FXDDR@FDCVAX3.BITNET (08/11/87)
In digest 308 <BRUINSMA%HUTRUU51.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu> says: >I have some problems with the GEM format of the picture files >which are made by the excellent program UNITERM. The idea is >to make the picture as good as possible on a mainframe computer >and then edit it further on the atari. I would like to use the >latest version of EASY-DRAW for this purpose. I had exactly the same problem a couple of months ago and asked a similar question here...no luck. But it turns out that on Compuserve there is a useful discussion of the Easy-Draw metafile format (called EZDRAW.ARC I think) that sheds some light on it. I was then able to produce a very crude C program on the ST to convert Uniterm .GEM files to Easy-Draw format...I need to go back and overhaul it. I also wrote a VAX/VMS Fortran program to convert the NCAR metafile format (not the GKS version) to Easy-Draw form. The Fortran program is in fairly respectable shape so anyone who wants it can have it. The restrictions in the Easy-Draw format are: 1) It wants page size and coordinate information in the header, which Uniterm doesn't supply. 2) It wants some option information stored with the "write metafile" function which of course other applications don't supply. 3) It uses "write metafile" ops to define the beginning and end of each object (eg, vector or polyline). 4) Its coordinates are x in [-3200,3200] and y in [-4000,4000], while Uniterm uses the [0,32767] range for both. 5) Polylines are limited to 127 points (GEM limit - nastily enforced with crashes). Uniterm seems to break polylines into simple vectors, so some logic is needed to rebuild polylines without exceeding the 127 vertex limit. 6) Polylines also need the fill function set to transparent. 7) Easy-Draw wants an EOF (0xFFFF) while Uniterm ends with an "update workstation" call. I've been doing simple data plots with NCAR on Vax and then adding all the annotation, shading, and whatever else it takes with Easy-Draw. Then print the results on an HP LaserJet. All the figures in my thesis and (soon to be) published papers are done this way. With text by Publishing Partner on an Apple LaserWriter. [PS: I finally saw a practical use for an Amiga. Run a heavy-metal soundtrack in one window and garish graphics in a large window. Put under visqueen and place in middle of garden. It keeps birds, rabbits, moose, and just about everything else out. However a ghetto blaster with autoreverse is a much more cost-effective implementation of this concept!] Don Rice FXDDR@ALASKA.BITNET
braner@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (braner) (08/13/87)
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It's sad to hear that the GEM metafile standard isn't. Oh well, what do
you expect...
Can somebody point us to a source of info on GEM metafile format, other than
the dev pak (I spent $200 on the other compiler)? If there is something on
Compuserve, etc., can somebody post it here? There is very little in the
book by Balma and Fittler.
In addition to info on the metafile itself, I'd like to know whether one can
write metafiles through some high-level calls in Megamax C. Is GDOS necessary?
- Moshe Braner
Flame: the ST is doomed unless GDOS, plus info and dev tools, become readily
available. Only with graphics portable between programs can the ST
compete with the Mac in any way besides the price.pes@ux63.bath.ac.uk (Smee) (08/20/87)
Allegedly (haven't tried meself) but believably -- Most of the Atari GEM doc is simply copies of the IBM/PC GEM doc, with minimal to no retouching, and; you can get it cheaper by buying the IBM/PC GEM developer's kit and throwing the software itself away. Probably still fairly pricey, but might be worth investigating. Specially since an institution the size of yours must actually *have* PC-GEM from DRI running around somewhere or other... As to the flame, (and as I've said before) absolutely right. Where's the ******** rest of the OS and the ********* documentation. Atari keep saying they're shedding the 'games' image and going for the serious market. Serious machines come with the COMPLETE O/S, and with COMPLETE documentation. Admittedly, sometimes the COMPLETE doc costs, but at present prices Atari's incomplete complete doc costs more than the blessed machine. WRONG!