The Business Master (3rd Edition)

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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. Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 4.1 Set SVGA card driver: -c # . . . . . . . . . . 6 4.2 Set SVGA resolution: -r #. . . . . . . . . . . 6 4.3 Set image directory: -i directory. . . . . . . 7 4.4 set help directory: -h directory . . . . . . . 7 4.5 Set the warning bell off: -b 0 . . . . . . . . 7 4.6 Configuration example: . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 5. Computer Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 5.1 Gray Level Images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 5.2 Color Mapped Images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 5.3 True Color Images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 6. What's ImgFun for?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 6.1 ImgFun under Windows and PaintBrush. . . . . .11 7. General Operations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 7.1 How to start ImgFun. . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 7.2 Main menu functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 7.3 The on line help system. . . . . . . . . . . .14 7.4 Fast Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 8. Image Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 8.1 GIF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 8.2 PCX. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 8.3 BMP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 8.4 PKI (*.PKI) Lossless Compression . . . . . . .18 8.5 JPEG (*.jpg) Compression and Decompression .18 8.6 Other Formats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 9. Function Usage: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 9.1 File:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 9.1.1 Load: Load an image to work. . . . . . 21 9.1.2 View: View an image file.. . . . . . . 21 9.1.3 Save: Save the loaded image 1. . . . . 21 9.1.4 Quit: Quit ImgFun. . . . . . . . . . . 21 9.2 Adjust:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 9.2.1 Brighten: Brighten the loaded image. . 21 9.2.2 Darken : Darken the loaded image. . . 21 9.2.3 Contrast:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 9.2.4 cOlor :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 9.3 Set: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 9.3.1 Background: Choose a background color. 21 9.3.2 Cut area :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 9.3.3 Directions:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 9.3.4 Threshold : View a binary map. . . . . 22 9.4 Transform: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 9.4.1 Rescale :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 9.4.2 Smooth:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 9.4.3 shArpen: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 9.4.4 rOtate:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 9.5 Options: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 9.5.1 Display : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 9.5.2 card : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 9.5.3 direcTory: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 9.5.4 Dither : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 9.6 Utility: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 9.6.1 Compress : JPEG compression . . . . . 23 9.6.2 cOnvert :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 9.6.3 sLide show: a manual slide show. . . . 23 9.7 Undo and Update: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 9.8 Swap (F3) :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 9.9 DOS (F6) :Shell out to DOS. . . . . . . . . .23 9.10 Gray (F7) : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 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 IFSE101.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 550K 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 2000 by 2000, 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. The general driver should be tried for newer cards, and often support 1024x768x256 modes. The card number indicated can be used for initial driver configuration by the -c switch. [1] Trident Series: Everex VGA 8800, 8900, 9000 or newer: up to 1024 x 768 General driver: Trident 8800 or Trident 8900 card number 3 or 4 These two drivers should work with all Trident cards. [2] Tseng's Lab: ET4000: up to 1024 x 768 card number 5 ET3000: up to 800 x 600 card number 6 These two drivers are different. [3] Paradise cards or Western Digitals chip sets: General driver: WD90C11 card number 7 WD90C11, WD90C30 or newer: up to 1024x 768 WD90C00, WD90C10: up to 640 x 480 All drivers are the same. [4] ATI Technologies: 18800, 28800 or newer : up to 1024 x 768 General driver: ATI28800-2 card number 11 ATI-18800: up to 800x600 card number 12 ATI-18800 for older ATI cards. All others can use ATI-28800. [5] Chips and Technologies: Boca VGA 82c453 or newer: up to 1024x768 ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 5 General driver : 82c453 card number 13 82c452 : card number 14 These two are the same. [6] Genoa Systems: up to 800 x 600 GVGA: card number 16 Genoa 5000 only: card number 17 These two are different. [7] Video 7, Headlands Technology: V7VGA1-3 : up to 800x600 card number 19 V7VGA4 for version 4 or above card number 18 These two drivers are different. The card number indicated can be used for initial driver configuration by the -c switch as follows: command line : imgfun -c # where # is the card number as listed. More details are given in the chapter configuration. A new change has been made in version 1.0. A -s switch is added for the standard 320x200x256 VGA mode. A new function, 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. Configuration From version 1.01, several configuration switches are added for initial configuration by the user. If you have problems in understanding the materials and examples in this chapter, you can just start ImgFun by the default setting. 4.1 Set SVGA card driver: -c # # driver 0, 1 standard VGA 320x200 only 2 VESA 3 Trident 8900 4 Trident 8800 5 ET 4000 6 ET 3000 7, 8, 9, 10 Paradise cards 11 ATI 28800 12 ATI 18800 13, 14 Chips & Technology 453 and 452 15 451, 320x200 only 16 Genoa VGA 17 Genoa 5000 18 Video 7 version 4 19 Video 7 version 3 The configuration switch is mainly added for newer cards that can not be identified by ImgFun. 4.2 Set SVGA resolution: -r # # resolution 0 320x200x256 1 640x400x256 2 640x480x256 3 800x600x256 4 1024x768x256 This configuration switch is added to overwrite the default 640x400x256 mode setting. WARNING:FOR 800x600 and 1024x768, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR MONITOR CAN STAND THE RESOLUTION, OTHERWISE THE MONITOR TUBE MIGHT BE DAMAGED. ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 7 4.3 Set image directory: -i directory directory: where your images are From version 1.01, the directory navigation capability is added. Users can change the image directory in ImgFun by a list selection. 4.4 set help directory: -h directory directory: where imgfun.hlp resides You can use the standard DOS command: append.exe to append the directory of the ImgFun package in your autoexec.bat then ImgFun will be able to find the help file no matter where you start ImgFun. For example: Assuming that the ImgFun package is in c:\gif, add the following two lines in your autoexec.bat. path=[your old path];c:\if append [your old append];c:\if Make sure the append command can be invoked from your old path. By this way you can start ImgFun anywhere in your system with the access to the help file. 4.5 Set the warning bell off: -b 0 4.6 Configuration example: Users can write a simple batch file for initial configuration or can use the default settings to save the trouble. Another standard DOS program that will help ImgFun a lot is the disk caching program smartdrv.exe. For example: smartdrv /B:512 c+ imgfun -r 2 -b 0 -i c:\gif -h c:\if The first line tells smartdrv to use 512k buffer for c drive. If you want to view or convert images from the slow floppy driver , you can enable the read/write cache for the folppy driver for fast response. This line assumes the smartdrv program can be invoked directly from your system. The second line will start ImgFun with the display resolution 640x480 (-r 2), and turn the warning bell off for quiet operation (-b 0) and the image directory is set to c:\gif (-i c:\gif) and the help directory is set to c:\if (-h c:\if). ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 8 ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 9 5. 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 high 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: 5.1 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. 5.2 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 10 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. 5.3 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 11 6. What's ImgFun for? ImgFun deals with gray and color mapped images in ver. 1.00 and 1.01 and the next major update version will deal with true color images directly. ImgFun does the following jobs for users: [1] display: Let the 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. A new format PKI (packed image) is developed for lossless compression of images. The algorithm used in the PKI format has better performance than the popular GIF format. 6.1 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 ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 12 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, especially on laser printers. The 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 13 7. General Operations 7.1 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. Please check your VGA card manual and use the information in chapter configuration for proper setting by the -c switch if necessary. 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 AND THE -C SWITCH ARE 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. 7.2 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 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. ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 14 From version 1.01, all file selection lists can also do directory navigation. Directories are listed at the end of the file list and a directory is indicated by an appending \ at the end of the name. If a directory is selected then the image directory is changed accordingly. The capitalized letters in the main menu are used for fast selection. You can type in the capitalized letters for the fast access mode. If you use arrow keys to select functions, ImgFun will enter the novice mode, ie. a pull-down sub menu is displayed. At the novice mode, just press Esc to enter the fast mode. 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. 7.3 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. 7.4 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 ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 15 started only the help file ImgFun.hlp is needed. You must specify the help file directory in Options, direcTory, Help or by the -h configuration switch or the DOS append command 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 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. ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 16 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 17 8. Image Formats ImgFun Ver.. 1.00 supports the following formats: 8.1 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. 8.2 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 encoding 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. 8.3 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 18 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. 8.4 PKI (*.PKI) Lossless Compression This is a new format developed by the author for lossless compression of images. The format PKI (packed image) has bettter compression efficiency than the GIF format, especially on large 256 color mapped images. The format usually produces a file from 5% to 20% smaller than the GIF format. The decoding is slower than GIF but faster than JPEG. This format is recommended for lossless compression of images. 8.5 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 actually a specification of transform coding techniques for lossy image compression. The format itself is not well defind for color mapped images. 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 ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 19 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. 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 ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 20 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 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. 8.6 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. ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 21 9. Function Usage: 9.1 File: 9.1.1 Load: Load an image to work. 9.1.2 View: View an image file. 9.1.3 Save: Save the loaded image 1. 9.1.4 Quit: Quit ImgFun. 9.2 Adjust: 9.2.1 Brighten: Brighten the loaded image. 9.2.2 Darken : Darken the loaded image. 9.2.3 Contrast: Adjust contrast by gray level remapping of the palette of the loaded image 1. The user has to set four parameters a,b,c, and d. For images too dark, try to set [a,b]=[0,60], and [c,d]=[0,90]. For images too bright, try to set [a,b]=[200,255], and [c,d]=[170,255]. Try to set different values for the effects. 9.2.4 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. 9.3 Set: 9.3.1 Background: Choose a background color. 9.3.2 Cut area : Set a cut area of the loaded image 1. For efficient cut, just concentrate on cutting columns out in the first pass then cut the rows out. The other way is to convert the image into PCX format and use PaintBrush (free with Windows 3.1) to do the cut. 9.3.3 Directions: Set horizontal and vertical directions of the loaded image 1. ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 22 9.3.4 Threshold : View a binary map from the loaded image 1 for a given threshold on the gray level. 9.4 Transform: 9.4.1 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. 9.4.2 Smooth: Smooth the loaded image 1 in the luminance component. 9.4.3 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. 9.4.4 rOtate: Rotate the loaded image 1 by 90, 180, or 270 degrees. Rotation of large images (over 1 Mb) will take a lot of time. 9.5 Options: 9.5.1 Display : Set the display mode and the starting display point (xmin ,ymin) in the screen. 9.5.2 card : This function is a new add-on in ver.. 1.0. It allows the user to select the SVGA driver. 9.5.3 direcTory: IMAGE: Specify where image files are located. HELP : Specify where ImgFun.hlp resides. ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 23 9.5.4 Dither : ON or OFF. Use dithering or not when remapping internal true color images into a palette. 9.6 Utility: 9.6.1 Compress : JPEG compression 9.6.2 cOnvert : Do conversion between different formats, also decompression of JPEG images 9.6.3 sLide show: a manual slide show 9.7 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. 9.8 Swap (F3) : Swap the loaded image 1 and the loaded image 2. 9.9 DOS (F6) :Shell out to DOS. 9.10 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 24 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. Ken Sukimoto , the operator of LA Down Town BBS to allow me to use his BBS as my support BBS. The high speed national BBS list included in the bonus package is also compiled at the LA Down Town BBS. All registered users : Your kindly support allows me to bring out version 1.01. 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) Genine:<C.HSU2> LA Down Town BBS user name: Chin TEL: 818-282-8018 PS. All trademarks mentioned belong to the proper owners. ImgFun.txt Speedy Software page 25 <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. Thanks! 12/4/92 <Ver. 1.01b> This version basically refines the user interface and fixes bugs found. Add a new format PKI for lossless image compression. Set the formal release of version 1.01 to 6/15/93. 4/17/93 <Ver. 1.01> This formal update is released to all users. 6/12/12