Re: GIFs (was Graphics on the net?)

[Shinya Nagashima <shinyan@delphi.com>]

I would like to comment on SuperConvert and Prism since I've had
experience using them.

Joe Kohn wrote:
>SuperConvert can very often produce the best GIF conversions. It
>seems that SuperConvert's strongest point is that it often can re-map
>large sized graphics so that they display on a single screen. When it
>works, it works great. But, every once in a while it offers a choice
>of skipping every other scanline.

I don't own this program but I have tried the demo. As for the GIF
conversions, I was not surprised that the results were disappointing
given the GS' hardware limitations. For use in HyperStudio stacks or for
printing, I found only the 320 mode greyscale conversions worth bothering
with. The 320 16 color and 'multipalette' (256 colors?) conversions were
pretty sad and took longer than they should have. But the program does
seem to have many other 'goodies' and for taking A2 pics to other
platforms, it is a must.
  
>I've never seen Prism to see how it works. Is it any good?

Oh yeah. I bought Prism because I've seen a few pretty good looking 3200
pics around which were supposedly converted with it and GS+ gave it a
fairly good review. After tinkering with it for a while and having
converted nearly a hundred photos in 3200 format, I've concluded that
Prism is the BEST option for converting high quality pics from other
platforms on the GS.

In the development of a HyperStudio Mac stack, I used quite a lot of
scanned photos. For the GS version to follow, I naturally needed a way to
convert the scanned photos to a GS format with good results.

If you have a large source of GIF images, great. I'll guarantee that the
conversions done in 256 and 3200 format will impress you.

But to get the absolute best conversions, forget using GIF (because of
its 256 color limitation). Instead, find a source of 24-bit  (16.7
million) JPEG, PICT, or TIFF images. The higher the resolution the
better. On your friend's mac, use Photoshop to save in TIFF format (no
LZW compression).

Using Prism, I believe something like 500-800 distinct colors (depending
on the source pic) of the 24-bit image match the GS' color table and
therefore will appear on the picture in 3200 format. Practically all 3200
conversions done this way yielded results many times better than the GIF
approach. You can easily have the picture cropped to screen or reduced
proportionally to fit the screen. Amazing.

The only problem is that if you want to take A2 stuff to another
platform, you're outta luck. You'll need SuperConvert for that.    

Keep in mind that while Prism produces the best 3200 conversions around,
if you want 24-bit (or even 8-bit) like results, you will be let down.
But until people get SS, in my opinion this is the best option.

>My frustration started about a week ago when I visited a friend with
>a Mac, and I got to see with my own eyes graphics that I've displayed
>on the GS. There was no comparisons.

Yeah. I was blown away too when I first saw 24-bit graphics on a Mac
(even 8-bit mode is better than anything the GS has to offer). But hey,
the GS is from a different 'era.' But I was pleasantly surprised that a
product like SS actually came out. I hope the product is a hit.

Shinya Nagashima

*************************************************************
Delivered by IIGS using Spectrum v1.0.

Shinya Nagashima
Delphi: shinyan
Internet: shinyan@delphi.com
                                                       
161 GP Starts, 65 Poles, 41 Wins
3 World Championships (1988, 1990, 1991)
Ayrton Senna da Silva (1960-1994)
You were a great champion, RIP
*************************************************************