ColorView(tm) for DOS Version 1.2 Copyright (C) 1992 by Millennium Technologies Corporation ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Millennium Technologies Corporation(tm) Suite #205, 649 61st Street West New York, New Jersey 07093 DOS ColorView 1.2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Shareware 1 Disclaimer - Agreement 2 Registration 3 ASP Ombudsman Statement 3 Registration Form 4 Introduction 5 Hardware & Software Requirements 5 ColorView Features 6 Some Commonly Asked Questions 6 Setting Up 6 User's Guide Command Line Arguments 7 User Interaction Mouse Functionality 8 Keyboard Functionality 9 Menu Selection 9 Menu Commands File Menu 10 Options Menu 11-13 Appendix A 14 ColorView for DOS is distributed as SHAREWARE. Please read the following information before using it. -1- DOS ColorView 1.2 SHAREWARE ColorView is a shareware product, it is not free. Shareware distribution gives users a chance to try software before buying it. If you try a Shareware program and continue using it, you are expected to register. With your registration of ColorView for DOS Version 1.2, you will receive a diskette with the latest version of the software and documentation. Copyright laws apply to both Shareware and commercial software, and Millennium Technologies Corporation retains all rights, with a few specific exceptions as stated below. You are specifically granted the right to copy and distribute the ColorView for DOS package, complete and unmodified, as described in the Disclaimer-Agreement section below. Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. The Shareware system makes fitting your needs easier, because you can try it before you buy it. And because the overhead is low, prices are low. Shareware has the ultimate money-back guarantee -- if you don't use the product, you don't pay for it. -2- DOS ColorView 1.2 DISCLAIMER - AGREEMENT Users of ColorView must accept this disclaimer of warranty: "ColorView is supplied as is. Millennium Technologies Corporation disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. Millennium Technologies Corporation assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of ColorView." ColorView is a "shareware program" and is provided at no charge to the user for evaluation. Feel free to share it with your friends, but please do not give it away altered or as part of another system. The essence of "user-supported" software is to provide personal computer users with quality software without high prices, and yet to provide incentive for programmers to continue to develop new products. If you find this program useful and find that you are using ColorView and continue to use ColorView after a reasonable trial period, you must make a registration payment of $29.95 to Millennium Technologies Corporation (please use the registration form below). The $29.95 registration fee will license one copy for use on any one computer at any one time. You must treat this software just like a book. An example is that this software may be used by any number of people and may be freely moved from one computer location to another, so long as there is no possibility of it being used at one location while it's being used at another. It is just like a book which cannot be read by two different people at the same time. Commercial users of ColorView must register and pay for their copies of ColorView within 30 days of first use or their license is withdrawn. Site-License arrangements may be made by contacting Millennium Technologies Corporation. Anyone distributing ColorView for any kind of remuneration must first contact Millennium Technologies Corporation at the address below for authorization. Millennium Technologies Corporation should be advised so that the distributor can be kept up-to-date with the latest version of ColorView for DOS. Disk Vendors, Shareware Distributors and BBS(s) may charge a nominal fee for distribution of the program. The recipient of ColorView must be informed, in advance, that the fee paid to acquire ColorView does not relieve the recipient from paying the Registration Fee for ColorView if the recipient uses ColorView. You are encouraged to pass a copy of ColorView along to your friends for evaluation. Please encourage them to register their copy if they find that they can use it. All registered users will receive a copy of the latest version of the ColorView system. -3- DOS ColorView 1.2 REGISTRATION With your registration for ColorView for DOS Version 1.2, you will receive the latest copy of the software and the documentation, and will be notified of all later releases of ColorView for DOS. (Later versions of ColorView for DOS will be made available to registered users for a nominal fee to cover costs.) You can register ColorView by: * CHECK or MONEY ORDER in US funds drawn on a US bank by mailing the check/money order along with the order form on the next page directly to Millennium Technologies Corporation; * CREDIT CARD from PsL (Public (software) Library) with your Master Card, Visa, American Express, or Discover card by : calling 800-242-4PsL in the United States; calling 713-524-6394 from outside the United States; faxing your order form to 713-524-6398; or e-mailing your order through CompuServe to 71355,470. When ordering from PsL, please refer to product number 10677. The PsL numbers are for ordering only. Millennium Technologies Corporation cannot be reached at those numbers. To contact us for information about dealer pricing, volume discounts, site licensing, the status of shipment of the product, the latest version number, technical information or problems, or to discuss returns, please contact Millennium Technologies Corporation directly at: Millennium Technologies Corporation Suite #205, 649 61st Street West New York, New Jersey 07093 or through CompuServe at 71055,2625. ASP OMBUDSMAN STATEMENT Millennium Technologies Corporation is a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442 or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. -4- DOS ColorView 1.2 Please use this form to register ColorView by mail or fax: REGISTRATION FORM ColorView for DOS v. 1.2 NAME: ______________________________________________ STREET:______________________________________________ CITY: ______________________________________________ STATE: ___________________________ZIP________________ TELEPHONE: _________________________ ColorView License Number............... $29.95 ______ New Jersey Residents add 6% sales tax.. ($1.80) ______ US Residents - Shipping and Handling... $5.00 ______ Other - Shipping and Handling ......... $8.00 ______ Total in US Funds drawn on a US Bank.. $________________ Circle Disk Size: 3 1/2" 5 1/4" Make checks payable to: Millennium Technologies Corporation Mail to: Millennium Technologies Corporation Suite #205, 649 61st Street West New York, New Jersey 07093 CREDIT CARD INFORMATION: Please do not mail your Credit Card orders. Please FAX them directly to PsL at 713-524-6398, or phone them in to PsL, or CompuServe E-Mail your orders to PsL as described on the previous page. I am paying by: MC ____ Visa ____ American Express ____ Discover ____ Name as it appears on the card: _______________________________________ Credit card number: _______________________________________ Card expiration date: _______________________________________ Signature: _________________________________________________ -5- DOS ColorView 1.2 INTRODUCTION ColorView is a program designed to view and manipulate color images in the DOS environment. HARDWARE & SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS The following hardware and software is supported by ColorView for DOS v. 1.2: Color display (640x400 pixels and above): 8 bit, 256 color, palette based, or 15 bit 'true' (32768 colors) color, or 24 bit true color. The display must be VESA 1.2 compatible or you must have a VESA software driver installed. CPU: 80286 or above. Memory: As much as possible. Anything from 640 kilobytes to infinity is recommended. In general, the more memory you have available (either expanded or extended), the bigger the image you can display (and the faster ColorView will run). ColorView will automatically utilize your hard disk as temporary storage if there is not enough physical memory. It is also important to have approximately 500K of free DOS memory before starting ColorView. Operating System: DOS 2.x, 3.x, 4.x, 5.x Hard Disk Space: In general, you will need at least 4 times the image size of temporary space on your hard disk if there is not enough physical memory. For example, an 800 x 600 24 bit image will require approximately 1.8 Mbytes. Optional Mouse: ColorView will use a Microsoft compatible mouse if one is available. Make sure that the mouse driver is installed before starting ColorView. -6- DOS ColorView 1.2 COLORVIEW FEATURES This version of the software supports the following image formats: Reading and Writing: JPEG (JFIF subset) *.JPG: 24 bit color, highly compressed images GIF'87, GIF'89(reading) *.GIF: LZW encoded 8 bit palette based images Windows Bitmaps *.BMP: (RLE in v1.2) 4 bit, 8 bit and 24 bit color images Some Commonly Asked Questions: Q: Will CVIEW.EXE run on 80386 SX processor? A: Yes Q: Is there a Windows version of ColorView? A: There is a preliminary version of ColorView for Windows available. Q: Does ColorView create temporary files? A: Yes. Their creation and size will depend on the image you are trying to load and the amount of physical RAM you have in your computer. Q: Why doesn't ColorView work with my graphics card? A: ColorView supports graphics cards through the VESA SuperVGA protocol standard. Virtually all of the graphics card manufacturers are members of the VESA group and provide free software drivers for their graphics cards. Make sure your graphics card supports the VESA standard, or obtain a software driver that provides VESA functionality for your card. SETTING UP 24-bit color images are notorious for taking up large amounts of memory. For example, when decoded for display, a 640 x 480 24 bit JPEG file will take up almost 1Mbyte of memory. The discussion that follows will provide some hints on how to best configure your computer to take advantage of the available physical RAM. ColorView is intended for palette-based or true-color displays. Through the VESA standard, ColorView will query the display driver to get the type and the resolution of your graphics card. If your driver is not properly installed, or if your graphics card does not support some of the features necessary for ColorView, ColorView will display a message alerting you to the situation. When using 24-bit or 15-bit true-color graphics cards, ColorView will require less memory for image conversion and the conversion will run faster. This is due to the elimination of two steps: 8-bit color reduction (quantizing) and dithering. If you choose an option that requires a 24 to 8 bit conversion (such as saving a GIF or an 8-bit BMP file), ColorView will take a bit more time for the quantizing and dithering steps. -7- DOS ColorView 1.2 USER'S GUIDE COMMAND LINE ARGUMENTS ColorView can be started alone, or with command-line arguments: CVIEW [-M mode] [-D][-F][-S][-?] [@file] [file [file] ...] -M use the specified (decimal) VESA video mode -D turn dither on for all subsequent images -F stretch all images to fit the screen -S continuously cycle between selected images (slide mode) -? display a summary of command-line options More than one file name can be specified on the command line. Wild card characters: * and ? can be used to select multiple files. A script file can be selected by preceding its name with '@'. A script file can contain a list of images to be displayed (one file per line). For example: CVIEW -M 261 -D -S C:\CVIEW\PALACE.JPG C:\CVIEW\FLOWER.JPG will load two files, PALACE.JPG and FLOWER.JPG in sequence. The graphics mode will be set to '261', and dithering and the stretch mode option will be used for display. (Hint: use ColorView's Graphics Mode menu to find out which graphics modes are available with your graphics card). -8- DOS ColorView 1.2 USER INTERACTION Mouse vs. Keyboard Most functions in ColorView can be accomplished with a mouse or through the keyboard. Mouse functionality will be automatically enabled if a mouse driver is detected. The keyboard can be used regardless of whether a mouse is present. Mouse Functionality The mouse cursor can only be used when the ColorView menu-bar is visible: - To display the menu bar, click on the right mouse buttons; - To close the menu bar, click the right mouse button; - To select an item from a menu: Move the mouse cursor over the menu item you wish to select, and then click the left mouse button; - To scroll an image while the menu-bar is visible: Move the mouse cursor in the direction you would like to scroll and hold down the left button. - To choose a file from the file-selection list: Move the mouse cursor on top of the file name, and click the left button. Another click will de-select the file. - To choose an option or a graphics mode from a list: Move the mouse cursor on top of the desired option, and click the left mouse button. -9- DOS ColorView 1.2 Keyboard Functionality - To display the menu bar, press the key once; - To close the menu bar, press the key once; - To select an item from a menu: Each top level menu has an underlined letter - that letter is a keyboard short-cut key (e.g. 'F' activates the File menu and 'O' activates the Options menu). After the desired menu is selected, press the short-cut key for the desired menu item (e.g. 'O' for Open in the File menu). Thus, an 'FO' sequence of keystrokes will bring up the file selection screen; - To abort an operation or to cancel a current screen or selection, press the key. - To confirm a selection from any screen, press the key. - To quit ColorView from any point, press -C or -. - To advance to the next image: If you have selected more than one image, you can advance to the next one by pressing the key. To go back to the previous image, press . Note: when the last image is displayed, the next image will be the first one selected. - To choose a file from the file-selection list: Use the arrow keys to move the selection rectangle to the desired file name. Press the Space Bar once to select the file, one more time to un-select it. (Hint: if you hold down the key while using arrow keys to highlight different file names, each file name you pass over will be automatically toggled) - To scroll a displayed image, use the arrow keys, , , , and keys. - To resize a displayed image to fit on the screen, use the <=> key. Press the <=> key again to return to the original display size. Menu Selection ColorView uses a unique way of representing pop-up menus: Pizza Menus. A Pizza-Menu is a list of choices organized as slices of a pizza. A slice can be selected by moving a mouse over any area belonging to it, and clicking the left mouse button. -10- DOS ColorView 1.2 MENU COMMANDS File Menu - Options related to reading and writing images and other system functions. File New Image ----------------- Removes any loaded image from memory and clears the viewer window. File Open... --------------- Displays a dialog box allowing you to select an image file to load. Version 1.2 recognizes the image format of the file by its extension. File Save As... ------------------ Allows you to save an image in a different format. An image must be loaded into memory before this option can be used. The extension of the file name determines the image format which is saved. For example: image.bmp, image.gif, image.jpg. (When saving JPEG/JFIF files, you will be prompted for a quality setting. 100 is the highest quality setting, and 2 is the lowest quality setting. A low quality setting will produce a smaller JPEG/JFIF file, but the image clarity will be reduced.) File Save Options... ----------------------- Provides a way to assign configuration options (from the Options pop-up menu) to be used in future ColorView sessions. The next time ColorView is started, it will automatically be configured to the state ColorView was in when the options were saved. File About ColorView ----------------------- The ColorView Copyright and Registration messages. File Exit ------------ Exit ColorView, releasing all of the allocated resources and memory. -11- DOS ColorView 1.2 Options Menu - Display characteristics and image manipulation functions. Options Graphics Mode --------------------- All of the available VESA graphics modes which are greater than 640x400 and have at least 256 colors will be listed. When a mode is selected, ColorView will shift to the selected graphics mode and you can use the File Menu Save Options command to configure ColorView to start up in that resolution and number of colors. If your graphics card supports more modes than are listed, please try to locate a more current VESA driver for your graphics card. ColorView will support all of the high resolution graphics modes which are available through the VESA interface. This includes 15/16 bit HiColor support, and 24 bit TrueColor support. You can switch to another graphics mode after an image has been loaded, even if the mode you are selecting supports a different number of colors from the one you are currently viewing. Options Dither Image -------------------- When performing a 24 bit to 8 bit conversion, this option tells ColorView to use dithering to smooth out quantization errors. In most cases, dithering will significantly improve color reproduction for displays that support less than 15 bits of color. In some cases, the image might become a little less sharp. ColorView uses Floyd-Steinberg dithering. Dithering has no effect on 15, 16 or 24 bit color display modes. -12- DOS ColorView 1.2 Options Enhance Color - 256, 15 and 24 bit displays --------------------- Provides a way to color correct an image. Note that on 256 color displays, corrections are fast because only the palette needs to be updated. On 15/16 and 24 bit displays, any change must modify every single pixel in the image, resulting in a much slower performance. The Color Enhancement panel contains 4 numbers which are described below. We suggest that you experiment with a 256 color version of your image to determine the approximate adjustment values and then convert the 24 bit version of your image. Closing the Color Enhancement panel will not restore the original colors. To restore the original colors, uncheck the Enhance Color menu option in the Options menu. Hue: range 0 to 360, normal at 180: changes the hue of the image. Sat: range 0 to 255, normal at 128: changes the amount of color in the image. A saturation of 0 means no color (a black & white image). Vol: range 0 to 255, normal at 128: adjusts overall image brightness. Gamma Factor: range 0 to 1000, normal at 0: gamma-corrects the image. This provides a way to correct for the difference between perceived colors and their computer generated equivalents. This can be very useful in adjusting scanned images, improving the sharpness and contrast of the raw scan. If the original has already been gamma-corrected, additional corrections might degrade the image quality. Options Fit To Screen --------------------- Resizes the displayed image to fit into your display screen. Only the display is changed. The memory image remains at the original size. Options Slide Show ------------------ Tells ColorView not to pause between multiple images and also turns off the image preview and the progress indicator. In this mode, an image is not shown until it is completely processed and ready to be displayed. This creates a smooth transition between consecutive images and eliminates the need for mouse or keyboard interaction. -13- DOS ColorView 1.2 Options No Sounds ----------------- ColorView issues a "beep" sound when an error condition is detected, an operation is aborted, or input is required in an animated GIF file. The No Sounds option disables this "beep". -14- DOS ColorView 1.2 APPENDIX A - Trademarks and Acknowledgements ColorView is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group. The Independent JPEG Group disclaims all warranty and/or liability claims. GIF files: The Graphics Interchange Format (c) is the Copyright property of CompuServe Incorporated. GIF(sm) is a Service Mark property of CompuServe Incorporated. For further information, please contact: CompuServe Incorporated Graphics Technology Department 5000 Arlington Center Boulevard Columbus, Ohio 43220 U. S. A. Microsoft and MS-DOS are registered trademarks and Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Intel is a registered trademark and 386 is a trademark of Intel Corporation. ColorView and Millennium Technologies Corporation are trademarks of Millennium Technologies Corporation.