CO-CAT GIF Demo From Dr. Bobware 1 May 1993 What we have here is a pre-release version of CO-CAT, the Cataloger for color graphic files and CVGs. (pre-release = demo) ******************************************************************* Please note that this demo is memory hungry. The memory management portion of CO-CAT is currently being optimized to run on machines with as little as 1Meg. (of course, an SLM804/605 will require yet another meg) Only the imdedded resource file is used. Although CO-CAT will operate in any resolution, the imbedded resource is designed for ST High rez and is rather... distorted in ST-LOW and ST-MED. The Falcon030's resolutions of 640x400 and 640x480 use this also. ******************************************************************* CO-CAT will support GIFs, SPCs and PNTs. Future enhancements will support additional file formats; TIFs TGAs and BMPs are planned. One thing you'll notice right off is that a number of options are not enabled in this demo. For instance, only a single folder is processed. Nesting is not supported. Another attraction not included is a wide array of printer drivers. Only the HP LaserJet and the HP DeskJet are provided. When cataloging GIF files, it becomes apparent that not all files are created equal. CO-CAT is designed with 256 color GIFs in mind but even these are not always top quality. Variance in colors from file to file is also a major concern. CO-CAT offers a 'brightness' control only. Contrast and other tweaking parameters have been left out: contrast varies even more so from file to file than does color. The brightness default is set at 150% which offers the optimum across a wide variety of files. Although- some may prefer 130% to 160%. A filter is available for GIFs. It acts exactly like a halftone mask. (probably because it's exactly that :-) While it does lighten up the darker images by about 12%, it makes for a grainier result. By default, the filter is OFF. Two other temporary filters are available on the preferences dialog but these aren't guaranteed to be in the final release. Filter-P acts on the converted color palette and lightens the darker shades while Filter-2 narrows the gap between light and dark tones. Individually, these filters show only a slight change but when used together they eliminate 'total-white' and change it to a light shade. It may or may not suit your asthetic tastes. By default, both are OFF. The two drivers, HPLJ and HPDJ, are accompanied by two sister files. The files marked DD are 'Direct Drive' and speed up the print job by up to 4 times. They cannot be guaranteed to be compatible with every thing since they circumvent the existing OS centronics port drivers. Both types of drivers will be included in the release version. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ addendum: 6 May 93 Two additional drivers have been added. The Atari Laser SLM804. One driver is for US Letter sized paper and the other for the European A4 paper size. The SLM drivers support a user defined DMA device number. Most SLM804 printers were originally set to device #7 but then that changed and a world of hurt began for SLM drivers that were _not_ device #7. SO... we let you pick your own (of course, it has to be the same as set on the SLM interface box.... but you knew that:) This device number is saved in the COCAT.INF file with the rest of the defaults. A wierd bug was found when operating in TT Medium resolution. It was photographed (so we could apply to Ripley's Believe It or Not) and then squashed into oblivion (where all wierd bugs belong). CO-CAT has been tested on and supports the following resolutions: (some more than others:-) ST: LOW/MED/HI TT: ST-Low/ST-Med/ST-Hi TT-Low/TT-Med/TT-Hi Falcon: ST-Low/ST-Med/ST-Hi 320x240/640x480 Once again, the resource file included with this demo is designed for 640x400 modes and although it is totally accessible in lower rez's, it is not the prettiest sight you've seen :-) No tests have been made in the Falcon030's True-Color modes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SETUP: Place COCAT.PRG in whatever folder you wish. Create a subdirectory named DRV and place the printer drivers there. files: CCDEM.TXT this text file COCAT.PRG main program (GIFDEMO or CVGDEMO) DRV\HPDJ_001.DRV printer driver DeskJet, gemdos DRV\HPDJ_002.DRV printer driver DeskJet, custom DRV\HPLJ_001.DRV printer driver LaserJet, gemdos DRV\HPLJ_002.DRV printer driver LaserJet, custom ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ new 05/06/93: DRV\SLM_US.DRV printer driver SLM804 US Letter DRV\SLM_A4.DRV printer driver SLM804 Euro A4 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That's about it. The rest is rather intuitive- Late Notes: Memory requirements are pretty high for the demo. Several buffers are allocated. An entire 1 Meg area is set aside as a page buffer and although the release version will use less memory, the driver for the SLM804/605 will still require a full 1 Meg. Also, if an IMG file is desired (instead of printer output) then once again, a full 1 Meg will be allocated. The demo does not have heavy error checking. 2.5 meg is recommended but a 4 Meg machine will do much better. Remember that although the 320x200 GIFs that are prevalent on the ST may require less than 64k, the most numerous GIFs around are of the 640x480x256 variety. These GIFs uncompact to 307k, 800x600s go to 480k. Normally, 1024x768 GIFs take up 786k but COCAT fits them (and any that may be even larger) into the same buffer space as the 800x600s. You'll notice that solid areas of color will process faster than mixed pixels in GIFs. Many of the 800x600 and 1024x768 GIFs have solid color borders which actually reduce the processing times to just a little more than 640x480 images. Just a sampling of some processing times: (seconds) range typical Falcon030/16MHz 640x480 GIF 25 - 40 34.4 800x600 GIF 30 - 45 39.5 1024x768 GIF 40 - 55 44.8 (320x240 x1 __ - __ not timed) (320x240 x2 17 - 20 18.2) ST/8MHz 640x480 GIF 70 - 90 84.5 800x600 GIF 85 -100 93.4 1024x768 GIF 90 -120 98.6 (320x240 x1 20 - 30 25.4) (320x240 x2 40 - 60 47.4) Printing time for a full 8"x10" page at 3x5 layout (in minutes:seconds) Falcon030/16MHz ST/8MHz HP-DJ gemdos 2:12 4:52 HP-DJ custom 0:54 2:40 HP-LJ gemdos 8:08 na HP-LJ custom 2:26 na note: The DeskJet drivers compress the raster data before sending to the printer port. Print times will vary depending on the particular set of images cataloged. During processing, [ESC] will cancel the current file, [UNDO] will cancel the current session and will prompt to either print the page as-is (partially done) or to exit. During printing, [ESC] will cancel (and eject) the page. [UNDO] is not implemented. Any comments or suggestions may be directed to: W. David Parks \ Dr. Bobware 180 N. Hazeltine Avenue Campbell, OH 44405-1024 GEnie: W.PARKS3 Cat#7/Topic#5 (MVG)