ICONS CONTROL 95 The indispensable tool to process Windows icons ------------ INTRODUCTION ------------ Icons Control 95 is designed to display as many icons/images as possible (32x32 thumbnail size) in a 10x10 grid for quick browsing. Icons/images can be copied, renamed, moved, and erased with a click of the mouse. Hardcopy of icons can be printed on any printer supported by Windows. Icons Control 95 can even display icons embedded inside DLL or EXE files. Displayed icons can be edited, converted to bitmaps, or extracted to ICO format (in the DLL or EXE viewing mode). In addition, you can convert from about different image formats (inluding BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, PCX, WPG, MacPaint, etc.) of any size to ICO with a single mouse click. Conversion and extraction can be done in batch mode, thus saving a considerable amount of time for those of you with large number of icons to process. Furthermore, any portion of the screen can be captured into an icon or bitmap. For those of you who have access to TWAIN devices (i.e. scanners, digital cameras, etc.), you can even scan image of any size directly into icons. For a complete description of Icons Control 95, please refer to the help file accessible by clicking on the Help icon from outside as well as inside the program. FEATURES -------- * Displays 100 icons/images simultaneously. * Powerful Image Browser that displays over 40 different image formats. * Creates new icons/bitmaps. * Converts from about 40 image file formats (including BMP, WMF, JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, MAC, PCX, WPG, TGA, MSP, PCT, RAS, etc.)to ICO. * Extracts icons from DLL and EXE files with a mouse click. * Copies, renames, moves, and deletes existing icons/images. * Captures any part of the screen and save as an icon. * Makes parts of icon transparent. * Prints hard copy of icons/images (even inside DLL/EXE). * Imports images from TWAIN devices into icons (optional). * Editing tools: Free-hand drawing (pixel by pixel). Line drawing. Box drawing (outline/fill). Circle drawing (outline/fill). Flood fill drawing. Color probe. Image rotating (any angle) Image shifting (up, down, left, and right). Image flipping (horizontal and vertical). ------------ INSTALLATION ------------ Run SETUP.EXE from the Explorer. You will be asked to enter a folder to install Icons Control 95 (default is c:\Program Files\Icons Control 95). ------------------------------ HARDWARE/SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS ------------------------------ * Any computer running Windows 95. * A standard VGA (a Windows-accelerated graphic board is recommended). * A mouse or trackball. * Any printer supported by Windows (optional). * Sound blaster card or compatible (optional). Icons Control 95 has been developed and tested on a 150 MHz Pentium-based machine with 32 MB of RAM, a 2 MB VRAM Diamond Stealth Video 3200 with the same above settings. Icons Control 95 was also tested on the following computers: 1) 100 MHz PCI Pentium-based computer with 16 MB of RAM and a 1 MB PCI Diamond Stealth SE. 2) 150 Mhz PCI Pentium-based computer with 32 MB of RAM and a 2 MB VRAM Diamond Stealth Video 3200 (S3-968) under the above resolutions and color depth modes. 3) IBM P5-133 with 32 MB or RAM and a 1MB PCI Diamond Stealth DRAM (S3-764). 4) AST Bravo LC 4/33s with 8MB of RAM and a 512K ATI video card. 5) Sharp PC-9050 notebook computer with 32 MB RAM and a 2 MB VRAM PCI Trident (9660/9680/938X) linear accelerator. The following printers were successfully tested: 1) HP LaserJet 4L. 2) HP LaserJet 5L. 3) Brother HL-720. 4) NEC SuperScript 660plus. 5) Canon BJC-610. 6) Epson Stylus Color. 7) Epson Stylus Color Pro. ---------------------------------------------------- DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SHAREWARE AND REGISTERED VERSION ---------------------------------------------------- SHAREWARE: * Copies. * Renames. * Moves. * Deletes. * Edits. * ICO to BMP conversion. * Prints hardcopy of icon/image library. * No "nag" screen (I don't believe in "nag" screen" ;-) REGISTERED: Above functions plus: * Converts from about 40 image formats to ICO. * Icons extraction from DLLs and EXEs. * Captures any portion of the screen into an icon. * Access to image flip, shift, and rotate tools. * Your name (or your company name) is displayed on the opening screen and in the About window. No more shamefully displaying that you are merely evaluating this program--you will be a full-fledged Icons Control 95 power user :-) * You will know in your heart that you have done the right thing (both legally and morally). * You will be notified via E-Mail of new major releases and will be qualified for substantial discount for the upgrade. * Although technical support has not been a drastic necessity, registered users are naturally given more priority and attention regarding technical support. OPTION: * TWAIN scanner interface ($14). SUPPORTED IMAGE FILE FORMATS ---------------------------- Icons Control 95 was developed using LEAD Technologies LEADTOOLS ActiveX Professional imaging toolkit. Below is the list of image file formats which Icons Control 95 supports: LEAD. This is the LEAD CMP compressed format for grayscale and color images. JFIF. This is a JPEG File Interchange Format with full color spacing (YUV 4:4:4). LEAD1JFIF. This is a JPEG File Interchange Format with YUV 4:1:1 color spacing, to produce a smaller JFIF file. LEAD2JFIF. This is a JPEG File Interchange Format with YUV 4:2:2 color spacing, to produce the smallest JFIF file. JTIF. This is a JPEG Tagged Interchange Format with full color spacing (YUV 4:4:4). LEAD1JTIF. This is a JPEG Tagged Interchange Format with YUV 4:1:1 color spacing, to produce a smaller JTIF file. LEAD2JTIF. This is a JPEG Tagged Interchange Format with YUV 4:2:2 color spacing, to produce the smallest JTIF file. TIFF. This is a tag-based file format designed to promote universal interchanges of digital image data. Because TIFF files do not have a single way to store image data, there are many versions of TIFF. Icons Control 95 supports the most common TIFF formats. MPT. This is a multipage TIFF format that enables a file to contain more than one image. It is handled the same as a regular TIFF file, except for the multipage feature. TIFF LZW. These files use the Tagged Image File Format with LZW compression. TIFF CCITT. These are compressed TIFF files that are commonly used for FAX transmission and document imaging. TIFF CCITT Group 3. These are TIFF CCITT files in a format that is more advanced and more compressed than TIFF CCITT. TIFF CCITT Group 4. These are TIFF CCITT files in a format that is more advanced and more compressed than TIFF CCITT Group 3. IOCA (ICA). This is the Image Object Content Architecture developed by IBM. WinFax Group 3. This is a FAX format created by Delrina for Group 3 support. WinFax Group 4. This is a FAX format created by Delrina for Group 4 support. FAX Group 3. This is a raw FAX format (without a header) for Group 3 support. FAX Group 4. This is a raw FAX format (without a header) for Group 4 support. Truevision TGA (TARGA). This is a file format created by Truevision Inc. GIF. This is the Graphics Interchange Format created by CompuServe for storing and exchanging color raster images. PNG (Portable Network Graphics). This is a replacement for the GIF format. It is a full-featured (non-LZW) compressed format intended for widespread use without legal restraints. Photoshop 3.0 (PSD). This is the format produced by the Adobe Photoshop graphics editor. Windows Bitmap (BMP). This is a file format created by Microsoft. Some BMP images are compressed with an RLE type compression. Windows Metafile (WMF). These files are not bitmap based images. A Windows metafile consists of a collection of device independent functions that represents an image. When a program loads a metafile, these functions are executed to obtain the image. PCX. This is a file format created by ZSoft. This format compresses its image data with the RLE type compression. DCX. This is a multipage PCX format that enables a file to contain more than one image. It is handled the same as a regular PCX file, except for the multipage feature. PostScript Raster (Encapsulated PostScript). These files are used primarily on PostScript printers. These printers usually offer more variety of fonts and higher resolution than standard laser printers. EPS files will work on any PostScript compatible printer and any end user application that supports placement of EPS files in its work space. OS/2 Bitmap (OS/2 BMP). These are files created on an OS/2 operating system. CALS Raster. These are 1-bit CCITT Group 4 CALS raster files. CALS is a U.S. government standard. MacPaint (MAC). These Macintosh Paint files are commonly used for monochrome clip art. GEM Image (IMG). These files are native to the Graphical Environment Manager developed by Digital Research. Microsoft Paint (MSP). These files from early versions of Windows are used for black-and-white drawings and clip art. WordPerfect (WPG). These are WordPerfect raster files. SUN Raster (RAS). These files are native to Sun UNIX platforms. Macintosh Pict (PCT). These files, produced using Macintosh QuickDraw, are used in desktop publishing and imaging applications. LEAD 1BIT. These are 1-bit LEAD compressed files. PCD. These are Kodak PhotoCD files. These read-only files can contain multiple resolutions. You can specify which of the resolutions to read. ------------ REGISTRATION ------------ Icons Control 95 is both freeware and shareware. Freeware users are free to use it to view, copy, mode, delete, and rename icons. Icons Control 95 even displays icons embedded inside DLL and EXE files. The displayed icons cannot be extracted, edited, or converted. The extraction, editing, and conversion functions are only available in the registered versions (shareware). There is no evaluation period to use Icons Control 95. You may use it as long as you want. But in order to use the above-mentioned functions, you must register to obtain the registered version. ------------- PAYMENT TERMS ------------- Registration is $25. Registered users will receive the latest version through internet email (UUencoded or MIME-encoded). If you prefer to receive the software on 3 3.5" floppy disks, the fee is $31. As of this writing, I accept several payment methods: 1) Money orders, cashier checks, bank checks (MUST be drawn from a U.S. bank). I ship the product immediately upon receiving these. 2) Personal checks (MUST be drawn from a U.S. bank). I ship the product after the check is cleared. 3) Register on-line via Compuserve (SWREG #14140) and receive the registered version within 24 hours of registration. 4) You can purchase the product on-line using Visa/MasterCard from the Virtual Software store and receive the registered version immediately after the transaction. It costs a few dollars more due to the overhead of secure electronic commerce: http://www.virtualsoftware.com/cdoan/IconsControl/ 5) International users can transfer the $25 fee to my Bank of America account directly. This type of payment requires an additional $10 because BoA charges my account $10 for the transfer fee. Send me e-mail for my account number and confirmation. Compuserve users can register on-line and obtain the registered version within 24 hours. Please fill in the information sheet in the REGISTER.TXT form and mail it along with your payment to: Chris Doan 4891 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., #401 San Diego, CA 92117 A single user license permits a user to use Icons Control 95 only on a single computer. Licensed users may use the program on different computers as long as there is no possibility of it being used at one location while it is being used at another, or on a network by more than one user at a time. A site license is required by a corporation, company, educational institution, or governmental agency for use of Icons Control 95 software on the total number of computers that will use the software. Thank you for supporting the shareware software concept and encouraging the future development of high quality Windows shareware. Chris Doan San Diego, California April 1997 doanc@wsan.rr.com chris_doan@compuserve.com