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1993-03-30
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=========================================================================
(C) 1993 by Atari Corporation, GEnie, and the Atari Roundtables. May
be reprinted only with this notice intact. The Atari Roundtables on
GEnie are *official* information services of Atari Corporation. To sign
up for GEnie service, call (with modem) 800-638-8369. Upon connection
type HHH (RETURN after that). Wait for the U#= prompt.Type XTX99437,GENIE
and press [RETURN]. The system will prompt you for your information.
==========================================================================
************
Topic 30 Fri Sep 18, 1992
B.REEVES2 [Alter Ego] (Forwarded)
Sub: Photochrome - 19200 out of 32768 colors
Move over Spectrum! Here comes Photochrome! Super HAM allows 4096 colors on
both an ST and STE. Photochrome allows 19200 colors on an STE. Lets talk
about it.
204 message(s) total.
************
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 1 Fri Sep 18, 1992
B.REEVES2 [Alter Ego] (Forwarded)
Hi,
Has anybody here tried Photochrome? (Availible here on GEnie.) I tried it on
some RAW files and I got _fantastic_ results! In addition to coverting to
Spectrum 512 & 4096, it can convert to something called Super HAM (so called
by the programmer because it works _better_ than HAM on the Amiga) which also
has 4096 (on the ST too) colors, but is a heck of alot cleaner. And on STE's
there is a mode called Photochrome which can have 19200 colors out of 32768.
There is a small amount of perceptible flicker in this mode but in most cases
it is not too distracting. RAW files are ray traced pictures. The program also
has the ablity to convert Vidichrome RGB files to Super HAM format.
Unfortunately I do not have access to any such files so I was not able to see
how good a job it does, but if it does as good a job as it does on the RAW
files then I guess I will just have to say, "Move over Spectrum. Here comes
Photochrome!" If anybody has a Vidichrome RGB files they would like to upload
here, I would gladly convert the pictures and upload the results if they are
any good at all. Or if someone would convert their own pictures I would be
mighty interested in seeing how the results compare to Spectrum.
The main deficiency that I found in this program is that even though it can
convert all types of Amiga IFF and HAM files, it doesn't do any scaling. This
means of course that If you convert any image that is greater than 320*200,
part of the picture will be cut off. The programmer claims to be considering
adding a scaling feature. Sending in our shareware payments would be a good
way of convincing him to do so. I plan too.
Barry
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 2 Sat Sep 19, 1992
A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] (Forwarded)
Barry,
I found PChrome *very* interesting. I saw no way whatsoever to save the image,
though. How do you save the image that you have created?
Al
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 3 Sat Sep 19, 1992
BLUE.MONDAY [] [] (Forwarded)
Barry,
Do you have a file number handy? I can't seem to locate it.
Thanks.
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 4 Sat Sep 19, 1992
B.REEVES2 [Alter Ego] (Forwarded)
Al,
To save picture converted by photochrome, press return while the converted
image is being displayed and a file selector will open up allowing you to save
the image. It defaults to drive A: but since the slide show program only seems
to work with drive A: I guess this is alright.
BLUE.MONDAY,
Photochrome is file #25151, PCHROME.LZH.
Barry
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 5 Sat Sep 19, 1992
C.HERBORTH [-Chris-] (Forwarded)
I was so impressed, I uploaded about 2.5M of RAW images (that's how big they
were archived)... ;-) A unix machine and a ray tracer are pretty handy...
I've also uploaded POV-Ray, an awesome ray tracer. The binaries should be
going up today, the source, sample files, and documentation are already up.
I've used POV-Ray and its predecessor, dkbtrace, to create the RAW files I've
uploaded. Since the PC RAW format generated by these programs isn't the same
as the RAW format required by PhotoChrome, I've included a converter in the
POV-Ray binaries. The RAW files I've uploaded are all in ST format.
I'm working on a nicely GEM version of POV-Ray, which will create ST RAW
images directly.
TT binaries (68030 w/FPU) are also going up.
Check out the Raytracing TOP in the graphics CAT for more info!
-Chris-
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 8 Mon Dec 07, 1992
D.BOWMAN9 [DAVE B] (Forwarded)
Hello all,
just thought I would drop a note to all of you out there. Photochrome 3 is
great!! Makes makin' SPX files a true breeze and is very fast to boot. I am
sending my SW fee in today. (along with my disk to get the newest DMJ Gif) I
hate to say this but this seems to be better than the reg'ed version of DMJ
gif version 3.
Any comments?
later, dave b 6 Dec, 1992 22:28
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 9 Mon Dec 07, 1992
A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] (Forwarded)
Does Pchrome run on a TT? I get a dark, locked-up screen when I try to load a
picture.
Al
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 10 Tue Dec 08, 1992
OUTRIDER [Terry] (Forwarded)
I agree the new PhotoChrome is GREAT! I was less than impressed with the last
version, mainly because of display problems and lack of GIF and support, but
also because of the lack of scaling for IFFs. But the new version has won me
over big time!
The PCS pics are so much better than Spectrum 4096 pics. There IS the slight
flicker, but the nearly photographic display more than makes up for it. And
it's so FAST! I belong to PixNet, which brings in megs and megs of GIFs every
week. It was a nightmare to convert them all with DMJ GIF, but with
PhotoChrome, it's nothing to go through a couple dozen GIFs in a relatively
short session.
It's not perfect, though. The new "Squash" routine is very nice. However, it
seems to squash to fit the screen, rather than squashing an equal amount both
vertically and horizontally. This causes some pics to LOOK squashed. It
should allow you to squash equally in both directions.
Also, it doesn't handle 89a nor GIFLITE GIFs well at all. Rather than telling
you it's a bad file, it bombs. Not good.
Still, all in all, a FANTASTIC program, and well worth a shareware payment!
Regarding making SPX files, where did I miss that??? Are you confusing SPX
with PCS? If not, HOW do you make SPX files with PhotoChrome?
(tm)
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 11 Wed Dec 09, 1992
D.BOWMAN9 [DAVE B] (Forwarded)
Terry,
You did not miss how to make SPX files with Photochrome. It does make it very
easy thouf--get your gif or whatever and it it is bigger than one screen chose
'select area' and select your first screen then do the same for however many
'screens' your picture has. Be sure to change the name of the saved file each
time.
Note; you also have to reload the gif for each screen.
Then go to SPX creat (in the lib somewhere) and put the screens together. go
have some tea---SPX of your gif or whatever.
later, dave b 7:41:32 pm, Wednesday, December 9, 1992
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 12 Wed Dec 09, 1992
FAIRWEATHER [David] (Forwarded)
What are the chances that we will ever see an EDITOR that lets us create our
own Spectrum 4096, Superham or PCS pix??? Please???
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 13 Thu Dec 10, 1992
OUTRIDER [Terry] (Forwarded)
Dave,
Thanks for the info on creating SPX files with PhotoChrome. I'll give it a
shot...
I've been using PhotoChrome 3.0 a LOT the last few days, and I'm still amazed
at the quality generated. I only hope he soon adds the ability to scale
evenly.
I've discovered it has a problem with GIFs that are less than 320x200. Rather
than making a smooth enlargement, or adding black borders, it draws bars
throughout the picture, as if the picture's been sectioned. Rather annoying,
but fortunately I have STyle to scale these pics to 320x200 or greater. And
pics < 320x200 are fairly rare, anyway.
- Terry -
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 14 Fri Dec 11, 1992
OUTRIDER [Terry] (Forwarded)
I just got through creating my first SPX file via PhotoChrome (thanks, Dave!).
It was surprisingly easy. The pic I created fit three screens perfectly.
It's nice using the STE palette for my SPX creations, but I've become so
spoiled by 19200 color pics, that going back to 4096 is a big letdown. ;^)
It's still kind of fun, though -- especially for those pics that PhotoChrome
makes look fat when you squash them.
I tried the slideshow viewer that came in the latest archive for the first
time earlier, and found that I still have the same problem with the screen
'flashing' every few seconds.
Using the application viewer I don't have that problem. However, I do have
problems with mouse jumping and the sound of a key being held down quite often
when I exit. Also, I've ran into a strange problem with it refusing the load
a great many of my pics. I can move them to floppy or another location on my
hard drive and they'll load. I wonder if it doesn't like BMG partitions...
((( Terry )))
SYSOPS: Shouldn't this topic be in the Graphics CAT? I almost didn't find
it. I couldn't figure out why it wasn't in my topic list (in the Graphics
CAT). It was only when I did a search from the beginning that I found it.
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 15 Fri Dec 11, 1992
FAIRWEATHER [David] (Forwarded)
I couldn't get the slideshow to work at all! Every time I try to launch it it
immediately exits back to the desktop. What's the trick?
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 16 Fri Dec 11, 1992
OUTRIDER [Terry] (Forwarded)
David,
Unfortunately, the slideshow viewer only reads .PCS files from drive A:. If
you put some files on floppy in drive A: it should work.
Is the application viewer working ok for you?
((( Terry )))
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 17 Sat Dec 12, 1992
R.KOHORN [RON] (Forwarded)
When I use the viewer (thanks for letting us know it only works off A!) I get
an unviewable picture using a Mega STe (TOS 2.06). Any suggestions?
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 18 Sat Dec 12, 1992
OUTRIDER [Terry] (Forwarded)
Ron,
Since it uses 8 MHz timing, you'll likely have to go to 8 MHz and/or turn off
your cache in order for it to work on your machine. It works similar (I
think) to Spectrum.
-----8<-----
I've created several very good SPXs using PhotoChrome's ability to easily cut
out the frames (thanks again, Dave!). I think I'll upload a few of them
(along with a PCS or two) this call.
((( Terry )))
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 19 Sat Dec 12, 1992
M.POCHE [Mick] (Forwarded)
Ron -
Are you sure you are in 8Mhz mode when trying to view the pictures? They are
garbage in 16Mhz!
- Mick
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 20 Sat Dec 12, 1992
NTACTONE [Ron Hunter] (Forwarded)
>Since it uses 8 MHz timing, you'll likely have to go to 8 MHz and/or
>turn off your cache in order for it to work on your machine. It works
>similar (I think) to Spectrum.
Well, what I had in mind was the ability to do the conversion at
16mhz, and only stop down to 8 for the actual display, somewhat like
the SPC3375 program does, loads and decompresses at 16 and slows for
the display....
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 21 Sat Dec 12, 1992
FAIRWEATHER [David] (Forwarded)
Yes the app viewer seems to work fine. I have noticed though that it
eventually cuts out back to the desktop if you try to leave one picture
showing indefinitely.
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 22 Sat Dec 12, 1992
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 17:55 EST
Sheesh, how many PhotoChrome topics do we need!? ;^)
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 23 Sat Dec 12, 1992
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 17:59 EST
>NTACTONE [Ron Hunter] (Forwarded)
>
> Well, what I had in mind was the ability to do the conversion at
> 16mhz, and only stop down to 8 for the actual display [...]
I'm not sure if this is possible. But it's quite fast converting from even
the largest GIFs at 8 MHz. It's a lot faster than even DigiSpec.
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 24 Sat Dec 12, 1992
BRIAN.H [ST~SysOp] at 19:43 EST
Terry,
This is the real topic; I made a mistake because I got line noise and
we ended with two topics; topic 30 is the only active topic.
*******Brian*********
Written on Saturday 12 December 1992 at 06:59 p.m. AST
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 25 Sun Dec 13, 1992
J.SAFFER [JASON SAFFER] at 13:49 EST
I've downloaded this program and some of the .pcs pics in the library. But I'm
not sure if this works on my TT!?!?? When I run the photo program a nice
colorful screen comes up. But what I'm trying to do is VIEW the pcs pics that
others have created. I've also run what seems to be the pcs viewer program but
after double clicking on it, it returns to the desktop. I read that I should
put my pcs pics on a floppy in A, and I did that. But then all I get is a
darkened screen and then have to reboot to get out of it.
1. Does it work on the TT? 2. How do I exit from a pic being viewed from
floppy A? 3. Will it view pics other than on A?
- Jason Saffer
Hercules, California
Sunday, December 13, 1992 8:55 am
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 26 Sun Dec 13, 1992
REALM [Joey] at 16:42 EST
Jason, My guess would be it doesn't work on a TT. I think it was
mentioned you have to be in 8Mhz mode plus I believe it's Spectrum like in
nature. I don't know for sure, I'm just guessing from what I've read here.
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 27 Tue Dec 15, 1992
A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 03:02 EST
Joey,
I think you're right -- it doesn't work on a TT. But since there are SPC
viewers that work on a TT, it would be nice to see one that showed PCS files,
too.
Al
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 28 Tue Dec 15, 1992
ST.LOU [Lou Rocha] at 10:57 EST
Al, et al <grin>... I can't seem to get the PCSVIEW.PRG working. I run it, it
blanks the screen then comes back to the desktop. Should I read the manual, or
what ? <g,d,r>
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 29 Tue Dec 15, 1992
R.MARTIN22 [NETWORK 23] at 23:33 EST
LOU:
PCSVIEW only reads PCS's off drive A (superBUMMER). Put some .PCS there and
the viewer will work fine.
Live And Direct [9:51 PM-15/Dec/92],
Rod Martin, Network 23/ST Connection
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 30 Wed Dec 16, 1992
ST.LOU [Lou Rocha] at 00:44 EST
Thanks Rod... boo hoo.... BTW, where did you read that?
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 31 Wed Dec 16, 1992
T.GIRSCH [T.J.] at 00:45 EST
LOU:
In the PCHROME3 archive, there is a file called PCSCLICK.APP or some such.
Highlight it, select "Install Application" and give it an extender of PCS.
Then save your desktop. From now on, double clicking on a PCS will view it.
It's not a slide show, but it beats copying down to A.
- T.J.
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 32 Wed Dec 16, 1992
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 01:21 EST
I haven't actually tried it, but I would think you could change the path in
the viewer from A: to any other drive, with a sector editor. However, you'll
still be stuck in the root directory. (It does only play sounds in the root
of A:, right?)
Anyone else having problems with the application viewer causing the mouse to
jump and/or causing repeated keyclicks (stopped by pressing any key)? That's
_really_ annoying.
((( Terry )))
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 33 Wed Dec 16, 1992
J.SAFFER [JASON SAFFER] at 01:57 EST
>Atari-ST RoundTable
>PCSVIEW only reads PCS's off drive A (superBUMMER). Put some .PCS
there and >the viewer will work fine.
Well, I put a pcs pic on the floppy in drive A with my Mega 4 and then ran
the pcsview program and also got a blank screen and then a return to the
desktop. What gives??
- Jason Saffer
Hercules, California
Tuesday, December 15, 1992 10:44 pm
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 34 Wed Dec 16, 1992
A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 03:43 EST
Lou,
Read the manual? What are you, a wimp? :)
It doesn't work on my 520ST either. I haven't tried it on the 4-meg ST yet.
I *do* wish I could view PCS files on the TT!
Al
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 35 Wed Dec 16, 1992
ST.LOU [Lou Rocha] at 08:23 EST
Jason, PCSVIEW.PRG does work with PCS pictures on A:\ but I had to disable my
AUTO and desk accessories.
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 36 Wed Dec 16, 1992
MAG.SOFTWARE at 21:09 EST
PhotoChrome doen not work on the TT because it is using a similar method to
display more colors as done with spectrum. The code is _very_ closely timed to
switch color palettes a preciece moments at 8Mhz. I have never worked with
displaying Spectrum pics so I am studying how this is done. I hop to come out
with a program similar to Spectrum and PhotoChrome but will be specifically
for the TT. If anyone here could help me understand the timing, code, etc for
displaying Spectrum pics, it would be greatly appreciated.
Jeff
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 37 Wed Dec 16, 1992
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 22:19 EST
I discovered 99% of the problem I described with PCSCLICK leaving a jumping
mouse and steady keyclicks. It turns out the problem was caused by an
incompatibility with PoolFx92.
The reason why I say 99% is because out of dozens of pictures I've viewed
since switching back to PoolFix4, I've had the problem happen ONCE. When
using PoolFx92, it happened an average of about one out of every five pics.
PoolFx92 also has MAJOR problems with the latest Warp 9, particularly if you
are a Spectre GCR user! I recommend strongly that anyone using PoolFx92 to go
back to PoolFix4, even if you're not presently having any apparent problems.
((( Terry )))
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 38 Wed Dec 16, 1992
T.GIRSCH [T.J.] at 23:33 EST
Terry -
Uhhh, I have the keyclick problem all the time (about 50%, actually) and I'm
using a MegaSTe with TOS 2.05 -- that means no Poolfix of any sort. And I
have to find "magic" keys to make it go away. Sometimes it's space, sometimes
return, sometimes esc, etc...
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 39 Thu Dec 17, 1992
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 00:38 EST
T.J.,
Interesting. I've always used space (or any other key) to get rid of my
keyclicks. I've never had it not stop after pressing any key.
Clearly there's a bug in PCSCLICK. Fortunately, removal of PoolFx92 took care
of it for me. Have you tried removing your TSRs/ACCs to see if it still did
it? You might also want to try adding SerialFix, if you're not already using
it.
(tm)
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 40 Thu Dec 17, 1992
S.DANUSER [Soul Manager] at 04:59 EST
>Al, et al
Lou, who are the two Al's to whom you are speaking? <chuckle>
Is this a good place to start that Latin topic?
Soul Manager
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 41 Sun Dec 20, 1992
BOB-BRODIE [Atari Corp.] at 00:46 EST
After all the hype I read about PhotoChrome, I gave it a shot, too. It runs
for awhile on my TT with TOS 3.06, until I try to view a picture. Tried
everything...killed off all the auto programs, all the acc's, etc. Ran it in
all rez (ok...except 1280x960) and still no go.
Then tried it on a Mega STE, after slowing it down to 8Mhz. The quality is
indeed impressive. I plan on sending in my shareware dollars, too. BUT, I'm
also going to include a plea for the developer to clean up his act! :) Really,
this thing should work on _ALL_ of our computers, it's very nice! If he
followed the rules, he'd be working regardless of timing, and with video
cards, and the new Falcon graphic modes!! I'll give it a shot on the Falcon
later this week and see what happens, but I'm expecting to see BOMBS
everywhere!!
regards,
Bob Brodie
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 42 Sun Dec 20, 1992
T.GIRSCH [T.J.] at 03:48 EST
Bob -
If my understanding is correct, Photochrome still uses the same "cheats" that
the original Spectrum used (uses), only with better results. I'd love to see
someone develop even a Spectrum viewer that works without regard to clock
speed. Heck, I'd like to see a viewer intelligent enough to detect that I'm
at 16-MHz and switch me down to eight.
- T.J. @ Atari Advantage
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 43 Sun Dec 20, 1992
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 10:55 EST
I can't use either of the slideshow viewers. The screen distorts (flickers,
flashes?) every second or so, making the picture all but unviewable. I have
no problem with the application viewer, however. It gives me a steady picture
until the thing finally times out.
Has anyone else had similar results? I admit I haven't tried it on a clean
system yet, but I would think if the application viewer works, the slideshow
viewer should, also.
((( Terry )))
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 44 Sun Dec 20, 1992
ST.LOU [Lou Rocha] at 11:06 EST
TJ... I believe the new spectrum viewer called SPECTRUM 3375 does
automatically switch clock speeds. It also has a neat toggle for screen
frequency to really clean up the display.
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 45 Sun Dec 20, 1992
A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 11:13 EST
Bob,
PChrome won't run on my TT either, and I agree with you 100%. GEM-View is the
closest TT owners have to something that shows all graphics formats, but it is
still clumsier than it should be.
I'd like to put a plug in for the TT-specific coding in the CodeHead
ARTGALRY.PRG (which can also be run as a DA). It will show Degas, TNY and PNT
files correctly no matter which TT resolution you are in, with the
understandable exception of not being able to show color in TT high. I often
run my TT in ST high (it's faster that way) and yet Art Gallery will quickly
pop a color Degas onto the screen at any time -- a real oddity, once you get
used to the start monochromicity of the TT's ST high-res emulation.
There is even a program that shows Spectrums on the TT, called View_TT. It
does a respectable job.
Al
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 46 Sun Dec 20, 1992
FAIRWEATHER [David] at 11:27 EST
Yes Terry, I got the same shakes and lines from the old slideshow. I haven't
tried the new one yet. Who is the Photochrome developer? Is he on GEnie?
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 47 Sun Dec 20, 1992
J.KUDRON [Jim~ST Sysop] at 11:48 EST
Bob & T.J.,
Have you tried this program:
26556 GVIEW201.LZH B.SCHULZE1 921117 378368 8 28
Desc: View ANY picture, any rez
You don't have to drop down to 8mhz. I've been able to view Spectrum (As well
as a lot of other formats) pics in TT Med.
Jim Kudron
<ST Sysop>
20Dec92
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 48 Sun Dec 20, 1992
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 15:14 EST
David,
The developer (author) is Douglas Little in Scotland. As far as I know, he's
not on GEnie.
((( Terry )))
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 49 Sun Dec 20, 1992
J.SAFFER [JASON SAFFER] at 16:36 EST
Al, do you know if View_TT is on GEnie and in which library. Does this mean I
can view spc (or is it spu) pics on my TT in TT medium res?
- Jason Saffer
Hercules, California
Sunday, December 20, 1992 11:14 am
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 50 Sun Dec 20, 1992
BOB-BRODIE [Atari Corp.] at 19:22 EST
Jason,
When I decided to take a look at PhotoChrome, I set my libraries to all, and
searched on the word PhotoChrome. I got about 15 files to come up, and did a
zmodem batch of them all. Somewhere, in one of the files that I downloaded,
was View_TT. And it does a pretty nice job.
Seems to me that I had to kill off a few things in order for it to work,
(probably FSM or Speedo) which shouldn't be a problem for most users.
Jim,
Yes, I've used GEMView before...and it's ok. My real point isn't that I can't
view the pics...I can. What I would really like to see is Photo Chrome work
properly with all machines. I think it's a shame that such a nice piece of
software won't even run on a Mega STE at 16Mzh!
best regards,
Bob Brodie
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 51 Mon Dec 21, 1992
J.SAFFER [JASON SAFFER] at 22:14 EST
BOB (or anyone else) I would love to be able to find the TT_View program that
you've mentioned so that I can view Spectrum pics on my TT. But when I
followed your suggestion and did a search using the term PhotoChrome as the
string (as well as TT_View), I got a whole bunch of files but not one of them
says TT View or anything like it. Can you give me any more guidance on how to
get this desirable program.
Actually, if anybody does find this file, please let me know exactly how you
did it, because I don't have a lot of success with file searches. Thanks.
- Jason Saffer
Hercules, California
Monday, December 21, 1992 7:12 pm
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 52 Mon Dec 21, 1992
SANDY.W [sysop] at 23:01 EST
I think the program Bob is referring to is VIEW132D. I'ed like to know how Bob
got it so show PhotoChrome pics though.
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 53 Tue Dec 22, 1992
MAG.SOFTWARE at 01:30 EST
Bob,
There's no way to write a program like PhotoChrome that will work on all
machines. Actually, what would have to be done is separate code for each
machine type. Timing is _very_ critical when displaying more colors on the
screen than 'normal'. It is done in a completely illegal manner and there is
no other way to do it.
There is one way to display more colors on the screen than normal legally. But
you can only display the nuber of displayable colors per scan line and switch
the palette every scan line. (i.e. low rez displays 16 colors so one could
display 16 colors per scan line and switch the palatte for every scan line.)
This method would work on all machines with the same code, but the results
would not be as impressive.
This may be a little technical, and I'm not sure I explained it well enough.
If anyone would like me to simplify it more, or explain it in more detail,
just let me know.
Jeffrey C. Davis New Demensions Computer Center New Dimensions Development
Group (414)327-3311
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 54 Wed Dec 23, 1992
T.GIRSCH [T.J.] at 01:24 EST
Jeff -
Couldn't you base the tight timing on the clock ticks?
- T.J.
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 55 Wed Dec 23, 1992
REALM [Joey] at 02:23 EST
Bob, the Falcon shows all 32,000 colors legally doesn't it?:-) Seems like
we really just need a viewer to legally handle the Photochrome format on the
Falcon. How about a Photochrome to Prism Paint,TIFF file converter or
something. Be nice to have a converter to take Falcon screens and turn them
into Photchromes as well for ST users.
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 56 Wed Dec 23, 1992
A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 03:42 EST
Jason,
VIEW132D is what the folder is called, so the file must be here as
VIEW132D.LZH or .ZIP.
Al
------------
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Message 57 Wed Dec 23, 1992
MAG.SOFTWARE at 19:42 EST
T.J. -
Nope. The timing is _very_ close. it relies on the number of processor cycles
it takes for each instruction. The 200Hz clock is _way_ to slow.
- Jeff
------------
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Message 58 Thu Dec 24, 1992
J.SAFFER [JASON SAFFER] at 23:36 EST
Al and Sandy, thanks for the file name for view132d. I did a search using the
string, View132d.*, thinking that would yield the correct file but apparently
GEnie doesn't work that way. But using the string VIEW gave me the correct
file name (along with a bunch of others).
The docs of this program seem to indicate that I should be able to view SPC
pictures -- but I don't seem to have success with that. I've tried viewing an
SPC pic in both ST and TT resolutions on my TT but I don't a clear picture at
all. Anybody else able to view Spectrum (that's SPC and SPU pics, right) on a
TT with this program?
Also, I've also tried viewing SPC and SPU pics with the GEMVIEW program, also
with no success. Is this program supposed to work with spc and spu? When I've
loaded an spc or spu pic, it shows up in the Gemview viewing window as a bunch
of hex numbers.
- Jason Saffer
Hercules, California
Thursday, December 24, 1992 2:51 pm
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 59 Fri Dec 25, 1992
LEXICOR2 [Ringo] at 00:12 EST
Jason.
I have use Gemview and it works just fine even with SPC pictures. ST and TT
work fine. PhotoChrome does not work on the TT and it does not not use a GEM
interface.
Ringo
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 60 Fri Dec 25, 1992
J.STANFORD2 [John@Lexicor] at 00:19 EST
GEMVIEW 2.01 does a very nice job displaying SPC images in TT Low (I don't
know about SPU).
There is an option to view an image as hex but that must be selected as an
option after the image is loaded and its put in a seprate window.
I suspect that the view program you mention is for the ST and STe only and
timing specific code prevents it from working on the TT.
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 61 Fri Dec 25, 1992
A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 14:04 EST
Jason,
Sorry to hear of your problem viewing SPC pics. I have no trouble viewing them
with View_TT and with GEM-View. Have they been turned into SPS pics, by
chance?
BTW, Art Gallery by Charles Johnson is without a doubt the most versatile of
the TT picture viewers, although it won't show Spectrums ... yet. Charles says
it is impossible to show Spectrums on the TT, which can be translated as, "I
just may get around to doing it some day." To be fair, the other apps show
Spectrums by remapping the colors to 256 or less and tossing out the
dithering.
John@Lexicor,
GEM-View doesn't need to be told to show a file in hex; it reverts to hex when
it can't figure out the graphics format.
Al
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 62 Fri Dec 25, 1992
SANDY.W [sysop] at 20:24 EST
Jason - GEnie does not accept * as a wild card. It literally looks for a *.
The GEnie version of a wild card is to type just part of the keyword starting
from the beginning of the word. Eg. VIEW132D, VIEW132, VIE, etc would have all
brought up that file, along with however many other files had that string as
part of its keyword, etc.
I've really not used this program much, so it is hard to say about the
spectrum pictures. It could be as simple as a conflict with some other
auto/accessory you have loaded.
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 63 Mon Dec 28, 1992
SAM-RAPP [<<Sam>>] at 02:33 EST
I am having some trouble with some GIF's I got off a local board and
PHOTOCHROME (3.0).... When I try to load one, photochrome reads a small amout
and then the system locks up.
"GIFFER", a monochrome GIF viewer, says "Illegal GIF block type" when I feed
it one of them.
"BGIF" works as normal when converting them to spectrum.
"GIFSHOW" also displays them OK.
What could the problem be? I will be happy to E'mail one to someone to see if
you have any luck. Any experts out there?
------------> Sam
OH. I have a 2.5mb 1040ST w/TOS 1.0. If it matters.
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 64 Mon Dec 28, 1992
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 05:08 EST
Sam,
The problem is those GIFs are either 89a or GIFLITE, both of which cause
PhotoChrome to choke.
DMJ wrote a program that will convert 89a GIFs to the 87a format that
PhotoChrome (and all other GIF programs) can handle.
It can also convert GIFLITE GIFs, but you must first change the header with a
sector editor from 87a to 89a. This 'fools' the DMJ converter into thinking
it's an 89a GIF, and it will then convert it to standard 87a format.
Sorry I don't have a filename or number for that converter, but if you do a
search on DMJ, it should bring it up.
((( Terry )))
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 65 Mon Dec 28, 1992
REALM [Joey] at 05:58 EST
Sam, Are they MAC GIF files? The MAC writes 128 Byte header onto the front
of the GIF file. Theres a file in the library called Macvert that will strip
it off, if it's there. I would suspect that might be your problem or the
files are 89a GIF's. Theres also a program in the library to convert them to
87a GIF's. Other then those two problems I can't think of anything else
except maybe they're bad or something.
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 66 Mon Dec 28, 1992
D.BOWMAN9 [DAVE B] at 06:12 EST
Sam,
Version 1.1 of DMJ's 89ato87a.prg will convert GIFLITE. I have it on a disk
somewhere. Been tryin' for a couple of days to find it will upload when I
find it.
later, dave b 3:13:26 am, Monday, December 28, 1992
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 67 Tue Dec 29, 1992
SAM-RAPP [<<Sam>>] at 20:27 EST
I have 89 to 87 v1.0. It says they are already 87a. I will try to change
the 87 to an 89 with a sector editor and see what that does....
Thanks for the help!
--------------> Sam
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Category 7, Topic 30
Message 68 Tue Dec 29, 1992
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 22:04 EST
That should do it, Sam. MANY of the GIFs I've been getting are in GIFLITE,
which does have an 87a header. Changing the 87a to 89a and then running DMJ's
converter does the trick.
BUT, you may need v1.1. I'm not sure if v1.0 handles GIFLITE pics.
((( Terry )))
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 69 Thu Dec 31, 1992
SAM-RAPP [<<Sam>>] at 19:06 EST
Thanks for the help...... 1.0 worked OK when I changed the header. Does 1.1
automatically recognize GIFLITE?
-----------> Sam
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 70 Thu Dec 31, 1992
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 21:57 EST
Sam,
I erred when I said you needed v1.1. I checked my version and it's 1.0[beta],
though it was advertised as the "new version converts GIFLITE GIFs." So
although it's the second release, I don't believe a v1.1 exists. I wish it
DID automatically recognize GIFLITE, as that would make things MUCH easier.
((( Terry )))
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 71 Fri Jan 01, 1993
S.FARWIG [STAN] at 15:25 EST
I wonder if anyone has any helpful ideas on strange GIF problems I've
encountered.
I recently bought a CD_ROM drive and a disk with over 5,100 GIF files and was
blissfully happy when the latest PHOTOCHROME had GIF enabled.
Problem number one: whenever I copy a file from the CD disk to another drive
and load the copy into PHOTOCHROME, about 3/4 of the image is blanked out. I
thought the disk supplier must have a copy protection scheme going, but this
seemed strange since he is offering a file description disk in MAXIMUS format
for use on BBS.
Problem number two: PHOTOCHROME freezes on certain of the files and a reboot
is required. All files so far are in 87a format according to the DJM utility
(don't know if some are in GIFLITE.) Following a suggestion here, I have
changed the 87a to 89a to "fool" the DJM conversion utility, hoping this would
make a difference, but a save with the DJM utility results in 0 bytes.
So I have tried several methods to circumvent what I took to be the copy
protection (after all the guy who produced the CD_ROM disk was using material
that is clearly marked "copyrighted".)
One method has produced a partial solution and presented new problems. This is
Zocra's STyle program.
Some of the files load into STyle and, when saved to another drive from STyle
as a GIF, they load into PHOTOCHROME fine, without any blanking out of the
image. Further, files from the CD DISK that caused PHOTOCHROME to freeze load
into STyle readily and when saved back to another drive as GIF are readily
accepted into PHOTOCHROME.
BUT other files which PHOTOCHROME accepts without any problem cause STyle to
put up a prompt, "Warning! Improper code in file" and the resultant image is
the same as when a file is copied from the CD disk to another drive, the lower
3/4 is blanked out. This causes me to think I was mistaken in my assumption of
copy protection.
I can't figure out why PHOTOCHROME isn't disturbed by "improper code" in these
files while STyle handles files that PHOTCHROME goes to sleep on. And I have
only a partial method to copy files from the CD.
Hopefully, the FALCON will make such problems obsolete. Meanwhile any help is
gratefully received. Stan
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 72 Fri Jan 01, 1993
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 16:35 EST
Stan,
Wish I could help, but I haven't seen any problems like you described, and
I've ran literally hundreds of GIFs through PhotoChrome. In fact, I've yet to
see STyle or PhotoChrome choke on a GIF that wasn't 89a or GIFLITE. And I've
yet to see 89a_87a create a 0 byte file, but I always check with my binary
editor (LookIt!) for the GIFLITE string before changing the 87a to 89a to
'fool' 89a-87a.
-----8<-----
I saw a reference to FIXAGIF in Z*Net, and from the description, it looks
pretty good. Unfortunately, I've yet to see it anywhere, and a search here
for that string produced nothing. Does anyone have this utility, and if so,
could you please upload it?
((( Terry )))
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 73 Fri Jan 01, 1993
D.BOWMAN9 [DAVE B] at 23:21 EST
hello there again,
OUTRIDER,
I also have fixagif and will upload it when this msg go out. had to reupload
89a_87a ver 1.1 it is now in the libs.
later, dave b 3:36:48 pm, Friday, January 1, 1993
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 74 Sat Jan 02, 1993
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 02:46 EST
Dave,
I got 89a_87a v1.1 earlier, and look forward to FIXAGIF. Thanks again!
((( Terry )))
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 76 Sat Jan 02, 1993
G.SLOAN at 19:56 EST
Does anybody know what kinds of files can be converted with the file converter
that was in the PhotoChrome Archive? The author states that it can load
IFF24's from lightwave, but he also says that it _COULD_ load other stuff too.
If anybody has ever tried loading in a .TIFF, .iff24, etc. successfully,
please let me know. Thanks ;) Geoff
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 77 Sun Jan 03, 1993
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 14:04 EST
Geoff,
I think you misunderstood the docs. There are MANY different types of IFFs,
and I've yet to see an ST program (PhotoChrome included) that can handle all
of them. I believe what the author was saying was that it could load other
types of IFFs. I doubt very seriously if it could convert a TIFF or any other
format not specifically shown.
((( Terry )))
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 78 Sun Jan 03, 1993
S.FARWIG [STAN] at 18:45 EST
Terry: Thanks for your suggestions. I see FIXAGIF is now in the library
(thanks too to Dave) and will give it a whirl, although I have my doubts that
it will do the trick. I have yet to find a 89a or GIFLITE in LookIt.
A suggestion over in the STyle topic suggested the ICD CD_ROM drive may be at
fault, truncating files over XXk length. (And the ICD support topic is closed.
Great!) Could be, although it is odd that copied files show the same size as
the original but the data is largely kaput. And I am really bugged that STyle
shows "Improper code in file" when those same files load without difficulty
into every other program I have that reads GIF format.
Anyone have ideas about maintaining the ratio aspect in PHOTOCHROME? GIF2RAW
does a fine job as long as the original is in "landscape" orientation, but it
badly clips files such as a 397X1084 job on my disk. Scrolling would be a
welcome feature on PHOTOCHROME.
Thanks again for the help. Stan
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 79 Sun Jan 03, 1993
G.SLOAN [Geoff] at 18:58 EST
Terry, are there any programs out yet to convert TIFF's to RAW's, GIF's SPC's,
or SPU's? I'd like to find a decent public domain or shareware viewer. The
thing that I was enquiring about was the Real to Raw program that was included
with the PCHROME3.LZH archive. Maybe I made a mistake and thought that TIFF is
a form of IFF. Well, thanks Terry. Later, Geoff
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 80 Sun Jan 03, 1993
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 22:31 EST
Stan,
If there's no 89a or GIFLITE in the GIFs, I don't know what the problem could
be, unless it's just plain data that's not supposed to be there. I've been
using STyle since its inception, and likewise, PhotoChrome, and have never had
a problem with either on standard 87a GIFs.
Let us know if Fix-A-GIF helps. I don't have any GIFs, currently, to 'fix,'
but it looks like a nice program. I'm sure some 'fixable' GIFs will start
rolling in via PixNet very soon. :^)
-----8<-----
Geoff,
STyle, from Zocra Technologies, will load NEO, P??, TN?, FL?, IM, IMG, BMP,
PCX, LBM, IFF, GIF, EPS, CP8, MAC and yes, TIF formats, and save to NEO, PI?,
TNY, FL8, IM, IMG, PCX, BMP, GIF, EPS, CP8, MAC and yes, TIF formats. :^)
It comes with many scaling and rendering options. Combined with STipple, also
from Zocra, they make quite a formidable pair.
Both programs are commercial. Further info can be found in the library
(search for ZOCRA). There is also a demo of STyle in the library.
For a decent shareware viewer, I recommend GEM-View (GVIEW201.LZH) as an
excellent all-around program. It's limited in what it can save, but it loads
a plethora of formats, works in all resolutions (ST, TT and Falcon), and has
flexible scaling and rendering.
That said, I MUCH prefer the STipple/STyle combo, so I rarely use GEM-View,
but if you're looking for something NOW, GEM-View is the thing to get. And if
you're looking for just a simple GIF viewer, I have other recommendations as
well. :^)
((( Terry )))
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 81 Mon Jan 04, 1993
J.ANDREWS23 [Jeff Andrews] at 22:57 EST
For those of you who have mentioned Photochrome's inability to run at 16MHz on
a MegaSTE, I suggest you grab the DMJ freeware file from the 475;3 library
called MHZ11.LZH (it's file #25915). This is a hot-key setup that allows you
to change from 16MHz with the cache to 8MHz without the cache by pressing
<CTRL><RightShift>. This can be done while viewing Spectrum pictures, but not
while viewing Photochrome pictures. For the 19200/32767 pictures, you can use
the hot-key switch right before converting a picture or a batch of pictures,
and then, once the application is exited, switch it right back for viewing
purposes (either with PCSClick, or PCSView). This is just a minor workaround,
not a solution, but it does take some of the monotony out of pulling up the
Control Panel, then the General Setup box, then, finally, the speed box - for
the Nth time. (And thanks to the guys at Lexicor for giving me the tip about
this program awhile back). 8^> (Re-reading what I have written, it appears a
bit unclear. The point
was supposed to be that the hot-keys serve as a speed toggle - back
and forth between 8MHz/noCache & 16MHz/Cache. The high speed is used
during the converting process, and the low speed is used to view the
converted pictures. And it seems to me that you might even be able to
pick which keys are used for the hot-key sequence... Anyway, if you
have a MegaSTE, you shouldn't be without this file. It's only 8k long,
and the price couldn't be any lower <g> ).
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 82 Tue Jan 05, 1993
FAIRWEATHER [David] at 00:11 EST
Gem view is "limited in what it can save"??? I didn't know it could save AT
ALL! How do you get it to save pics?
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 83 Wed Jan 06, 1993
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 22:19 EST
As far as I know, GEM-View has always had save capabilities, but it's limited
to XIMG (a color IMG) format. Fortunately, STyle supports XIMG, so you can
load the pic and convert it to another format, if so desired.
To get to GEM-View's save feature, just click on the Atari Fuji logo and
follow the prompts.
((( Terry )))
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 84 Wed Jan 06, 1993
S.FARWIG [STAN] at 22:34 EST
Terry: since you asked for it, I'll offer an opinion on FIXAGIF: it's a
CHAMPION! I still have no idea what's going on to cause these problems, but
between FIXAGIF & STyle they're s-l-o-w-ly being corrected.
To recapitulate, Problem #1: any copy from the CD_ROM disk resulted in all
files losing most of their data.
This was, at times, solved by loading the file into STyle and saving
to a different drive. But...
Problem #2 some files that loaded into PHOTOCHROME, as well as some files that
would not, brought a "improper code in file" prompt from STyle and would
result in files with most of the data missing again. (A desirable future
addition to STyle would be the option to ABORT with the "improper code"
message rather than waiting for the truncated file to be possesssed.)
FIXAGIF does indeed fix the files and they are readily accepted by
both STyle and PHOTOCHROME.
I came across the first 89a Gif on the CD (lord, 5140 GIFS are a lot to wander
through), and the 89a would load in neither STyle or PHOTOCHROME. The DMJ 89a-
87a program again truncated the file (130+K to 40+K), but FIXAGIF using the
87a option flawlessly produced a usable file.
Loud CHEERS for Lonny Pursell!
I agree that PHOTOCHROME is the best graphic thing to hit the ST since
SPECTRUM 512. When I send my shareware fee I will, however, wish for two
things: that PHOTCHROME recognize the JRI color board, that it would preserve
the aspect ratio when "squashing".
Yours for ever better graphics on ATARI computers. Stan
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 85 Thu Jan 07, 1993
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 01:42 EST
Stan,
Glad to hear that Fix-A-GIF worked for you! I still haven't had a chance to
try it. (All GIFs coming in through PixNet have been 87a lately.)
Seems EVERYONE wishes PhotoChrome would retain aspect ratio when squashing (at
least as an option). I hope that makes it into the next update.
((( Terry )))
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 86 Thu Jan 07, 1993
H.WOOTAN [Harry] at 23:08 EST
I'll try to read all the earlier messages. (Another Aladdin Topic Update!!)
In the meantime .....
I have an ST (not STe, not TT). Can I use PHOTOCHROME? If not, can I use
something else to view all these PCS pictures? PCSVIEW, for example?
Do I have to switch back to 8MHz to do so? (I'm using a T-16@16MHz.)
-- Harry
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 87 Fri Jan 08, 1993
C.WARD7 [Craig] at 00:43 EST
When I run PSCLICK, I don't seem to be able to exit without a reboot. PCSVIEW
seems to hang on the first PCS picture it loads and flickers. I run on a ST
with TOS 2.06 and 4 MEG. What is the key to exit PSCLICK?
Thanks in advance.
Craig
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 88 Fri Jan 08, 1993
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 04:10 EST
Harry,
PhotoChrome has regular ST modes, but I'm not sure how it handles STE pics on
a regular ST, or even IF it handles them. The ST modes give you 4096 colors
out of a 4096 color palette, I believe. Use either PCSVIEW3 or PCSCLICK as a
viewer.
-----8<-----
Craig,
You should be able to exit from PCSCLICK by pressing either the space bar or
the right mouse button. If neither of those work, try booting from a clean
system and see if they work then. However, at least one person has reported
he's unable to exit with either of these methods, even after booting on a
completely clean system.
((( Terry )))
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 89 Fri Jan 08, 1993
S.SCHAPER [Meneldil] at 09:00 EST
Photochrome works fine on a stock 520 with 1 meg. I don't know about the accel
board.
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 90 Fri Jan 08, 1993
K.SCHAFER4 [Necromancer] at 22:53 EST
There is a nasty little problem when using Mhz11 with Warp 9. It causes my
MSTe to think the carrier detect on the modem is constantly being dropped, and
then pulled back up. I think Damien may have spent too many cycles checking
for your key-combos. But to be fair, hot-keys are not an easy thing to do.
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 91 Sat Jan 09, 1993
T.GIRSCH [TJ@EuroGames] at 06:23 EST
Craig -
Try "going nuts" on both mouse buttons. That's how I used to get out.
- T.J.
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 92 Sat Jan 09, 1993
S.HOLMES1 [Scott H.] at 15:19 EST
I am having trouble too with the PCS file viewers. I have PCSVIEW.PRG and
PCSVIEW3.PRG, both of which load the files and show the files ok, but upon
exiting the programs (via Esc key) 99% of the time it gives 3 bombs and the
other 1% it causes a reboot. Anyone else get this, and is there a fix? Also I
have tried PCSCLICK.APP and I can get it to load a PCS file, but can't exit it
(no keys or mouse buttons seem to help). I know that I am not alone with this
problem.
I am viewing these pics on an ST TOS 1.04 and yes I tried it on a bare
system....same result as when loaded with TSR's and ACC's.
Also to the people that have created SPX files with PhotoChrome, I was
wondering what format you were saving the frames in?
Scott H. Saturday January 09, 1993 03:08 p.m.
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 93 Sat Jan 09, 1993
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 16:08 EST
Scott,
Sorry, I can't help you with your viewer problem...
Regarding SPX frames, I've been saving to Spectrum 4096, using the "Clean" and
"All Colours" settings.
When cutting your frames, keep in mind that Spectrum is only 320x199, but your
PhotoChrome frame is 320x200, so the bottom row of pixels in your PhotoChrome
frame is lost.
Therefore, the last row of your first frame should be the same as the top row
of your second frame; the last row of your second frame should be the same as
the top row of your third frame; etc.
This actually makes it easier to match frames, though if you have a ???x600
GIF, three rows of pixels will be lost. No biggy. :^)
((( Terry )))
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 94 Sat Jan 09, 1993
C.WARD7 [Craig] at 16:24 EST
>You should be able to exit from PCSCLICK by pressing either the space bar or
>the right mouse button. If neither of those work...
Thanks, I'll give it a try, but I believe I already try that.
With the MicroTime RAMDISK and printer buffer enabled, I have just over 3 meg
of free memory. I have a notepad, CLI and XCONTROL accessories loaded and
some TSRs. I hope it's not one of them.
Photochrome itself runs fine and nicely converts pics to Specturm format. Is
there a way for it to load PCS files?
Craig
--
C.WARD7
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 95 Sat Jan 09, 1993
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 22:59 EST
Craig,
PhotoChrome itself will not load PCS files. You need either PCSCLICK or
PCSVIEW[3].
((( Terry )))
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 96 Mon Jan 11, 1993
T.PLOWMAN [BEER GOD] at 01:32 EST
Does anyone know of any programs to convert JPEG files into something that
Photochrome can use, such as GIF or RAW files?
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 97 Mon Jan 11, 1993
S.HOLMES1 [Scott H.] at 19:52 EST
Terry,
Thanks for the info about SPX files...will give it a try. As for the viewer
problems I am sure that there will be updates in the future and other viewers
that will come out.
Scott H. Monday January 11, 1993 07:32 p.m.
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 98 Tue Jan 12, 1993
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 00:24 EST
Beer God (:^),
There is a JPG<->GIF converter in the library. It does a decent job. Do a
search on JPEG or JPG and you should find it.
((( Terry )))
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 99 Sun Jan 17, 1993
J.THOMAS12 [JT] at 03:17 EST
For those that need a driver for their JRI boards, there was one loaded on
Genie awhile back, its name is EPD10, and i've found it to work on my 4meg
520STm w/JRI color board very well.
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 100 Sun Jan 17, 1993
FAIRWEATHER [David] at 13:23 EST
Quite a few of the GIF's I've been obtaining from local BBS's cause
Photochrome to bomb spectacularly. I've tried Fixagif on them, but Fixagif
chokes and states they have an "unknown parameter block". I tried the 89a to
87a converter program and it tells me that the GIF already is an 87a. Anybody
know what's going on here?
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 101 Sun Jan 17, 1993
D.BOWMAN9 [DAVE B] at 16:48 EST
David,
Using 89a->87a version 1.1 (here on genie as 89a87a11.lzh) it will tell you it
is already in 87a format if it is a GIFLITE gif. It will then ask if you want
to fiddle with it anyway? answer yes.
after the above you should be able to use Photochrome or DMJ_gif with no
problems.
later, dave b 1:17:00 pm, Sunday, January 17, 1993
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 102 Sun Jan 17, 1993
REALM [Joey] at 20:39 EST
David, Make sure there not MAC GIF's. The MAC files have a 128 Byte
header on it that has to be removed. If you show the file to screen and it
doesn't have the 89a or 87a at the very beginning it's incorrect. I know
nothing I have loads them without reporting some sort of error. Just use
MACVERT to strip the header of or use a Byte editor to delete the first 128
Bytes (up to the 87a or 89a).
------------
Category 7, Topic 30
Message 103 Fri Jan 29, 1993
B.KOLINS1 [Brian] at 03:04 EST
Could someone explain what it is about a plain ST's architecture that
prohibits it from using the 19200 display mode -- even with a JRI color board
installed w/the EPD10 driver?
Thanks
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Message 104 Sat Jan 30, 1993
J.THOMAS12 [JT] at 02:05 EST
Brian, I wouldn't know, I am using a 520STm w 4 meg, EPD10 driver and JRI
board, adn Photochrome works fine here. John
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Message 105 Sat Jan 30, 1993
B.KOLINS1 [Brian] at 03:40 EST
John, well it works fine for me too, except a couple of the display options
are disabled (like the Photochrome 19200 mode) and I don't know why.
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Message 106 Sat Jan 30, 1993
MIKE-ALLEN [NM~SysOp] at 16:13 EST
PhotoChrome requires the extended pallette hardware in the STe and MSte to
display in the 19200 mode.
Mike
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Message 107 Sun Jan 31, 1993
B.KOLINS1 [Brian] at 01:41 EST
Mike,
I don't want to seem like I'm harping on this point, but... My understanding
from John Russell is that his color board functions in exactly the same manner
as the hardware in an STe. Some programs have, seemingly, unusual ways of
determing what machine is used--like looking at the TOS version. GFA Raytrace
has one function (viewing animations, I recall) that's disabled on 520s but
available on 1040s. The difference being 1/2 a meg. But with 4mb in a 520, the
feature is still disabled. Empirically speaking, I think Photochrome might be
one of these.
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Message 108 Sun Jan 31, 1993
MUSE [Tomas] at 23:21 EST
Howdy,
Has anyone here gotten ahold of Douglas Little? I have noticed an address in
the docs that I could write to but I thought I'd try here first.
I've been working with PhotoChrome v3.00 a bunch over the last couple of
weeks and I'm ready for the next version! I'm experiencing extra mouse clicks
when selecting a source GIF picture. This sometimes causes it to reload and
process the same picture which, as many of you know, can take a while.
I'm also wondering about the future of the PSC format. How are going to edit
and use these pictures?
===Tomas===
January 31, 1993 @ 6:23:52 pm PST
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Message 109 Mon Feb 01, 1993
REALM [Joey] at 01:37 EST
It might be smart to change the PSC format to something along the lines of
.TGA, .TIF or something. I imagine a few more will pop up when the Falcon
appears. Maybe you can get Lexicor to support the PSC format with their new
paint programs?
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Message 110 Tue Feb 02, 1993
MUSE [Tomas] at 01:38 EST
Hi Joey,
I think I heard Bob Brodie say that the slideshow we've seen on the Falcons
was displaying Targa pics. Or, at least they started out that way. I think
you're right about Lexicor, they are in a good position to help define the
file standards for the newer resolutions. It's hard to say what will happen.
But, it's hard to put a lot of time into a format that can't as yet be edited
or used in DTP and such.
BTW, isn't it PCS? ;-)
===Tomas===
February 01, 1993 @ 8:29:33 pm PST
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Message 111 Tue Feb 02, 1993
REALM [Joey] at 18:54 EST
Tomas, I thought it was PMS?:-) Sorry, I've got so many extenders floating
around in my head I can't keep any of them straight.:-)
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Message 112 Wed Feb 03, 1993
W.PARKS3 [Dr. Bob] at 00:28 EST
Is that "Pre-Marketed-Syndrome" ? ;-)
Bye: Dr. Bob
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Message 113 Wed Feb 03, 1993
MUSE [Tomas] at 02:08 EST
Joey,
<smile>
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Message 114 Thu Feb 04, 1993
REALM [Joey] at 00:10 EST
Dr.Bob, Yeah thats it!:-)
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Message 115 Mon Feb 15, 1993
D.ALVEAR1 [Dom Alvear] at 04:59 EST
In Message 99 on Sat Jan 17, 1993, J.THOMAS12 writes:
> For those that need a driver for their JRI boards, there was one
> loaded on Genie awhile back, its name is EPD10, and i've found it to
> work on my 4meg 520STm w/JRI color board very well.
Thanks for the tip. I haven't downloaded this yet, but is it solely for the
JRI 4096 color board or does it work with the JRI SIMM boards as well? I
already have the driver that came with the board, but maybe this one works
better? (I also have the color board, but figured somebody with the SIMM
board might want to know...)
In Message 103 on Fri Jan 29, 1993, B.KOLINS1 writes:
> Could someone explain what it is about a plain ST's architecture
> that prohibits it from using the 19200 display mode -- even with a JRI
> color board installed w/the EPD10 driver?
How about this one? I have 2 Mega ST4's, one with a color board, and one
without. The one WITHOUT a color board gets ALL the options (this includes
PCS-STE and the 19.2K options), while the one WITH the color board gets the ST-
only options? What gives? Both Mega's have TOS 1.04, but the color board
equipped one has a 6-chip TOS. The other one has a 2-chip TOS? This is
REALLY weird. My guess is that PhotoChrome does some goofy checking to see
how many TOS chips you have. Could somebody else verify this for me? It's
driving me INSANE!!! I'll try popping the color board into the 2-chip Mega
later, but I still want to know why this is happening!
In Message 104 on Sat Jan 30, 1993 J.THOMAS12 writes:
> I wouldn't know, I am using a 520STm w/4 meg, EPD10 driver and [a]
> JRI [color] board, and Photochrome works fine here.
Just wondering, what PhotoChrome options do you get? And do the STe options
show the right number of colors? Or do they look messed up? A good way to
tell is to run it with and without the EPD10 driver. If the pictures look the
same, then the STe modes don't work.
In Message 105 on Sat Jan 30, 1993 B.KOLINS1 writes:
> Well it works fine for me too, except a couple of the display
> options are disabled (like the Photochrome 19200 mode) and I don't
> know why.
See above. I'm going nuts! %^P
In Message 106 on Sat Jan 30, 1993 MIKE-ALLEN writes:
> PhotoChrome requires the extended pallette hardware in the STe and
> MSte to display in the 19200 mode.
This is what the JRI color board is supposed to give you, but I can't even
access these because PhotoChrome thinks there is some difference between my
two Mega's that I can't figure out! The ONLY difference I can see it the
number of TOS chips. ARGH!!!
In Message 107 on Sun Jan 31, 1993 B.KOLINS1 writes:
> Some programs have, seemingly, unusual ways of determing what
> machine is used--like looking at the TOS version.
And maybe the number of chips too???
Dom
P.S. What happened here? Did everybody die after the Stuperbowl?
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Message 116 Tue Feb 16, 1993
J.THOMAS12 [JT] at 02:08 EST
Dom, you have to have the dual shifters installed for it to work. EPD10 allows
you to use a CPX module to access all 4096 colors. I have only used the
viewer, so I really cannot tell if all functions are accessible in the other
program. I will download it and see what I can find out.
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Message 117 Tue Feb 16, 1993
B.KOLINS1 [Brian] at 02:20 EST
Dom,
I couldn't have said it better myself! Maybe we'll get to the bottom of this,
finally--'Cause it's bugging the heck out of me, too.
...Number of TOS chips. I wouldn't be surprised.
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Message 118 Wed Feb 17, 1993
D.ALVEAR1 [Dom Alvear] at 18:34 EST
In Message 116 on Tue Feb 16, 1993 J.THOMAS12 writes:
> You have to have the dual shifters installed for it to work. EPD10
> allows you to use a CPX module to access all 4096 colors.
I do have the dual shifters installed. It works fine with the .CPX module as
well. I am glad that EPD10 exists since I can now use my extended palette in
other programs.
> I have only used the viewer, so I really cannot tell if all
> functions are accessible in the other program. I will download it and
> see what I can find out.
Please do. What you are seeing on your screen may or may not actually be a
4096 color screen. I am not sure whether the PhotoChrome viewers check to
make sure they are on a 4096 color capable machine or not, but the program
itself does some weird checking on its own to determine the type of machine.
Dom
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Message 119 Wed Feb 17, 1993
J.BRENNER1 [See Flat] (Forwarded)
Dom,
I have six chip TOS 1.00 and photochrome gives me all options. I tried it
on an STe at users group and was really impressed with the quality of the
rendering on the machine with the extra palette.
Brian,
sorry I don't have that topic flagged. And I assume we are on topic. :-)
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Message 120 Wed Feb 17, 1993
B.KOLINS1 [Brian] at 22:51 EST
See Flat,
Huh?
---Are you _sure_ you're getting all the options?
BK
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Message 121 Mon Feb 22, 1993
D.ALVEAR1 [Dom Alvear] at 05:11 EST
See Flat:
I would like to echo Brian's comment. ARE YOU SURE?
Do you get all six options? Or just four?
And if you are getting six, then I have NO idea what the program is doing to
check what kind of ST it's on.
Brian:
What kind of ST do you have again?
Dom
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Message 122 Tue Feb 23, 1993
B.KOLINS1 [Brian] at 00:12 EST
Dom,
It's a no-frills 520 motherboard, stuffed in a tower enclosure with TOS 1.4, a
4mb Aerco board, JRI color board, Fast Tech 25mhz accelerator, and 68881
mathco. I also have a stock 1040...
The available options are the same with either.
---Oh, and I am using the EPD10 driver for the color board.
Have you thought, if even for a moment, we're not going to get anywhere with
this?
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Message 123 Sat Feb 27, 1993
B.PLATT1 [BP] at 11:13 EST
auto folder. I did not know that there was no word wrap on here... Now I am
a bit agitated because I spent 3 minutes typing stuff and then got a message
said LINE TOO LONG Anyway, my question was...Is there anyway to force Spectrum
to
recognize the 4096 color pics from PCHROME......... /s sav /sav
]
well I will keep tuping in crap until I figure out how to save this message.
I hope Genie gets their crap together and implements a more logical system
that is a bit in line with the majority of BBS's like using /s to save or send
a message
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Message 124 Sat Feb 27, 1993
BRIAN.H [ST~SysOp] at 12:11 EST
BP,
Please see my reply in EMail on how to send a message.
*******Brian*********
Written on Saturday 27 February 1993 at 12:21 p.m. AST
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Message 125 Sat Feb 27, 1993
E.WISNIEWSK1 [Jeff - ST'er] at 16:55 EST
BP,
Ever try using the program called Aladdin?.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^ JSW ^^^^
^^^^ ST'er ^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Saturday, February 27, 1993 - 4:31:48 pm
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Message 126 Sat Feb 27, 1993
REALM [Joey] at 17:39 EST
BP, Aladdin will solve your message problems. You can do all your typing
offline and then call back. Much better then trying to enter messages online.
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Message 127 Sat Feb 27, 1993
D.ALVEAR1 [Dom Alvear] at 21:53 EST
Brian,
Well, both your ST's have 6-chip TOS sets, so I am betting on the 2-chip
hypothesis. :-) I'll run over to my dealer some time this weekend or next
week to test it.
Dom
P.S. How do you like the Turbo-25? I'll be getting one soon.
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Message 128 Sun Feb 28, 1993
B.KOLINS1 [Brian] at 23:16 EST
Dom,
Your hypothesis sounds reasonable. I like my T-25 a whole big bunch -- And
Jim's support is the best. I had problems with 3 different AdSpeeds before I
switched. The T-25's rock solid. Take note though... If you still want
Spectrum compatibility, Jim may have to install his "special" fix.
------------
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Message 129 Thu Mar 04, 1993
A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 07:51 EST
BP,
You need Aladdin.
Al
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Message 130 Wed Mar 10, 1993
J.ROY18 [Jonathan] at 00:38 EST
My two complaint with Photochrome are that it won't maintain the right ratio
when it shrinks an image, and it won't correctly handle Targa files produced
from JPEG4BIN.
Anyone know if a newer version might be around?
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Message 131 Wed Mar 10, 1993
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 02:58 EST
Jonathan,
Have you confirmed that the Targa files created by JPEG4BIN are valid? I
assumed the problem was with JPEG4BIN and not PhotoChrome. I'm not sure if I
have another program that supports Targa files so I can check.
__
/erry .\\ay
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Message 132 Thu Mar 11, 1993
MUSE [Tomas] at 04:00 EST
Have any of you folks noticed any weirdness with the mouse in Photocrome? I
find that my mouse gets itchy and selects the previously loaded file for me
and causes it to load a second time.
===Tomas===
March 10, 1993 @ 11:48:12 pm PST
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Message 133 Thu Mar 11, 1993
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 06:12 EST
Tomas,
Yes on the mouse stickyness!
__
/erry .\\ay
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Message 134 Fri Mar 12, 1993
B.PLATT1 [BP] at 00:37 EST
Well I got Aladdin, and I am not impressed, maybe it will make sense
sometime.....but not now.......I have photochrome and am impressed with
it.....except for the inevitable crahes that I get with certain GIFS, and the
flickering...although the flickering only sems to be bad with light colored
pictures, and some GIFS, IFF files don't seem to flicker too much.......wish
I could edit those 4096 color spec..pics though.......Well I am going to see
if I can actually U-Load this message :')
BP
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Message 135 Fri Mar 12, 1993
L.TRAPANI [Lou][Machine] at 02:02 EST
Tomas,
Yeah, don't you just hate that? I thought it was just me being heavy
handed on the mouse or something. I am glad I am not alone, but it would be
nice to have that little bug squashed.
-- Lou --
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Message 136 Fri Mar 12, 1993
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 22:26 EST
This program begs for a GEM interface. If we had that, I'll bet we wouldn't
have some of these annoyances, like sticking mice.
__
/erry .\\ay
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Message 137 Sat Mar 13, 1993
L.TRAPANI [Lou][Machine] at 01:27 EST
Terry,
Maybe we might get a GEM interface in PhotoChrome4 if there is one.
-- Lou --
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Message 138 Sat Mar 13, 1993
R.MARTIN22 [NETWORK 23] at 02:18 EST
BP:
Keep at it! Aladdin is a fantastic program! Just forget your preconceptions
about normal terminal programs. Believe me, it will be well worth the trouble
to get Aladdin set up right. Plus, Aladdin 2.0 is in the works (I'm beta-
testing it now!), and it's a vast improvement over 1.5.
Live And Direct [9:48 PM-12/Mar/93],
Rod Martin, Network 23/ST Connection
PS: Love that Photochrome! (Topic Cop appeasement)
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Message 139 Sat Mar 13, 1993
D.ALVEAR1 [Dom Alvear] at 04:44 EST
To B.PLATT1:
>> off topic comment mode on <<
I would like to echo the comments about using Aladdin. What version do you
have? You should get the latest version in any case. I used to access GEnie
using a terminal program, but now I only do that very rarely. In fact, if I
need to go on "manually" I use Aladdin as well.
What doesn't impress you? Ever since I switched to Aladdin, I don't ever see
myself going back. It makes using GEnie much easier. Now we can only wish
that GEnie would stop charging for 9600 baud even when you are in "Basic"
areas. And we could also pray that they would figure out how to speed the
system up so that it doesn't slow down to a dead snail's pace. <grin>
If you want to practice using Aladdin, I suggest using the ST Aladdin RT at
page 1000. It's a "Basic" area, so you can work out your problems there.
>> off topic comment mode off <<
To all:
Has anybody verified the problem with PChrome's weird way of choosing on which
type of ST it is running? To recap, I have two Mega ST4's, one with a 2-chip
TOS 1.04 set and one with a 6-chip TOS 1.04 set. PChrome gives me all six
options on the 2-chip Mega, but deletes the "STe" options on my 6-chip Mega
leaving me with four.
My hypothesis is that PChrome finds some difference by the number of TOS
chips? Any ideas?
Dom
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Message 140 Sat Mar 13, 1993
B.PLATT1 [BP] at 12:59 EST
Well I cannot believe my last message actually got somewhere.. Actually I
would like to see Aladdin look and feel a bit more like Stalker 3
I have several questions, mostly off topic.... so the topic cops can come
arrest me if they want :')
Does anyone know how to properly input the command line into DJPEG4 to get it
to output a Targa file with only 19000 colors... I am stupid so I need the
actual command line letter for letter... Do I need to write in the word Djpeg,
do i need to put in the - befor I write colors, is colors N supposed to be
written -colors 19000, is the space necessary. I need to make some TGA pics
for PHOTOCHROME (oh no I am gonna sue the topics cops for a false arrest !!)
I read about all the bugs in PCHROME3, but have not experienced any of
them.... Actually I have never experienced any bugs except that keystroke
repeat when using the slideshow program, BTW this also happen with the
slideshow program that came with Deluxe Paint.. When I hear the repeated
keystrokes I hit the BKSP key. I think it has something to do with the file
name line getting screwed up. the BKSP key always fixes this. In the DP
slideshow the keyclicks come up when the Fileselector comes up and there is
usaully a garbage charactar in the last spavce on the line.... I believe it is
also the same as with the Pchrome slide show, anyway the BKSP key fixes that.
Has anyone used a program called VIEW132d. This is the perfect companion to
PCHROME3. I couldn't think of using PCHROME without it. It allows you to load
in a GIF and save it as a raw file. It allows you to scale a picture, and
serves as a perfect picture viewer for simple pictures(NEO, Degas etc.) It
supports TGA, RAW, 24bit IFF(you can scale these) HAM, 24bit IMG, plus all
standard Atari formats esp. SP?(Spectrum. I converted all my spectrum
pictures to RAW and back to spectrum via the VIEW132D/PHOTOCHROME combo and
got rid of all the sync problems and errors(spot noise ie little random black
dots and such). The most, important thing is that if I feed VIEW132D a bad
GIF it gives an error and goes back to the desktop, unlike the spectacular
1000000000000000 bomb crash that PCHROME gives:')
Has anyone noticed that PCS pictures flicker quite a bit when it is given very
light colored pictures. Darker pictures do not seem to flicker as bad. This
is another reason I use VIEW132D; to see the picture so I know what kind of
image to produce with PCHROME...
I have not noticed the sluggish mouse problem either.. Is anyone using MACCEL
along with PCHROME. I have found MACCEL to screw up my mouse with erratic
movements.. That may be causing the problem, actually I have found only one
mouse accerator proggie that works smoothly and is compatible with everything
I throw at it... It is called TURBOMOUSE... I have no idea where I got it,
I'll see if it is hereon GENIE... Maybe someday i will learn to upload......
I hope this helps some who have been having problems with PCHROME, sorry it is
so long, but I am not sure if I am going to be able to duplicate my
extraordinary feat posting another message here. I am not sure how I did it
last time:')
BP
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Message 141 Sat Mar 13, 1993
MIKE.KELLER [ST Aladdin] at 17:57 EST
>>Well I cannot believe my last message actually got somewhere..
Actually I would like to see Aladdin look and feel a bit more like
Stalker 3
If you have some specific suggestions, visit us at page 1000 in the
ST Aladdin RT. It's a Basic RT, so you can hang out there while
getting up to speed in ST Aladdin.
mike.k
<trying to keep this topic from being riddled with Aladdin comments
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Message 142 Sat Mar 13, 1993
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 20:28 EST
BP,
I agree with you about ViewST/TT 1.32d. It's my favorite GIF viewer (though
PhotoChrome makes a pretty good viewer :^). I usually check out all my GIFs
first with ViewST to see which ones need 'fixing' before loading into
PhotoChrome, and to get rid of those that aren't worth putting through
PhotoChrome. I never tried saving to RAW. I may have to give that a try...
__
/erry .\\ay
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Message 143 Mon Mar 15, 1993
S.FARWIG [STAN] at 01:19 EST
Tomas
Yes, I had the same problem with the over eager mouse, especially when loading
from the CD-ROM. Drove me nuts. I found the mouse behaved itself if I kept my
hand off of it until the file selector was on and fully settled in.
Hope this helps. Stan
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Message 144 Mon Mar 15, 1993
A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 03:43 EST
BP,
View123D is one of my favorite little utilities. I use it to view Spectrums on
my TT as well as GIFs.
Al
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Message 145 Mon Mar 15, 1993
T.ZENTHOEFE1 [Tom Z.] at 08:51 EST
From what I have seen with PhotChrome on my 4meg 1040 with JRI 4096 color
board and switchable TOS 1.0 and 2.06 the maximum number of colors I can get
into a PCS picture is 4096.
On a grayscale picture DMJ-GIF gives as good a picture without the flicker.
------------
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Message 146 Mon Mar 15, 1993
E.WISNIEWSK1 [Jeff - ST'er] at 18:26 EST
Did anyone have any problems using the file-selector (UIS-III) while in
PhotoChrome to do file moves/deletes/copies etc. It bombs on me...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^ JSW ^^^^
^^^^ ST'er ^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Saturday, March 13, 1993 - 12:27:02 am
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Message 147 Mon Mar 15, 1993
D.WALTER7 [Doug Walter] at 22:35 EST
Jeff,
Try this and see if it helps. Go to the configuration menu by clicking the
"Universal(tm) Item Selector III" bar at the top. Now click the same bar at
the top of the configuration menu. It should go to inverse. Save
configuration and reboot.
I had to do this to solve a conflict problem with Crazy Dots in the 32k color
mode on my TT. Maybe it will help you.
Doug7
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Message 148 Tue Mar 16, 1993
MUSE [Tomas] at 00:55 EST
Lou,
Yes, I _do_ hate it. It looks like the programmer was trying to handle the
placement of the mouse on the file selector for us. I also want to suggest
that the program should have a "save setting" feature so we wouldn't have to
click on the conversion choices unless we need to change something.
I like the results though. <grin>
===Tomas===
03-15-93 @ 16:09 PST
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Message 149 Wed Mar 17, 1993
VANDENHEUVEL at 01:16 EST
Anyone out there using Photochrome on a accelerated (ala ADSPEED or T16) STE??
I just got a 1040STE w/an ADSPEED installed and Photochrome no longer displays
the pics right (the color smears badly across the screen like the sync is
off). And yes, I've tried it at 8MHz. It still doesn't work..but SPX and
Spectrum do. Oh well I'd really like to get the ability to see PCS files back,
but I gues I might have to wait for DMJGIF 4.0..that's supposed to support PCS
and I know Damien will make sure it works on ADSPEED equipped machines. --Dirk-
-
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Message 150 Wed Mar 17, 1993
A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 13:37 EST
Dirk,
I don't run Pchrome ordinarily, but I've tried the versions that are in the
library here on my 1040 4-meg/AdSpeed ST and it runs fine at the 8 mHz
setting. It doesn't run on my TT, and I wish it did.
Al
------------
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Message 151 Wed Mar 17, 1993
E.WISNIEWSK1 [Jeff - ST'er] at 18:35 EST
Doug,
Now the question is, what does that do?. I can't find it in the manual...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^ JSW ^^^^
^^^^ ST'er ^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Wednesday, March 17, 1993 - 3:33:22 pm
------------
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Message 152 Wed Mar 17, 1993
REALM [Joey] at 20:06 EST
Dirk, does the Adspeed use a CACHE? I noticed somethings on the Mega STE
could be fixed by turning the CACHE off. One of them was Vidi ST.
------------
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Message 153 Wed Mar 17, 1993
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 21:55 EST
Has anyone had any luck with loading Targa files into PhotoChrome? I've
created Targa files with both JPEGBIN4 and GEM-View, but none of them load
correctly into PhotoChrome.
I'm not sure if the JPEGBIN4 Targa files are legit, but at least the GEM-View
ones load correctly back into GEM-View.
I'd love to check out some of these 24-bit JPEG pics, by converting them to
Targa and then loading them into PhotoChrome, but so far, no luck.
__
/erry .\\ay
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Message 154 Thu Mar 18, 1993
M.POCHE [Mick] at 02:26 EST
Terry -
I believe that for PhotoChrome to correctly display Targa files they must be
320x200 pictures. It does a nice job with Targa's I've created with Phoenix in
this resolution.
- Mick
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Message 155 Thu Mar 18, 1993
P.VARN [Paul Varn] at 04:03 EST
I saw the nice slideshow program on the falcon that displays Targa pics with
fancy scrolling between each picture. Looked as good as Targas I've seen on
PCs.
I was dissapointed to find out Photochrome would not display Targas on my 4
meg 520 or on the Falcon. I couldn't get anything to display on the Falcon
using Photochrome. I suspect it's the 16Mhz that's messing things up?
-Pv-
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Message 156 Thu Mar 18, 1993
P.VARN [Paul Varn] at 04:18 EST
Dirk,
I first used Photochrome on my 4 meg 1.4 TOS 520 with ADspeed. Worked fine
when I switch to 8 MHz (same as I do when viewing things in Spectrum.
-Pv-
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Message 157 Thu Mar 18, 1993
A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 06:57 EST
Joey,
The AdSpeed's documentation makes no mention of any way to disable the cache
in the 16-mHz 68000 CPU.
Al
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Category 7, Topic 30
Message 158 Thu Mar 18, 1993
LEXICOR2 [Ringo] at 08:34 EST
Paul.
Photochrome doesn't even work on a TT and for the Falcon just use the Targa
viewer or Gemview it will display TGAs or get a paint program from us
Lexicor!<smile>
Ringo
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Message 159 Thu Mar 18, 1993
D.WALTER7 [Doug Walter] at 19:18 EST
Jeff,
If you are referring to UIS3, then:
There is a read.me file that came with versions 3.1. It mentioned that some
programs were looking for screen redraws under the UIS window, where in fact,
UIS3 was "saving" it rather than redrawing it. The toggle (dark title bar)
turns the save function off and allows screen redraws. On my TT, it has a
great deal of effect on greater than stock screen rezs and color levels, so I
thought it might apply to you also. Did it help?
If you are not referring to UIS3, then: nevermind :-)
Doug7
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Message 160 Thu Mar 18, 1993
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 21:05 EST
Mick,
Thanks for the info. I would think that PhotoChrome would at least show the
upper left 320x200 section of a larger Targa file, as it does for IFFs. But
in my tests, it merely shows garbage.
__
/erry .\\ay
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Message 161 Fri Mar 19, 1993
L.TRAPANI [Lou][Machine] at 01:46 EST
Paul,
I have heard that the Mega STEs have a software based switch that will
set the machine to 8 MHz in order to use software that was sensitive to it (ie
Spectrum 512), does such a exist on the Falcon? If not, there should be in
case one wants to drop down to 8 MHz for certain applications.
-- Lou T.--
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Message 162 Fri Mar 19, 1993
P.VARN [Paul Varn] at 05:19 EST
Lou,
I may be mistaken, but I believe the STe has speed function very similar to
Adspeed. It's a dual speed processor that's 8 MHz bumped up to 16. It can be
switched as ADSpeed can. The 030 in the Falcon is a true 16 MHz only
processor that can't be switched down.
Al,
I don't think the Photochrome problem the person you are responding to is with
the ADSpeed or its cache. The ADSpeed cache is more directed to processor
instructions to the other components in the ST rather than a directory and FAT
cache as most people are familiar with. Disabling the cache on the ADspeed
(you're right - impossible) would make it unable to talk to the other parts of
the system that are still running at 8 MHz.
I installed a hardware switch on my 520 case for the ADSpeed so I can switch
the speed within programs that don't provide an accessory slot so I can do it
there. Those starting Photochrome in 16 MHz ADSpeed won't be able to switch
to the proper speed for display. I've known the accesory to not switch the
speed sometimes too. I like the hardware switch. Saved a lot of potential
inconviences.
Thanks for the note Ringo. I'll make a not to buy every lexicor program there
is. Really! Saving my money...
I wish I could get my local Atari dealer to stock Lexicor products so I can
see them without the demos. That would also give me a chance to review them
for the ST Lamp. I'll have to talk to them...
-Pv-
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Message 163 Fri Mar 19, 1993
P.VARN [Paul Varn] at 05:22 EST
Correction!!!
I was supposed to make a NOTE not a NOT. Looked real confusing didn't it? :>
-Pv-
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Message 164 Fri Mar 19, 1993
A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 18:24 EST
Lou,
The Falcon doesn't have a speed switch, software or hardware.
Al
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Message 165 Sat Mar 20, 1993
L.TRAPANI [Lou][Machine] at 03:03 EST
Paul Varn,
You are correct, thanks for reminding me. I believe that the slowest
the 68030 chip can go is 16MHz. So that a switchable speed on the Falcon will
probably not be possible to drop down to 8MHz... Oh well...
-- Lou T.--
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Message 166 Sat Mar 20, 1993
B.PLATT1 [BP] at 10:26 EST
Mike K.
I have this Aladdin running now, but I only have floppy drives, so If I want
to acess any other areas I will need to set this Aladdin thing up again to
acess those other areas. Sorry about the offtopic comments.
BP
Terry,
To convert to Raw while in ViewST- Hit the <R> key while the picture is being
displayed. Since Pchrome was intended primarily for using the RAW picture
format, there are generally alot less problems. I heard that DMJ was coming
out with a GIF conversion program that is even better than P-Chrome---More
colors/less flicker....
BP
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Message 167 Sat Mar 20, 1993
E.WISNIEWSK1 [Jeff - ST'er] at 12:59 EST
Doug,
Nice idea but Photochrome still bombs. It bombs right after UIS is done
deleting/renaming/whatever to the file.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^ JSW ^^^^
^^^^ ST'er ^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Saturday, March 20, 1993 - 8:35:24 am
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Category 7, Topic 30
Message 168 Sat Mar 20, 1993
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 13:04 EST
BP,
Thanks for the info. I already tried saving to .RAW in ViewST, and it worked
as advertised. Unfortunately, PhotoChrome clips .RAW pics, as it provides no
scaling options. Therefore, if your pic is > 320x200 it's fairly worthless.
For that reason, like choosey mothers, I'll choose GIF. ;^)
I'd still like to know if anyone has had any success in converting from Targa
files. PhotoChrome has choked on all Targa files I've created with GEM-View
2.20 and JPEGBIN4.
__
/erry .\\ay
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Category 7, Topic 30
Message 169 Sat Mar 20, 1993
M.MOTOGAWA [MEL] at 20:19 EST
Terry,
I had the same thing happen to me with GEMview TGA's fed into
Photochrome, nada but garbage. When I try the same TGA in ViewST, it tells me
that it doesn't accept RLE-encoded TGA's and quits. Oddly, some IFF's from
GEMview work in Photochrome and others don't. I think it has something to do
with the format you're converting from. Some of the GEMview GIF's I tried in
Photochrome had vertical lines in 'em. Hard to say whose at fault, maybe a
limitation in Photochrome or GEMview?
- Mel
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Category 7, Topic 30
Message 170 Sat Mar 20, 1993
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 21:21 EST
Mel,
I think those GIFs with vertical lines in them are bogus. Have you tried
loading them into something else -- even back into GEM-View?
__
/erry .\\ay
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Category 7, Topic 30
Message 171 Sun Mar 21, 1993
M.MOTOGAWA [MEL] at 01:00 EST
Terry,
Yeah, I think that GIF with vertical lines was an oddball since I just
tried two conversions, a TIFF->GIF and a TIFF->IFF and they both displayed
fine in Photochrome. I think the oddball was a TIFF->GIF where the image was
rotated during conversion. Thanks!
- Mel
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Message 172 Sun Mar 21, 1993
D.BOWMAN9 [DAVE B] at 09:01 EST
Outrider,
Yes I have tried to load the GIF's with vertical lines into DMJgif3.0 and
have had no lines. It appears to be how PhotoChrome scales???
later, dave b 7:09:22 pm, Saturday, March 20, 1993 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Message 173 Sun Mar 21, 1993
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 13:51 EST
Dave,
I'm not talking about the vertical (and horizontal) lines in PhotoChrome
caused by a picture being < 320x200. I'm talking about nothing but white and
black vertical lines -- with no picture at all! These are produced by GEM-View
during some conversions.
__
/erry .\\ay
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Message 174 Sun Mar 21, 1993
D.WALTER7 [Doug Walter] at 16:54 EST
Jeff,
Drats. That is exactly the synptoms that I had with GEMVIEW 2.1x in 256
color resolutions above TT med.
Oh well, whatyd expect for free advice? <G>
Doug7
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Message 175 Mon Mar 22, 1993
J.STANFORD2 [John@Lexicor] at 12:07 EST
There are a large number of formats that fall within the domain of TGA.
Photochrome seems to be quite picky and will only load the 24 bit uncompressed
TGA format, and only at a resolution of 320x200. I believe that Gemview will
only create a compressed TGA file.
People have reported sucess loading 24 bit targas created by Phoenix into
Photochrome.
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Category 7, Topic 30
Message 176 Mon Mar 22, 1993
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 21:36 EST
Thanks for the info, John@Lexicor. That sheds a lot of light on the
situation!
__
/erry .\\ay
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Message 177 Thu Mar 25, 1993
J.ROY18 [Jonathan] at 21:55 EST
If this program had a GEM interface, it could run as a ACC in the background,
with lots of nice event_multi() calls. :)
Network,
Man, I wish I could Beta-test Aladdin 2.0. :) I've used Aladdin since day
One, and love it to death. (Of course this new "Reply" crap in mail really
really pisses me off, but oh well. Nothings perfect!)
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Message 178 Fri Mar 26, 1993
B.PLATT1 [BP] at 19:23 EST
Terry,
You can scale any picture in View ST. If you load a large IFF or GIF or any
file that View ST supports you can use the X,Y,I,O keys to scale it, the
cursor keys to move around it. and the C key to center it once it is scaled.
BTW, I believe that View ST will automatically scale a RAW picture to 320x200.
Now that I found GEMVIEW2.20 I do not know if ViewST is as useful. I like the
way that GEMVIEW can run as an ACC. I have not been able to get any of the
TGA pictures from Gemview to load properly into either ViewST, or PCHROME.
PCHROME tells me that it does not support packed TGA files(whatever that is).
Other TGA files have never worked too good on PCHROME either. Luckily 24 Bit
IFF files are supprted. Have you tried to load a 256 color IFF into PCHROME.
Off TOPIC: Have you ever heard of a paint program called, Quantum Paint. I
have it from ST format, I do not know if it is shareware or not. It was a
cover disk. Anyway it will let you paint with 4096 colors. Not as smooth as
Spectrum... Kinda like an Amiga HAM paint program. It will load 4096 color
Amiga HAM and IFF without any loss of color, and will display with no
flicker(unlike Photochrome).... Would the slideshow program be legal to
upload. There is nothing saying whether it can or can't. Does anybody know.
This looks like a very good paint package, and if people could see the
pictures it might prove to be rather popular.
BP
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Message 179 Fri Mar 26, 1993
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 23:31 EST
BP,
Yes, I'm aware of ViewST's scaling features, but I thought you'd lose the
original colors (converting to 16 color low res) if scaling prior to saving to
RAW. But then, I've never tried it, so I don't know for sure. Hmmm...
Okay, just got through playing a bit with ViewST. It doesn't automatically
scale to 320x200 for RAWs, it CROPS them to 320x200, using your screen as a
guide. The resulting image is not the same quality as what's on the screen
(ST Low), but there is definitely a loss of colors and detail. The pictures
(when converted to PhotoChrome) are a bit grainy -- not nearly as good as the
same picture going straight from GIF to PCS.
The upside (as you know) is that you can scale any GIF (or other supported
format) to 320x200 without losing the aspect ratio. That means pictures that
are normally smooshed or cropped in PhotoChrome can be converted with
PhotoChrome at the proper aspect ratio (albeit at a far lesser quality). It
also means that GIFs that are < 320x200, which PhotoChrome normally adds
'bands' to fill out the screen, can be converted with PhotoChrome with
surrounding borders instead.
I'm not so sure GIF->RAW->PCS is as good as a Spectrum 4096 pic done with DMJ
GIF (which can also retain aspect ratio), but it's sure a LOT faster, and free
of streaking, for the most part. I only wish the 'X' and 'Y' scaling keys in
ViewST would scale in 10% increments, to give you greater control, allowing
you a better 'best fit.'
In any case, thanks for encouraging me to try scaling in ViewST before saving
to RAW. It WILL come in handy!
Yes, I've loaded many 256 color IFFs into PhotoChrome, but since it offers no
scaling of same, I generally convert them to GIF with STyle first. (GEM-View
2.20 will also work.)
I've heard of Quantum Paint, but don't know anything about it...
__
/erry .\\ay
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Message 180 Sat Mar 27, 1993
S.DEITZ [Steve] at 03:46 EST
I own Quantum Paint, which lets you display 4096 colors simultaneously on any
ST/STE. It is not PD and is (was?) a product of Eidersoft from overseas
somewhere. The high color screens flicker *very* much and it's interface is a
bear to use. It lacks a lot of tools as well. In short, it is not "Spectrum
512 with more colors". Oh well.
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Message 181 Sat Mar 27, 1993
FAIRWEATHER [David] at 11:19 EST
Actually Quantum Paint 2 was included on the cover disk of one of
the British mags. I bought Quantum Paint 1 when it first came out
and never used it more than twice. Quantum Paint 2 isn't
significantly better. They are both simply so difficult to use in
4096 color mode as to render them essentially useless.
I am a paint program junkie, having tried just about every shareware
and commercial paint program out there. I would say the top 3 paint
programs are:
1. Unispec 512 - an incredible piece of work that never ceases to
amaze me. If only it had been updated to Unispec 4096 for the STe!
2. Degas Elite - not the most powerful program but it's SO easy to
use that I find myself using more often than any of the others for
quick jobs. It's even better when used on an STe with a pallette
extender accessory.
3. Deluxe Paint - I use this when I know I'm going to be spending
extra time and effort on a painting. It has more power than
Degas Elite.
I haven't downloaded the True Paint demo yet. I'll try that after I
get my Falcon.
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Message 182 Sat Mar 27, 1993
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 12:08 EST
David,
In case you didn't know, the HiSoft TruePaint demo will also work in all
ST[E]/TT resolutions. Since you're the paint program expert, I'd like to get
your opinion of it. The only one I use is Degas Elite, though I own a few
others.
__
/erry .\\ay
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Message 183 Sat Mar 27, 1993
LEXICOR2 [Ringo] at 14:48 EST
David.
Don't forget to try out Lexicors new Prism-Paint 2.0 with a Falcon030. It just
may have a few surprises for you!
Ringo
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Message 184 Sat Mar 27, 1993
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 17:26 EST
I finally got GIF2RAW yesterday and wonder how I ever got along without it! I
figured since PhotoChrome supports GIFs, who needs to convert them to RAW
format? Bzzzzt! Wrong!
The most obvious advantage of GIF2RAW is that it scales evenly, meaning aspect
ratios are maintained -- no more squashed pictures!
Another advantage of this program is that it handles GIFs < 320x200
beautifully, adding surrounding borders to fill the screen, as opposed to the
black bands PhotoChrome puts in the picture.
And still another advantage of going GIF->RAW->PCS over GIF->PCS is that the
former seems to provide a much cleaner, smoother output. The first few pics I
converted, I was amazed and how clean and smooth they turned out. Whether
it's because of GIF2RAW maintaining the aspect ratio, or simply because it
does a better job of scaling, I don't know. I just know I love the results!
Unfortunately, GIF2RAW only scales by a factor of 2, or not at all. And any
GIF > 320x200 gets scaled by 2, even if it's 320x203. And any GIF > 640x400
will be cropped -- not a problem on most 640x480s, but anything over that,
forget it.
Still, this program will be getting a LOT of use on my system...
__
/erry .\\ay
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Message 185 Sun Mar 28, 1993
R.MARTIN22 [NETWORK 23] at 13:15 EST
TERRY:
I've had no problems with Targa files I brought over from the Mac. You may
have already thought of this, but the Targa's must be in a certain #-of-colors
format. We used a trial-and-error with Photoshop to come up with the right
#'s. Sorry I can't remember which. The VERSIONS.TXT file says 24-bit, but I
seem to recall that not being the case (16-bit maybe?). But the results are
phenomenal!
Live And Direct [11:20 PM-22/Mar/93],
Rod Martin, Network 23/ST Connection
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Message 186 Sun Mar 28, 1993
B.PLATT1 [BP] at 16:46 EST
Terry,
I created a bunch of IFF's with GEMVIEW, and Photochrome will crash when I
load them. So will View, and Spectrum itself will not load them in... I bet
you didn't know that Spectrum(the actual program) will load in Amiga IFF, and
HAM pictures as long as they are in 320x200 resolution. I still am praying
that someone will make a patch for Spectrum to recognize the STe extended
pallette. Then I would really have a use for PHOTOCHROME. or better yet a
paint program centered on the photochrome format.
I am not aware of any loss of color in saving in RAW format in View ST. I
would imagine that the loss of color would be due to scaling. I have used the
View ST/ PHOTOCHROME combo to clean up many of my Spectrum pictures, and have
noticed no loss of color. I have noticed that RAW pictures do not flicker as
much though. I got a copy of Quantum Paint in ST format. I think it is a
very good paint program. It will load in Amiga IFF and HAM pictures, but only
in 320x 200 res. I will not take 256 color IFF's created with GEM View as all
the other programs won't accept these IFF's either. Once I figure out how to
upload to here, I will post the Quantum Paint slide show, and several
pictures. It is a shame that good programs like Qpaint and Spectrum do not
get any serious recognition. Let me stop here before I go to far off topic (
I see the red and blue lights coming to scold me.)
BP
Steve,
Quantum Paint is no longer being marketed? That is too bad! this program has
a lot of potential. I have not noticed any flickering in the display. yes it
is no "Spectrum with more colors", and the Interface is a chore to use, but it
is one of the few programs available(or was available) that permitted painting
with more than 16 colors. I actually prefer to use Deluxe Paint, but hate the
16 color limit. Lack of color is the only thing about my STe that I do not
like. Actually a Deluxe Paint with Spectrum or Photochrome support/display
would be ideal. I have yet to find an adequate paint program for the ST.
What I like about QPaint was that if you changed a color, it did not mess up
the pallette for that line. Anyway Qpaint is similiar to what the Amiga
people have been putting up with for years I believe this is called Hold and
Modify... Well maybe I will start a new topic to discuss different paint
programs.
BP
David,
What exactly is Unispec 512, how do I get it, I am a paint proggie junkie
like you, I have about every paint program for the ST, except the two most
popular DEGAS, and NEOCHROME. If I can find them I will be sure to get them.
It was an incredible chore to get Spectrum (I finally found it on a cover disk
for ST Format) Same with Cyberpaint. I would have to put my vote in for
Hyperpaint 2, as the easiest to use. I like quantum paint because I can cut
and paste several NEO , PI1 picts together without worrying about pallettes
getting messed up.
BP
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Category 7, Topic 30
Message 187 Sun Mar 28, 1993
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 17:53 EST
Rod,
The Targas I've tried were created from JPEG4BIN, GEM-View 2.20, and a few
I've downloaded from BBSes. None have worked, that I can recall. It may
indeed have something to do with the number of colors.
__
/erry .\\ay
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Message 188 Sun Mar 28, 1993
FAIRWEATHER [David] at 18:06 EST
Unispec 512 was released by Trio Engineering. It was advertised
mainly as a way to turn Spectrum 512 into a desk accessory, so that
many potential buyers never realized that it was also a MAJOR
upgrade to Spectrum 512. I've owned the program since it came out
in 1987 and I still haven't tapped all of its power. A few of its
new features included:
Direct hooks into Degas Elite for seamless transfers of palettes,
images and blocks in both directions between the two programs.
New dithering options such as "dithered blur," and dithering of resized
blocks. Adding, subtracting and averaging of blocks and block rotation.
New add and subtract modes were added to the NO-ZAG line functions
as well as a line cache so that every time you draw a no-zag line or
curve the corner points, line type, mode and color are saved in a cache.
The saved lines may be retrieved and redrawn at any time on any
image thereby allowing sophisticated masking using Anti-Alias
cut and paste since fill-to-new now works with no-zag lines.
There are MANY more new features including snap-to-grid, global
color change to black, pallette interleaving, pallette merging,
customizable picture transformation from 512 to 16 colors or to
monochrome, etc., etc.,etc.
Unispec can grab screens from almost any program including non-GEM
programs and works from low or medium rez.
I can't say enough good things about it. But unfortunately it does
NOT recognize the STE's extended palette :-(
I don't know whether Unispec can still be bought anywhere but
we should all inundate Boris Tsikanovsky with letters full of cash until
he agrees to come back to the world of Atari and give us FALCONSPEC!
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
As for Quantum Paint, doesn't it require you to edit and paint in
false colors and then switch into a view-only mode when you want to
see the true colors? That alone was enough for me to chuck it.
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Category 7, Topic 30
Message 189 Sun Mar 28, 1993
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 18:34 EST
BP,
Yes, I'm know that Spectrum can load IFFs, since I own Spectrum. :^)
However, I have no use for that function. In fact, I don't have much use for
Spectrum at all. The Spectrum format is obsolete, unless you are an artist,
which I am not.
As for the IFFs you're creating with GEM-View, I suspect they are no good.
GEM-View also creates bogus GIFs in many cases. There seems to be a few bugs
to work out yet.
As for ViewST saving to RAW, I just did a test of a 320x200 GIF. I converted
it to RAW with both GIF2RAW and ViewST. I then converted each of them plus
the original GIF to PhotoChrome PCS.
The RAW file created by GIF2RAW and the original GIF both converted to 100701
byte PCS files, and they look identical. The RAW file created by ViewST
converted to a PCS file only 50537 bytes, and there is clearly a loss of
quality.
While the basic colors are the same, the larger PCS files are much smoother
with finer detail, which would seem to translate to more shade colors. Yes,
the larger PCS files flicker slightly, while the smaller one does not.
There's a good reason for that. Photochrome won't flicker if there aren't
enough colors for it to NEED to flicker. I believe the cut off is 4096
colors.
This leads me to believe ViewST uses the 4096 colors in your STE palette, and
no more, whereas GIF2RAW and PhotoChrome use much larger palettes -- 32k in
PhotoChrome's case.
__
/erry .\\ay
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Message 190 Sun Mar 28, 1993
R.MARTIN22 [NETWORK 23] at 20:13 EST
JONATHAN:
It's hard remembering what was in 1.5 and what's new in 2.0, but I think you
will be very pleased with 2.0.
One thing I forgot to mention about Adobe Photoshop's TGA files. Be sure to
turn them upside down before saving them out as TGA's. Whenever Photochrome
gets a hold of them, it flips them vertically for some reason.
BP:
I bought Quantum Paint, and it is a commercial package. It does not run on
anything over TOS 1.4 (I think), so I can't check it out. Also, my disk went
bad so I can't even read the README files. Nothing in the manual mentions the
slideshow program, so I can't help you out, although I would be shocked to
find that you couldn't pass around the slideshow so people without the program
could look at the pictures.
Is there a copyright display on the slideshow program?
Live And Direct [12:46 PM-28/Mar/93],
Rod Martin, Network 23/ST Connection
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Category 7, Topic 30
Message 191 Sun Mar 28, 1993
LEXICOR2 [Ringo] at 20:17 EST
BP.
Unispec is the ACC version of Spectrum512. It has the same tools as Spectrum-
512. Some mailorder outlets may have a few copies left. With this you can also
view Phoenix Object Render files in SPC format. But you can also render within
Phoenix a 24bit TGA file and view it with PhotoChrome.
David.
You are correct about Unispec and also Quantum Paint. You maybe surprice that
Toaster-Paint for the amiga works the same way. Toaster Paint doesn't really
work in true-TRUE-COLOR modes. It just gives you a screen to work and later
you need to update your screen to fully see the image. Not the best Paint
program for the amiga.<smile>
Now back to Photochrome try a few Phoenix render TGAs with Photochrome.
Ringo ~ Lexicor Software Corp.
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Category 7, Topic 30
Message 192 Sun Mar 28, 1993
M.MOTOGAWA [MEL] at 20:50 EST
I did notice one instance today where GEMView 2.2 converted a .jpg file
of mine into a ridiculously small .gif file, only a few hundreds bytes. Tried
it again on the same file with the same results. What's going on? Then I
remembered that this .jpg was created with JPEGBIN4. So I fired up my Hotwire
jpeg commandline for decompressing and it was able to extract a correct .gif
from its .jpg file using DJPEG.TTP. It appears GEMView can read .jpg's fine,
but converting may be another story? I don't know how it does on .jpg ->
.tga, .tif, etc. Again, this was only on one .jpg file, maybe it was an odd
fellow. Not a slam against GEMview because it does convert between a
multitude of formats nicely. Just thought I would mention this for anyone
possibly encountering the above scenario of a too small .gif. Thanks!
- Mel
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Category 7, Topic 30
Message 193 Sun Mar 28, 1993
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 21:12 EST
Mel,
I wouldn't use GEM-View to decompress JPEGs. JPEG4BIN does a MUCH better job.
In fact, it does a much better job than Imagery JPEG on the Mac, which is also
much, much slower. Plus, as you've discovered, GEM-View has some bugs in its
conversion routines (not just JPEGs, either).
__
/erry .\\ay
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Category 7, Topic 30
Message 194 Sun Mar 28, 1993
S.FARWIG [STAN] at 23:23 EST
Ringo: are there details about Prism-Paint 2.0 available anywhere else besides
the LEXICOR Category? Since being encouraged not to frequent that category, I
haven't.
One amplification: "It (UNISPEC) has the same tools as SPECTRUM512".
As Dave Fairweather message points out, UNISPEC also has some
extentions and additions to its tools not found in SPECTRUM512.
Dave Fairweather: What a pleasure to read someone else's praise of
SPECTRUM/UNISPEC. Here I thought I was alone in considering it a most
misunderstood and under utilized program for the ST. Even Charles Cherry, who
wrote the manual, once said to me in a surprised voice: "You *create* pictures
with SPECTRUM?". When, taken back, I asked what else is one suppose to do with
it, he replied: "I thought people used it to touch up pictures they do with
other paint programs." Certainly the folks who did the intital reviews hadn't
worked with it enough to understand the power of its tools for color
management and manipulation; tools no other paint program for the ST comes
close to. And I too have yearned for a SPECTRUM 4096.
As for "all" to "inundate" Boris Tsikanovsky with letters full of
cash"...well, I'm more than willing, but judging by the evidence, there don't
seem to be that many Atarians interested in paint programs of depth for
original work. The main interest seems to be in scanned images, but I may
misjudge since most of my attention on GEnie is directed to Library 12.
Anyway, thanks for the in-depth look at UNISPEC. My experience with QUANTUM
paint & CANVAS has been similar to yours. I haven't been swept off my feet by
TRUE PAINT yet...but final judgement awaits the FALCON. I wasn't reassured
when the manual said TP doesn't do anti-aliasing, but, heck, you can do that
yourself.
Terry: "an artist, which I am not." Bet you could be if you got into UNISPEC.
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Category 7, Topic 30
Message 195 Mon Mar 29, 1993
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 00:53 EST
I just got a 24-bit Targa file from a friend of mine with a Mac. He saved it
from Photoshop. It shows up as garbage in PhotoChrome. It has no MacBinary
header, so I don't know what the deal is. Any ideas?
__
/erry .\\ay
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Category 7, Topic 30
Message 196 Mon Mar 29, 1993
R.MARTIN22 [NETWORK 23] at 02:02 EST
TERRY:
Again, my bet is that your friend saved it in a #-bit-level that PhotoChrome
doesn't support. I do know that PhotoShop can save out Targa's in several
different bit levels. Unfortunately, I forget which is the right level...
Live And Direct [12:56 AM-29/Mar/93],
Rod Martin, Network 23/ST Connection
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Category 7, Topic 30
Message 197 Mon Mar 29, 1993
S.KALEITA [SAK] at 08:43 EST
All you people haven't tried SEURAT 2 and soon to released 2.5 and possibly in
June SEURAT 3 , with all ST and TT resolutions.
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Category 7, Topic 30
Message 198 Mon Mar 29, 1993
LEXICOR2 [Ringo] at 15:25 EST
Stan.
I had forgotten all about that minor problem. What was it anyways? Our bad
hieroglyphic that we have all over our topics.<smile>
Well we will have a press release for Prism-Paint 2.0 that will discribe all
of it's new features. But I can tell you that it is a complete rewrite with
lots of new stuff. Just to keep it in topic
the TGA files maybe use with Photochrome.
Ringo
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Category 7, Topic 30
Message 199 Mon Mar 29, 1993
D.HELMICK [Dan] at 19:43 EST
Here's a question that's perhaps a bit outdated now, somewhat obscure, and
might even have been answered already somewhere in the preceding 200 messages
that I haven't bothered to scroll through <g>: Is there any way to view the
raw image data from Color ComputerEyes using Photochrome? The Digispec
conversions just don't do it for me...
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Category 7, Topic 30
Message 200 Mon Mar 29, 1993
FAIRWEATHER [David] at 21:17 EST
I tried the shareware version of Seurat. I liked it but it was somewhat slow.
I'm sure the commercial version was better. I might indeed pay for a Falcon-
aware version of Seurat.
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Category 7, Topic 30
Message 201 Tue Mar 30, 1993
M.POCHE [Mick] at 01:57 EST
Dan -
There is a program in the library here that will convert ComputerEyes' RAW
files to those used by Photochrome, and vice-versa.
Can't remember the filename or number, but a search of Computereyes or CE1 may
do it.
I haven't been able to put it to a good test, as I don't have a good source
for images with ComputerEyes anymore.
- Mick
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Category 7, Topic 30
Message 202 Tue Mar 30, 1993
OUTRIDER [Terry] at 03:58 EST
Rod,
According to the PhotoChrome docs, it handles 24-bit Targas, and that's what I
had my friend save the file as.
-----8<-----
SAK,
Is there a demo for SEURAT 2 and/or 2.5?
-----8<-----
Ringo,
Is there a demo for Prism-Paint 2.0? :^)
__
/erry .\\ay
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Category 7, Topic 30
Message 203 Tue Mar 30, 1993
D.HELMICK [Dan] at 05:42 EST
Thanks, Mitch! I'll have a look for it.
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Category 7, Topic 30
Message 204 Tue Mar 30, 1993
LEXICOR2 [Ringo] at 08:43 EST
Terry,
Currently we don't have a demo version in the library but as soon as we get
closer to release date we will have one.
Ringo
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