kortink@utrcu1.UUCP (Kortink John) (02/16/91)
There are new, improved versions of Translator, MakeGIF and MakeTIFF.
I will not post them here, until we have a binaries newsgroup, but if
anyone wants them, mail me, and I'll try to mail you a copy.
The main improvements are summed up below.
Translator 6.31
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The first few improvements were suggestions posed here and in letters :
- By setting the flag 'Same leafname' in the 'Save' submenu, the leafname
of the file to be saved will be set to the leafname of the input file.
- Translator now auto-loads on double-clicks on &690-range filetypes.
Other improvements are:
- TIFF LZW compression is handled now. MakeTIFF can now create these too.
- Palette choice in 256-colour modes is free now (i.e. 'Current' settings
will work). This makes it possible to tweak the palette for slight
improvements. I am working on a simple utility to calculate an optimum
palette for an 8-bit Clear file. Possibly this will be built into
Translator sometime (if it's fast enough).
- New menu structure finalised.
- Documentation tidied up a bit.
- Some speedups here and there.
- A few buggettes fixed.
MakeGIF 2.10
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- Speedup of around 12% of compression.
- Progress now indicated in hourglass percentage.
- Default filename in save file window is set to leafname of input file.
MakeTIFF 2.10
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- LZW compression option added. This finally makes it possible to store 24-bit
RGB images in as little space as possible. To improve compression of these
images (which is usually low), it is wise to zero out the 2 least
significant bitplanes of R, G and B. This can be done by letting Translator
create a Clear file, setting all the RGB resolutions to 6 bits. Compression
will be better, and there will be no noticable loss in image quality, as
the zeroed bits are usually at the noise level anyway.
- Moved machinecode to a module, which is killed on quitting.
- Progress now indicated in hourglass percentage.
- Default filename in save file window is set to leafname of input file.
- Giving more memory now *does* speed up conversion. Extra memory used to be
reserved for buffers, but, contrary to what the guide said, they were never
used (oops!).
John Kortink
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Student of Informatics at the University of Twente, The Netherlands
MAIL : kortink@utrcu1.uucp
DISCLAIMER : you know .... "If language were liquid
it would be rushing in
Instead here we are
Suzanne Vega (Solitude standing) in a silence more eloquent
than any word could ever be"
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