Contents

Please note:

Interlaced GIF images are not supported.

Your system must be set to 256 colors

About Copyright, Registration, Technical Support, License

Transparent Images

Interlaced Images


Copyright, Registration, Technical Support

This system was developed by Informatik Inc, P.O. Box 868, Devon, Pennsylvania 19333.  For information on program modifications, systems integrations and custom applications, please contact Informatik Inc.

This is a copyright-protected shareware product.  If, after review and evaluation, you like the software, please register.  Shareware is based on trust, and we hope that all users will register.  Upon registration and payment of the registration fee, Informatik Inc will send you the latest master diskette, a registration certificate and a User Guide.  Registered users will receive technical support and software upgrades as specified in the application.

To register

From the About menu, choose 'Registration, Copyright, License' and follow the instructions.

To obtain technical support

From the Help menu, choose Technical Support and follow the instructions.

Infothek is a trademark of Informatik Inc.

© 1994-1995 Informatik Inc

All rights reserved


Transparent Images

To make the background of a GIF image transparent

1.	From the File menu, choose Open Image.  Select a GIF, bitmap, JPEG or TIFF image and choose OK.  The image is displayed.  Please note that this version does not support interlaced GIF images.

2.	Click on the background that you want to render transparent.  The color box on the left hand side of the screen displays the color that you have selected.

You may want to convert the background to a grey color (see below).

 If a second 'Change to' colored button is displayed, the background consists of more than one color; like a dithered color.  Multi-colored backgrounds must be converted to a single color before you can proceed.  Please read section below.

3.	From the File menu, choose Save As and confirm.

To convert a multi-colored background

 If a second 'Change to' colored button is displayed, it means that the background of the image has several colors and you must convert the various colors to a single color.  When you click on the background, the system captures the color of the pixel you selected , plus the pixel directly to the right.  If the second pixel is of a different color, that color is displayed on the 'Change to' button (the button below the 'Grey' button).  To convert both colors to light grey, click on the  'Grey' button in the 'Change to' section.  To convert the first color (selected color) to the second color (colored button), click on the colored button in the 'Change to' section.  You should test several areas of the background to pick the color you like as a background.  The correct background color is of course important only for browsers that do not support the transparent feature.  If there are more than two colors in the background, you can repeat this 'purification' process, or you can clean up the image with a paintbrush program.

Dithered Colors, Color Speckles

A dithered color is a blended color made up from two solid colors.  If you enlarge a dithered color area you will see a pattern of two alternating colors.  Because the transparent background can only be ONE color, the dithered background must be converted to one of the two colors in the dithered color.  When you click on the background, the system displays the color of the 'hit' pixel.  The adjacent color (the second color of the dithering pair) is shown on the 'Change to' button below the 'Grey' button.  To change the background color to that color, click on button.  To change the color to the first color in the dithering pattern, click on another area of the background until you 'hit' a pixel of the other color.  As you experiment with dithered colors, all this will make more sense to you.

If the background includes speckles of unwanted colors, you can clean it up with the following simple procedure:  Change the background to grey (see below).  Click on a color speckle and convert it to grey (i.e. click on the Light Grey button).  Repeat the process for all speckles.  Then, when all speckles are cleaned up, click on the background again and save the image.  The last step is important; if you ignore it, only the last speckle will be treated as transparent.

To change the background to a light grey color

It is generally recommended that the background color be light grey.  Some browser software do not support the transparent property and the images will then have a neutral grey background, blending in with the web browser's screen background.  To make the background color grey, click on the background and press the 'Grey' button.  Both the selected color and the secondary color (the color of the button below the 'Grey' button), if any, will be converted to a light grey.

To cancel the transparency

The 'transparent background' property can be cancelled.  From the Options menu, choose Cancel Transparency and confirm.  When removing the transparency property, the background color remains unchanged, only the 'transparency' flag is removed.  There is no need to save the changes.  This function is not intended to undo color changes.


Interlaced Images

This version does not support interlaced GIF images.  You cannot load an interlaced GIF file or add the interlaced property.