Category : Printer + Display Graphics
Archive   : SQZGIF21.ZIP
Filename : SQZGIF.DOC

SQZGIF Copr. (c) 1989 Lawrence Gozum & Marvin Gozum
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User Manual

DISCLAIMER

This product is distributed AS IS. The authors specifically disclaim
all warranties ,expressed or implied, including ,but not limited to,
implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular
purpose with respect to defects in the diskette and documentation, and
program license granted herein, in particular, and without limiting
operation of the program license with respect to any particular
application use or purpose. In no event shall the authors be liable
for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage including but
not limited to special, incidental, consequential or other damages.


LICENSING AGREEMENT

You may use this program for a 10 DAY TRIAL PERIOD. Should you find
this program useful, you MUST register it; you will then be provided
with the latest releases of the VGACAD system see last section of this
manual).

You can freely distribute copies of unmodified SQZGIF and charge $10
max for distribution, in lieu of recognized Users Group guidelines
(e.g., Asso. of Shareware Professionals or NY Amateur Computer Club).


WHAT IS SQZGIF ?

SQZGIF is a conversion utility that will convert LARGE 256 color GIF
or PCX (version 5) pics via "color averaging" to MCGA 320x200, MVGA
320x400 or 360x480, SVGA 640x400 or 640x480 or 800x600 or 1024x768;
320x200 pictures are saved in the .BLD and .PLT format. Outputs can
be used with:

(1) VGACAD for editing/image processing;
(2) VGA2EGA for conversion to EGA 640x350x16 or EEGA 640x480x16;
(3) BLD2GIF for MCGA/VGA 320x200x256 GIF encoding;
(4) RAW2GIF for SVGA GIF encoding
(4) GIFDOT for printing to an Epson/IBM compatible printer;
(5) GIFPUB for destop publishing.

With SQZGIF you can resize and smooth LARGE 256 color pics with
correct aspect ratios; all sizes such as 320x240 (Jovian Logic),
320x400 (Amiga), 512x400 (TARGA), 640x400 (MACII), 640x480 and 800x600
(SuperVGA) can be handled (up to 2KBx2KBx256). NO GRAPHICS CARD IS
REQUIRED! Use SQZGIF to reduce a LARGE GIF/PCX pic or expand a small
GIF/PCX pic.

VGA/MCGA users can pick any selected area and ZOOM it to full screen
size; you can treat LARGE GIF/PCX pics as "virtual screens".













COLOR AVERAGING

SQZGIF uses "color averaging" to replace groups of color pixels with
one of the colors in the 256 color palette, by finding the closest
match. This method will represent these large GIFs in 320x200x256
with the closest approximation of the original picture as you would
view it on the system that originated it. The "color averaging"
method removes "noise" and patterns that result from interpolating
certain large GIFs. In addition, this process actually adds some
element of "anti-aliasing" or "smoothing" since "jaggies" are averaged
into one color pixel. If you simply want to interpolate a LARGE GIF
to a smaller size, use MVGAVU.


REQUIREMENTS

Since large GIF pictures can decompose into megabytes, a harddisk is
highly recommended. An 800x600x256 GIF will decompress to 480,000
bytes. SQZGIF uses a user-specified temporary file to decompress
these large GIFs and requires an additional 64KB for saving the
"squeezed" picture and another 64KB (MCGA/VGA only) for the "zoomed"
screen.

A large RAM disk is recommended for fastest processing; specify a RAM
disk in your VDISK path. High-density dual drive users (e.g., 720KB
or 1.2MB or 1.44MB) should place the GIF file to be converted in one
drive while the other should contain only SQZGIF.

SQZGIF needs no graphics. The "Pick 'N Zoom" feature, however, will
only be activated if VGA/MCGA is detected; it cannot be selected with
non-VGA video cards.


HOW TO USE SQZGIF

Run SQZGIF and select a file to be converted. Use the keys to
move the highlight bar the press to select. Pressing the
will allow you to change the drive or sub-directory (e.g.,
D:\GIF\LARGE\NUDES\" or "B:\). The program will automatically save
320x200x256 .BLD and .PLT extensions with the same name if no
duplicate names exists; otherwise, "NONAME.*" files will be created
and constantly overwritten. For all other video modes (e.g., MVGA
360x480x256), a MVGASCRN.RAW and MVGASCRN.PLT file will be created for
latter GIF encoding with RAW2GIF (included).

Only the first image of GIF pictures with multiple images will be
processed. Pictures with less than 16 or less colors should be
avoided; use EGA2VGA for best results. Only 256 color PCX (version 5)
pics will be handled by SQZGIF AND must equal screen and image size.

TEMP files (in a format compatible with VGACAD v1.6 and up) will be
created each time you run SQZGIF; if you want to reprocess/resize or
zoom another part of the same picture, reply [Y]es to prompt "Use
TEMP.RAW ?[Y/n]".












Dual users SHOULD delete TEMP files when prompted, if you are not
going to process the same picture again; you may get an error message
for insufficient disk space if you don't.


PICK 'N ZOOM

If a VGA/MCGA card is detected, then this feature will be activated.
This feature is very useful in selecting only areas of a picture which
you want to use (e.g., editing in VGACAD). A "capture box" appears
which defines an area to be "zoomed" using the interpolation (i.e., no
smoothing is applied). You can move the "capture box" with the arrow
keys or use the keys to move around the screen faster.
Pressing the <+> key will increase the size of your "capture box" (the
area to be zoomed) - resulting in a smaller "zooming factor", but
including a larger area of the picture; conversely, pressing the <->
key will decrease the "capture box"- resulting in larger magnification
but procesing a smaller area of the total picture.

After viewing the "zoomed picture", press to save the image
or press to reselect and redefine the "zoomed image". The image
will be saved to "ZOOM.BLD" and "ZOOM.PLT"; these files will be
constantly overwritten; thus, you MUST rename these files later.


THE CHAINED VGACAD ENVIRONMENT

BRUN41.exe is a runtime module distributed under licence with
Microsoft in connection with this program. Place it with SQZGIF or
anywhere your PATH has access to. SQZGIF TEMP files can be used
directly by VGACAD (v1.6 & up), GIFPUB (v2.0 and up) and GIFDOT (v2.0
and up). With VGACAD, remember to load the TEMP.PLT file before
invoking the VSCRN menu. ONLY ONE COPY OF BRUN41.EXE IS REQUIRED.


REGISTRATION

REGISTRATION OF SQZGIF IS BASED ON 'PERSONAL USAGE'. CORPORATE OR
ORGANIZATIONAL USERS *MUST* REGISTER ALL COPIES USED ON AN INDIVIDUAL
BASIS; A SPECIFIC PERSON (NAME) MUST BE EXPLICITLY ASSIGNED TO EACH
REGISTRANT WHO WILL BE PROVIDED WITH A CORRESPONDING REGISTER.OVL FILE
TO INDICATE REGISTERED USAGE. REGISTRATION GRANTS A SPECIFIC PERSON
(NOT A JURIDICAL PERSON OR CORPORATE ENTITY) THE RIGHT TO 'USE'
SQZGIF.

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³ ALTHOUGH WE WILL TRY TO RESPOND TO YOUR REGISTRATION IN 2-3 WEEKS,³
³ PLEASE ALLOW UP TO 4-6 WEEKS DELAY TO PROCESS YOUR REGISTRATION. ³
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As token of our appreciation (i.e., to registered users), we will send
you the the latest version of the VGACAD system; many of the programs
listed below do not require a graphics card.













GIFPUB - converts 256 color GIF/PCX files to B&W images desktop
publishing (DTP) as .PCX (Ventura, First Publisher, Publisher's
Paintbrush, WP, Pagemaker). Variable sizing/contrast/brightness.
Histogram-equalization. No graphics card required.

GIFDOT - has all the features of GIFPUB for printing on IBM/Epson
printers. Several sizes. 8 pics/page. Single/Double Pass printing.
Preview in CGA/HGC/EGA/VGA/EEGA/SVGA. No graphics card required.

GIFBIT - converts B&W PCX files (e.g., scanner output to 32KBx32KB !)
to grey shades for VGACAD image processing, GIFPUB redithering, GIFDOT
printing, or VGA2EGA conversion - it edits those "scan line jitters".
Viewing modes in MCGA/VGA/SVGA. No graphics card required.

SQZGIF - converts LARGE GIF/PCX pics (to 2KBx2KBx256) to several sizes
and video modes using "color averaging" to blend/smooth "jaggies" and
retain a maximum of color information; use outputs in GIFPUB, GIFDOT,
VGACAD, MVGAVU, VGA2CGA or VGA2EGA. No graphics card required.

EGA2VGA - converts GIFs (16 colors and below) or ANY VIEWABLE 2-16
color EGA/EEGA picture to 320x200x256; creates 256 new colors; outputs
directly to GIFPUB, GIFDOT, VGACAD, MVGAVU, VGA2CGA or VGA2EGA.
No graphics card required.

VGA2CGA - converts 256 color GIFs to CGA! See "405" colors in an
unsupported 160x100x16 CGA mode. CGA/EGA/MCGA/VGA required.

MAC2GIF - converts .MAC ("readmac") pictures to 5-16 grey shades or
color and saves to .GIF or BLD/PLT file. EGA/MCGA/VGA required.

VGA2EGA - converts 256 color pictures to 16-color EGA. Error-
distributed dithering. Variable sizing/RGBICMY/contrast/dithering
levels. EEGA support up to 800x600. GIF or optional PCX save to 4
RGBI planes for Desktop Color Separation. EGA/MCGA/VGA required.

MVGAVU - EGA/MCGA/EEGA/VGA/SVGA viewer for GIF and BLD/PLT files.
Smart slideshows - picks best mode. 320x400x256, 360x480x256 and
640x400x16 modes on regular VGA. EGA posterization. EEGA/SVGA
support. Auto-sizing. Contrast/Brightness. EGA/MCGA/VGA required.

VGACAP - tiny TSR, captures MCGA/VGA/SVGA screens (from 320x200x256 to
800x600x256). MCGA/VGA required.

RAW2GIF - converts SVGA screen captures of VGACAP to GIF.
BLD2GIF - converts MCGA/VGA screen captures of VGACAP to GIF.

VGACAD - extensive paint/image processing program for VGA/MCGA users
(edit GIFs up to 32KBx32KBx256 !!!); airbrushes, color and grey image
processing functions (smoothing, noise removal, shading, contrast
stretching, edge detection, ...), splines, Cut&Paste, variable sizing,
256-color gradient/pattern fills, MORE ! MCGA/VGA required.















WHAT'S NEXT ?

Aside from enhancing existing releases with increased capabilities
(e.g., expanded memory, virtual screen, SVGA functions, other graphics
formats), we are developing VGACBT, a Computer-Based Training program
and MANNEQUIN for Advertising/Fashion Design or creating your own
artistic nudes.

Support maverick authors like us and we will continue developing
products like nothing seen commercially - otherwise they will simply
"DIE" from lack of support ! Compare the cost/benefit ratio of any of
our products with commercial products. You, and you alone, determine
whether it will be worthwhile to continue developing. Support the
User-Supported (Shareware) concept. Register you Shareware copies.
To register, send the registration form and check or money order
payable in USD to:

Dr. Marvin Gozum
2 Independence Place #303-2, 6th & Locust
Philadelphia, PA 19106


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Graphics Interchange Format and GIF are trademarks (tm)
of CompuServe Inc. an H&R Block Company.