andre@gtss.UUCP (Andre Frech) (01/25/89)
About a month ago in <291@gtss.UUCP> I posted a message which said: >In selling the Amiga to corporate america we come across this all the time: >are there any utilities on either the Amiga or associated systems (*BM, *AC, >etc.) that will convert IFF/ilbm to and from formats such as Targa, GIF, >and so forth. >If I get good response I'll condense and post to the net. Thank you for all the great responses! Below you'll find a digest of articles in answer to the above questions, plus comments from the editor :-) which are usually in brackets: []. <Begin Graphics-Digest.Amiga> From: Kenn Barry <mailrus!ames!eos.arc.nasa.gov!barry@gatech> Message-Id: <8812222123.AA08447@eos.arc.nasa.gov> Date: Thu, 22 Dec 88 13:23:12 PST Yes, there are. Utilities to display GIF pics on the Amiga, and to convert IFF pics to GIF format, are available from Compuserve. These are public domain utilities, and are also available from various BBSs. [...] For converting GIF to IFF, you just combine the GIF display software with a utility that does screen captures; there are various such utilities around. To convert to formats other than GIF (e.g., Targa), I would first port the pic to the target machine as a GIF file, and then find a utility to convert from GIF to the desired format on that machine. GIF is designed to be a portable format, and makes a good middleman for converting between any two arbitrary graphics formats. Hope this helps. The best GIF display utility for the Amiga I know of is called HAMGIF, since it will use HAM mode to display GIF pics having >16 colors. The best IFF->GIF converter is AMGIF. It will convert an IFF/HAM pic to a 256-color GIF pic. -- From: "M.Gardi - ICR" <uunet.UU.NET!watmath!watdcsu.waterloo.edu!mgardi@cs.utexas.edu> Message-Id: <8812222151.AA03284@watdcsu.waterloo.edu> Date: Thu, 22 Dec 88 16:51:03 EST Organization: U. of Waterloo, Ontario Here at Mutual Life we use a program called HiJaak. It allows you to convert graphic files between the following formats: PC Paintbrush (.PCX) MacPaint (.MAC) Amiga (.IFF) [scanner] TIFF [actually TIF] InSet (.PIX) HP LaserJet (.HPC) [actually PCL] Compuserve (GIF) [additional note: it will also support: Dr. Halo (CUT) FAX CCITT (FAX) GEM Paint (IMG) MS Paint (MSP) WordPerfect (WPG) and output to Postscript.] In addition, LOTUS (.PIC) or any ASCII text file can be used for input, and you can generate PostScript output. Unfortunately, it doesn't support HAM mode at the present time. [In the Amiga version it will now support HAM, as well as conversion between Aegis Draw format and IFF. So I've been told; this can change.] I can't comment on the quality of the package as I haven't personally used it yet, but I've heard good reports from the guy who has. The publisher is: InSet Systems, Inc. 12 Mill Plain Road Danbury, CT 06811 1-800-828-8088 Oh yeah, this is an MS-DOS application. [This is the most promising commercial software I saw in this area. They are beta testing this package for the Amiga but are unsure of how to approach its marketing. I've used this package and like it, but that's all.] -- From: seb@lns61.tn.cornell.edu (Selden E. Ball, Jr.) Message-Id: <8812280305.AA05782@gtss.gatech.edu> Date: 27 Dec 88 22:00:00 EST Freely redistributable GIF picture file conversion utilities are available on CompuServe for many of the popular (and not-so-popular) personal computers and graphics adaptors. [...] Selden E. Ball, Jr. Cornell University Voice: +1-607-255-0688 Laboratory of Nuclear Studies FAX: +1-607-255-8062 Wilson Synchrotron Lab BITNET: SEB@CRNLNS Judd Falls & Dryden Road Internet: SEB@LNS61.TN.CORNELL.EDU Ithaca, NY, USA 14853 HEPnet/SPAN: LNS61::SEB = 44283::SEB -- From: swordfis@pnet51.cts.com (Tim Mitchell) Message-Id: <8812280232.AA27447@umn-cs.cs.umn.edu> Date: Tue, 27 Dec 88 14:51:02 CST There is a PD conversion utility called AMGIF that converts IFF HAM mode graphics to GIF. There's also a lesser but effective PD utility called IFF2GIF that accomplishes the same thing, but only on pictures with 32 colors or less. On another note, I understand that the PC version of DeluxePaint II uses the IFF format. UUCP: {rosevax, crash}!orbit!pnet51!swordfis INET: swordfis@pnet51.cts.com -- From: <FVEST@AUDUCVAX.BITNET> Message-Id: <8812281720.AA06491@gtss.gatech.edu> Date: Fri, 23 Dec 88 00:40 CST In answer to your question, the answer is yes. There are all sorts of PD/FR programs which convert to/from GIF, Raedmac, SUN, etc. You can check out a good selection on BBS @ 205-745-3989 [...] Floyd Vest Auburn University FVEST@AUDUCVAX.bitnet {...!psuvax1!ducvax.bitnet!fvest} [one of the more comprehensive software libraries I have seen to date! thanks for the reference! Posted later, on another day... (can you say redundant?)] -- From: <FVEST@AUDUCVAX.BITNET> Message-Id: <8812300500.AA07992@gtss.gatech.edu> Date: Thu, 29 Dec 88 20:38 CST I take it since you logged on OK that you know the answer to this, but recapping what you probably already found: ST2AMY.ARC Atari ST to Amiga conversion GIFAMI.ARC A set of GIF (IBM) to IFF manipulation tools MACVIEW.ARC Macintosh ReadMac picture displayer In addition to these check also: APPLE2IFF on Amicus 12 HP2IFF available for FTP @ swan.ulowell.edu It seems as if I have seen a SUN2IFF, but can't recall where. Floyd Vest Auburn University FVEST@AUDUCVAX.bitnet {...!psuvax1!ducvax.bitnet!fvest} -- From: lauren@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com (Lauren Brown CATS) Date: Thu, 22 Dec 88 12:54:59 est Message-Id: <8812221754.AA17219@cbmvax.UUCP> Organization: Commodore Technology, West Chester, PA Hi Andre. Vince Billotti (Amiga dealer out of NYC) has someone working on Targa utilities. You can reach Vince at (212) 473-2443. -- From: joe@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com (Joe O'Hara) Date: Thu, 12 Jan 89 14:03:58 est Message-Id: <8901121903.AA23596@cbmvax.UUCP> Organization: Commodore Technology, West Chester, PA [...] GIFfy Displays GIF files on Amiga GIFScan Examines a GIF file and reports its structure HamGIF Displays GIF files on Amiga HamGIF.notes IFF2GIF Converts IFF file to GIF MacView Load/Display MacPaint or IFF; save either format READ.ME.FIRST ScreenX Capture screen image to IFF file ScreenX.docs See/Show/SuperView Programs which display IFF files SuperView.doc Joe O'Hara || Comments represent my own opinions, Commodore Electronics Ltd || not my employers. Any similarity to Software QA || to any other opinions, living or dead, || is purely coincidental. -- <End Graphics-Digest.Amiga> Thanks again for your help! Now there's no reason why a picture can't paint a thousand words on many computers. Hope that this is useful to someone. 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