BMP2TGA.EXE is a DOS command line utility we've included that
will convert either a 16 or 256 color BMP file to a Type 1
Targa file.

This is a very simple utility, and is not full of bells and
whistles.  The intent is simply to give the POPOUT user an
easy mechanism to convert Paintbrush-viewable BMP images into
Targa format.  Note that this is NOT a generic BMP to TGA
converter!

The PRIMARY reason for including this utility was to give
the user the ability to convert the EXAMPI2.BMP image into
TGA format so it could be used as a POPOUT Source File.
Using this utility on non-depth encoded, non-greyscale
TGA images may result in an undesired resultant image.

All that aside, here's how the utility works:

If the BMP file is 16 color, BMP2TGA expects that the 16 colors
be the same colors defined in POPOUT.PAL.  These colors are listed
in the POPOUT.HLP help file.  These 16 colors will be converted
to shades of grey in the resultant targa file.  Colors other than
these 16 will be translated to black in the targa file.  Remember,
there's really no need to do this; POPOUT will accept the 16-color
BMP file as a Source File just as easily as it will accept the
Targa file.

If the BMP file is 256 color, the resultant targa file is
suitable either as a POPOUT Source File or Background File.
Be careful with this.  Since POPOUT will accept Type 1 Targa
files as valid Source Images, you may be temped to take any
old 256-color BMP file and convert it.  This doesn't mean
that you'll like the results.  Remember, your generic old
256-color images do not contain any depth information, and
POPOUT will not therefore be able to generate a stereogram
with a meaningful content.

The usage of the utility is:
bmp2tga input_bmp output_tga

where input_bmp is the name of the 16 or 256 color BMP you 
 want to convert, and
where output_tga is the name of the Type 1 TGA file that
 you want bmp2tga to create.

The EXAMPI2.BMP sample image can be converted to a usable
POPOUT source file using BMP2TGA.  Type:
BMP2TGA EXAMPI2.BMP EXAMPI2.TGA