Vision Lab started out as a program called ╥Super Vision.╙ The main idea being capturing the data coming in from the MacVision driver to save and view up to 256 levels of gray. From here GIF arrived and color became a part of a new program called ╥Vision Lab.╙ Below is a simple history of the development of Vision Lab.
~SB~Changes from 0.6 to 0.65:~SB~
Ñ The Information and GrayMap windows have changed to ╥HyperCard╙ type windows and are now floating. Ñ Opening a MacPaint document as full size does not ╥undigitize╙ it. Ñ Most of the ╥Save Selection As╔╙ menu items were changed into options on the save dialogs. Ñ PICT files and resources may now be opened from non-Mac IIs. Ñ You can now open ╥GIFf╙ type files directly from the Finder. Ñ The preferences are now saved. (An icon was added to Vision Lab, so if you have an older copy of Vision Lab you will need to rebuild your desktop. To do this hold down the option and command keys when exiting to the Finder.) Ñ PixelPaint files may now be opened and saved with Vision Lab. Wow! Now you can even see PixelPaint files on ╥regular╙ Macs! Ñ The about box was ╥spiffied╙ up a bit. Ñ PICTs are loaded a little differently. Ñ GIF files can be saved in interlaced format. Ñ You can save BitMaps as MacPaint files. Ñ The information window will inform you about ╥bad╙ color tables. Ñ Miscellaneous bug fixes and other changes.
~SB~Changes from 0.65 to 0.67:~SB~
Ñ Now skips GIF extension blocks. Ñ Local color maps for multiple image GIF files can be remapped. Ñ The color of the Pix window is improved if it is under floating windows. Ñ Easy 'C' routines were added to share.h. (See Easy 'C' Threshold for an example of their use). Ñ Fixed a stupid PICT resource loading bug. Ñ Added a few other slow Easy 'C' dithering options like 2 x 2 Dither and Floyd-Steinberg.
~SB~Changes from 0.67 to 0.81:~SB~
Ñ A few bug fixes. Ñ TIFF ╥support╙ added. (An icon was added to Vision Lab, so if you have an older copy of Vision Lab you will need to rebuild your desktop. To do this hold down the option and command keys when exiting to the Finder.) Ñ Opening and saving methods have completely changed. Ñ MacVision menu items have been moved into one MacVision menu that does not appear without an installed driver. Ñ Dithering functions were cleaned up a little. Ñ The open GrayMapFile function was made a lot smarter. Ñ RLE format files are supported by the GIF opening code.
~SB~Changes from 0.81 to 0.9:~SB~
Ñ EPSF saving was fixed. Ñ LaserWriter printing was added. Ñ Zooming windows were added.
~SB~Changes from 0.9 to 1.0d6:~SB~
Ñ Misc. bug fixes. Ñ Save PICT resource was moved to Save As╔ Ñ Some internal changes. Ñ EPSF files can be saved as 4 or 8 bit gray images, or 1 bit for BitMaps. Ñ The print dialog was created and printing to the ImageWriter was added (Thanks Kevin). Ñ The PROC menus are sorted and the interface for the PROCs was expanded. Ñ Dimensions in the info window are shown in inches if a printer is selected. Ñ Open GrayMapFile was expanded to open 1, 4, or 8 bit ╥GrayMapFiles╙, since most EPSF images are similar to GrayMapFiles they can be opened also. Ñ Show Clipboard was added. Ñ Some PROCs were added. Ñ About╔ has been changed around. (╘Vision Lab Help╒ is needed for the Help command to work).
~SB~Changes from 1.0d6 to 1.0d8:~SB~
Ñ Misc. bug fixes. Ñ The refCons for PROCs are now saved in the Prefs file. Ñ The 'WDEF' was ╥legalized╙. Ñ PICT files can now be loaded on non-Mac IIs (a simple bug no one ever said anything about). Ñ The PROCs are now written as Pascal functions so Pascal users can program PROCs for Vision Lab. Ñ The Filter PROC was expanded and brought about the need for an initData call. Ñ Loading MacPaint files other than full size now tastes great and is less filling. You gotta try this mon. Ñ EPSF files were fixed again. I think the code is correct now. Postscript must have been written by Satan himself. (At least all the code I write is possessed)
~SB~Changes from 1.0d8 to 1.0d10:~SB~
Ñ GIFf file type is supported now. Ñ GIF options were moved into GIF¬ Preferences╔ Ñ Paper size was added to the information window. Ñ Laser job name bug was fixed. Ñ Saving PixMaps on non-Mac II machines has changed again. (The PixMap window is always displayed now) Ñ The Close menu item was added to the file menu. Ñ One bit deep PixMaps will display on non-Mac II machines. Ñ Close PixMap and Close BitMap menu items were removed. Ñ Gray Map is reset when a file is opened.
~SB~Changes from 1.0d10 to 1.0d11:~SB~
Ñ TIFF file support was ~SU~greatly~SU~ increased. (Thank you Gary for the sample files) Ñ Bug fixes. Ñ Some PROCs were changed. Ñ General tweaking here and there.
~SB~Changes from 1.0d11 to 1.0d12:~SB~
Ñ Intel TIFF support added. Ñ Scale pix map PROC added. Ñ ~SU~Many~SU~ TIFF bugs fixed, Vision Lab should open a much larger range of TIFF files now.
