jacobson@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu (09/08/88)
Several people have sent me email requesting information on what I found out about Amiga to Mac transfers. I tried replying to all the email, but a number bounced back. So I thought I would post here what I found out from the replies to my request (Thanks to all who responded) 1)Macview 1.2. This program does indeed work, contrary to my first experience with it. The program takes macbinary encoded macpaint files and allows you to view them, print them or convert them to IFF files on your Amiga. It also does the reverse, converting your IFF files to a single bitplane black and white macbinary encoded macpaint file. And as the author of the program said recently in a reply to my questions on this one merely uses the macbinary xmodem or kermit transfer on their Mac to receive this file which converts it to a full fledged macpaint file. Overall I am very pleased with the transfer, and black and white images look as good on my Mac as they do on my Amiga. This program is a definate must if you need the capability, and worth the $10 donation (which I plan to send now that I have a use for it). The only problem with the above program is if one wants to transfer color graphics from the Amiga to a Mac II with color. The second option mentioned to me which I list below (but have not found the software yet) is the IFF to GIF programs. 2)IFF-->GIF transfer programs. This GIF "standard" has been promoted on compuserand programs to transfer to and from it are available for the Mac, Amiga, IBM, and Atari ST. Color is transfered by these programs (at least between the ST and Amiga). I don't know about the Mac however, and it may only do black and white since that is the majority of Macs so far. But those interested should look into it. I have not been able to find the Amiga version here in Champaign Urbana, Illinois (or the Mac version for that matter). My compuserve account is dead and I don't intend to renew it. So I am looking for it elsewhere, but have not found either program yet. Several have said that this is the way to transfer graphics between the two, so I assume that color is transfered to the Mac via these converters. Worth checking into anyway if you have a compuserve account (programs are PD or shareware-they want to promote this standard). Russ Jacobson 615 E Peabody Drive, Rm 203 Illinois Geological Survey Champaign, Il 61820 217-244-2425
steve@dcdwest.UUCP (Steve Meloche) (09/09/88)
Yes, it can be done, but there are some holes left in the process. There is
nothing as yet (that I have seen) that deals with HAM (or halfbright) IFF
pictures. With all other Amiga graphics modes, however, the PD GIF converters
that are available from BBSes work fine. I got one called iffgif that I use
to convert to GIF format. One of the MAC IIs at work here has a GIF viewer
that I have successfully used to view pictures. Someone else that works here
grabbed a GIF to postscript converter that I have used to be able to print my
pics on the Apple Laserwriters here at work. As of yet, the most horrendous
path I have had to put my data through is the following:
1. Upon finishing a document in Pagesetter, save it.
2. Use supplied program to convert Pagesetter document to IFF picture. The
resulting picture is now in super overscan (7 x 8 1/2" page -> 820 pixels
wide) which cannot be viewed by any program I own without crashing the
machine. Isn't there a PD IFF viewer that uses a scrolling superbitmap?
3. Use NEWZAP to change the colors (for some reason the Pagesetter IFF conver-
sion program doesn't save in black and white).
4. Use IFFGIF to convert to GIF format (which shrinks the file, too!)
5. uuencode the file and upload it to the vax at work with VT100.
6. uudecode it on the vax and convert it to postscript with the conversion
program from the net, which I had to specially modify to keep the correct
aspect ratio.
7. Print the resulting picture (now over 1 MEGABYTE - AACK!) on the laser
writer with a locally written program, and TA-DA! a spiffy looking
document with crisp, beautiful blocky Amiga letters.
If I could get CLAZ to work (on anything!) I could possibly reduce these steps,
but I can't. Besides, a 25K GIF file takes less time to upload than a 1 Meg
postscript file!!
The main problem I have with Macview (besides not handling HAM) is that it just
throws away about an inch at the right of the picture. Surely with the
dithering the program does it could just resample to the mac's lower horizontal
resolution (or offer it as an option). Otherwise, it's a real nice program!
Actually, there is one other problem. All picture conversion utilities suffer
from one oversight - they don't handle 320x400 IFF pics correctly. You must
convert to another resolution to use Macview (and IFFGIF) if you want a picture
that isn't stretched.
So, in conclusion I would state that there is a way of converting almost
anything, but there is definitely room for massive improvement. Maybe someone
out there could write the ULTIMATE conversion utility? P-p-p-pleeeeeeeze?
I really would like a (fast) HAM -> 256 color GIF converter!! (Not to mention
that hi-res version of Startle that I mentioned a few months ago!)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_____ _____ _____ Steven Meloche
| ` | ' ` | ' ITT Defense Communications Division
| | | San Diego, CA
__|__ | | steve!dcdwest!ucsdhub!...barry@eos.UUCP (Kenn Barry) (09/10/88)
In article <462@dcdwest.UUCP> steve@dcdwest.UUCP (Steve Meloche) writes: >Yes, it can be done, but there are some holes left in the process. There >is nothing as yet (that I have seen) that deals with HAM (or halfbright) >IFF pictures. Gee, am I the only Usenetter that still has a Compuserve account? Actually, the situation is better than that. There is a HAM to GIF converter called 'amgif', which I downloaded from Compuserve (it's in the 'PICS' forum). It works fine. I've included an excerpt from the doc file for this program below. It won't handle halfbright mode, but are there even any pictures *in* halfbright mode? >Actually, there is one other problem. All picture conversion utilities >suffer from one oversight - they don't handle 320x400 IFF pics >correctly. You must convert to another resolution to use Macview (and >IFFGIF) if you want a picture that isn't stretched. 'amgif' doesn't have this problem. I just converted a 320x400 HAM picture to GIF, and then viewed it on my Amiga. It has the same aspect ratio as the original IFF picture. >Maybe >someone out there could write the ULTIMATE conversion utility? >P-p-p-pleeeeeeeze? I really would like a (fast) HAM -> 256 color GIF >converter!! Well, it ain't all that fast (8-15 minutes for large HAM pics), but it certainly works. Here's the excerpt from the docfile I promised: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ AMGIF vn 0.5 - Amiga IFF to GIF converter Converts Amiga IFF pictures to GIF. Supports 320x200 & 320x400 in up to 32 colors or HAM mode, and 640x200 & 640x400 in up to 16 colors. HAM mode pictures are reduced to 256 colors. [...] HAM images can take a significant amount of time to encode, mainly due to the calculations required to sort and remap the colors. HAM images are reduced to a 256 color map, choosing the most frequently used colors for the color map, and remapping all the other used colors to the nearest match in that color map. Many HAM images will not suffer much from this. Others may suffer significantly. It depends on the image. Note that AMGIF doesn't do Extra-Halfbrite pics currently, mainly because I don't know the format for them and have none to test with. I suspect that they will be incorrectly identified as HAM pics. This may be added later. [...] -->Steve Bennett Compuserve:[70046,441] 01/03/88 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Until this recent discussion, I'd assumed that this program, and the Amiga GIF viewer that displays GIF files with >32 colors in HAM mode, were widely available. Perhaps I was wrong. Should I consider posting these programs here? I only have the binaries, but I can post uuencoded versions of them if there is sufficient interest. If you think I should, send me email. Also, where should I post 'em, if I do? The delay factor on comp.binaries.amiga is infamous, but posting programs to comp.sys.amiga is still a no-no, yes? - From the Crow's Nest - Kenn Barry QQQCLC NASA-Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ELECTRIC AVENUE: {most major sites}!ames!eos!barry
ins_adjb@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Daniel Jay Barrett) (09/11/88)
In article <462@dcdwest.UUCP> steve@dcdwest.UUCP (Steve Meloche) writes: >If I could get CLAZ to work (on anything!) I could possibly reduce >these steps, but I can't. CLAZ 2.0 works for me, but I have to insert two characters at the beginning of the CLAZ output file. It's either "!%" or "%!", but I can't recall which one. The pictures print fine on our laser printer at school (on a UNIX machine). -- Dan Barrett ins_adjb@jhunix.UUCP UUCP barrett@cs.jhu.edu (128.220.13.4) ARPA Dept. of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218
bjc@pollux.UUCP (Betty J. Clay) (09/13/88)
Re the discussion of HAM to GIF conversions, and Steve Bennett's program called HAMGIF. Steve is working on this program, and plans to post an updated version very soon. I can't recall whether a bug was found in the original, or whether he is adding new functionality. At any rate, you might want to get the new version before posting. You can find HAMGIF in the AmigaArts Forum, in the section on Graphic Utilities. Betty Clay, CIS sysop .........killer!pollux!bjc
darin@nova.laic.uucp (Darin Johnson) (09/14/88)
> 1. Upon finishing a document in Pagesetter, save it. > 2. Use supplied program to convert Pagesetter document to IFF picture. The > resulting picture is now in super overscan (7 x 8 1/2" page -> 820 pixels > wide) which cannot be viewed by any program I own without crashing the > machine. Isn't there a PD IFF viewer that uses a scrolling superbitmap? > 3. Use NEWZAP to change the colors (for some reason the Pagesetter IFF conver- > sion program doesn't save in black and white). > 4. Use IFFGIF to convert to GIF format (which shrinks the file, too!) > 5. uuencode the file and upload it to the vax at work with VT100. > 6. uudecode it on the vax and convert it to postscript with the conversion > program from the net, which I had to specially modify to keep the correct > aspect ratio. > 7. Print the resulting picture (now over 1 MEGABYTE - AACK!) on the laser > writer with a locally written program, and TA-DA! a spiffy looking > document with crisp, beautiful blocky Amiga letters. Hmmn, I use LaserScript myself, which can output PostScript directly to a file, which can then be uploaded and printed directly, with a much better resolution than "beautifully blocky" Amiga fonts. You can still include Amiga fonts and get an interesting effect if you wish. Actually, If anyone wants to buy PageSetter and/or LaserScript, drop me a line. I don't use it that much anymore. The program isn't the greatest (occasionally crashes) but it has a reasonable price. (The reason I chose PageSetter over the other programs that existed at the time, was the fact that I could save PostScript to a file and upload it to work - the other packages advertising didn't state that they could do that, although quite a few have been updated to do this) Darin Johnson (...pyramid.arpa!leadsv!laic!darin) (...ucbvax!sun!sunncal!leadsv!laic!darin) "All aboard the DOOMED express!"
steve@dcdwest.UUCP (Steve Meloche) (09/16/88)
In article <1493@eos.UUCP>, barry@eos.UUCP (Kenn Barry) writes: > > Gee, am I the only Usenetter that still has a Compuserve > account? Actually, the situation is better than that. There is a HAM to > GIF converter called 'amgif', which I downloaded from Compuserve (it's > in the 'PICS' forum). It works fine. I don't know if you are the only one with a Compu$erve account, but I sure don't. THere have been a lot of discussions here on the main Amiga BBSes here in San Diego about these converters and nobody has heard of such a beast. We do have a 256 color GIF viewer that uses HAM mode to display the picture, but its palette selection is very poor. Sometimes it works great and sometimes not. > are there even any pictures *in* halfbright mode? Yeah yeah! I just got DIGIVIEW 3.0 and want my 64 color pics convertable to GIF format! > 'amgif' doesn't have this problem. I just converted a 320x400 HAM > picture to GIF, and then viewed it on my Amiga. It has the same aspect > ratio as the original IFF picture. GREAT! > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > AMGIF vn 0.5 - Amiga IFF to GIF converter > > Converts Amiga IFF pictures to GIF. Supports 320x200 & 320x400 in up to > 32 colors or HAM mode, and 640x200 & 640x400 in up to 16 colors. HAM mode > pictures are reduced to 256 colors. > [...] > > Until this recent discussion, I'd assumed that this program, and > the Amiga GIF viewer that displays GIF files with >32 colors in HAM > mode, were widely available. Perhaps I was wrong. Should I consider > posting these programs here? Here, the binaries group, or EMAIL. If I can get my hands on it I will spread it around here locally. 256 color pics converted from digi-view will be a better advertisement for the Amiga on the non-Amiga boards than the 16/32 color ones I am able to upload now > > - From the Crow's Nest - Kenn Barry _____ _____ _____ Steven Meloche | ` | ' ` | ' ITT Defense Communications Division | | | San Diego, CA __|__ | | steve!dcdwest!ucsdhub!...