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- WHAT'S NEW IN COLORVIEW VERSION 0.97
-
- ColorView version 0.97 is an upgrade to the previously released version
- 0.95 (version 0.96 was never released). These are the main additions and
- improvements from the previous release:
-
- Greatly improved memory management
- ----------------------------------
- ColorView no longer requires large contiguous memory blocks for image
- storage. If necessary, ColorView can use your hard disk for temporary
- storage of image data, which relaxes the requirement for a large virtual
- memory (see the Conserve Memory option below). This will also resolve
- some of the problems reported while running under OS/2 v. 2.0. Images
- can now be processed with as little as 2 megabytes of physical RAM.
-
- Diagnostics have been added to determine the memory requirements for each
- particular image before it is loaded. If a low memory condition is
- detected, then ColorView will take steps to reduce its memory requirements,
- and will provide hints on re-configuring your system if necessary.
-
- A problem which caused memory to be retained after freeing an image has been
- corrected.
-
- Better Heckbert Quantizing algorithm
- ------------------------------------
- ColorView 0.97 provides a much better Heckbert Quantizing algorithm.
- Chosen colors now match the original 24-bit image much closer, providing
- better quality output and making dithering unnecessary in many cases.
-
- Graphics formats
- ----------------
- Reading of 24-bit Windows Bitmaps (*.BMP) files now works on 8-bit
- displays by using the chosen quantizing algorithm and dithering.
-
- Full GIF '87a standard is now supported. GIF '89a files can also be
- read, but only features supported in GIF '87a will be processed.
-
- Improved screen management
- --------------------------
- ColorView now contains a work-around of a common error in Windows video
- display device drivers that caused portions of a large image to be
- left blank.
-
- Another common bug in display drivers caused some large images to
- generate an Application Error (UAE) when the image was being displayed in
- version 0.95. A work-around was implemented in version 0.97.
-
- Additional diagnostics were added to properly detect graphics device drivers
- and their features.
-
- A problem in the Stretch-Image option was corrected to properly preserve
- the original aspect ratio. The Stretch-Image option was re-written to
- avoid using additional memory, and to run faster in low memory conditions.
-
- The Arrow keys, Page Up, Page Down, Ctrl-Left and Ctrl-Right, Home and End
- keys can now be used to pan around the image. This works even when the
- scroll-bars are not visible.
-
- Progress is now reported in percent, showing exactly how much more
- processing needs to take place at any point in time.
-
- Speed Improvements
- ------------------
- JPEG reading has been optimized for non-386 systems, improving speed by
- approximately 25% in ColorView '286.
-
- The Heckbert Quant without dithering option is now much faster than in
- version 0.95.
-
- Significant speed improvements have been made in saving 8 and 24 bit
- images in Windows BMP and GIF formats.
-
- Overall system performance has been improved in low-memory conditions.
- See the "SETTING UP - Memory" section for some helpful hints.
-
- Command Line Arguments
- ----------------------
- ColorView now accepts command line arguments to automatically load and
- process images. See the "User's Guide" for details.
-
- Other internal problems were corrected.