Club Amiga de Montreal - CAM/CAM_CD_1.iso/files/038.lha/NGI 1.2.Doc

Text File | 1987-05-17 | 12.3 KB | 257 lines

/****************************************************************/
/******* NGI 1.2 DEMO *******************************************/
/****************************************************************/

    An IFF, Workbench & C Utility by Kevin Bjorke
    Distributed by
        National Pixel Products
        25724 Salceda Road
        Valencia, CA 91355
        CI$: 74756,464 PLink: OJS637

    This ARC File contains the DEMO version of NGI 1.2 --
    some functions have been disabled. For the real thing,
    plus complete source, send $25 to the above address --
    we'll get it right out to you.

NGI is an Intuition-driven utility that will allow you to read, view, and
reformat ILBM (DPaint, Aegis Images, DigiView, etc) pictures. Although NGI
was originally intended to simply be a replacement for the "gi," "brush2c"
& "brush2icon" utilities we'd been using (that didn't always work, alas),
it's very useful as an IFF viewer, too -- it loads faster and is MUCH smaller
than DPaint, and can show several pictures of most any reso during a single
session -- so NGI is also an alternative to programs like "ShowILBM" and
"DPaintX." NGI has been deliberately kept small enough so that you can just
put it right on your normal DPaint disk. So even if you don't know what a BOB
or ALTIMAGE is, don't write C code at all, and never need to make icons, NGI
can still be a handy tool to have around your workbench.

NGI 1.2 contains quite a few improvements and new options that make it
superior to the original NGI -- NGI now can write Workbench icons, can
handle twin-image gadgets, and lets you decide just what kind of final output
you need. The NGI 1.2 Distribution Disk also contains some convenient C
routines to help programmers make the most out of NGI with a minimum of fuss.

/****************************************************************/
/******* Instructions *******************************************/
/****************************************************************/

Of course the easiest way to learn how to use NGI is to fiddle with it -- but
when in doubt, here's the straight scoop:

/*** The Title Page ***/

When you start up NGI (from CLI or Workbench), you'll first get the Title Page.
Hit the BEGIN gadget to go to the Main Page, or hit the title to find out
what you're doing.

/*** The Main Page ***/

The NGI Main Page has three string gadgets and three button gadgets, listed
below. When you see the Main Page, you also have a number of menu selections
available, and NGI will display information on any currently read-in brush.

BRUSH: Enter the name of the brush you want to read. NGI can actually read any
    IFF file that it can cram into memory, so the "brush" may be a full-
    sized picture, even in hi-res.

OUTPUT: If you use NGI to generate new C files or icons, enter the filename
    here. If you're writing an icon, don't bother with the ".info"
    suffix -- AmigaDOS will do it for you.

STRUCT: If you use NGI to create C code, enter the name of the Image/Gadget/
    Bob/VSprite structure you want NGI to write.

IMAGES, GELS, & ICONS: Selecting one of these buttons tells NGI what kind
    of file you want it to write -- selecting IMAGES tells NGI that
    you want to get C Source for Intuition-Style Images (and Gadgets);
    GELS says you want C Source for animation GELS; and ICONS says you
    want NGI to write a workbench icon instead of C code.

THE STATUS LINE: The box just below the buttons is the status line. NGI
    will narrate whatever it's doing here -- for example, NGI announces
    each IFF chunk as it reads-in a brush.

EXTRA INFO: The last three lines at the bottom of the screen will only
    appear if you've successfully read-in a brush-- they tell you which
    brush it is, its original name, size, and depth.

/*** The Main Menus ***/

PROJECT: From the Project Menu, you can Read, Display, & Save Brushes; get
    Help and other Information; and quit NGI (you can do this through the
    Close-Button on the NGI window at any time, too). All of the Project
    Menu selections have corresponding keyboard shortcuts.

    Read Brush: Try to read-in the brush named in BRUSH on the Main Page.
    Display: Display the currently read-in brush (See "The Display Page").
    Save: Save the current brush, according to the style selected by the
        IMAGES, GELS, or ICONS button, and with the various attributes
        set by the appropriate menu(s) (See Below).
    Help!!!: Get the Help Information Page.
    About: Get the About Information Page.
    Quit: Bye-Bye, Vamoose, OutaHere. NGI goes away.

BRUSH: NGI can read more than one brush at the same time, providing there's
    some memory around for it. You can select which brush you're working
    on with this menu. If you make Gadgets or icons that use the "AltImage"
    feature, the brush that's selected (checked) will be the "normal"
    Image, while the non-selected brush will be the "hilight" Image.

IMAGE: The Image Menu lets you format the C Source that NGI will write for
    dealing with Intuition Image and Gadget structures.

    Colors: If Colors are ON, then NGI will include in the output file
        an array of UWORD that represents the original brush colors.
        Use the "LoadRGB4()" function to set them up for your program.
    Gadgets: If Gadgets are ON, then NGI will write a boolean (button)
        Gadget that uses your Image(s).
    AltImage: If AltImage is ON, then IF [1] you've read two brushes, and
        have them both in memory (see the BRUSH Menu above); and
        [2] they're both the same size and the same depth; then NGI
        will write TWO Images into the same file -- and if Gadgets
        are on, the Gadget will use the unselected brush as its
        "SelectRender" -- the Image you see as the hilight when you
        click on the Gadget.

GELS: The Gels Menu, like the Image Menu, lets you pick-and-choose Gel output
    parameters.

    Bob Colors: If Bob Colors are ON, then NGI will include in the output
        file an array of UWORD that represents the original brush
        colors whenever it writes a Bob (VSprite colors are built-in,
        and are a bit different anyway). Use "LoadRGB4()" to set them
        up for your program.
    VSprites: By default, NGI writes only Bobs. If you select Sprites, then
        NGI will write Gels as VSprites IF they're 16 or less pixels
        across and IF they're no more than two bitplanes deep. Otherwise
        you'll just get another Bob.
    Memory: The NGI 1.2 Disk contains a set of routines in "kGEL.c" that
        dynamically allocate Gels (these routines are for the most part
        the same as those in the popular "MyGelTools" routines, and
        are both Public Domain and widely available). If you choose
        Dynamic Memory, the output file will include "MakeVSprite()"
        or "MakeBob()" calls. If you chose Static Memory, the structures
        will be declared in-place.

ICONS: The Icon Menu has only one option, "AltImage." It works like the
    "AltImage" option for Images: if selected, then when you try to write
    your icon: IF [1] you've read two brushes, and have them both in memory
    (see the BRUSH Menu above); and    [2] they're both the same size and the
    same depth (which MUST be Depth=2 for icons); then NGI will write TWO
    Images into the same icon -- it will use the unselected brush as its
    "hilight" -- the Image you see when you click on the icon. If AltImage
    is OFF, then the highlight method is Backfill.

/*** The Information Pages ***/

The HELP and ABOUT pages are just there to tell you stuff. Hit "OK" to return
to the Main Page (or the Close button to Give Up Altogether).

/*** The Display Page ***/

When you select Show Brush (Amiga-D), NGI will try to set up a new screen and
show you the current brush. Normally it will make the screen lo-res if the
brush will fit -- but if you've selected ICONS as the output style (even if
you have no intention of writing icons), the screen will come up with 640-pixel
width, just like the workbench. If your picture is bigger than 640 across or
400 high, tough -- that's all you'll see. (But who would want to code an Image
that big without compression, anyway?)

The display page has a short menu:

    WBColors: If your picture only has a couple of bit planes, you can
        override the original brush colors to see what it would look
        like on the workbench.
    Other Brush: If you have two brushes read-in with the same size and
        depth, you can toggle between them, for an AltImage preview.
    End Display: Closes the Display and sends you back to the Main Page.

/****************************************************************/
/******* The Future *********************************************/
/****************************************************************/

Future Enhancements to NGI may or may not include:

1. Easier file specification that using the string gadget to type something like
    "pictures12:brush/wb-brushes/NewCLick.Brush" -- probably some sort of
    file requester a la DPaint.

2. More Brushes. If NGI could read more brushes (not a hard thing to do), it
    could potentially create and preview multi-Bob AnimComps. Since
    animation development is what NGI was built for in the first place, this
    is a high priority. Everyone HATES doing repetitive stuff. At the same
    time, maybe it's overkill, especially with dynamically-allocated Bobs.

3. Mask/Stencil Planes. Since Image structures don't use Mask planes, NGI
    doesn't bother with them. They can sometimes be handy for animation,
    however. (Yes, we know about Masked Gadgets. But DPaint doesn't
    store BRUSHES that way...)

4. Basic? NGI could also write BASIC "objects," if we ever got requests for
    that sort of thing. Probably lots of requests.

5. Special CLI options in addition to the mouse. It might be handy to make a
    BOB with a line like "NGI -b df1:brush/dude2 sys:dude2.s BowLeg2" i.e.
    "NGI <option(s)> <brush> <output> <struct>" -- we like mouse-driven
    code, but the simplest way is always the best -- always the tricky
    part of providing programs that are flexible.

/****************************************************************/
/******* Recompiling NGI ****************************************/
/****************************************************************/

NGI was written in C, using the Lattice 3.10 compiler under WorkBench 1.2.
Much of its size (about 36K) is actually just the various structures
and ImageData blocks, with the code being pretty short -- the IFF reader
is probably more than half of the code. NGI used the Lattice "-a" option,
so it should run properly on heavily-expanded machines, loading all ImageData
into CHIP memory. Bon appetit bitblt.

NGI's original source is included in the Source Directory of the Distribution
Disk. EXECUTE the "NRestore.cmd" command file to load the various modules
onto your SYS: disk, then "NGI.cmd" to execute & link. MAKE fans may want
their own scripts, though "NGI.cmd" uses the -M option of lc to ensure that
only revised .c modules are indeed compiled. If you want to change the look of
the buttons, you'll find the original IFF brushes in the Brush directory.

                        - KAB 1 June 87 1987

/****************************************************************/
/******* National Pixel Products ********************************/
/****************************************************************/

About National Pixel Products:

    National Pixel Products was created by ex-employees of the late,
great Digital Productions/Robert Abel & Associates/Omnibus Simulation;
makers of supercomputer graphics for the entertainment industry. While the
Amiga is no Cray, we all think it's the hottest box on the block, even AFTER
the Mac-2. Accept no substitutes.

    Future projects include a high-quality scan-line renderer (MUCH faster
than ray-tracing) and other multi-purpose graphics tools like NGI -- we are
also working on the adaptation of William Gibson's cyberpunk novel NEUROMANCER
as an Amiga game.

(Deluxe Paint and Deluxe Paint 2 are trademarks of Electronic Arts.
Aegis and Aegis Images are trademarks of Aegis Development. DigiView
is a trademark of NewTek, Inc. Amiga and Workbench are trademarks of
Commodore Business Machines. Why are you reading this? Lattice is a
trademark of Lattice, Inc.)

/****************************************************************/
/******** NGI Updates and Source Code ***************************/
/****************************************************************/

For updates, revenge, and complete source of NGI with examples of use
    (and to    be on our mailing list, of course), send $25 to:

National Pixel Products
25724 Salceda Road
Valencia, California 91355

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