PC Shareware 1996 December

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Sea Graphics Viewer V1.2c (C) 1996 Programming: H. De Laat & B.Wakkee. Artwork: R. Gortzen. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/_/ _/ _/ _/_/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/_/_/ _/_/_/_/_/_/ _/_/_/_/_/_/ Graphics & Animation Viewer. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── IN THIS DOCUMENT: 1. SHORT DESCRIPTION 2. FEATURES 3. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS 4. LEGAL 5. USER MANUAL 5.1 QUICK START 5.2 KEYS & FUNCTIONS 5.3 CONVERSION MENU 5.4. OPTIONS MENU 5.5 CATALOG OPTION 6. PROBLEM SOLVING 7. NOTES 8. REGISTERING 9. FUTURE VERSIONS ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── The package SEA.ZIP should contain the following files. -SEA.EXE [ Executable ] -DOS4GW.EXE [ Dos extender ] -SEA.DAT [ Datafile ] -SEA.DOC [ This Document ] -REGISTER.FRM [ Reg. Form ] -CHANGES.DOC [ Revision notes ] -AD8.JPG [ Example JPG ] -SEA.ICO [ Icon file ] And possibly a SEA.INI belonging to someone else (delete it). ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1. SHORT DESCRIPTION. ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ FASTEST VESA compatible mouse controlled viewer around. │ │ Views PNG, JPEG, TARGA, BMP & RLE, TIFF, PCX, GIF, PNM (PPM, PGM, PBM), │ │ LBM (IFF), ICO, WPG and Dp2e-LBM, BBM & PCC pictures. │ │ Plays FLI and FLC animations. Offers conversion between all listed │ │ graphical formats. All combined in a Graphical User Interface. │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 2. FEATURES. -Supports: JPG, TGA, BMP & RLE, TIFF, PCX, GIF, LBM (IFF), WPG, ICO, Dp2e-LBM, BBM & PCC, PNM (PBM, PGM, PPM) and PNG formats. -Faster displaying of these formats compared to ANY other viewer. -File conversion between all of these formats and all available colordepths. -Floyd Steinberg / Ordered / Error diffusion dithering (option). -User definable JPEG Quality [1 to 100%] for writing JPEG files. -FLI and FLC player in all resolutions. -FLI/FLC Preview in window. -A nice Graphical User Interface (Mouse/Keyboard). Resolution 800x600 or 640x480. -Full color preview in interface. (in 256 colors or hicolor mode) -Extremely fast color JPEG preview (option). -Detects all available VESA modes. -Resolution switching while viewing, no reloading. -Auto scale (option), Grayscale (option), Auto resolution (option). -Mouse panning through large pictures. -Slideshow option (with delay from 0 upto 30 seconds). -Catalog option to create index images. -Fully operational shareware version. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 3. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Minimum System Requirements: A 386Sx, 2MB and a VESA compatible 512 Kb VGAcard. Realistic System Requirements: A 33 MHz 486 with 4MB, a mouse and a VESA compatible 1 MB VGAcard. VESA 2.0 is highly recommended for systems with a PCI graphics card. (because PCI owners can benefit from a dramatic speed increase by using vesa 2.0) ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 4. LEGAL. THE SOFTWARE IN THE DISTRIBUTED FILE HAS NO GUARANTEE OF ANY TYPE WHATSOEVER. IN NO EVENT WILL THE AUTHORS OF THIS PROGRAM (H.de Laat, B.Wakkee, R.Gortzen) BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOST PROFITS, LOST SAVINGS, OR OTHER INCIDENTIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR THE INABILITY TO USE SUCH PROGRAM, EVEN IF THE AUTHORS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY OTHER PARTY. DO NOT USE VIDEO MODES THAT YOUR MONITOR CANNOT HANDLE. EXCLUDE THESE MODES FROM USE, EITHER BY SPECIFYING INPUT PARAMETERS WHEN USING VESA, OR BY USING THE MENU OPTION 'MAX SCREEN RES'. THIS PRODUCT MAY BE DISTRIBUTED FREELY IN UNMODIFIED FORM AS LONG AS NO FEES ARE CHARGED. DO NOT DISTRIBUTE THE FILE 'REGISTER.DAT'. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THESE TERMS, STOP USING THIS PROGRAM. ALL PRODUCT NAMES MENTIONED IN THIS SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENT ARE TRADEMARKS OR REGISTERED TRADEMARKS OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS. THE GRAPHICS INTERCHANGE FORMAT(c) IS THE COPYRIGHT PROPERTY OF COMPUSERVE INCORPORATED. GIF(sm) IS A SERVICE MARK PROPERTY OF COMPUSERVE INCORPORATED. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 5. USER MANUAL. ──────────────────────[ 5.1. QUICK START. ]────────────────────────────────── Make sure you have -enough free extended memory, -a mouse driver loaded, -a Vesa compatible VGAcard or vesa resident. run the file SEA.EXE Select a file with mouse or keyboard, <ENTER> or left mouse button to view. Press <ESC> to return to the menu. Press F1 for online help within the viewer. [ INITIALIZATION FILE. ] An initialization file will be created the first time you run the viewer. This file will contain all the default values at first. All modifications of the options within the viewer will be stored in this file for future reference. If the viewer doesn't work on your system, it may be the case that you have received an initialization file belonging to someone else. In that case you may delete the file 'SEA.INI'. A new 'SEA.INI' will be created when you run the viewer. The original default values should work on all systems. [ MOUSE. ] Using the mouse in the interface is intuitive. For example, click on the path to change to another drive, click on filenames to select them and click on the 'buttons' in the status bar to select specific options. [ OPTIONS MENU. (F3) ] Use this menu to configure the program to meet your own personal requirements. ────────────────────[ 5.2. KEYS & FUNCTIONS ]──────────────────────────────── INTERFACE KEYS: │ KEYS WHILE VIEWING AN IMAGE: ──────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────── [ F1 ] Help screen. │ [ENTER ] Next image. [ F2 ] Convert selected file(s). │ [BACKSPACE] Previous image. [ F3 ] Options. │ [ESCAPE ] Return to interface. [ F4 ] Create catalog. │ [ +/- ] Next/Previous resolution. [ F5 ] Toggle scale. │ [ * ] Select resolution. [ F6 ] Toggle Grayscale. │ [ F5 ] Toggle scale. [ F7 ] Toggle Autoresolution. │ [ r/R ] Increase/Decrease red. [ F8 ] Toggle Preview. │ [ g/G ] Increase/Decrease green. [ F9 ] Run slideshow. │ [ b/B ] Increase/Decrease blue. [ F10 ] Quit. │ [Alt-X] Quit. [Alt-X] Quit. │ [ENTER] View highlighted file. │ NOTE: Increase & decrease color [ +/- ] Next/Previous resolution. │ components in 256 color modes only. [ * ] Select resolution. │ [Alt + A-Z ] Change drive. │ [BACKSPACE ] Parent directory. │ [DELETE ] Delete selected file(s) │ [INSERT ] Copy selected file(s) │ [Alt-F10 ] About. │ [SPACE ] Tag/untag files. │ [Other keys] Speadsearch. │ ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── [ RESOLUTION SWITCHING. ] All available resolutions can be selected by pressing '*' from within the menu, or while viewing a picture. It is also possible to cycle through all resolutions by using the +/- Keys. [ PANNING. ] Use the mouse or cursor keys to scroll through a large picture. The faster your VGAcard, the better the result. [ SELECTING FILES. ] This option is necessary to mark specific files in a large group of files that need to be deleted, converted, catalogued, copied, or displayed in a slideshow. Mark and unmark a file by using the right mouse button or by pressing the SPACEBAR 'on' this file. Selected files will be highlighted, while unselected files will remain dark. [ CHANGING COLOR PALETTE. ] While viewing an image in 256 color modes it is possible to change the RGB components of the display by pressing the r/R, g/G and b/B keys. Any subsequent screen update restores the palette. [ SPEEDSEARCH. ] By typing a filename, the cursor will automatically be positioned at this filename. Use this option to find a specific filename in a large directory. [ NETWORK DRIVES. ] On some LAN's the entry for the parent directory is not listed. In order to change to the parent directory (if any) press the backspace key. [ DELETING FILES. ] By pressing the <DELETE> key you will delete all the selected files. If no files are selected, the current file (highlighted by the cursor) will be marked for deletion. To confirm a delete operation press <enter>, to cancel the operation press <esc>. [ COPYING FILES. ] By pressing the <INSERT> key you can copy all the selected files. If no files are selected, the current file (highlighted by the cursor) will be copied. You are prompted for the destination path. Press <enter> to copy, or esc to cancel. Existing files with the same name will be overwritten without warning. [ FILE CONVERSION (F2). ] First select a file (or more files) to be converted. Then press F2 to access the conversion menu. If no files are selected, the current file (the file at the cursor) will be marked for conversion. Now select the format to wich the file (or files) needs to be converted, together with the number of colors and the dithering method. choose OK to start. There is an option to select the target directory. If no directory is specified, the file(s) will be written to the current directory. After conversion has been completed, the conversion results will be shown. [ CHANGING DRIVES. ] To change to another drive press ALT-Drivename (ie: ALT-B or ALT-C) [ QUIT. ] To exit the viewer, press ALT-X, F10, or click the closebutton in the top left corner of the screen. ────────────────────[ 5.3. CONVERSION MENU (F2). ]─────────────────────────── The following options can be specified: [ DESTINATION TYPE. ] BMP BMP RLE Compressed LBM LBM compressed TIFF TIFF huffman (RLE) TIFF Packbits TARGA TARGA Compresed JPG PCX PNG PNM PNM Ascii WPG ICO [ OUTPUT COLORS. ] 2, 4, 16, 256, 32K/64K, 16M 24-bits, 16M 32-bits, Grayscale [ DITHER METHOD. ] None, Floyd/Steinberg, Ordered. [ PNG COMPRESSION LEVEL. ] Valid compression levels are between 1 and 100. Choose 1 for the fastest possible compression that will create somewhat larger PNG files. Choose 100 to obtain the smallest possible PNG files at the cost of some speed. (The default value is 80) [ DESTINATION PATH. ] Specify target directory for converted files. The default directory is the current directory. [ JPEG QUALITY. ] In case of conversion to JPEG format, specify the quality between 1 and 100 (default 75). Quality 100 is the best available quality. Lower qualities will cause JPEG files to become smaller in size. NOTES ON CONVERSION: A converted file may overwrite an existing file with the same name without warning. Only valid combinations are possible, ie. you can not create 256 color JPG files. Floyd/Steinberg dithering is recommended to achieve best quality when converting to 256 colors. Conversion to .ICO Because .ICO files can only have a size of 16x16, 32x32 or 64x64, only the top-left part of larger pictures will be cropped to an icon. ──────────────────────[ 5.4. OPTIONS MENU (F3). ]──────────────────────────── [ INTERFACE COLORS. ] The default interface uses 256 colors for compatibility reasons. If however you own a VGAcard that supports hicolor modes (15 or 16 bit modes), you may select the option '32k/64k Colors' in the options menu. In 32k/64k color mode, the preview of a picture will look a lot better. [ ALT-X QUITS OPTION. ] select this if you want to be able to quit the program with Alt-X. However in some cases it is necessary to access a drive X:\ (ie a network drive) by using the Alt-X combination. In that case turn this option off. [ DIRECTORY OPTION. ] select 'All files' to see all the files in a directory, select 'Files with supported extension' if you would only like to see picture files and FLI/FLC files. [ SCAN FILE INFO OPTION. ] All relevant files will be scanned for type and resolution. The process of file-scanning takes place in the background. This means that you can continue your work during this process. you can turn it off when using large directories on slow media like cd-roms, etc. However, when the file scan option is selected, you may always choose to interrupt the scanning of files by pressing the <ESC> key. [ MAX SCREEN RES. ] Here you may select the highest possible resolution your monitor can handle. By doing so you can prevent the use of these modes that may damage your monitor. (It is often the case that a VGAcard can handle some modes that your monitor cannot.) It is very important to configure this option before you start using the viewer on a regular bases. Note: The automatic resolution always respects the maximum screen resolution as selected in the menu, in other words: such excluded resolutions will never be used. [ READY BEEP AND ERROR BEEP. ] Select these to indicate whether or not you want a beep after loading a picture, or loading a faulty picture. [ DITHER METHOD. ] There are 3 options: -Ordered -Error Diffusion -Floyd Steinberg The dither method determines the patterns that make truecolor images look better on anything less than a 24bit display mode. Use 'Ordered' for cartoon-style pictures (single coloured fills). Use 'Error Diffusion' for photorealistic pictures. Use 'Floyd Steinberg' to achieve the best quality. (A bit slower.) When using the Floyd Steinberg method, the picture remains dithered in memory. This means that the image will remain dithered, even when switching to a truecolor mode, or when returning to the interface. The picture will remain in the 256 color dithered format until it is reloaded from disk. [ SCALE, GRAYSCALE, AUTORES AND PREVIEW. ] are some of the most frequently used options and can also be controlled directly using function keys F5 to F8 or with the mouse in the main program screen. [ JPEG PREVIEW OPTIONS.] -Fullsize color : Loads entire picture into buffer: BEST FOR QUALITY. -Thumbnail color : >Very< fast jpeg preview : RECOMMENDED. [ FLI/FLC OPTIONS. ] Options: -Entire Animation : Plays FLI/FLC in the preview window. -First Frames : Displays mosaic of 4 frames of the FLI/FLC as preview. -Default Image : Standard Picture indicating that it's a FLI/FLC file. FLI and FLC files can be viewed fullscreen by selecting them. The resolution of the screen will automatically be such that no parts of the FLI will be lost. You may override this by selecting an even higher resolution. So if, for example, you would like to see a 640x480 fli file in a higher resolution, just select this resolution with the +/- keys or the '*' key before playing it. [ SLIDE SHOW OPTION. ] Activate the slideshow option by pressing F9. If no files are marked, the slideshow will start with the file the cursor is at. The slideshow will stop at the end of the directory, unless the option 'Cyclic slideshow' is selected from within the options menu. The delay between the pictures can be from 0 to 30 seconds, as selected in the options menu. [ OK, CANCEL, DEFAULTS. ] Choose OK to save the selected options, CANCEL to abort. Press the DEFAULTS button to restore all options to their 'factory settings'. ──────────────────────[ 5.5. CATALOG OPTION (F4). ]────────────────────────── Use this option to create screens containing small preview pictures. First, select the desired files by using the spacebar. Then select the catalog option (F4). You will be prompted to select one of the following resolutions: 640 x 480 [4x3 pictures]. 800 x 600 [5x4 pictures]. 1024 x 768 [6x5 pictures]. 1280 x 1024 [8x7 pictures]. [ GRAY CATALOG BACKGROUND OPTION. ] This option is turned on by default, so the background colour of index files will be gray. Turn this option off to get a black coloured background for your index files. After this you may specify the type, number of colors, dithering method and destination path of the catalog file(s). The catalog file(s) will now be created. Catalog files will be named: CAT0000 and onwards. Notes: Make sure you have enough free memory before creating large index files. Catalog screens are always handled internally as truecolor pictures. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 6. PROBLEM SOLVING. Q: I get the message 'DOS/16M error: [40] not enough extended memory (xmin)'. A: This may occur on 2MB machines and some configurations with 4MB. On 2 MB machines you should remove any memory managers or disk caches. On 4 MB machines reducing the amount of extended memory used by ie. disk cache programs should work. Q: I get the message 'ERROR: No VESA driver found'. A: The viewer needs a VESA compatible VGA card to work. You need to load the vesa driver that came with your particular VGA card or, even better, load univesa which works on all modern VGA cards. (most modern VGA cards have the VESA interface allready built into them). Q: Whenever I scroll or change resolutions I loose part of the picture. A: There obviously isn't enough extended memory to store the current picture in it's entirety. Therefore, whenever you 'scroll' or change the resolution, only that part of the picture that fits into memory can be updated. Try to view the picture in the highest resolution avialable or use scaling to avoid the need for panning. Q: What are those 'patterns' I see, when viewing truecolor pictures in 256 color modes and 256 color pictures in hicolor modes. They are not part of the original picture. A: Those are the Dithering patterns nessecary to make 24 BIT pictures look good on anything less than a 24 BIT displaying system. For example while viewing a JPEG file in a 256 color mode or while viewing a 256 color PNG file in a hicolor mode. Dithering patterns can be avoided by viewing files in their corresponding graphics mode ie, view a GIF file in 256 color mode and view JPEG files in truecolor modes. Q: My monitor display makes funny noises and the picture looks tweaked and/or is moving. A: You have selected a display mode that your VGA card is capable of, but your monitor cannot handle properly. ie: 1024x768, 1280x1024. Try not to view files in any modes that your monitor cannot handle. Use the menu option 'maximum screen x-res' to prevent the use of any such modes. Q: Why do I keep loosing part of the picture ? I have 4 MB memory. A: Remember that TRUECOLOR 24 bit pictures need three times the amount of memory compared to 256 color 8 bit images using the same resolution. It is therefore possible that some truecolor pictures might not fit into memory. Q: Scrolling through true-color images in 256 color modes is slow. A: This is caused by the real-time dithering in 256 color modes. If however, you select Floyd/Steinberg dithering, the image is only dithered once (during loading). This results in faster scrolling. Q: I get the message 'SEA.EXE failed CRC-Check' A: You have obtained an illegally modified version of the program. You can find the latest version on our www-page: http://www.stack.urc.tue.nl/~ralphg/ Q: Mousecursor splits up and/or pc hangs. A: This is a known problem. You probably have a MATROX MILLENIUM vgacard. The problem has not been fixed, yet. Run SEA with parameter /640 to solve the problem. ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 7. NOTES. -Jpeg files with a quality less than 24 are not fully supported by some other programs (eg. Graphics workshop for windows, Photostyler) These programs do not support 'extended sequential' jpeg files. -Do not use the dos4gw virtual memory option because the viewer might crash. -For users with ONLY a 256 color VGAcard: Convert the supplied Jpeg files to PNG files using 256 COLORS and FLOYD-STEINBERG DITHERING. The resulting PNG files will really look a lot better in 256 color modes than the original Jpeg files. (This is because the convert option uses an adaptive palette.) Compare the resulting PNG file with the original Jpeg file in 256 color modes. -If you have a PCI-graphics card, we recommend that you use a vesa 2.0 driver. This may increase performance, ie. when panning through large images in high resolution modes. -If you have a lot of GIF files, you might want to convert them to the PNG format. PNG files take up less disk space. -On some VGA cards, the internal vesa bios lists some video modes that are not supported by the card itself. We experienced this on an old ET4000 card. (The bios reported 16 Bit modes, the card only supported upto 15 bit modes.) In cases like this, use univesa to specify the type of DAC that is really present. If however a modeswitch is made to a non supported mode, the viewer will automatically try to recognize this and switch to the closest available mode. In some cases this will not work. Try to avoid using these particular modes. -Command line options. '/?' to list the command line parameters. '/8' forces the viewer into 256 color interface. '/640' forces the interface into 640x480 interface mode. '/800' forces the interface into 800x600 interface mode. SEA [FILENAME] will display this picture or animation. SEA @[LISTFILE] will perform a slideshow on all the pictures listed in the file LISTFILE. A list file might look like this: file1.jpg file2.lbm c:\graphics\file2.gif ..\file3.png The command line slideshow will use the parameters from the sea.ini file. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 8. REGISTERING. The zip file you received contains the fully operational shareware version of the SEA viewer. Registering your copy will enable us to develop the program further and to add more features. By registering the viewer, you will recieve unlimited Email support and a personal registration file which will suppress the <Press space to continue> messages. The registration file will be sent (by airmail) on 3.5" disk. This file will work with future versions as well. Registering one copy will cost a total of 24$. This includes shipping and handling. To order do the following: 1) Print out the order form, fill out the details and send it by mail to the following address: SEA VIEWER Chrysantenstraat 34 5462 AW Veghel The Netherlands. Do not send your registration form by E-mail. 2) Pay the registration fee (see below). HOW TO PAY: -Cash, in US$ only. Please don't send coins, they're useless to us. People registering from within Europe may send Hfl 35,- instead. people registering from the United Kingdom may send £15. Make sure the registration fee is not visible through the envelope. -Eurocheque, only possible inside Europe. The amount on the cheque must be Hfl 35,- (Dutch guilders). Make cheques payable to H.J.M. de Laat. Don't forget to fill out all the necessary details. -Foreign cheque. To put it simple: Go to the bank and ask the bank clerk for a foreign checque. This cheque will cost you about 10 US$ It is very important to ask whether or not the receiving party (us) needs to pay an extra amount, to cash in this cheque. If so, add this amount to the cheque. If you are not sure about this, you can always send your registration fee cash in the envelope together with the registration form. -We do not accept credit cards (VISA, AmEx, Mastercard, etc). NOTE: Contact us for special group registration discounts. Example: 100 registrations on one disk costs $1000. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 9. FUTURE VERSIONS. Depending on the number of registrations, we plan to extend our product with the following features: -Support of MPEG, VOC and WAV files. -Viewing of ASCII files. -Image manipulation e.g. resize/resample/smoothen/rotate. -Gamma correction. -Many many more. Please let us know what features YOU want. Ralph Gortzen, ralphg@stack.urc.tue.nl Bart Wakkee, ccbw@win.tue.nl You can visit our www-page for the latest product info. http://www.stack.urc.tue.nl/~ralphg/