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LEADTOOLS - DEMO Copyright c LEAD Technologies, Inc. 1992 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Thank you for requesting LEAD Technologies' demo program of LEADTOOLS. The demo program contains 3 .EXE files which demonstrates some of the functions that are included with LEADTOOLS DOS. The demo program is designed to give you a working understanding of LEAD Technologies' image processing capabilities, and how the image processing functions may be incorporated in your application. This diskette contains the following files: README.1st The file you are currently reading. DEMO.C The source code of the mmstdemo.EXE file DEMO.EXE DEMO.C compiled and linked with LEADTOOLS "C" run-time library. LEADCOMP.C The source code of LEADCOMP.EXE. LEADCOMP.EXE DOS File to file software compression utility compiled and linked with with LEADTOOLS "C" run-time library. LEADECOM.C The source code of LEADCOMP.EXE. LEADCOMP.EXE DOS File to file software decompression utility compiled and linked with with LEADTOOLS "C" run-time library. LEADSHOW.C The source code of LEADCOMP.EXE. LEADSHOW.EXE DOS File to screen software decompression utility compiled and linked with with LEADTOOLS "C" run-time library. We did not link the Showing program with all the librarys for example LEADSHOW support only ET4000 at 32,000 colors if a RAM DAC was installed and TARGA at 32,000 and 16,7777000 colors and all other cards at only 256 colors. The library supports many more true color card and is capibal of many more that what is shown here. COMPRESS.TXT Lists most graphic file formats supported by LEADTOOLS. LIBRARY.TXT Lists most library files that are shipped with LEADTOOLS. Ship.cmp Is a test image that was sent to LEAD from Adobe. The original is a 24 bit TIFF with a size of 1.14 Mbytes, and was compressed using this LEADTOOLS DEMO with the QS setting. Note that you can decompress this image and recompress it. Also note that the compression Q factors are selectable. Girl.cmp Is an image captured with a JVC RGB camera and a Truevision TARGA+ board. The original is a 32 bit TGA file with a size of 983 Kbytes. It was also compressed using this DEMO program with the setting of QS. Q factor setting quide. Typing in a factor of 1 to 255 will alter the Q factor and therefore change the image file size and the image quality. A factor of 1 will produce the best image quality and the largest file size, while a factor of 255 will produce the smallest file size and lowest image quality. LEAD also has defined several Q factor settings at breaks between the size vs. quality trade off. The selections are given in abbreviated form in the EXE program. The abbreviations represent the following: PQ - Perfect Quality (with certain images a lossless process) QFS - Quality is far more important than size. QMS - Quality is more important than size. QS - Quality and size are equally important. SQS - Size is more important than quality (sharp - images with sharp contrasts in color or content, or with text). SQT - Size is more important than quality (less tiling - for images with a lot of the same color tones, such as portraits). MCQ - Maximum compression with quality still important. MC - Maximum compression. ALL .EXE programs were not designed as an end user product. It is a quick collection of calls to LEADTOOLS functions. Menus were not included to avoid confusion when evaluating the code as to the processing calls verses the menuing code. LEAD Technologies' offers several end user products as well as several variations to the toolkit. LEAD's products are listed below. LEADVIEW - Software only compression, decompression, file format conversion, and communication. Operate from menuing system, DOS command line, or as a TSR from within other applications. Retail = $129.00 LEADVIEW Windows - Software only compression, decompression, file format conversion, as well as ability to flip, rotate, reverse images. Includes a palette editor. Retail = $179.00 LEADVIEW 255 - PC/AT add-on board that accelerates the compression and decompression process of both LEADVIEW and LEADVIEW Windows. Conducts compression and decompression in real-time. Retail = $1,495.00 LEADTOOLS - Software compression - $995.00 - Hardware compression via LEADVIEW 255 - FREE with the purchase of 2 LEADVIEW 255 boards. - No compression - $249.00 - All conversion and other image processing functions are included. LEADTOOLS Windows DLL - Software compresion - $995.00 - Hardware compression via LEADVIEW 255 - FREE with purchase of 2 LEADVIEW 255 boards. - No compression - $249.00 - All conversion and other image processing functions are included. Please do not hesitate to contact LEAD's technical staff if you have any questions while you are evaluating LEADTOOLS. ****************************************************************************** To contact LEAD call or write: LEAD Technologies, Inc. 8701 Mallard Creek Road Charlotte, NC 28262 1-800-637-4699 in NC 704-548-8161 ****************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************* LEADVIEW by LEAD Technologies, Inc. Software Only Image Compression. ********************************************************************************* LEADVIEW is an image compression, conversion, viewing and processing utility for DOS. Compresses images to smaller than 200 times their original size while maintaining unprecedented image quality. LEADVIEW supports the JPEG standard as well as LEAD Technologies' proprietary compression format. LEAD's compression file format produces a smaller file size and better image quality than other compression techniques, including JPEG. LEAD's compression file format can store a palette in the compressed file to allow decompression to a 24-bit medium at 24-bit true color and to an 8-bit medium at 8-bit 256 color without sacrificing image quality. The compressed file stills contains the original 24-bit 16 million colors. Storing the palette adds a table that contains the best 256 colors. The palette is only used when the file is decompressed to an 8-bit medium, and is ignored when decompressing to a 24-bit or 16-bit medium. There is no need to convert all images to 8-bit or to save one 8-bit image and one 24-bit image. The result is one much smaller file that can be viewed on a 24-bit graphics card at 24-bit true color as well as on a VGA card at 8-bit 256 color. Easily switch between JPEG and LEAD depending on the situation. If an image, or series of images needs JPEG file format compatibility, use JPEG. If the image will be used in a closed environment, that is compression and decompression will be done on the same PC, LAN, or with a LEAD Technologies, Inc. product, use LEAD. Note that an image that was originally compressed with LEAD can be easily convert between any of the supported formats LEADVIEW can be operated from an easy to use menu interface, as a TSR that can be run under popular graphics programs, or from the DOS command line. LEADVIEW not only compressess and decompressed images but also contains a complete file format conversion utility. Images can be converted, scaled, resized, flipped, rotated, and reversed. Supported file formats include; TGA (8-, 16-, 24-, and 32 bit), TIFF (8- and 24-bit), BMP (4-, 8- and 24-bit), GIF and PCX. ********************************************************************************* LEADVIEW Windows by LEAD Technologies, Inc. Software Only Windows 3.x Compatible Image Compression. ********************************************************************************* LEADVIEW Windows is an image compression, conversion, viewing and processing utility. Compress images to smaller than 200 times their original size while maintaining unprecedented image quality. LEADVIEW Windows supports the JPEG standard as well as LEAD Technologies' proprietary compression format. LEAD's compression file format produces a smaller file size and better image quality than other compression techniques, including JPEG. LEAD's compression file format can store a palette in the compressed file to allow decompression to a 24-bit medium at 24-bit true color and to an 8-bit medium at 8-bit 256 color without sacrificing image quality. The compressed file stills contains the original 24-bit 16 million colors. Storing the palette adds a table that contains the best 256 colors. The palette is only used when the file is decompressed to an 8-bit medium, and is ignored when decompressing to a 24-bit or 16-bit medium. There is no need to convert all images to 8-bit or to save one 8-bit image and one 24-bit image. The result is one much smaller file that can be viewed on a 24-bit graphics card at 24-bit true color as well as on a VGA card at 8-bit 256 color. Easily switch between JPEG and LEAD compression processes depending on the situation. If an image, or series of images, needs JPEG file format compatibility, use JPEG. If the image will be used in a closed environment, that is compression and decompression will be done on the same PC, LAN, or with a LEAD Technologies product, use LEAD. Note that an image that was originally compressed with LEAD can be decompressed and then re-compressed with JPEG. LEADVIEW Windows also contains a complete file format conversion utility. Images can be converted, darkened, lightened, scaled, resized, flipped, rotated, and reversed. With LEADVIEW Windows you have an option to display multiple images with an excellent average palette on 8-bit devices without destroying background images, and a palette editor that lets you change any of your image colors. Supported file formats include: TGA (8-, 16-, 24-, and 32 bit), TIFF (8- and 24-bit), BMP (4-, 8- and 24-bit), GIF , PCX ,JPG, JFIF, JTIF and CMP. ********************************************************************************* LEADVIEW 255 by LEAD Technologies, Inc. Real Time Compression Hardware for LEADVIEW and LEADVIEW Windows ********************************************************************************* The LEADVIEW 255 is a hardware board that is designed to accelerate the compression and decompression processes of LEADVIEW and LEADVIEW Windows. The board is based around C-Cube Microsystems CL550B compression chip, and is capable of producing both JPEG compliant files and LEAD's proprietary CMP file formats. When combined with LEADVIEW or LEADVIEW Windows, the LEADVIEW 255 can compress images smaller than 200 times their original size while maintaining unprecedented image quality in real time. The LEADVIEW 255 supports the JPEG compression standard as well as LEAD Technologies' proprietary compression process. LEAD's algorithm delivers a smaller file size with a better image quality than other compression techniques, including JPEG. LEADVIEW 255 was designed to compress and decompress images in real time. Bench mark tests on the LEADVIEW 255 show compression and decompression times of under one second while processing a 1 Mbytes 32 bit TGA file on a 386 25 MHz IBM clone. LEAD Technologies recommends the 255 to anyone who requires split second decompression times, or who frequently needs to compress and decompress multiple images. ********************************************************************************* LEADTOOLS by LEAD Technologies, Inc. Put Image Compression, Conversion, and Processing Into Your Application ********************************************************************************* LEADTOOLS is a "C" run-time library enabling developers to incorporate image compression, conversion, and processing into their applications. LEADTOOLS allows images to be compressed to smaller than 200 times their original size while maintaining unprecedented image quality. Ideal for applications such as image databases, medical, mapping, real estate, graphics, and much more. LEADTOOLS is essential in any image or graphics application. There are three versions of LEADTOOLS: LEADTOOLS with software compression, LEADTOOLS with hardware compression, and LEADTOOLS without compression. The need for compression stems from the large file sizes that are generated by color and grey scale graphic images. Image file sizes can range from 100 Kbytes to over 200 Mbytes. The size of the files can be very prohibitive to applications because of storage requirements, I/O time of moving the image files through the system, or transmission time over networks or phone lines. Compression reduces the file size of an image and may make the use of images feasible, and even practical, in many applications. Several popular PC image file formats such as TGA, TIFF, BMP, PCX, and GIF currently use compression in their file formats to reduce the size the image creates. However, even with the compression in the image file format, the file sizes of these images are still extremely large. LEADTOOLS allows you to add additional compression to all supported image file formats. The amount of compression is controllable, allowing the compressed image quality to match the needs of your application. LEAD Technologies' extended compression ratios and the powerful LEAD CMP compressed file format enable "C" developers to produce imaging applications with LEADTOOLS to significantly improve available image processing and transmission times. LEADTOOLS supports both the JPEG standard compression and LEAD Technologies' proprietary compression. LEADTOOLS Features - Choice of real time rates with hardware compression, or 8-10 second compression with software only. - Compression and decompression of graphic images while retaining very high image resolution quality. - Direct decompression from a compressed file to video memory. - Support for both JPEG compliant formats, JFIF and JTIF, as well as LEAD's CMP extended compression file format. LEAD's CMP compression file format delivers a much smaller file size and better image quality than other compression techniques including JPEG. - Ability to control the quality of the compressed image with a selection of compression factors ranging from 2 to 255. - Ability to display graphic images to a variety of different screen types: TARGA, VGA, and Super VGA. - Ability to convert and compress/decompress images to and from several file formats: TGA 8 bit grey scale, 8 bit color mapped, 16, 24, and 32 bit color. PCX 8 bit grey scale and 8 bit color mapped. GIF 8 bit grey scale and 8 bit color mapped. TIFF 8 bit grey scale, 8 bit color mapped, and 24 bit color BMP Presentation Manager and Windows 4, 8 bit color mapped, and 24 bit color. JFF (JFIF) JPEG File Interchange Format, (extended as JPG). JTF (JTIF) JPEG TIF. CMP (LEAD) LEAD Technologies, Inc. proprietary compression file format. - Ability to (Optimize VGA Palette) find the best 256 colors from 16, 24, and 32 bit image file formats. - Ability to flip, reverse, rotate and resize images. - Ability to use all of the system's resources to its maximum power including support of extended memory, expanded memory, and swapping to disk capability. - Tools for viewing all supported file formats, including resizing an image "on the fly" for optimal displaying and the ability to display the image to specified locations on the screen. - Support for a bit map handle allowing you to use all of LEADTOOLS' functions in mediums that LEAD Technologies, Inc. does not currently support. A "BITMAPHANDLE" is a structure containing image information and data, which is made up of fields that describe an image completely, including Format, Width, Height, BitsPerPixel, BytesPerLine, where to find the pixel data, flags about the image, and many more. A BITMAPHANDLE is used for functions involving images. For instance, when you load an image, you load it into the BITMAPHANDLE; then you may view, convert, flip, etc. the image using the BITMAPHANDLE. As a developer you may use any of the fields in the BITMAPHANDLE. Example of the usage of LEADTOOLS in mediums that LEAD Technologies does not currently support. 1 - For the compression/decompression of image file formats not currently supported by LEAD, you can write your own routines to read the unrecognized file format into the bit map handle and then compress the bit map handle. You can also decompress the compressed file to a bit map handle and write your own routines to save the file in the unsupported file format. 2 - For graphics cards and printers not currently supported by LEAD, you can decompress to a bit map handle and resize, flip, reverse, optimize, and write your own routines to view or print directly from the bit map handle. LEADTOOLS - Easy to use LEADTOOLS is designed to allow you to concentrate on your applications and end user needs. With this goal in mind, LEAD Technologies has built in the most common hardware and graphic file format support. All you have to do is call the appropriate LEADTOOLS function. When your application needs compression, call LEADTOOLS' compression functions, pass the appropriate parameters, and allow LEADTOOLS to perform the complex task of image compression. Additionally, when the application requires an image to be viewed, you may call one of LEADTOOLS viewing functions. LEADTOOLS takes care of the time consuming programming support for different file formats and different hardware configurations. Integrating LEADTOOLS' Functions into your applications is as follows: 1 - Use #include preprocessor directive for the header files required. 2 - Call the desired functions from within your program. 3 - Compile the program. 4 - Link with the appropriate library. The Compression Concept The concept of compression is to reduce file sizes by either finding redundancies and storing as few of them as possible, or with image and audio files eliminating some information to produce more redundancies, then combining them to produce even a smaller file size. There are basically three ways to compress an image : 1) Lossless compression, which deals with redundancies of the image data. 2) Lossey compression, which discards the color shadings that the human eye cannot detect, and then compresses the image with a lossless compression. This process allows for more compression since it provides more redundancies. There is technically a loss of data because color shadings have been eliminated and hence the name for the technique. 3) The lossey compression can also eliminate color shadings that are visible to the human eye. This too is loss of data. The amount of loss is controllable by setting parameters of the range of colors that will be treated as the same. The larger the range, the more loss will occur, and the smaller the resulting compressed image file size. LEADTOOLS' Supported Compression LEADTOOLS supports LEAD CMP, JPEG, LZW and RLE compression methods. LEAD LEADTOOLS supports LEAD Technologies' proprietary CMP file which delivers a smaller file size combined with better image quality than other compression techniques, including JPEG. LEAD's compression file format can also store a palette in the compressed file to allow decompression to a 24 bit medium at 24 bit color and to an 8 bit medium at 8 bit 256 color without sacrificing image quality. The file still contains the original 24 bit 16 million colors. Storing the palette adds a table that contains the best 256 colors. The palette is only used when the file is decompressed to an 8 bit medium and is ignored when decompressing to a 32, 24, or 16 bit medium. There is no need to convert all images to 8 bits or to save one 8 bit image and one 24 bit image. The result is one much smaller file size that can be viewed on a 24 bit graphics card at 24 bit true color, as well as, on an 8 bit VGA card at 256 colors. JPEG JPEG stands for the Joint Photographers Experts Group and grew out of two standardized groups, the CCITT and the ISO. The basic idea behind JPEG is to provide a unified standard under which hardware and software developers can operate. Images compressed with JPEG can be exchanged between a wide variety of platforms and applications. The JPEG specification consists of two parts: lossless encoding and lossey encoding. The lossless compression uses the predictive/adaptive technique and Huffman coding. The lossey compression operates in three steps: 1. Discreet Cosine Transformation 2. Coefficient Quantization 3. Lossless Compression LEADTOOLS supports two forms of JPEG: JPEG Interchange File Format (JFIF)or(JPG) and JPEG TIFF (JTIF). Supported Graphics Cards TARGA M8, 16, 24, 32, TARGA+, standard VGA/MCGA at 320 X 200, Super VGAs (including: Paradise, Tseng Labs 3000/4000, ATI Wonder, Trident 8800CS, Video Seven, all up to 1024 X 1024), and VESA compliant standard up to 640 X 480. Supported Compilers Microsoft C 6.0, 7.0 Medium and Large memory modules Borland C, C++ Medium and Large memory modules Call for updated list of compilers. Including DOS Extenders. Compatible with LEAD Technologies' real time compression hardware LEADVIEW 255 LEADTOOLS' commonly used functions: L_AllocateBitmap Allocate storage to hold an image in a bitmap handle L_ChangeBitmapIntensity Change the intensity of an image currently in a bitmap handle L_ClearBitmap Clear storage located in bitmap handle L-ClearVGAScreen Clear the VGA screen L_CompressALL Compress all supported file formats L_CompressBitmap Compress an image contained in a bitmap handle L_CompressBMP Compress a BMP image file format to LEAD, JFIF, or JTIF L_CompressGIF Compress a GIF image file format to LEAD, JFIF, or JTIF L_CompressPCX Compress a PCX image file format to LEAD, JFIF, or JTIF L_CompressTarga Compress the current image in the TARGA or TARGA+ video memory L_CompressTGA Compress a TGA image file format to LEAD, JFIF, or JTIF L_CompressTIF Compress a TIFF image file format to LEAD, JFIF, or JTIF L_CopyBitmapData Copy image data from one bitmap handle to another L_CopyBitmapHandle Copy one bitmap handle to another L_DecompressALL Decompress LEAD, JFIF, or JTIF to any of the supported file formats L_DecompressBitmap Decompress LEAD, JTIF, or JFIF to bitmap handle L_DecompressBMP Decompress LEAD, JTIF, or JFIF to BMP image file format L_DecompressGIF Decompress LEAD, JTIF, or JFIF to GIF image file format L_DecompressPCX Decompress LEAD, JTIF, or JFIF to PCX image file format L_DecompressTARGAScreen Decompress LEAD, JFIF, or JTIF to TARGA or TARGA+ L_DecompressTGA Decompress LEAD, JTIF, or JFIF to TGA image file format L_DecompressTIF Decompress LEAD, JTIF, or JFIF to TIFF image file format L_DecompressVGAScreen Decompress LEAD, JTIF, or JFIF to VGA or Super VGA L_FileConvert Convert any supported image file to another supported image file format L_FileInfo Return information on any supported image file format L_FlipBitmap Flip an image (top to bottom) located in a bitmap handle L_FreeBitmap Free the storage allocated for an image contained in a bitmap handle L_GetBitmapRow Retrieve a row from an image in a bitmap handle L_GetScreenBitmap Retrieve an image from the VGA or Super VGA screen L_GetTargaWindow Save TARGA or TARGA+ pixel data from a specified location L_GetVideoInfo Calculate the best VGA width and height L_GetVideoMode Get current VGA video display mode and page L_InitBitmap Initialize the fields in a bitmap handle L_InitVideoScreen Initialze the VGA video screen and switches to that mode L_LoadBMPScreen Load a BMP image file into VGA, Super VGA, and/or bitmap andle L_LoadBMPTarga Load a BMP image file into TARGA, TARGA+, and/or bitmap handle L_LoadGIFScreen Load a GIF image file into VGA, Super VGA, and/or bitmap handle L_LoadGIFTarga Load a GIF image file into TARGA, TARGA+, and/or bitmap handle L_LoadPCXScreen Load a PCX image file into VGA, Super VGA, and/or bitmap handle L_LoadPCXTarga Load a PCX image file into TARGA, TARGA+, and/or bitmap handle L_LoadTGAScreen Load a TGA image file into VGA, or Super VGA, and/or bitmap handle L_LoadTGATarga Load a TGA image file into TARGA, TARGA+, and/or bitmap handle L_LoadTIFScreen Load a TIFF image file into VGA, Super VGA, and/or bitmap handle L_LoadTIFTarga Load a TIFF image file into TARGA, TARGA+, and/or bitmap handle L_OptimizeBitmap Optimize a (16, 24, or 32bit) image into 256 colors L_PutBitmapRow Store a row of an image data into a bitmap handle L_ResizeBitmap Resize an image in a bitmap handle L_RestoreWindow Restore a buffer to current text screen L_ReverseBitmap Reverse an image (left to right) located in a bitmap handle L_RotateBitmap Rotate an image in a bitmap handle L_SaveBMPBitmap Save a bitmap to a BMP image file format L_SaveGIFBitmap Save a bitmap to a GIF image file format L_SavePCXBitmap Save a bitmap to a PCX image file format L_SaveTGABitmap Save a bitmap to a TGA image file format L_SaveTIFBitmap Save a bitmap to a TIF image file format L_SaveWindow Save the current VGA text screen and cursor location L_SetBitmapPos Set a new X and Y positions in a bitmap handle L_SetCheckStatus Status for checking the Escape key L_SetTARGAMode Set the TARGA+ graphics resolution L_SetVGASize Set the desired size for the VGA screen. L_SetVideoMemory Set the amount of VGA video RAM installe L_SetVideoMode Set the VGA video mode and page L_ShowBMPScreen Display a BMP image file to VGA or SuperVGA L_ShowBMPTarga Display a BMP image file to TARGA or TARGA+ L_ShowGIFScreen Display a GIF image file to VGA or SuperVGA L_ShowGIFTarga Display a GIF image file to TARGA or TARGA+ L_ShowPCXScreen Display a PCX image file to VGA or SuperVGA L_ShowPCXTarga Display a PCX image file to TARGA or TARGA+ L_ShowTGAScreen Display a TGA image file to VGA or SuperVGA L_ShowTGATarga Display a TGA image file to TARGA or TARGA+ L_ShowTIFScreen Display a TIFF image file to VGA or SuperVGA L_ShowTIFTarga Display a TIFF image file to TARGA or TARGA+ L_SizeBitmap Resize an image in a bitmap to a new width and height L_SleepKey Delay until a key is pressed or time out occurs L_TARGAEND Perform clean up for TARGA or TARGA+ graphics environment L_TARGAInit Intialize TARGA or TARGA+ graphics Environment L_ViewBitmapScreen Display an image in a bitmap handle to VGA or Super VGA screen L_ViewBitmapTarga Display an image in a bitmap handle to TARGA or TARGA+ ********************************************************************************* LEADTOOLS WINDOWS DLL by LEAD Technologies, Inc. Put Image Compression, Conversion, and Processing Into Your Windows Application. ********************************************************************************* LEADTOOLS Windows DLL is a Dynamic Link Library (DLL) enabling developers to incorporate image compression, conversion, and processing into their Windows applications. LEADTOOLS Windows DLL allows images to be compressed to smaller than 200 times their original size while maintaining unprecedented image quality. Ideal for applications such as image databases, medical, mapping, real estate, graphics, and much more. LEADTOOLS Windows DLL is essential in any Windows image or graphics application. There are three versions of LEADTOOLS Windows DLL: LEADTOOLS Windows DLL with software compression. LEADTOOLS Windows DLL with hardware compression. LEADTOOLS Windows DLL without compression. The need for compression stems from the large file sizes that are generated by color and grey scale graphic images. Image file sizes can range from 100 Kbytes to over 200 Mbytes. The size of the files can be very prohibitive to applications because of storage requirements, I/O time of moving the image files through the system, or transmission time over networks or phone lines. Compression reduces the file size of an image and may make the use of images feasible, and even practical, in many applications. Several popular PC image file formats such as TGA, TIFF, BMP, PCX, and GIF currently use compression in their file formats to reduce the size the image creates. However, even with the compression in the image file format, the file sizes of these images are still extremely large. LEADTOOLS Windows DLL allows you to add additional compression to all supported image file formats. The amount of compression is controllable, allowing the compressed image quality to match the needs of your application. LEAD Technologies' extended compression ratios and the powerful LEAD CMP compressed file format enable Windows developers to produce imaging applications with LEADTOOLS Windows DLL to significantly improve available image processing and transmission times. LEADTOOLS Windows DLL supports both the JPEG standard compression and LEAD Technologies' proprietary compression. LEADTOOLS Windows DLL Features - Choice of real time rates with hardware compression, or 8-10 second compression with software only. - Compression and decompression of graphic images while retaining very high image quality. - Direct decompression from a compressed file to registered Windows class. - Support for both JPEG compliant formats, JFIF and JTIF, as well as LEAD's CMP extended compression file format. LEAD's CMP compression file format delivers a much smaller file size and better image quality than other compression techniques including JPEG. - Ability to control the quality of the compressed image with a selection of compression factors ranging from 2 to 255. - Ability to convert and compress/decompress images to and from several file formats: TGA 8 bit grey scale, 8 bit color mapped, 16, 24, and 32 bit color. PCX 8 bit grey scale and 8 bit color mapped. GIF 8 bit grey scale and 8 bit color mapped. TIFF 8 bit grey scale, 8 bit color mapped, and 24 bit color BMP Presentation Manager and Windows 4, 8 bit color mapped, and 24 bit color. JFF (JFIF) JPEG File Interchange Format, (extended as JPG). JTF (JTIF) JPEG TIF. CMP (LEAD) LEAD Technologies, Inc. proprietary compression file format. - Ability to (Optimize VGA Palette) find the best 256 colors from 16, 24, and 32 bit image file formats. - An option to display multiple images with an excellent average palette on 8-bit devices without destroying background images. - Ability to flip, reverse, rotate and resize images. - A registered Windows class freeing developers from the details of displaying an image under Windows - Support for a bit map handle allowing you to use all of LEADTOOLS' Windows DLL functions in mediums that LEAD Technologies, Inc. does not currently support. A "BITMAPHANDLE" is a structure containing image information and data, which is made up of fields that describe an image completely, including Format, Width, Height, BitsPerPixel, BytesPerLine, where to find the pixel data, flags about the image, and many more. A BITMAPHANDLE is used for functions involving images. For instance, when you load an image, you load it into the BITMAPHANDLE; then you may view, convert, flip, etc. the image using the BITMAPHANDLE. As a developer you may use any of the fields in the BITMAPHANDLE. Example of the usage of LEADTOOLS Windows DLL in mediums that LEAD Technologies does not currently support. For the compression/decompression of image file formats not currently supported by LEAD, you can write your own routines to read the unrecognized file format into the bit map handle and then compress the bit map handle. You can also decompress the compressed file to a bit map handle and write your own routines to save the file in the unsupported file format. LEADTOOLS Windows DLL-Easy to use. LEADTOOLS Windows DLL is designed to allow you to concentrate on your applications and end user needs. With this goal in mind, LEAD Technologies has built in the most common hardware and graphic file format support. All you have to do is call the appropriate LEADTOOLS Windows DLL function. When your application needs compression, call LEADTOOLS' Windows DLL compression functions, and allow LEADTOOLS to perform the complex task of image compression. Additionally, when the application requires an image to be viewed, you may call one of LEADTOOLS Windows DLL viewing functions. LEADTOOLS Windows DLL takes care of the time consuming programming support for different file formats and different hardware configurations. Integrating LEADTOOLS' Windows DLL Functions into your applications is as follows: 1 - Use #include preprocessor directive for the header files required. 2 - Call the desired functions from within your program. 3 - Compile the program. 4 - Link with the appropriate library. The Compression Concept. The concept of compression is to reduce file sizes by either finding redundancies and storing as few of them as possible, or with image and audio files eliminating some information to produce more redundancies, then combining them to produce even a smaller file size. There are basically three ways to compress an image : 1) Lossless compression, which deals with redundancies of the image data. 2) Lossey compression, which discards the color shadings that the human eye cannot detect, and then compresses the image with a lossless compression. This process allows for more compression since it provides more redundancies. There is technically a loss of data because color shadings have been eliminated and hence the name for the technique. 3) The lossey compression can also eliminate color shadings that are visible to the human eye. This too is loss of data. The amount of loss is controllable by setting parameters of the range of colors that will be treated as the same. The larger the range, the more loss will occur, and the smaller the resulting compressed image file size. LEADTOOLS' Windows DLL Supported Compression LEADTOOLS Windows DLL supports LEAD CMP, JPEG, LZW and RLE compression methods. LEAD LEADTOOLS Windows DLL supports LEAD Technologies' proprietary CMP file which delivers a smaller file size combined with better image quality than other compression techniques, including JPEG. LEAD's compression file format can also store a palette in the compressed file to allow decompression to a 24 bit medium at 24 bit color and to an 8 bit medium at 8 bit 256 color without sacrificing image quality. The file still contains the original 24 bit 16 million colors. Storing the palette adds a table that contains the best 256 colors. The palette is only used when the file is decompressed to an 8 bit medium and is ignored when decompressing to a 32, 24, or 16 bit medium. There is no need to convert all images to 8 bits or to save one 8 bit image and one 24 bit image. The result is one much smaller file size that can be viewed on a 24 bit graphics card at 24 bit true color, as well as, on an 8 bit VGA card at 256 colors. JPEG JPEG stands for the Joint Photographers Experts Group and grew out of two standardized groups, the CCITT and the ISO. The basic idea behind JPEG is to provide a unified standard under which hardware and software developers can operate. Images compressed with JPEG can be exchanged between a wide variety of platforms and applications. The JPEG specification consists of two parts: lossless encoding and lossey encoding. The lossless compression uses the predictive/adaptive technique and Huffman coding. The lossey compression operates in three steps: 1. Discreet Cosine Transformation 2. Coefficient Quantization 3. Lossless Compression LEADTOOLS supports two forms of JPEG: JPEG Interchange File Format (JFIF)or(JPG) and JPEG TIFF (JTIF). LEADTOOLS' Windows DLL commonly used functions: L_AllocateBitmap Allocate storage to hold an image in a bitmap handle L_ChangeBitmapIntensity Change the intensity of an image currently in a bitmap handle L_ClearBitmap Clear storage located in bitmap handle L_CompressALL Compress all supported file formats L_CompressBitmap Compress an image contained in a bitmap handle L_CompressBMP Compress a BMP image file to LEAD, JFF, JTF L_CompressGIF Compress a GIF image file format to LEAD, JFIF, or JTIF L_CompressPCX Compress a PCX image file format to LEAD, JFIF, or JTIF L_CompressTarga Compress the current image in the TARGA or TARGA+ video memory L_CompressTGA Compress a TGA image file format to LEAD, JFIF, or JTIF L_CompressTIF Compress a TIFF image file format to LEAD, JFIF, or JTIF L_CopyBitmapData Copy image data from one bitmap handle to another L_CopyBitmapHandle Copy one bitmap handle to another L_DecompressALL Decompress LEAD, JFIF, or JTIF to any of the supported file formats L_DecompressBitmap Decompress LEAD, JTIF, or JFIF to bitmap handle L_DecompressBMP Decompress LEAD, JTIF, or JFIF to BMP image file format L_DecompressGIF Decompress LEAD, JTIF, or JFIF to GIF image file format L_DecompressPCX Decompress LEAD, JTIF, or JFIF to PCX image file format L_DecompressTGA Decompress LEAD, JTIF, or JFIF to TGA image file format L_DecompressTIF Decompress LEAD, JTIF, or JFIF to TIFF image file format L_FileConvert Convert any supported image file to another supported image file format L_FileInfo Return information on any supported image file format L_FlipBitmap Flip an image (top to bottom) located in a bitmap handle L_FreeBitmap Free the storage allocated for an image contained in a bitmap handle L_GetBitmapRow Retrieve a row from an image in a bitmap handle L_GetWindowBitmap Retrieves an image from the Disktop L_InitBitmap Initialize the fields in a bitmap handle L_LoadBMP Load a BMP image file into bitmap handle L_LoadGIF Load a GIF image file into a bitmap handle L_LoadPCX Load a PCX image file into a bitmap handle L_LoadTGA Load a TGA image file into a bitmap handle L_LoadTIF Load a TIFF image file into a bitmap handle L_OptimizeBitmap Optimize a (16, 24, or 32bit) image into 256 colors L_PutBitmapRow Store a row of an image data into a bitmap handle L_RegeisterLEAD Register LEAD Window class L_ResizeBitmap Resize an image in a bitmap handle L_ReverseBitmap Reverse an image (left to right) located in a bitmap handle L_RotateBitmap Rotate an image in a bitmap handle L_SaveBMPBitmap Save a bitmap to a BMP image file format L_SaveGIFBitmap Save a bitmap to a GIF image file format L_SavePCXBitmap Save a bitmap to a PCX image file format L_SaveTGABitmap Save a bitmap to a TGA image file format L_SaveTIFBitmap Save a bitmap to a TIF image file format L_SetAveragePalette Set or calculate average palette. L_SetBitmapPos Set a new X and Y positions in a bitmap handle L_SizeBitmap Resize an image in a bitmap to a new width and height L_Use Avarage Palette Use average palette when display multiple images **************************************************************************************** **************************************************************************************** LEAD Technologies, Inc. Price List: **************************************************************************************** LEADTOOLS $995.00 LEADTOOLS -no compression $249.00 LEADTOOLS hardware compression FREE with the purchase of 2 LEADVIEW 255 boards LEADTOOLS Windows DLL $995.00 LEADTOOLS Windows DLL -no compression $249.00 LEADTOOLS Windows DLL hardware compression FREE with the purchase of 2 LEADVIEW 255 boards LEADVIEW $129.00 LEADVIEW Windows $179.00 LEADVIEW 255 $1,495.00 All LEAD Technologies products are sold with a 30 day money back guarantee. LEADTOOLS DOS AND LEADTOOLS indows DLL are sold without royalties. ***************************************************************************************** To contact LEAD call or write: LEAD Technologies, Inc. 8701 Mallard Creek Road Charlotte, NC 28262 1-800-637-4699 in NC 704-548-8161 *****************************************************************************************