Re: Gifs and Jpegs on a IIgs?

[spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article ab375@seorf.ohiou.edu (Nathaniel Grow) writes...
>
>Are there any programs out there which will allow me to draw my own .gif
>and .jpeg files using my IIgs?  I have 1.25 megs of RAM and a Hard Drive.

        To my knowlegde, all current Apple IIgs paint/draw applications
only allow you to save a finished graphic image in native Super-High-Res
format. At least one offers an import-option for non-GS formats, but none
support an export-save feature for such.

        There is a way however, it just requires an extra step. Draw your
image using your favoriate SHR paint program (ie, DreamGrafix, Platinum
Paint, Deluxe Paint II) then use a separate graphic utility program to
load in the image and save as GIF (Compuserve Graphic Interchange Format).
See below for a list of options...

>If these programs exist where I can get them?  Are they availible through
>ftp or retail?  I would like to be able to use the images on the internet.
>Please respond here, or privately to:  ab375@seorf.ohiou.edu   Thanks.

        The first that comes to mind is SuperConvert 3.01 (Seven Hills
Software; commercial) which will load in and convert single and multi-
palette (16 or 256 color) images and save them as GIF. The only catch
is anything larger than 320x400 (one screen wide, two screens in length)
will be cropped. 640 images are supported, but a similar limit applies
I believe.

	Another program is The Graphics Exchange (Roger Wagner Publishing;
commercial) which does more or less the same, although seems to have the
same screen-size limit when exporting as GIF. The latest version I own is
version 4.2 (1990-91) though it's possible a newer release may exist. This
was written by John MacLean, who incidentally wrote DOS 3.3 Launcher. :)

	Finally there is GIFfy-Save (by Thomas Dorris; freeware) which
is a simple application that loads in most SHR formats and exports as
GIF images. It looks as though the author made an attempt at breaking
the 320x400 size limit, although didn't quite get things right (anything
larger shows garbage in that area). There may be a newer version floating
around that fixed it. This is probably your best option, it works well
and is free. It should be available on most FTP sites, if not I'll place
it online.

It's highly unlikely you'll see future programs	support GIF exporting,
it is now required that an expensive licensing fee be paid to use that
format (the reason Brutal Deluxe left GIF-export absent from C3200).
As for JPEG I _very_ much doubt any IIgs program will support this
format for exporting, JPEG supports up to 24-bit color and all IIgs
images are limited to 4-bit or 8-bit color (with major limitations on 
the latter). GIF fits well within the GS's graphic limits, and is
supported on virtually all systems. It is all that is required for
now when exporting is required, unless paint software becomes available
for the Second Sight video board. I should also note that formats such
as PCX and TIFF are supported for export in other IIgs graphic utilities 
(the former two above include one or the other).

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca