ST to TT Picture Converter v1.10 Documentation Released on July 25, 1992 Copyright 1992 by Lonny L. Pursell and ENCOM All Rights Reserved. Archive Contents ---------------- This archive should contain the following files. ST2TTPIC.PRG the utility program itself ST2TTPIC.DOC this doc file Introduction ------------ This program will convert Spectrum 512 and GFA Raytrace files into Prism-Paint files. Neither Spectrum or Raytrace function on the TT but why should that stop TT owners from viewing the images they can create. I decided on Prism-Paint output since I own Prism-Paint and it supports TT low resolution. Since Prism-Paint reads quite a few file formats, I see this program as a companion to Prism-Paint to fill in the gaps for users who would like Spectrum 512 support. I threw in the Raytrace support since it is similar to Spectrum. This program is ShareWare! -------------------------- All versions of this program are 'ShareWare', this means that if you decide to use it you're expected to pay for it. You pay for the commercial programs you use, right? Why not pay for the ShareWare you use as well? Rememeber, ShareWare doesn't happen by accident. The author spent time writing the software and relies on your honesty as an Atari Computer owner. The registration fee is $5.00 ... or send what you think it's worth. If you do decide to use it, please send a check or money order in U.S. funds to... Lonny L Pursell Attn ST2TTPIC PO Box 145 Pandora OH 45877 USA I thank you for your support! Please remember, if you want to see more ShareWare programs like this, you have to do your part and pay for the ShareWware programs you use. ----User Support---- If you have an idea for a feature or want to report a bug (if any) then by all means contact me. Please include the full name and version# of the program you are refering to. I can be reached by U.S. Mail at the address above or by telephone at (419)-384-3594 [ask for Lonny]... I can also be reached on my FAVORITE multi-line BBS... CodeHead Quarters BBS (213)-461-2095 1200/2400/9600 baud Username: Lonny Pursell Before you get started ---------------------- Runs on a TT030 in TT low resolution only. Reads GFA Raytrace 'SUL' uncompressed files only. Remember, Raytrace crashes on a TT so you'll need an ST or STE! You must first uncompress the file you wish to convert. To do this you need to load GFA Raytrace and turn off the 'Compression' feature under the 'Status' option from the editor. Load the picture and then resave it and it will be uncompressed. Reads Spectrum 512 'SPU' uncompressed or 'SPC' compressed files. Writes TT low rez uncompressed Prism-Paint 'PNT' files only. ----To use the program---- Double-click on the program from the GEM Desktop. The program uses the GEM interface so you'll soon see a menu bar at the top of the screen. The drop down menus: DESK Desktop Info Displays the program credits. FILE Load Spectrum 512 Loads a Spectrum 512 pic directly to the screen where it's scanned into an internal buffer. Load GFA Raytrace Loads a GFA Raytrace pic. (same as above) Save Prism-Paint Save the currently loaded pic to disk in Prism-Paint format. Quit Returns you to the GEM Desktop. VIEW Color Info Shows some statistics about the currently loaded pic like total colors, etc. Show Picture Redisplays the pic to the screen. Press any key to exit. Redraw Picture Converts the image to TT low rez directly on the screen and averages out any colors beyond 256. Press any key to exit. Options Full Size When checked it scales the pic to full size and when not checked it draws the image pixel for pixel. Now for an example: Select 'Load Spectrum 512' under the File menu and locate the picture file with the file selector. You'll see what looks like a mess loaded to the screen and scanned line by line. After that's done select 'Redraw Picture' under the View menu. The Spectrum image will be transformed in TT low rez right before your very eyes. Press any key to exit the pic and select 'Save Prism-Paint' under the File menu. Save the pic to whatever drive you want with the file selector. Keep in mind that the converted file will be about 160K in size. Select 'Full Size' under the Options menu to change the size of the converted pic. Select 'Redraw Picture' under the View menu to make the change. After you've selected 'Redraw Picture' you can use 'Show Picture' to review the image instantly. This is the image that will be saved to disk. Notes: The way averaging works is like this. If the pic has over 256 colors then the program totals up all the colors used per pixel and finds the least used color. It then matches it to the closest possible color that's already in the pics palette. This continues until the pic has exactly 256 colors. Averaging isn't very fast, but it averages pretty good. When conveting the pics to TT low rez the program tries to insure that when it's loaded into Prism-Paint the background color won't be the same as the text color used by Prism-Paint's menus. If the pic has less than 256 colors the background will be set to black and the text color will be set to white. If the pic has more than 256 colors then the darkest color will be used for the background and the lightest color will be used for the text. If an error is detected all open files will be closed, and you will be alerted and the program will try to recover. About the program ----------------- This program was written with GFA Basic 3.6TTe on an Atari TT030, 4meg ST RAM, TOS 3.06, and a PTC1426 color monitor. I can't say for sure if it will run on lesser or newer machines. Since I wrote the program without any docs on the GFA Raytrace file format or the Prism-Paint file format it's possible I over looked something important. If anyone has any scrap of info on these file formats I would like to see it. Future version might read compressed GFA Raytrace files and perphaps write GIF files or other formats that can also retain all 256 colors. Please contact me if you have an docs on GIF, GFA Raytrace, or Prism-Paint that you would like to share. Acknowledgments --------------- Atari, ST, Mega ST, STE, and TT030 are trademarks of Atari Corp. GEM, GEM Desktop, and DRI are trademarks of Digial Reasearch Inc. GFA and GFA Basic are trademarks of GFA Systemtechnik GFA Raytrace is (C)1989 by GFA Data Media Ltd. Spectrum 512 is (C)1987 by Trio Engineering, Inc. Prism-Paint is (C)1991 by Lexicor Software All other items are copyrighted/trademarked by their respective owners Disclaimer ********** This document and all versions of ST to TT Picture Converter are Copyright 1992 by Lonny L. Pursell and ENCOM All Rights Reserved. ST to TT Picture Converter may not be sold. It may, however, be freely distributed as long as this document is included and neither program nor document are modified in any way whatsoever. This document may not be reprinted without prior permission from the author. While every effort has been made to ensure that this program is free of bugs, I claim no responsiblity for any damage or loss of data resulting from the use or misuse of ST to TT Picture Converter. Revision history ---------------- v1.00 first release v1.10 added GFA Raytrace compressed SCL file support