager.  The
benefit is that memory is much more efficiently managed, and the user sees
fewer "Not enough memory" messages.  The amount of memory reserved by
PicSwitch's memory manager when the program is run can be controlled from
the SET PREFERENCES dialog.  This retains compatibility with MultiTOS and
other multi-tasking extensions to TOS.



INTERNAL OPERATIONS
-------------------

Internally, PicSwitch translates each image to its own bitmap and
color-palette format.  These formats were chosen to allow both maximum
image and color resolution, and maximum processing speed.  The bitmap
format is packed-pixel format, with 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 bits per pixel,
while the color palette is stored as 8-bits per RGB color, 32-bits per
palette color.  All imaging routines are fully optimized and hand-coded in
assembly for maximum possible speed.  Color displays are calculated using
a closest-match process that first determines the 'n' most-used colors in
the image, where 'n' is the number of colors available in the selected
display mode, then matches each image color to its closest available
palette color.  The number of colors to use can be limited, as can the
fineness or granularity of the color palette, using the control panel.
You can also choose to display color images as gray-scale images, with or
without dithering.  For monochrome displays, you have many dithering
options available to achieve a high-quality display, true to the original
image.



ABOUT THE MENUS
---------------

About PicSwitch...
This brings up the title dialog box that provides copyright and version
information, memory status, and system information.


FILE MENU

New (not implemented)

Open...
Brings up the file selector to select a file for viewing.  Only one file
can be viewed at a time.  If an image is currently in memory, it will be
replaced by the selected image.  Only files that have a recognized file
extender will be loaded (see the list above).  Some file types are also
verified to make sure they are of the correct type, where possible.  In
some cases this cannot be done, so be careful in naming your files,
loading a file that has an incorrect extender may crash the system.

Close
Closes the top window, whether a tools or display window, and moves the
next window down to the top.  Closing the display window does NOT remove
the image from memory, all it does is close the window.  You can reopen
the window at any time.

Save / Save as...
This allows you to save the currently displayed monochrome image as an IMG
file.  This is the only format supported at this time.  If a color display
is in use, this option is disabled (sorry!).  This does allow you to
import color images, render them in black & white, and export them for use
in desktop publishing.

Print...
This brings up the PRINT IMAGE dialog box.  From here you can select the
printer type (9-pin / 24-pin / LJII), resolution (varies depending on the
printer selected), draft / final print (available only for certain
resolutions), rendering (dithering), scaling, lightening, and when /
whether you want a page ejected.  See 'The PRINT IMAGE Dialog' below.

Quit
Quit PicSwitch


OPTIONS MENU

Adjust
Same as pressing the 'Adjust' button in the control panel.

Histogram...
Brings up the GRAY-SCALE HISTOGRAM dialog box, allowing you to examine the
gray-scale content in the current image, and adjust the brightness and
contrast controls indirectly by setting the low and high clipping
thresholds.  See 'The GRAY-SCALE HISTOGRAM Dialog' below.

Image Aspect Ratio...
Brings up the ASPECT RATIO dialog box, allowing you to change the default
pixel aspect ratio for the current image.  All images are initially set
correctly if they contain valid pixel aspect ratio information.  Some do
not contain it at all, so you may have to set this manually if the image
appears to be 'stretched' in either direction.  You will then have to
click on 'Adjust' to make the changes visible.

Preferences...
Brings up the SET PREFERENCES dialog box, allowing you to set up certain
options pertaining to the operation of PicSwitch.  See 'The SET
PREFERENCES Dialog' below.


WINDOWS MENU

Adjustments
Opens the ADJUSTMENTS control panel.  If it is already open, it is brought
to the top.  See 'The ADJUSTMENTS Control Panel' below.

Statistics
Opens the STATISTICS window, showing the file name, type, and resolution
and color information.  If it is already open, it is brought to the top.

Colors
Opens the COLORS window, displaying the current color palette used in the
display window.  Unused colors are displayed as an outlined box.  This
option not available for monochrome images, or on non-color screens.

Display
Opens the display window.  All standard GEM window controls are available,
depending on the settings in WINDOW PREFERENCES.  You can scroll around
either with the scroll bars, or by pressing the left mouse button in the
window, which changes the cursor to a flat hand, allowing you to drag the
viewable image around.  If the scroll bars or window move bar are turned
off in window preferences, you can hold down the Alternate key on the
keyboard to activate window move and size features.  Click in the lower
right corner and drag to resize, and anywhere else in the window to move
the window around.  At any time when an image is loaded and has been
adjusted, you can press the right mouse button to flip to a full-screen
display of the image in the selected resolution.  As in the window, you
can press the left mouse button and drag to scroll around the image.  In
ST low-res, you can press the space bar to display the color palette.
Press the right mouse button to flip back to the main screen.  See also
'The WINDOW PREFERENCES Dialog' below.

Window Preferences...
Brings up the WINDOW PREFERENCES dialog.  See 'The WINDOW PREFERENCES
Dialog' below.



The PRINT IMAGE Dialog
----------------------

Printer type radio buttons
9-pin / 24-pin ... Epson compatibles
LJII ............. HP LaserJet compatibles

Resolution radio buttons
For 9-pin setting:  120x72 / 120x216 / 240x216 dpi
For 24-pin setting:  90x90 / 180x180 / 360x360 dpi
For LJII setting:    75x75 / 150x150 / 300x300 dpi

'Final' / 'Draft' radio buttons
Available only for 9-pin 120x216 and 240x216dpi and 24-pin 90x90dpi.

'Rendering' popup
This presents the same popup menu available from the control panel,
allowing you to select the dithering method for printing.  'Clustered' is
the same method used by typesetters, and in Postscript printers for
halftoning.  This popup is disabled for monochrome images.

'Calibrate' checkbox
If this option is checked, the program will use the default values for
brightness and contrast, as displayed initially in the control panel
sliders, and when the Reset button in the control panel is pressed.  If
this button is not checked, the current slider value will be used.  This
allows you to adjust the image to suit your tastes on-screen, then print
it out as displayed.

'Lightening' slider
This slider is useful for adding a bit of brightness to images while
printing.  It is especially useful for pin printers, where the relatively
large dots tend to bleed together to produce a too-dark image on paper.

Page eject options
manual ....... no form feed sent
auto-eject ... form feed sent after every print-out
tiling ....... automatically place each image on the page, side-by-side
and row-by-row, sending a form feed when the page is full (LJII only)

'SET SCALING' button
Pressing this button brings up the standard scaling dialog, allowing you
to scale the image to almost any size.  See 'The SET IMAGE SCALING Dialog'
below.

'Print' button
Print the current image using the specified settings.

'Eject' button
Send a form feed, and reset page offset to the top left (for tiling).  If
you hold down shift while pressing this, a form feed will not be sent, but
the page offset will be reset.

'Cancel' button
Do not print, cancel any changed settings.



The ADJUSTMENTS Control Panel
-----------------------------

'Bri'ghtness slider
Allows adjustments in image brightness.  To make your changes visible, you
must click on the 'Adjust' button to update the image.

'Con'trast slider
Allows adjustments in image contrast.  To make your changes visible, you
must click on the 'Adjust' button to update the image.

'Sep'aration slider
Allows control over how close in hue any two colors are allowed to be.  A
lower setting allows finer color gradation, but may not display minor, but
important, color details.  A higher setting increases color graininess,
but allows for more varied colors.  Use higher settings for displaying
images with lots of colors on a display with fewer available colors (such
as a 256-color GIF image on an ST low-res display).  Generally, a setting
of 10-15 works best for 256-color images in ST low-res.  Use the palette
display as a guide.  Start with a low setting, and observe how similar the
colors are in the palette.  As you increase the setting, the colors will
get more diverse, until finally, you will run out of colors in the palette
(the upper colors will turn black).  When you get to this point, youרve
gone too far, back off the setting a bit.  This will give you the optimum
setting for the Separation slider.  NOTE: you can display the current
color palette when in full-screen low-res mode by pressing the space bar,
the palette will be displayed at the bottom of the screen super-imposed on
the image.  Press the space bar again to remove it.  For windowed
displays, use the colors window.

'Adjust' button
Recalculates the displayed image using the current slider and scaling
settings.

'Reset' button
Resets slider settings to those that were calculated when the image was
loaded, or to their mid-positions, depending on the preferences setting.
See also 'The SET PREFERENCES Dialog' below.

'Cancel' button
Restore slider settings to the last calculated image (as currently
displayed).

'Display' popups
These three popups allow you to control how you want your images
displayed.  The first popup lets you set the screen resolution for
display.  If you pick a resolution other than the current 'GEM'
resolution, you will not be able to view the image in a window, but can
view it by pressing the right mouse button to flip to the full-screen
display (this option is available at all times).  The second popup allows
you to limit the number of colors or grays to display.  The third popup
allows you to select from a gray-scale or full-color display.  All popups
change dynamically as the display or other settings change.

'Dither' popup
Allows you to set the dithering method for monochrome and gray-scale
displays.  For gray-scale displays, the options available are ON and OFF
(ON uses dispersed-dot dither).  The following options are available for
monochrome displays...

None ... threshold display, black/white threshold set by brightness
slider.

Clustered ... pattern dither, using groups of clustered dots of fixed
position but varying size.  Similar to the method used in Postscript
printers and most typesetters.  Affected by brightness and contrast
controls, as are all the following methods.

Dispersed ... classic dithering method using an 8x8 dither matrix
producing 65 levels of gray.

The remaining methods are variations of the error-diffusion algorithm,
named for the originators.  Error-diffusion is a method that attempts to
display each pixel with the closest available color (in this case black or
white), and distributes the error to each of the surrounding pixels.  The
visible differences between them are subtle, but noticeable.  The error
distribution is shown in brackets.

Floyd ... (Floyd-Steinberg)  Generally the most popular, because of its
simplicity, but not necessarily the best.  [2-line, 4-element]

Jarvis ... (Jarvis-Judice-Ninke)  Sharper, more well-defined output, some
dot clustering for light and dark shades.  [3-line, 12-element]

Stucki ... Variation of Jarvis, sharp, clean output, considered by many to
be the best algorithm.  [3-line, 12-element]

Burkes ... Simplification of Stucki for faster results.  [2-line,
7-element]

Sierra3 ... Sierra 3-line, generally better output than Floyd-Steinberg.
[3-line, 10-element]

Sierra2 ... Sierra 2-line, a simplification of the Sierra 3-line.
[2-line, 7-element]

Sierra1 ... A very simple 2-line algorithm.  [2-line, 3-element]

'Scaling' popup and 'Set' button
The popup allows you to set scaling Off, On, or Automatic.  The latter
setting will scale images automatically to fit the screen.  You can
control how this scaling is done in the Preferences dialog, under AUTO
SCALING.  The 'Set' button brings up the SET IMAGE SCALING dialog, which
lets you control image scaling very precisely.  See 'The SET IMAGE SCALING
Dialog' and 'The SET PREFERENCES Dialog' below.



The SET IMAGE SCALING Dialog
----------------------------

This dialog lets you adjust the image scaling using a graphical display
showing the relationship between the scaled image and the current display,
window, or page.  If a display window is opened, the 'device' rectangle
shows the size of the window; if the dialog was called from the PRINT
IMAGE dialog, the device rectangle is that of the selected printer's page;
otherwise it is of the current screen resolution.

The 'BEST FIT' button fits the device page as closely as possible.  The
'HOLD H:V' button, when selected, disables the vertical slider, and scales
the image the same amount both horizontally and vertically.  To change the
scaling, you can either click one of the percentage buttons, or drag the
slider(s).  The arrow buttons fill the device page selectively in the
indicated directions.

The resulting image dimensions and approximate memory requirements are
shown below the device rectangles, and available memory is indicated at
the bottom of the dialog.



The SET PREFERENCES Dialog
--------------------------

This dialog allows you to customize PicSwitch for many of its operations.

After load:
Reset sliders ...  If this option is selected, the sliders will be
calibrated automatically when an image is loaded.

Build display ...  Automatically adjust the image when a new image is
loaded.

Show display ...  Flip to the full-screen mode when an image is loaded.

Open window ...  Open a display window when an image is loaded.

Show display after adjust ...  If this option is selected, the screen will
automatically be flipped to the full-screen mode (the same as pressing the
right mouse button) whenever the image is adjusted.

Calibrate sliders on Reset ...  If this option is selected, pressing the
Reset button in the control panel will reset the sliders to their
calibrated values (as calculated when the image was loaded).  If not
selected, the sliders will be set to their midpoints.  Holding down the
shift key while clicking reset reverses this option.

Show progress dialogs ...  Enables / disables the progress bargraph
dialogs used to indicate a functions progress.

Show zoom boxes ...  Enables / disables the zoom boxes for all dialog /
window openings and closings.

Use Outburst! ...  This enables or disables the use of Outburst!, a
printer speedup utility from Frank Pawlowski.  If this is selected,
Outburst!'s block printing routines are used, if not the standard
Bconout() system calls are used.  Note there will still be a speedup if
Outburst! is installed, since it intercepts the Bconout() calls, but
maximum speedup is achieved with this button selected.

Save preferences on exit ...  If this option is selected, all preferences,
including window locations, will be saved automatically when the program
is quit.  These preferences are saved directly into the program itself on
disk.

'Auto-scaling' radio buttons ...  These take effect when Scaling is set to
'AUTO' in the control panel.  Horizontal fills the screen with the image
horizontally only, keeping the aspect ratio the same.  The vertical size
may extend beyond the screen.  Vertical scales the image such that it fits
the screen vertically only.  Both scales the image such that the entire
image fits within the screen.  Integer and Precise control whether the
image will be scaled in integer proportions (2x, 3x, 4x), or to precisely
fit the screen.

'Sort palette' radio buttons ...  This allows either a dark or light
border for the images, with the colors sorted from dark to light or light
to dark.

The 'Memory size' box at the bottom of the dialog lets you limit the
amount of memory PicSwitch reserves for itself when it starts up.  You
should leave the 'Use all available' box checked unless you are using
MultiTOS.

The 'Save' button at the bottom left of the dialog saves all current
program preferences and parameters, including window status and positions,
to the PicSwitch program itself.  If the program cannot be found, you are
asked to locate it.  You can only save preferences to an unlocked,
uncompressed copy of PicSwitch on an unprotected disk.



The GRAY-SCALE HISTOGRAM Dialog
-------------------------------

This dialog allows you to adjust the brightness and contrast sliders more
precisely, using a histogram display showing the relative number of pixels
of each gray level.  You can change the relative scaling of the histogram
bars by moving the slider to the right of the histogram.  The histogram is
displayed from darker to lighter grays from left to right.  The two small
arrows below the histogram show the limits of the currently displayed
image.  All pixels in the original image darker than the left-most arrow
are displayed as black, and all pixels in the original image lighter than
the right-most arrow are displayed as white.  You can click on and drag
each of the arrows to see the effect on the brightness and contrast
sliders.  If you click on OK, the actual brightness and contrast sliders
will be updated with the new values, and you can then click on the Adjust
button to see the effects of the changes.  The percentages below the
histogram indicate the percentage of pixels below the left arrow ('blacker
than black'), and above the right arrow ('whiter than white').  The
sliders are initially calibrated when an image is loaded so that 2% of the
pixels are blacker than black, and 2% whiter than white.



The WINDOW PREFERENCES Dialog
-----------------------------

This dialog allows you to customize the display window to include as many
(or as few) window controls as you desire.  You can even have a plain
window frame with no controls at all, or a full-screen 'desktop' window,
with or without controls.



The End
-------

That's about it, feel free to play around with the controls and get a feel
for what looks best for which types of images.  You can produce some very
high quality results even with the limited display ability of the ST/STE.
If you have a Crazy Dots card, you're home free, have fun!  Printouts,
especially with a laser, are particularly impressive.



Free Trial
----------

You are allowed to try PicSwitch for free for 15 days.  If you intend to
keep it after the trial period, you are required to send a $10. payment
to:

John Brochu
c/o Advanced Software
PO Box 645
Beverly, MA  01915

Please send U.S. funds only, check or money order payable to John Brochu.

For comments, and general questions, whether you like PicSwitch, or you
hate it, I can be reached on the following on-line services:

GEnie: JAKOB
Compuserve: 70376,1235
Delphi: JAKOB